Ivan Bunin wrote about what the conquerors saw when they burst into the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid: “Having illuminated the polished granite walls of this chamber with torches, shining like black ice, retreated in horror: in the middle of it stood a rectangular and also all black sarcophagus. In it lay a mummy in golden armor, showered with precious stones and with a golden sword at the hip. On the forehead of the mummy, a huge carbuncle burned with red fire, all covered with letters incomprehensible to any mortal …"
And so I enter the chamber of "Cheops - the ruler of the horizon", as he himself ordered to inscribe on his pyramid. The tomb is magnificent. It amazes with its dimensions: length - 10.5 m, width - 5.2, height - 5.8. This room, finished with dark Aswan granite, for some reason makes you stop at the threshold. She has a special gloomy charm, her own mood, and maybe a secret. Perhaps because it is unexpectedly huge, black, empty, and only in the distance, there is a lone, ominously reddish sarcophagus against the western wall.
Alas, this is the end of the road. No other premises in the Cheops pyramid have yet been found. There is an assumption that somewhere in the depths of the pyramid there are secret rooms. According to one of the testimonies, back in the 19th century, travelers accidentally pressed a certain stone in the wall, and a corridor was opened for them, along which they entered a room filled with strange metal mechanisms half-buried in sand. But where is this secret stone? Where is this secret room with ancient Egyptian technology? No one knows…
The lands of ancient Egypt stretched from the north of Africa far to the south along the Nile bed. Only the monuments of distant eras - majestic temples and pyramids - remained from the great civilization. When Napoleon came to conquer Egypt, the locals could not say anything about their purpose. For the Muslim Arabs, the pyramids were nothing more than gigantic pagan structures. Over the centuries of Arab rule, the pyramids lost their wonderful lining, and now bare stone walls looked at the conquerors, rising, narrowing, towards the sky. Once, the Arab chroniclers reported, the pyramids were completely covered with ancient signs.
“The pyramids were built of huge stones … The stones are covered with ancient writings, which now no one can read. In all of Egypt, I have not met anyone who could say that he can read this letter or knows such a person. There are a great many inscriptions here, and if someone had a desire to rewrite only those of them that are visible on the surface of these two pyramids, he would fill over 10,000 pages with them. Probably, no one had any desire.
The Arabs were not interested in the purpose of the pyramids, they were much more interested in the legends of the pyramids, because it was believed that the ancient Egyptian rulers - the pharaohs - were buried in the pyramids, while they were resting with all the imaginable and inconceivable riches they possessed in earthly life. There, passed from mouth to mouth, an incredible amount of gold and precious stones. The history of the pyramids has long been overgrown with fables, and the Arab sultans saw in the pyramids an amazing treasury, the entrance to which has been lost. Some of the sultans, having heard such fabulous legends, dreamed of taking possession of the treasures, looked for secret passages, and one of them even thought of punching the entrance to the Cheops pyramid through the side edge.
Al-Mammun - unlike many - was interested not so much in gold (he was rich), as in the pyramids stored inside (as he was told by numerous spies who were trying to find out the secret of the Egyptian pyramid - Cheops from local residents) maps of the starry sky and the whole Earth - the sultan was an astronomer and even translated Ptolemy's "Almagest" into Arabic. In addition to star and terrestrial maps, he intended to find there weapons that are not subject to corrosion, and glass that does not break and which can be bent. Because of these wonderful things, he decided to break through the huge stone blocks of which the pyramid is built.
Because the stone was extremely durable, the learned sultan applied an excellent knowledge of physical laws: at first, the chisel was driven into the stone with a hammer, after it was red-hot, then poured with wine vinegar - the stone could not stand it and gave cracks. In this way, the workers of the Sultan made their way to the center of the pyramid. By the way, the predatory move exists in the pyramid to this day. By a strange coincidence, he found himself practically next to the real entrance, which once had a secret turning mechanism: multi-ton stones rose and diverged to the sides, but for this it was necessary to find a secret turning device.
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In the Egyptian papyrus it was stated: “In the middle of one of the sides of the pyramid there is a stone. Move it, and a long passage opens in front of you. But in the middle of which wall, which stone? In ancient times, this entrance was not at all a secret. According to Strabo's description, this entrance led into a very narrow and long corridor, then into a small room that had a descent into a deep damp pit almost at the very base of the pyramid (in antiquity, this pit was such a sight to behold: ancient tourists came there to brag afterwards, that they were inside the pyramid!).
But over time, the place of the stone was forgotten. The Sultan, of course, could not find the turning device, although he knew about its existence, but he had subjects thirsty for gold, and they punched the entrance into the monolithic slabs - the work must have been painful. However, they were lucky: they not only entered the corridor laid in ancient times, but were also able to literally "gnaw" the road to the so-called burial chamber of the queen, and then with the same torment made their way into the burial chamber of the pharaoh, where they found an empty stone sarcophagus. There was no gold. The sultan, who did not want to disappoint the robbers, paid for their services with full-weight gold. In order not to disappoint his companions-treasure hunters, he hid the treasures inside the pyramid, allowing greedy companions to find it on their own!
According to one of the legends, Al-Mammun discovered a sarcophagus in which a stone statue of the pharaoh lay, and inside the statue was found his body, which was decorated with gold and precious stones, in his hands the pharaoh held a sword that does not corrode and has power over people, but it's a legend. Al-Mammun found absolutely nothing in the pyramid, he only lost time and money at this event.
Strictly speaking, it was Napoleon who laid the foundation for the scientific study of the Egyptian pyramids. In his Egyptian campaign, he took French scientists - so that they would describe the antiquities of Egypt and in this way perpetuate the memory of the commander. Napoleon was haunted by envy of another great commander - Alexander the Great, so it becomes quite clear why he needed senseless ballast like historians and geographers in the army. During the fighting, this ballast was driven by Napoleon's soldiers under the protection of French weapons along with donkeys, but none of the scientists grumbled. "Donkeys and scientists in the middle", - the order sounded, and scientists - academicians huddled in a herd - this is how this campaign went. Probably, not only the thought of glory made Napoleon take to the war those who were absolutely unfit for it, there was another secret thought: Napoleon knewthat hostilities can cause damage to ancient monuments, so that if they are destined to be destroyed, then at least a description will remain. In this regard, he was a prudent person.
This secret thought, by the way, was not at all superfluous. When the French captured the Giza plateau, Napoleonic soldiers showed the true face of the Europeans: for fun, they shot the Egyptian Sphinx. The great sculpture survived many centuries of Pharaonic rule, Roman rule, Arab conquest, but it turned out to be absolutely powerless before the artillery of the ignorant French. The main damage inflicted on the Sphinx, he received from the army, which, by a bitter coincidence, carried scientists with him to study antiquities! It was an entertaining sight: soldiers practicing aimed shooting at stone colossi, and scientists in a hurry sketching what could be doomed to destruction. But both the pyramids and the Sphinx still managed to resist.
They stand to this day - mysterious and huge structures, attracting the attention of both Egyptologists and ordinary tourists. They try to take away ancient stones from Egypt to the best of their ability, but this is practically impossible - unlike European architectural antiquities like the Parthenon, the Egyptian pyramids are difficult to pull apart pebbles: these “pebbles” are very large and heavy.
Egyptian pyramids, like no other, perhaps, ancient structure, cause a lot of controversy and assumptions. Some scientists try to understand the true purpose of the pyramids, expressing a variety of, sometimes absolutely wild hypotheses, others do not stop believing that the pyramids are the tombs of the pharaohs. The latter is the dogma of Egyptology, and it is almost impossible to fight this dogma. Open any school textbook, or even better - a textbook on the history of the countries of the Ancient World for students, and there you will find only this wonderful interpretation: the pyramids are the tombs of the pharaohs, although, by and large, there is not a single archaeological evidence that the pyramids were built precisely for this reason !
Not even a plundered burial was found in any of the known Egyptian pyramids. Empty sarcophagi - yes, but no traces that the body of the pharaoh was previously in the sarcophagi. No, on the contrary, all the known burials of the pharaohs were found in the so-called Valley of the Kings - the well-protected crypts of the Egyptian nobility. The remarkable burial of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun was also found not at all in a pyramid, but in an ordinary tomb, which, fortunately for Egyptology, turned out to be undisturbed.
This tomb was discovered in the fall of 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter, while literally in the same area where he excavated a decade ago. The tomb was located under the fellahi beggar huts, which were eventually ordered to be demolished by the archaeologist. It was then that the well-disguised entrance to the underground dwelling of Tutankhamun opened. And although the front burial chamber was looted, the robbers did not touch the second chamber. In this underground chamber, truly royal relics were hidden, and the sarcophagus of the pharaoh himself was not touched. Now both the sarcophagus itself, the burial golden mask, the mummy of Tutankhamun, and the things collected for his happy afterlife make up several museum halls and are open to visitors. One mystical story is connected with the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun. It is believed that everythingwho opened the tomb of the pharaoh and was engaged in the study of things from the burial, died earlier than the time appointed by nature.
The mystery and purpose of the Egyptian pyramids
On the Giza plateau there are three large pyramids, which, according to legend, belong to three pharaohs of the 4th dynasty - Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Khefren) and Menkaur (Mikerin). These pharaohs ruled Egypt 5,000 years ago. The information that the pyramid tombs belong to them comes not from the Egyptian, but from the ancient source. It was in ancient times, when Egypt was already an ancient state, that legends about the purpose of the pyramids appeared.
The modern Greek historians who described them received their information from the Egyptian priests, and it is quite possible that they could misunderstand these priests, or the priests themselves have already safely forgotten who, when and why erected the Egyptian pyramids. One can only imagine how many secrets have been forgotten in 2,500 years - so much time has passed from the 4th dynasty to antiquity. Even with the incredible accuracy of the transmission of ancient information by the Egyptian priestly class, a lot could be lost or misinterpreted over thousands of years.
By the time of Herodotus, who described in detail to us both the purpose and structure, and the construction of the pyramids, the priests-storytellers could have lost the lion's share of ancient knowledge. This is all the more true since by the time of Herodotus, only a few could read the sacred ideographic letter on which the priestly secrets were recorded. The question is complicated by the fact that all three great pyramids do not have any dedicatory inscriptions inside.
In addition to the misspelled name Khufu, neither the name of Khafren, nor the name of Mikerin, to whom the other two pyramids allegedly belong, were found in the pyramids. And this also suggests that these structures were never intended for the burial of the pharaohs. The age of our great pyramids, calculated by geologists, is sharply at odds with that proposed by archaeologists. Both the pyramids and the Sphinx contain traces of water erosion. And this is an indicator that the pyramids were already built by the time of the 4th dynasty, that they are much older than the most ancient Egyptian civilizations!
Another thing is that the pharaohs, who ruled over late Egypt, could use the ancient pyramids for their own purposes - and for burial as well. So the mention in the text of Herodotus of using the pyramids as tombs of specific pharaohs may be fair. It is known that during the time of the pharaohs the repair of the Sphinx was carried out, archaeologists have found quite material traces of such repair. But the pyramids - apparently the same age as the Sphinx - could wear out over the millennia and also require repair. For Egypt, these were sacred structures. It was under the pharaohs of the 4th dynasty that the renovation of the pyramids took place.
We are trying to save and restore ancient monuments in the same way. If the pyramids were only tombs, there would be no great mystery in them. But the Arabic texts of the Middle Ages tell us that at one time each of the three great pyramids of Giza had a facing and some ancient texts were written on the edges of the pyramids. The Arabs mention that these texts were a collection of all known knowledge. However, they could be wrong: after all, at that time the language of the pyramids was firmly forgotten and the texts could not be read.
The first Egyptian texts were read only in the first half of the 19th century, thanks to the works of the young French scientist Champollion. But Champollion would not have been able to read anything if, during the French campaign, an inscription on the Rosetta stone had not been found, made in three different languages - Egyptian syllabary, ideographic writing and Greek. Only thanks to this Greek text was it possible to decipher the language of the ancient Egyptians. Before Champollion, it was suggested to read hieroglyphs as pictures: a lion is drawn, which means the word is “lion, and an ibis is drawn, which means the word ibis.
And of course - reading the Egyptian texts in this way gave the most ridiculous texts. The Arabs knew much less about the ancient language, and they did not have the Rosetta Stone. In the inscriptions on the facing of the pyramids, they saw some traces of pagan beliefs and therefore simply tore off the entire facing and … decorated the floor in their main mosque with slabs! Some of the Egyptian slabs can still be seen if you visit this mosque. But most likely, not all cladding slabs went to lay the floor. And by the Arab time, the cladding had already been partially lost …
Some scientists find much more interesting parameters in the ratios of the pyramids. Another scientist from the Napoleonic campaign Zhomar suggested that the pyramids did not serve as the burial vault of the pharaohs, but were a kind of metric sign in order to create a kind of standard of measures, an invulnerable stone standard. He was sure that the Egyptians were fluent in not only geometry, but also astronomy, which caused Homeric laughter among his contemporaries. But Zhomar was right in this: today more and more scientists agree that the Egyptians were excellent astronomers. And in this regard, the pyramid can be the key to this knowledge.
The fact is that if you take into account that the pyramid of Cheops was being completed under Cheops, then before Cheops it was used for completely different purposes. The Pyramid of Cheops (as well as other pyramids) in the unfinished version to the top could have been wonderful ancient … telescopes. The researchers considered possible options for such a device and came to the conclusion that if the burial chamber of the pharaoh had not yet been built, then this is a structure that has an observation platform instead of the king's chamber on a flat base and a shaft going down with a slot - a slot oriented towards the most "stable" for latitude of Egypt, the star Sirius (Sothis), as well as an internal reservoir, built in such a way that a stone gap in it was reflected, served as an excellent means for observing the starry sky.
V. Vasiliev wrote about the use of a water mirror and a narrow slit with a shaft for observing the starry sky in his article “The Second Birth of Idrooptics”: “Indeed, let us imagine that there is a reservoir in the center of the cave, and a hole has been made above this reservoir in the vault of the cave. Water flowing into the reservoir whirls in a slow whirlpool … With the help of such a telescope near the equator, you can see sunspots even without a flat mirror, observe the Moon as a spherical volumetric body … distinguish between double stars and satellites of the solar system. The Egyptians did not have a cave, but a pyramid with a water mirror. Even by modern standards, it was a very good telescope, which made it possible to make the most accurate astronomical calculations. But then … then the Egyptians were not only knowledgeable in astronomical matters, but should have excellent knowledge of astronomy,almost at our modern level!
Proof of this can be seen not only in the fact that our pyramid is suddenly not a tomb, but an observatory, but also in the way all three pyramids are located on the Giza plateau. And their location, by the way, is rather curious. The pyramids on the Giza plateau are in a certain order, when viewed from above, they are not on one straight line, although they are oriented to the cardinal points. These deviations from the straight line made it possible for scientists to make the assumption that “the large pyramids show how Venus, Earth and Mars were located in their orbits in 10 532 BC! Moreover, the Sharaf-Budnikova method made it possible to set the date: September 22 according to the New Julian calendar! The Earth was then strictly between the Sun and the constellation Leo. This is one opinion belonging to E. Menshov.
Other researchers attribute the construction of the pyramids to an even earlier era, from 21,600 years to 75,000 years. But this … Yes, again we are faced with the assumption that the history of mankind must be largely longer than we used to think. But then the Egyptian pyramids were not built by the Egyptians at all. And, therefore, there was no army of slaves that pulled stone monoliths on wooden rollers? And the overseers did not whip the careless workers? As for the slaves and the lash of the overseer, even under Cheops, it was not slaves at all who were employed in the construction of the pyramid, but fellahs, that is, people who were forced into some kind of plan, but personally free, and they built in a period when agricultural work was impossible, therefore -that's what happened in a total of 20 years of work. Moreover, they were paid a salary for the construction,on which they managed to support their large families.
But the pyramids were nevertheless built not by Cheops, but by people unknown to us of the deepest antiquity, who, according to legend, were gods and founded the first dynasties, which were later replaced by the pharaoh-man. Less known as the first Pharaoh of the Egyptians, a descendant of the gods. From ancient Egyptian history, information has been preserved that the architect of the pyramids was Imhotep - the high priest, quite possibly it was Imhotep who rebuilt the pyramids because of their certain decay. The creator of the pyramids is also called the god Thoth, or - according to the accepted later version - Hermes Trismegistus - Hermes the Three Times Great. It is possible that a special meaning is hidden in this name: thanks to Hermes, three great pyramids were built, for which he received the title of Three times Great. And the pyramids of Giza can be viewed as a special complex, not only as an observatory.
Scientists drew attention to the features of the Cheops pyramid: in ancient times it could serve as a kind of solar calendar, showing with great accuracy the most important astronomical milestones - the days of the equinox (spring and autumn) and the summer and winter solstices. Once the area surrounding the pyramid was lined with specially fitted slabs with designations. The shadow of the pyramid passed over these slabs like a clock hand on a familiar dial. And if the ancient information is correct, then the facing of the pyramid sparkled under the rays of the sun, so it is likely that they were guided not even by the shadow of the pyramid, but by a luminous arrow that lay on the stone foundations! But the observatory and the stone calendar are not all.
There is an assumption that there was a medical complex in Giza. And this may well be, because according to the reconstruction of one specialist, pools were built around the pyramids, where the suffering ones received healing baths, the remains of temples were found in different parts of the plateau itself. In addition, it is known that in the Egyptian temples of a later period, priests-doctors were necessarily in the service. In addition, the pyramids somehow connected with the Nile through a system of canals, presumably under the rocky base of the pyramids are both the remains of the canals and underground passages. That is, the pyramids were interconnected not only visually, but also by a network of underground communications. As for the pyramids themselves, the question is, of course, controversial. But the fact that there is an underground gallery from the Sphinxes (and there were two of them, and the paired Sphinx has now been found) to the Cheops pyramid is a fact. Even in ancient times, the existence of such a move was well known.
There is an opinion that the pyramids were something like a power plant. After all, strange glass vessels with sealed rods were found, very much similar to our lamps … There are also numerous legends about magic lamps that were used in the pyramids. And it is impossible to explain how the ancient Egyptians carried out internal paintings of pyramids, tombs and temples, if not a single trace of smoking torches was found on the walls and ceiling - the only, in our opinion, possible lighting in a room without windows - is impossible, unless to assume that the artists had devices for lighting unknown to us. Some even suggested that they knew something like solar panels.
According to other assumptions, the pyramids were reservoirs of water during the drought. On the third - that these were huge granaries. On the fourth, that these were occult centers where future priests underwent mystical initiation. And according to Hancock, the pyramids were a spaceport, from where the star gods went into outer space. So far, none of the assumptions has received confirmation, starting with the very first, scientific, - that the deceased pharaohs were buried in the pyramids. Of all the options proposed, this one is the most hopeless.
If you find yourself on the Giza plateau and enter the Cheops pyramid, you will have to make a difficult and long way inside the pyramid. This path is difficult not only because of the heat and stuffiness, but also because starting from the very first step you will have to walk almost on all fours - only a child can freely walk along the low robbery shaft that goes from the entrance to the belly of the pyramid. You will have to go all down and down, sliding on the wooden steps, until a corridor begins, ascending, into the so-called queen's chamber. After walking along the Great Gallery, you can climb to the burial chamber of the pharaoh.
“This long gallery with a high ceiling,” V. Lebedev describes his journey inside the pyramid, “is also unique in its own way: its walls consist of carefully fitted stone blocks, and the limestone slabs of the false vault facing are laid so that each subsequent layer overlaps the previous one. … There is another attraction ahead - the lock room, which tourists usually do not know about. But this ingenious device was a trap for robbers, on whom a load of sand from a disguised shelf was to fall, and a heavy grate, which would fall down along slippery slots, would block the way to the Pharaoh's treasures.
Japanese scientists were able to lead a miniature camera through a gap inside the monolithic blocks from the room with the sarcophagus, and the camera showed another room of some kind, empty, and then a heavy door with dimly shiny copper handles was clearly visible. So far, it has not been possible to break through to this door. Perhaps there is a room behind it where the pyramid will reveal all the secrets to us? And it may well be that this room will also be empty, as has happened more than once in the history of the study of Egyptian antiquities.
V. Pimenova