There is practically no such person who would not hear about the Egyptian pyramids. Of course, not all have survived to our time, but even about those that can be seen now, there are many rumors and a lot of speculation is put forward about how the pyramids were built, who did it and why. In our article we will try to understand at least some issues.
Why exactly the pyramids?
Modern architects are at a loss, why, if there was such a desire to build something unusual, the choice fell on a pyramid shape? And the answer is probably quite simple. At that time, there was no question of any competent architects and designers, especially among sandy deserts.
Each of us remembers ourselves in childhood playing in the sandbox or on the beach while relaxing with our family. We were then in almost the same conditions as the builders of Ancient Egypt, and also tried to build something out of sand. And what did we almost always do? That's right - sand pyramids.
Of course, among the Egyptian sands there were also various shapeless or unusual stones, and using them in addition to sand for construction was an excellent tool for strengthening the structure.
So it turns out, it is not so important how the pyramids are built, but it can be assumed that such a form was chosen only because it was simply not possible to build something else, equipment and knowledge.
The purpose of the pyramids
We can probably say with confidence that the Egyptian pyramids to this day hide some secrets that neither scientists nor clairvoyants can solve. There are many versions and hypotheses about who built the Egyptian pyramids and how it was done, but there is still no exact answer to these complex questions.
But to answer the question about the purpose of the structures is a little easier, at least speculative conclusions can be made.
According to one version, the pyramids served as tombs of the pharaohs. As evidence, mummies of the pharaohs, which were found in some pyramids, and funeral supplies are provided. In the oldest records available, it was found that only priests had access to the structure, all others were prohibited from entering it.
But you can find fault with this version. The pyramids in Egypt are not all the same, they differed in structure, in the presence of aboveground and underground parts, even the building material was not the same.
The pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops was built around 2560 BC from stone. Those that appeared later were made of clay bricks that were not even fired. Erecting such structures was within the power of people, only enough time for such construction would be needed. By the way, it is these pyramids that are most affected by environmental factors, and under the wind, rains, their gradual destruction occurs. Some of them have almost turned into a pile of sand and bricks.
There is a second version, for which pyramids were built. They served as giant batteries of energy. It is already known that many of them had a huge underground part, which was equipped in exact accordance with the map of the starry sky. The upper aerial part in the form of a pyramid was a kind of channel for the release of energy.
According to the third version, the first pyramid was built to store Pharaonic treasures. It is impossible to say exactly, but some arguments can be made in favor of this theory:
- All the pyramids are capital structures that managed to withstand the onslaught of the natural environment and practically did not change. So, we can assume that they were built for centuries. For example, the Cheops pyramid was built around the year 2560 BC. No one doubts that at that time there was no talk of any banks for storing money and valuables, but it was necessary to store their treasures somewhere. Then it was rather difficult to do among the sands and dunes, at any moment a sandstorm could be so sweeping that it would be impossible to find its hidden treasures. Therefore, the pyramids were built so high that they were not afraid of dunes and sands.
- The very size of the structure confirms that it is possible to hide huge wealth in it, the owners of which were the pharaohs. In this case, it doesn’t matter how many years ago the Cheops pyramid was built. External forms in no way give out internal dimensions, so it is difficult to imagine how much wealth can fit in its walls.
All this, of course, is a version, and it’s almost impossible to give an answer to the questions who built the pyramids and why.
Material for the construction of the pyramids
A huge amount of material was required for the construction of such huge pyramids. Many scientists believe that they mined it in quarries. Archaeologists near Aswan (this is an area located near the pyramids of Giza) found a slab of granite, preserved from those distant times, its weight reached about 1300 tons. Surprisingly, it had a neatly sawn groove and cracks in it. Apparently, because of them, the ancient pyramid builders considered it unsuitable for their grandiose project.
There is also evidence from some researchers about the presence of traces of wooden formwork inside the pyramids.
Concrete, which the ancient builders made of crushed limestone, has good ductility and, when cooled and solidified, takes the necessary shape. Presumably, various images on such walls and hieroglyphs were squeezed out on not yet frozen concrete, but were not carved later.
Some archaeologists even considered that excavations during construction in concrete blocks were made using a bronze bit. Is this possible in reality, especially if you consider how many years ago the Cheops pyramid was built? We assume that scientists know better.
Material for the highest pyramid.
Currently, the pharaoh who built the largest pyramid is known . This is Cheops. It is believed that it was on his instructions that they began to build it. But the whole process was not led by the pharaoh himself, but by his nephew, the vizier Hemion. It remains a mystery to scientists what kind of latest technology he used to get one of the seven wonders of the world. In what year the Cheops pyramid was built, it is not known exactly, but presumably this was before our era, around 2560. What technologies could we talk about?
According to information from ancient sources, the preparation for the construction itself lasted more than one year, and more than 4 thousand workers were involved in this process. Since it was planned to build a huge-scale structure, it was decided to select a rocky area near Cairo as a site.
To level the surface of the earth, the Egyptians, using stone and sand, built a square-shaped shaft that was impervious to water. Inside it, channels were cut into which water was launched to determine its level. After that, notches were made, the fluid was lowered, and all the stones that were above this level were removed, and the trenches were laid. That's how they got the foundation for the pyramid.
No matter how many years ago the Cheops pyramid was built, there is still no doubt that the main material for its construction was stone blocks, which were mined in quarries. With the help of scraping, they were processed to the required size, usually they ranged from 0.8 m to 1.5 m. Some specimens were more impressive in size, for example, a block above the entrance to the "Pharaoh's room" had a weight of about 35 tons.
It is assumed that the prepared blocks with the help of thick ropes and levers dragged to the river and transported to the construction site. There are no questions with this process, but how and with the help of which technologies these blocks appeared at the top of the structure is still an unsolved mystery for all scientists.
The pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops was built in about 40 years, although some believe that it took no more than twenty. Unfortunately, to date, some blocks have not survived, because (according to one version) they were used by the residents of Cairo to build their houses after the Arabs raided their capital.
The eternal question - who created the pyramids?
The question of who built the pyramids remains until now without exact answers. Disputes and conversations do not cease around these grandiose constructions, and there are more and more versions of the alleged builders.
This question will always excite the minds of scientists, since the whole thing is not even about who built them, but how the whole process was carried out. What technologies were used to not only get the correct geometric shape, but also a structure that is almost immune to the effects of natural disasters, wars and the invasion of vandals? There are many versions on this subject, but we will only get to know some of them.
Twine and log
According to the first version, the Egyptians themselves were engaged in the construction of the pyramids. They dragged huge plates and blocks to the place of work with ropes, under them they laid logs and dragged them.
Herodotus claimed that the builders had a wooden formwork, which was disassembled and transported, and with its help, the construction of the next level was carried out.
In which year the pyramids were built, it is difficult to say for sure, but not Cheops is considered the first pharaoh who proposed the construction of such structures. The discoverer of the era of the erection of the pyramids in Egypt is the pharaoh Joser the Magnificent. On the stele of his time you can find instructions for the preparation of mortar.
For this pharaoh, a step pyramid was created in Saqqara. It had 6 steps, each of which meant the next stage of construction. Inside there were 11 chambers for burial of members of the Pharaoh's family. Subsequently, the mummies of wives and children were found there. This much later, each pyramid was intended for the burial of only one king or pharaoh.
Construction Giants
According to the second version, it was not the Egyptians who were engaged in the construction of the pyramids, but the oldest civilization of the Russians. It is believed that it was they who, due to their enormous growth, had the opportunity to engage in such construction. Atlantes not only had a height of more than 12 meters, but also had a huge supply of physical strength, so they could carry blocks of rock weighing several tons quite easily.
But, according to some legends, the giants did not rely on their physical capabilities at all, but used the power of thought, with which you can move objects through the air.
These assumptions were confirmed by many scientists. For example, Blavatsky is an esoteric and theosophist, as well as the clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, who claimed that the pyramid of the pharaoh Cheops was built around 10 490 BC. It was this clairvoyant who named the exact place where the Atlanteans hid important documents and materials - between the paws of the Sphinx. These artifacts contain information about Atlantis and its death.
Many scientists adhere to the version of the construction of the pyramids by the Atlanteans. These ancient supermen wanted to convey their unusual history to the next generations, and so that there was no chance to get lost all this, they came up with such unusual and huge structures.
The alien origin of the pyramids
There is also a version according to which, perhaps, there is a pharaoh who built the largest pyramid, but this was after the extraterrestrial civilizations built most of these masterpieces.
Scientists who adhere to this point of view, in favor of this version cite the results of the analysis of the pyramids. At that time, there simply didn’t exist such unique technologies for processing stone and moving huge blocks in space. It is believed that only aliens could have some kind of supertechnology that coped with such a task. In the temple of Abu Simbel there are statues of seated pharaohs, whose height reaches more than 20 meters. Was it really possible to build such a thing in those days for ordinary people without special equipment and technology, and even bronze? For many scientists, this is rather doubtful.
What questions are not answered?
Even if we assume that the ancient Egyptians were much smarter than us in the construction of unique structures and, as the pyramids were built, they decided to keep secret, there is no answer to the following questions:
- If we consider that in Ancient Egypt, bits of stone and copper were available, then how could they be used to process a block of granite so that there are no gaps between the blocks?
- What had to be used to be able to go almost 100 meters deep into the base of the pyramid?
- It is also striking that in just twenty years, the Egyptians were able to lay bricks with a total mass of 3 tons along magnetic lines, and in perfect order. It took about 5 minutes to lay one brick. And if you imagine that the height of the pyramids was huge, then you can not believe it.
You can still find a lot of questions that arise regarding each version of the appearance of the pyramids, but they remain without intelligible and truthful answers.
Man-made miracle
The name of the pharaoh who built the highest pyramid is Khufu, but he is usually known as Cheops, and the building has the same name. The pyramid is striking in its impressive size, there is no doubt that its construction lasted more than a dozen years. It differs from other pyramids by its unusual layout, but the most interesting is that when it was opened the body of the pharaoh was not found there. The question then arises: for whom and why was it built?
At the present time, it is practically not important when the Cheops pyramid was built, because it is definitely included in the list of seven wonders of the world.
Only impressive dimensions already amaze the imagination of modern man, and this is when you consider that over the past few millennia, it has become smaller. Modern scientists can only assume the proportions of the pyramid, since at the edges it was dismantled by the Egyptians themselves for their needs.
Here are some details about this pyramid:
- Now its height is about 138 meters, but according to some data, at the end of construction, this figure was 11 points more.
- The foundation is square in shape, each side is 230 meters long.
- The total area occupied by the pyramid is 5.4 hectares, that is, more than five modern largest churches can be freely located on it.
- The total length of the foundation around the perimeter is 922 meters.
There is another interesting fact: the case on the outside has uneven grooves of different sizes. If you look at them from a certain angle, you can distinguish the image of a man about 150 meters tall. According to some assumptions, the Egyptians depicted one of the ancient gods. There are several such drawings. On the north side there is an image of a woman and a man who bowed their heads to each other.
Scientists are inclined to believe that the builders applied these drawings before the completion of construction, but then it remains unclear, but why, if the external plates with which the pyramid was decorated hid them?
It doesn’t matter how many years ago the Cheops pyramid was built, but even inside it is very different from the rest. There are corridors along which you can go both up and down. The most important one first goes down, and then branches out into 2 tunnels - one of them leads into the unfinished funeral chamber below, and the second into a large gallery above. From this gallery you can go to the main tomb and the room of the Queen.
At the very base of the pyramid are several underground structures. In one of them, scientists managed to find an old ship, which was a cedar boat disassembled into 1224 parts. The length was about 43 meters. Probably, it was at this building that the pharaoh intended to go to the kingdom of the dead.
And the pyramid for Cheops?
The pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops was built around 2560 BC, but more and more often the question arises: was it built for him? To the side of such doubts is the fact that after her discovery the body of the pharaoh was not found there, there were no decorations in the burial chamber.
The sarcophagus for the body was in an unfinished state: the stones were roughly hewn, the lid was missing.
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They believe that structures too small do not honor the Pharaoh, but for a huge building there may simply not be enough money. From this point of view, before the construction, the size of the pyramid was discussed taking into account the financial capabilities of the treasury.
But there are those who argue that not only the shape, but also the size is not at all random. This is part of that knowledge, comprehending which, you can understand the universe and the mechanics of our vast planet.
It doesn’t matter if the question of how the pyramids are built is revealed, but it is these structures that attract a huge number of tourists every year to Egypt. And the tourism business is one of the main areas that replenishes the state treasury.
And we can only assume that even truthful answers to questions, for example, when the Cheops pyramid was built, will be kept a big secret by the authorities, so as not to lose the attractiveness and mystery for tourists from all over the world.
One can only summarize all that has been said: whoever builds these gigantic masterpieces of a unique shape, he is truly a creator who, through his work, makes the greatest minds of mankind struggle to unravel this mystery.