Text: Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 10:48 To: pgb@padrak.com Subject: The Great Pyramid at Giza is not Khufu's (and is much much older) Book Review: The Eyes of the Sphinx Erich von Daniken Berkeley Books, New York March 1996 Chapter 4, Page 205-215: Required Reading! [Hint: Remember that the holy Koran states that the civilization of Earth started somewhere near 2,000 BC. So, if you work for the Egyptian government, you had better conform to this belief - even though it is not correct!] [Note: I have replaced text written in italics with single-quotes, and I have double-quoted indented paragraphs, for clarity.] The Khufu Hoax Maybe we are in for a surprise of a different sort in the Great Pyramid, one that would be particularly painful to Egyptologists - namely, the fact that Khufu was not the builder of the Great Pyramid. Whenever I ask one of the experts who the builder of the Great Pyramid was, I get the same immediate, stereotypical answer: Khufu. "No doubt?" - "No doubt." Pharaoh Khufu is a proven scientific fact. It is inappropriate to question it. And that's that I But if we dig a little deeper below the surface, this "proven scientific fact" is in for a rude awakening. What evidence bestowed the halo of the pyramid builder on Pharaoh Khufu? Where does this absolute certainty come from that no one but Khufu could have built this most impressive edifice? Remember that there are no texts in the Great Pyramid praising or glorifying the builder. It is anonymous vanity. Under closer scrutiny, we find that there are only two indications that point to Khufu, but scientific literature has blown these two out of proportion. Herodotus wrote that the pyramid was commissioned by Cheops. "Cheops" is Greek for the Egyptian "Khufu." Diodorus Siculus lists "Chemmis" as the builder of the pyramid, but Gaius Plinius Secundus, who enumerates the names of the historians who described the pyramid before him, notes wryly that none of them really knew who the builders were. In this particular case, archaeologists rely exclusively on Herodotus - while discounting his statements everywhere else. The second piece of evidence pointing to Cheops/Khufu is an inscription in one of the corbeled vaults above the King's Chamber. Whoa! Didn't I claim repeatedly that there are no inscriptions inside the Great Pyramid? It is a mystery, or actually a crime, perpetrated by an imposter. The case was not solved by Sherlock Holmes, but by Zecharia Sitchin, a specialist in old oriental languages. On December 29, 1835, Col. Howard Vyse, a British officer of the Guards, arrived in Egypt. Vyse was a sardonic gentleman, a grandson of the Earl of Stafford, on the one hand disciplined to the bone, on the other the black sheep of the family who had to work extra hard to prove himself. Vyse was thrilled and fascinated by the mystery of the pyramids. He immediately hooked up with the Italian captain Giovanni Battista Caviglio, who had been digging in Giza for quite some time. But over the course of the next few months the two men had a falling-out, and they parted company on February 13, 1837. Vyse, the Briton, who had received a license to excavate from the British consul, chased the Italian off. Seventy-two years prior to Howard Vyse, the British diplomat Nathaniel Davison had discovered a hole in the ceiling at the end of the Grand Gallery. On July 8, 1765, he crawled inside. Davison progressed to the lowest one of the corbeled vaults above the King's Chamber. Howard Vyse, of course, was aware of Davison's discover. He noted in his diary that he suspected the existence of a sepulcher hidden above the "Davison Chamber." Vyse was determined to become famous. He wanted his name to go down in history; he felt he owed that much to his family. On January 27, 1837, he wrote in his diary that he had to discover something before returning to England, Vyse and his chief engineer, John S. Perring, procured some gunpower and blew a tunnel into the rock above the Davison Chamber. Indeed, on March 30, April 27, May 6, and May 27, 1837, Vyse and Perring discovered four additional chambers above the Davison Chamber, which they named the Wellington, Nelson, Arbuthnoth, and Campbell Chambers, in that order. In the upper two rooms, Vyse noticed some signs on the monoliths which apparently had been painted with red paint. It was known that builders often marked individual monoliths from the quarries of the Wadi Maghara mountains with paint so that there would be no mix-up and they would reach their proper destinations. One of the paint marks displayed the pharaoh name "Khufu." It was the proof that was needed; The painted monolith was shipped to Khufu/Cheops. The sensational news spread around the globe. Howard Vyse had accomplished his goal. No one seemed to mind that the Khufu insignia, which should have been found all over the place, considering that more than two million stones were used in the Great Pyramid alone, were not found anywhere else. In a fascinating book [5] and in two articles in 'Ancient Skies' [6] the American Orient expert Zecharia Sitchin exposed Vyse as a fraud. The evidence against Howard Vyse is such an ingenious, criminological masterpiece that it is difficult to understand how Egyptologists can continue to defend their erroneous "proven scientific fact." Zecharia Sitchin unmasks the Vyse-Perring hoax with the help of dates, quotes, and excerpts from Vyse's diary, and in particular because of an orthographic mistake committed by the forger. Shortly after the "Khufu" paint marks were discovered, some experts voiced doubts about its authenticity, but their words of caution were drowned out by the prevailing euphoria. Samuel Birch, an Egyptologist and expert in hieroglyphics, cautioned in 1837, "Although [the symbol] is not very legible because it is written in semi-hieratic or linear-hieroglyphic letters ..." and, a littler later, "The meaning ... is not entirely clear ... very difficult to interpret..." [7] What caused such confusion for the hieroglyphics expert? The painted marks used symbols which did not even exist in Khufu's time. Over the centuries, the picture symbols of ancient Egypt turned into a "hieratic language" - long after Khufu, Even Richard Lepsius, the (presumed) discoverer of the Labyrinth, wondered about the brush-painted red symbols because they resembled the hieratic language. How did the symbols end up inside the Great Pyramid? Did anyone enter the pyramid many centuries after its completion to paint the symbols on the monoliths? No way. The corbeled vaults were completely inaccessible. Vyse had been forced to use gunpowder. Vyse, a military man, not an Egyptologist, knew only one standard book about hieroglyphs: the textbook 'Materia hieroglyphica' by John Gardner Wilkinson, published in 1828. It was discovered later that the name "Khufu" is misspelled in Wilkinson's textbook. The consonant "Kh" was mistakenly shown as the sun symbol "Re." The impostors Vyse and Perring not only used a language which did not develop until many centuries after Khufu, they also copied the orthographic mistake from Wilkinson's textbook. Didn't anyone realize that the red paint was fresh? Zecharia Sitchin [8] commented that this question was answered at the time by one of the principals, namely Perring, in his own work about the pyramids of Giza. Perring wrote that the paint that was used for the Ancient Egyptian inscriptions was a compound of red ocher, which the Arabs called 'moghrah' and which is still in use. The drawings were preserved so well on the stones that one could not possibly tell if they had been done the day before or three thousand years earlier. I asked several Egyptologists about the discoveries Zecharia Sitchin had made. None of them were familiar with his analysis. They assume that they know the truth and comfort themselves with the assurance that Howard Vyse was an honorable archaeologist. Vyse was not an archaeologist. He may have been honorable in certain ways - but he also was a glory hunter. Honor is a dubious quality, even in archaeology. The British archaeologist Howard Carter gained world fame on November 4, 1922, when he discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen. No one dared question his side of the story; his reputation was beyond reproach. Carter maintained that, unfortunately, the anterooms of the actual tomb had already been opened by grave robbers. Today we know that Carter was lying through his teeth. He was the one who entered Tutankhamen's vault 'before' the official opening of the tomb, turned everything upside down, and stole a number of valuable objects so that he did not have to share them fifty-fifty with the Egyptian government, as his contract demanded. This crime was exposed by Dr. Rolf Kraus, an archaeologist at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. [9] Yet neither the experts nor the public reacted to Kraus' discovery. Who Was the Builder? There is not a shred of convincing proof that Khufu was indeed the builder of the Great Pyramid. This does not invalidate the possibility that he may have built the pyramid, but there is more evidence against him than for him. There are no hieroglyphs, pyramid texts, statues, busts, walls full of praises. A single, tiny, five-centimeter-high figurine made of ivory and displayed in the Antiquities Museum is supposed to represent Khufu. On the other hand, there is evidence, solid as a rock, 'against' Khufu; yet the experts ignore it. In 1850, a stele was found among the ruins of the Isis temple which is now exhibited in the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo. The Isis temple was located directly adjacent to the Great Pyramid. The inscription on the stele states that Khufu founded the house of Isis, the goddess of the pyramid, next to the house of the sphinx. Since Isis is mentioned as the goddess of the pyramid, it is clear that the Great Pyramid was already in existence at the time of Khufu. Moreover, the sphinx is said to have existed as well, although archaeologists claim that it was built by Khufu's successor, Khafre. Why do scientists ignore this explosive, set-in-stone message? The stele was found in 1850. Remember: Thirteen years earlier, it had been determined that Khufu was the builder of the Great Pyramid, thanks to Howard Vyse's fraudulent discoveries. The stele did not fit the scientists' models. Archaeologists declared it a fake and claimed that it was created after Khufu's death to support the ideas of the local priests. All of these elements justify my question: If Khufu was not the builder of the world wonder of Giza, then who was? Egyptologists have complete chronological accounts of all the pharaohs 'after' Khufu. There is no room for an additional pharaoh after Khufu. If it could not have been a pharaoh after Khufu, then it must have been one 'before' Khufu. The very thought is unbearable to archaeologists. It would completely upset their treasured chronology of construction events. Can Arabian historians help us out? What does al-Maqrizi have to say? [10]: "The largest pyramids are those which are across from Misr to the present day. People cannot agree on the time of their construction, the name of the builder, or the reason for their construction and have expressed various opinions, most of which are wrong. I now want to relate that which satisfies and suffices, if God, the Almighty, allows me to." "The teacher Ibrahim Ben Wasif Sah al-Katib states in his 'News of Egypt and its Wonders', in the place where he tells of Saurid, the son of Sahluk, the son of Sirbak, the son of Tumidun, the son of Tadrasan, the son of Husal, one of the kings of Egypt prior to the Great Flood, who resided in the city of Amsus, which is discussed in the part of the book which deals with Egypt's cities. He was the builder of the two great pyramids near Misr.... The reason for the construction of the two pyramids was that three hundred years before the Great Flood, Saurid had the following dream; The earth turned upside down with all its people, the people fled in a blind rush, and the stars fell down..." Considering the precise list of names, I find it difficult to discard the text as a fairy tale or myth. According to the description, a king named Saurid had a dream three hundred years 'before' the Great Flood which eventually led to the construction of the pyramid. His advisors and prophets were also plagued by horrible dreams. They predicted the end of civilization. "The sky opened up, a bright light emerged ... and men descended from heaven who carried iron clubs in their hands which they used to bludgeon people." Older Than the Flood The king asked his wise men if people would be able to live again in Egypt after the Flood. Their answer was affirmative. He decided to build the pyramids so that all the human knowledge of the time would be preserved. An excellent reason. At the top of the pyramid, the antediluvian King Saurid had the following message inscribed: "I, Saurid, the king, have built the pyramids at this time and have completed their construction in six years. Those who come after me and believe that they are kings like me, should try to destroy it in six hundred years; and it is known that it is easier to destroy than to build. When they were finished, I had them covered with brocade, may they cover them with mats ... When King Saurid ben Sahluk died, he was buried in the eastern pyramid; Hugib, however, in the western one; and Karuras in the pyramid that is made on the bottom with stones from Aswan and at the top with Kaddan stones." These pyramids have gates below the ground which lead into a vaulted corridor. Each corridor measures one hundred and fifty yards. The gate to the eastern pyramid is on the north side, the gate of the western pyramid is on the west side, and the gate to the vaulted corridor of the stone-covered pyramid is on the south side. The pyramids contain unimaginable treasures of gold and emeralds. The man who translated this text from the Coptic language into Arabic added the dates up to the sunrise of the first day of Toth - it was a Sunday - in the year 225 of the Arabian calendar and came up with 4,321 solar years. When he examined how much time had passed after the Flood up to that particular day, the result was: 1,741 years, 59 days, 13 4/5 hours, and 59/400 hours. He subtracted this from the previous sum and was left with 399 years, 205 days, 10 hours, and 21/400 hours. He then realized that this text was written so many years, days, hours, and partial hours before the Flood. The 'Khitat' lists several Arabian sources, one after another, which contradict each other as to the construction date of the pyramid. The following is only one example: "Abu Said al-Balhi states: On the pyramids was an inscription written in their language. It was understood, and it read: "These two pyramids were built when the 'Falling Vulture' was in the tropic of cancer." So they calculated from this point to the Hegira of the prophet and came up with two times 36000 solar years." Who was this provident King Saurid? Is he a mythical fantasy figure, invented in a dream world of wishes and desires, or can he be realistically placed? The 'Khitat' states that he "was Hermes, whom the Arabs call Idris." It is said that he was personally instructed by God in the science of the stars and that God told him that a catastrophe would befall the earth, but that a part of it would survive and would have a need for scientific knowledge. Consequently, Hermes (a.k.a. Idris, a.k.a. Saurid) had the pyramids built. The 'Khitat' is even more specific: "There are people who say: the first Hermes, who was called the "triune" because of his function as prophet, Icing, and wise man (he is the one whom the Hebrews call Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahal'aleel, the son of Ca-i'nan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam - blessed be his soul - and that is Idris), read in the stars that the Flood was about to come. So he had the pyramids built and had hidden inside of them treasures, learned writings, and all those things which he feared might get lost or disappear, so that they would be protected and well presented." People in the West are not used to thinking in dimensions preceding the Great Flood and so we ask, in our confusion, why the Arabian historians insist on dating the pyramids to a time before the Flood. Muhammad ben Abdallah ben Abd al-Hakam submits an excellent argument. "In my opinion, the pyramids can only have been built before the Flood; if they had been built after, people would know more about them." A very good argument, indeed. Irrefutable. The statement in the 'Khitat' that Enoch, in the Old Testament, is identical with Hermes and Idris is very exciting. Much can be derived from it. Enoch (a.k.a. Hermes, a.k.a. Idris, a.k.a. the 'Khitat') is not the only source to identify Saurid as the builder of the pyramids. Ibn-Battuta, a fourteenth-century Arabian explorer and writer, also assures us that Enoch had the pyramids built before the Flood "to preserve in them books about science and knowledge and other valuable objects." [11] My Friend Enoch Who is this Enoch? My faithful readers know him from my earlier work. [12] Thus, I will keep my description short. In Hebrew, the name "Enoch" means "the consecrated one, the judicious one, the knowing one." Moses calls him the seventh of the ten forefathers, ..... --- ----- ------- Chapter 4 References: 5. Sitchin, Zecharia. 'Stufen zum Kosmos.' Trans. into German by Ursula von Weise. Unterageri: 1982. 6. Sitchin, Zecharia. "Forging the Pharaoh's Name." 'Ancient Skies.' US edition. Vol. VIII. No. 2. 1981. Phillips, Gene. "Members Irate over New TV Special on Pyramids." 'Ancient Skies.' Vol. XV. No. 1. 1988. 7. Sitchin, Zecharia. 'Stufen zum Kosmos.' 8. Ibid. 9. Kraus, Rolf. "Zum archaologischen Befund im thebanischen Konigsgrab Nr. 62." 'Mitteilungen der Deutchen Orientgesselschaft.' 1986. 10. Al-Maqriai. 'Das Pyramidenkapitel in Al-Makrizi's "Hitat".' 11. Tompkins, Peter. 'Cheops.' Berne: 1975. 12. Von Daniken, Erich. 'Beweise.' Dusseldorf: 1977. (English title of the book is: 'Accouding to the Evidence:' London, 1977.)

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