Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Travel guide - Introducing the pyramid
Introducing the pyramid
Pyramids
Introduction
A type of building, generally used as a mausoleum or for sacrifice. Because its appearance resembles the Chinese character "gold", it is called a pyramid. In fact, it has nothing to do with "gold".
Generally refers to the Egyptian pyramids. Other famous ones include the Mayan pyramids, the Aztec pyramids (Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon), etc.
Egyptian Pyramids
The Egyptian Pyramids are square cone-shaped imperial tombs of Egypt's ancient slave society. One of the seven wonders of the world. Large in number and widely distributed. The area of ??Memphis, the ancient city on the west side of the Nile River, southwest of Cairo, is most concentrated. There are three particularly famous pyramids in the Libyan Desert 8 kilometers south of Giza, called the Giza Pyramids. Among them, the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty is the largest. It was built in the 27th century BC. It is 146.5 meters high, which is equivalent to a 40-story skyscraper. Each base is 230 meters long. It is made of 2.3 million large stones weighing about 2.5 tons. It is made up of stacked blocks and covers an area of ??53,900 square meters. There are corridors, stairs, halls and various valuable decorations in the tower. The entire project lasted more than 30 years. There is a huge Sphinx in the southeast of the tower.
The Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt is the most famous and is the tomb of the Pharaoh (the king of ancient Egypt).
According to legend, before the Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt, both princes, ministers and common people were buried in a rectangular tomb made of mud bricks. The ancient Egyptians called it "mastaba". . Later, a smart young man named Imhotep invented a new construction method when designing a tomb for the Egyptian Pharaoh King Djoser. He used square stones quarried from the mountain instead of mud bricks, and constantly modified the design plan for building the mausoleum, and finally built a six-level trapezoidal pyramid - this is the prototype of the pyramid we see now.
In ancient Egyptian literature, the pyramid was layered in a trapezoidal shape, so it was also called a hierarchical pyramid. This is a tall pyramidal building with a square base and triangular characters on each side. It looks like the Chinese character "金", so we call it "pyramid". The tower-style mausoleum designed by Imhotep was the first stone mausoleum in Egyptian history.
In the earliest times, the Egyptian pharaohs prepared to use Mastaba as their permanent residence after death. Later, around the time of the Second to Third Dynasties, the Egyptians developed the concept that the king would become a god after his death and his soul would ascend to heaven. In the "Pyramid Inscription" later discovered, there is this sentence: "Build a ladder to heaven for him (Pharaoh) so that he can go up to heaven from there."
The pyramid is such a ladder to heaven.
At the same time, the pyramid form also represents the worship of the sun god, because the symbol of the ancient Egyptian sun god "La" is the sun's rays. The pyramid symbolizes the rays of the sun piercing the sky. Because when you stand on the road leading to Kizer and look to the west from the angle of the pyramid's ridge, you can see the pyramid like the sun's rays spreading to the earth.
There is a saying in the "Pyramid Inscription": "The sky extends its light to you so that you can go to the sky, like the eyes of Ra." Later, the ancient Egyptians' worship of the obelisk also had this meaning, because the obelisk also represented the rays of the sun.
Some people think that it is impossible for the ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids. They say that the pyramids may have been created by aliens or left by more ancient humans, because there are too many mysteries about the pyramids!
The pyramid is the tomb of the slave king of ancient Egypt. These rulers are known historically as "Pharaohs." Pharaohs not only ruled the world while alive, but also imagined becoming gods after death and dominating the underworld. Therefore, after the death of a "Pharaoh", the internal organs were taken out, soaked in preservatives, filled with spices, and the body was preserved for a long time, called a "mummy." . The pyramid is the tomb where the mummies of the "Pharaoh" are stored. There are now 96 pyramids preserved in Egypt, most of which are located on the edge of the desert west of the arable valleys on the west bank of the Nile.
Large pyramids were generally built in the Third to Sixth Dynasties of the Old Kingdom (approximately 2664 BC to 2180 BC) in Giza, Saqqara, not far north of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis. There are a large number of ruins in places such as Rasul, Maydum and Abu Sir.
Because the pyramid is a square cone-shaped building, ancient Egyptians called it "Pyramus", which means "high"; and its base is square, becoming narrower as it goes up. Up to the top of the tower, it looks like the Chinese character "gold" from all sides, so it has always been translated as "pyramid" in China.
Among the many pyramids, the most famous is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is located in the Giza area about 13 kilometers southwest of Cairo. There are three pyramids in this group, which were built by Khufu (the second generation Pharaoh), Khafre (the fourth generation Pharaoh) and Menkaure (the sixth generation Pharaoh) of the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.
The Pyramid of Khufu, also known as the Pyramid of Cheops, was built in 2760 BC. It is the largest pyramid in history and one of the man-made miracles in the world. It is listed as the 7 wonders of the world. of the first place. The tower was originally 146.5 meters high, but due to thousands of years of wind and rain erosion, it is now 138 meters high.
The four sides of the original base were 230 meters long each, and are now 220 meters long. The four slopes of the conical building face the east, south, west and north directions, with an inclination angle of 51 degrees and 52 minutes. There was originally a limestone road about 1 kilometer long surrounding the tower, and there are still remains to be found on the east and west sides of the tower. The entire pyramid is built on a huge convex rock, covering an area of ??about 52,900 square meters, with a volume of about 2.6 million cubic meters, and is made of about 2.3 million stone blocks. There are about 115,000 outer stones, each weighing an average of 2.5 tons. The largest one weighs about 16 tons. The total weight of all stones is 6.848 million tons. Its geographical location is 31°07′ east longitude and 29°58′ north latitude.
What is surprising is that there is no adhesive between these stones. Instead, one stone is directly stacked on another, and they are stacked together entirely by the weight of the stone itself. The surface joints are Tight and precise, not even a thin blade can be inserted. The height error between the southeast and northwest corners of the tower is only 1.27 centimeters. It took 100,000 laborers and took 30 years to build.
The entrance to the Pyramid of Khufu is located on the thirteenth stone step on the north wall of the tower, about 20 meters above the ground. Four huge stone slabs form a "herringbone" arch at the entrance, and inside is a more than 100-meter-long sloping tunnel leading directly to the tomb. The tomb is 10.43 meters long, 5.21 meters wide, 5.82 meters high, and the vertical distance from the ground is 42.28 meters. There was only a dark brown polished marble sarcophagus in the room. The interior of the coffin was empty, and the whereabouts of the lid was unknown. There are five floors of rooms above the tomb. The roof of the highest floor is triangular in order to evenly distribute the weight pressed down on both sides. At the same time, the tomb also has ventilation passages built in stones. The appearance of the Great Pyramid of Khufu is solemn, majestic, simple and steady. It is integrated with the surrounding boundless highlands and deserts and is very harmonious. Its internal structure is complex and changeable, with unique ingenuity, its own style, and embodies extraordinary wisdom. The pyramid has gone through thousands of years of vicissitudes, shaking in earthquakes, but not collapsing or deforming, showing the incredible high level of technology and exquisite architectural art in ancient times. Therefore, UNESCO listed it as one of the world's key protected cultural relics and became a symbol of ancient Egyptian civilization.
The second pyramid at Giza, the pyramid built by Kavre, is centrally located. It is slightly smaller than the Pyramid of Khufu, but its artistic style and engineering precision are comparable to it. And because it is built on a higher platform, at first glance, it seems to be more majestic than the former. The base of the tower is 215.7 meters long and 143.6 meters high. It is also built of limestone and granite. The remaining ancillary buildings are relatively complete and spectacular, including two temples built of huge stones: the upper temple and the lower temple.
The third pyramid built by Menkaule is located at the southern end. It is the smallest but very delicate. Its base is 108.7 meters long and its height is 66.5 meters. The three pyramids in Giza have all been stolen, and the treasures in the tombs have been basically lost. However, the superb engineering technology of the ancient Egyptian people they embody attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world every day.
Appearance of the Pyramid
The pyramid has a history of 4,500 years. Because it resembles the word "gold" in Chinese characters, it is called "pyramid". The pyramid itself is a king. Mausoleum building. It is magnificent in scale and sophisticated in structure. The inside of the tower is solid except for the tomb chamber and passage, and the fixed part is in the shape of a cone. The pyramid has survived many earthquakes and remained intact. It is known as the tallest ancient building today and the first of the eight wonders of the world.
There is a Sphinx in front of the pyramid, which is the image of Hafura, the son of Pharaoh Khufu in the Fourth Dynasty of the ancient kings. It is called the Sphinx, 20 meters high and 57 meters long. One ear is two meters high. Except for the lion's claws, which are made of stone, the entire Sphinx is carved from a large natural rock. There was damage to the nose, said to have been blown off by cannon fire by Napoleon's soldiers during a battle. The Sphinx symbolizes the pharaoh's supremacy and inviolability.
Pharaoh's Tomb
The Pharaoh's Tomb extends to 30 meters below the horizon. On the left side of the tomb, there are the treasure carriages that the Pharaoh took when traveling and the treasure bed he used. Located in the center of the tomb is the coffin of Pharaoh Khufu. It is made of large wood inlaid with gold rims and gold nuggets. It is very gorgeous and exquisite. The coffin is divided into two layers. The upper layer is a full-body wooden statue of the pharaoh. , the lower level houses the mummy of the pharaoh. The funerary objects include the pharaoh's beloved swords, knives, ancient Egyptian treasure ships, treasure bottles, and treasure chests. The most attractive ones are four huge treasure basins, which contain rare treasures and are priceless. In front of the coffin are two people holding artifacts. The patron saint has four beautiful maids at the four corners.
The Queen's Tomb
The Queen's tomb is slightly smaller than the Pharaoh's tomb. Her coffin is carved from a huge monolithic stone with fine craftsmanship and is very gorgeous. It's the queen's mummy. She was also buried with rich objects, including a condor statue, a treasure chest and a sphinx in the left corner. In the right corner is the dressing table used by the queen.
The relationship between the Egyptian pyramids and astronomical astrology
In Egypt, Osiris, the god of death, transformed into the constellation Orion, and his youngest sister, the goddess of sex who was also his wife, Athys, transformed into the constellation after her death. Sirius, many documentaries such as DISCOVERY mentioned that the order of Khufu's three pyramids coincides with the position of the three stars in Orion's belt.
The relationship between the Egyptian pyramids and the earth's revolution
The configuration and orientation of the pyramids are very precise and are standard directions, so every year at noon on the days of the spring and autumn equinoxes, a kind of phenomenon will appear. The wonder is that the pyramid has no shadow and radiates light everywhere. The pyramids in the Americas also have the same purpose. Every solstice, in addition to being the same as the Egyptian pyramids, there will also be a mysterious spotted shadow similar to a feathered snake on its surface. It starts in the morning and moves upward little by little until evening. Time disappears at the top of the tower. Of course, this is closely related to their construction structure.
How to build
If the legend about the bold and wonderful design of the pyramid can still be accepted by modern people, then the construction process of such a huge scale is difficult to imagine. .
Khufu’s pyramid was built with millions of huge stones. Each stone weighed more than 2,000 kilograms on average, and the largest weighed more than 100 tons. These boulders were quarried from the east bank of the Nile and were not loaded and unloaded by cranes or transported by wheels.
Herodotus, known as the "Father of Western Historiography", once recorded that the stones used to build the Pyramid of Khufu were mined from the "Mounts of Arabia" (possibly the Sinai Peninsula). However, we now know that most of the stone was quarried locally, and the limestone that decorated its surface was mined and transported from Tula east of the river. It was not easy to mine stone at that time because people did not have explosives or steel drills at that time. The Egyptians used copper or bronze chisels to drill holes in the rocks, then inserted wooden wedges and filled them with water. When the wooden wedges were swollen with water, the rocks would burst. This method may seem clumsy today, but it was an amazing technology more than 4,000 years ago. Transporting the quarry to the pyramid site was also extremely difficult. The ancient Egyptians loaded the stones on sleds and pulled them with humans and animals. A wide and smooth road is needed for this. It took 10 years to build the road to transport the stone and the underground tomb of the pyramid.
When building the Pyramid of Khufu, Khufu forced all the Egyptians to work for him. They were divided into large groups of 100,000 people to work, and each large group had to work for 3 months. Among these workers were slaves, but there were also many ordinary farmers and craftsmen. Ancient Egyptian slaves used animal power and rolling logs to transport the boulders to the construction site. They then piled the natural sand around the site into a slope and pulled the boulders up the slope to the pyramid. In this way, a layer of slopes is piled, a layer of stones is laid, and the pyramid is gradually raised. It took 30 years to build the Pyramid of Khufu.
Later generations raised many questions about Herodotus' statement. But to this day it is still a difficult problem that no one can give a complete answer to. How can people not admire the great strength and wisdom of the Egyptian people!
In this century, as UFO observation and research activities become more and more widespread, some people even connect the mysterious pyramids with the unpredictable aliens on UFOs. They believe that thousands of years ago, it was impossible for humans to have the ability to build pyramids, and only aliens could. After calculation, they also found that the longitude lines passing through the Pyramid of Khufu in the suburbs of Cairo divide the earth into eastern and western hemispheres, and their land areas are equal. This "coincidence" is probably the intention of the aliens in choosing the location where the pyramid was built.
However, a French chemist named David Dewes proposed a new insight into the construction of the pyramid. He believed that the huge stones used to build the pyramid were not natural, but were poured artificially. From an archaeologist, he obtained five small stones taken from the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt and tested them one by one. Unexpectedly, laboratory tests proved that the stones were composed of shell limestone. Although archeology proves that humans mastered the art of making concrete thousands of years ago, it is hard to believe that these shell limestones are cast so rock-hard that it is difficult to distinguish them from granite.
David Dewes speculated from this that the ancient Egyptians used the "breaking into pieces" method to build the pyramids, that is, put the mixed concrete into baskets and carry them up or carry them on their backs while they are being built. of pyramids. In this way, as long as you master certain skills, you can cast huge stones one by one and raise the tower layer by layer. This method is both "effort-saving" and labor-saving. According to his estimate, there were only 1,500 people, not 100,000 in each batch as Herodotus said.
Even more unexpectedly, the French scientist also found an inch-long strand of human hair among the rocks. This strand of hair may be a testament to their hard work and brilliant wisdom. But the above statements are still speculation.
But in any case, the construction of the pyramid must have concentrated all the ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians at that time, because it must have had many problems to solve. But these problems were solved, the pyramid was built, and it has stood for more than 4,000 years, which is a miracle in itself. Therefore, it can be said that the pyramid is the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancient Egyptian people and a symbol of ancient Egyptian civilization.
Some people do not believe that miracles can be created by relying on simple collaboration, and do not believe that humans on earth can create miracles like the pyramids themselves, describing them as the creation of aliens. This is obviously incorrect and does not help people explore their own history and understand their own abilities.
According to legend, before the Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt, both princes, ministers and ordinary people were buried in a rectangular tomb made of mud bricks. The ancient Egyptians called it "mastaba". . Later, a smart young man named Imhotep invented a new construction method when designing a tomb for the Egyptian Pharaoh King Djoser. He used square stones quarried from the mountain instead of mud bricks, and continued to modify the design of the tomb. Finally, he built a six-level trapezoidal pyramid - this is the prototype of the pyramid we see now.
In ancient Egyptian literature, the pyramid was layered in a trapezoidal shape, so it was also called a hierarchical pyramid. This is a tall pyramidal building with a square base and a triangle on each side. It looks like the Chinese character "金", so we call it "pyramid". The tower-style mausoleum designed by Imhotep was the first stone mausoleum in Egyptian history.
Egyptian pharaohs after King Djoser followed his lead and built tombs for themselves during their lifetimes. This set off a trend of building pyramids in ancient Egypt. Since the pyramids originated during the Old Kingdom and the largest pyramid was built during this period, Egypt's Old Kingdom is also called the Pyramid Age.
Why did the pharaohs of ancient Egypt build their tombs into the shape of a pyramid, that is, into the golden shape in Chinese characters? It turns out that in the earliest times, the Egyptian pharaohs planned to use Mastaba as their permanent residence after death. Later, around the time of the Second to Third Dynasties, the Egyptians developed the concept that the king would become a god after his death and his soul would ascend to heaven. In the "Pyramid Inscriptions" later discovered, there are these words:
"Build a ladder to heaven for him (Pharaoh) so that he can ascend to heaven from there."
The pyramid is such a ladder to heaven. At the same time, the pyramid form also represents the worship of the sun god, because the symbol of the ancient Egyptian sun god "La" is the sun's rays. The pyramid symbolizes the rays of the sun piercing the sky. Because when you stand on the road leading to Kizer and look to the west from the angle of the pyramid's ridge, you can see the pyramid like the sun's rays spreading to the earth.
The largest of all the pyramids in ancient Egypt is the pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty.
The Great Pyramid was originally 146.59 meters high. After thousands of years of wind and rain, the top has been eroded by nearly 10 meters. But until the Eiffel Tower was built in Paris in 1888, it had been the tallest building in the world. The base of this pyramid is square, with each side more than 230 meters long. It takes almost a kilometer to go around the pyramid.
Khufu's pyramid, in addition to being stunning for its size, is also famous for its high degree of architectural skill.
In addition, there is a triangular entrance and exit made of four huge stones on the north side of the Great Pyramid 13 meters above the ground. This triangle is used very cleverly, because if a quadrilateral is used instead of a triangle, then the huge pressure of the pyramid itself, which is more than 100 meters high, will collapse the entrance. With the triangle, the huge pressure is evenly dispersed. Having such an understanding and application of the principles of mechanics and such a structure more than 4,000 years ago is truly remarkable. Shortly after Khufu's death, another pyramid was built not far from his Great Pyramid. This is the pyramid of Khafre, the son of Khufu. It is 3 meters lower than Khufu's pyramid, but because of its slightly higher terrain, it seems to be taller than Khufu's pyramid. There is a large statue carved with the head of Khafre and the body of a lion built near the tower, which is the so-called "Sphinx". Westerners call it "Sphynx". The statue is 20 meters high, 57 meters long, and one ear is two meters high. Except for the lion, which is made of stone, the entire Sphinx is carved out of a huge natural rock. It has a history of more than 4,500 years. Why is it carved into a lion's body? In ancient Egyptian mythology, lions are the guardians of various mysterious places and the gates to the underworld. Because the Pharaoh wanted to become the sun god after his death, such a sphinx was built to guard the door for the Pharaoh. After the Fourth Dynasty, other pharaohs built many pyramids, but their scale and quality could not be compared with the above-mentioned pyramids. After the Sixth Dynasty, with the division of the ancient kingdom and the decline of the power of the pharaohs, as well as the resistance of the Egyptian people and the robbing of tombs by some people, the "mummies" of the pharaohs were often dragged out of the pyramids, so the pharaohs of Egypt no longer built pyramids. , but dug a secret mausoleum deep in the mountains.
The long-term orientation of prehistoric sites will form an energy field within itself. The Great Pyramid is located on the earth and is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays. The stones used in the pile gradually play the role of storing energy over the years. When cosmic rays or electromagnetic waves penetrate rocks, the energy will attenuate differently depending on the thickness of the penetrated rocks.
The Great Pyramid has a unique square pyramid structure, and its internal space is a very harmonious vibration cavity. Various rays from the universe and man-made electromagnetic waves vibrate harmoniously in its internal space, combined with the concentrated geomagnetic force and the action of gravity to form an internal energy field (parathermal energy or pyramid energy). According to ancient legend, "time is afraid of the pyramids", which may refer to the phenomenon that the energy field inside the Great Pyramid appears to hinder the natural process. That is, the process that should occur naturally, when in the energy field inside the Great Pyramid, the process is delayed, or even Some proceed in the opposite direction. Organic objects such as animal carcasses placed in the energy field inside the Great Pyramid will not decay (this is a natural process), but will dehydrate and dry into mummies; while inorganic objects such as metal objects can retain their metallic luster for a long time. From a professional perspective It is said that this is the natural process of oxidation being delayed and the reverse reduction being enhanced. Metal crystals can return to their original regular arrangement from disordered arrangement. For the human body, Pyramid Energy or Pyramid Energy can quickly eliminate fatigue and accelerate the recovery of physical strength; enhance one's own immunity and promote the self-healing of the body's tissue cells. For microorganisms such as viruses and fungi, their reproduction is inhibited.
Distribution
Pyramids are distributed on both sides of the Nile River, in ancient Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, and in present-day Sudan and Egypt. The pyramids are the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs. They all vary in size. The largest is the Pyramid of Khufu, which is 137.2 meters high and 230 meters long at the base. It uses 2.3 million stones with an average of 2.5 tons each and covers an area of ??52,000 square meters. ruler.
The Mystery of the Pyramid Numbers
After measuring and studying the largest pyramid, the Pyramid of Khufu, some people proposed many numerical mysteries contained in the Great Pyramid. For example: extending the longitudinal bisector of the square base of the Great Pyramid of Khufu to infinity is the meridian of the earth; the meridian passing through the Great Pyramid of Khufu just divides the land and oceans on the earth into two even halves, and the center of gravity of the tower is exactly located At the center of gravity of each continent. Extending the diagonal line of the square at the base of the Great Pyramid will exactly include the Nile Delta, and extending the vertical bisector of the square will exactly bisect the Nile Delta. The circumference of the base of the Great Pyramid is 230.36 meters, which is 362.31 cubits (an ancient Egyptian measurement unit). This number is similar to the number of days in a year. The original height of the Great Pyramid was 146.7 meters (now collapsed to 137.3 meters) multiplied by 1 billion, which is approximately the distance between the earth and the sun. The sum of the lengths of the four bases of the Great Pyramid, divided by twice the height, is 3.14 - pi. The weight of the Great Pyramid itself multiplied by 7×1015 (8,000 pyramids would weigh the same as the earth, so unbelievable!) is exactly the weight of the earth. The square of the height of the Great Pyramid is approximately 21,520 meters, while its side area is 21,481 square meters. The two figures are almost equal. Judging from the orientation of the Great Pyramid, the four sides face due east, due south, due west, and due north respectively, with an error of no more than 0.5 degrees. On the extension line of the front entrance passage of the tower facing due north, place a basin of water instead of a mirror, so that the North Star can be reflected in the basin. … Are these numerical relationships an accidental coincidence, or an intentional design by the builder? Many scientists point out that these numerical relationships are not that mysterious. Except that some are coincidences, some numbers do not completely match the truth. For example: For a square pyramid built with an inclined plane of about 52 degrees, if the height h is divided by twice the base, that is, 2s/h, a value close to π will be obtained. According to the records of the ancient Greek historian Herod, when the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the area of ??each side of the pyramid was equal to the square of the height of the pyramid. According to this plan, this numerical relationship can indeed be obtained. In addition, there are some figures that reflect the outstanding achievements of the ancient Egyptian people in mathematics and astronomy. For example, the ancient Egyptians already knew how to use the water surface to locate the ground (that is, fill it with water first and use the horizontal plane to level the foundation) to obtain an accurate ground level; the ancient Egyptians selected one (or several) stars, carefully observed them with the help of simple instruments, and recorded them. The meridian is measured from the position of the star's emergence and emergence on the horizon, and then bisecting the angle formed from the observation point to the star's emergence point. Of course, some scientists have different views.
They think things are not that simple. Why can't other buildings except the Great Pyramid provide so many numbers that represent a considerable level of technology? With the scientific and technological knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, could they build a miraculous pyramid full of mysteries? It seems that things are indeed not simple, and scientists with different views are still arguing...
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