Myths and Marvels of Astronomy
of these buildings, was not built by an Egyptian holding in great favour
the special religious ideas of his people, but by one who had adopted
other views and those not belonging, so far as can be seen, to a people
among whom sepulchral rites were held in exceptional regard.
A still stronger objection against the exclusively tombic theory
resides in the fact that this theory gives no account whatever of the
characteristic features of the pyramids themselves. These buildings are
all, without exception, built on special astronomical principles. Their
square bases are so placed as to have two sides lying east and west, and
two lying north and south, or, in other words, so that their four faces
front the four cardinal points. One can imagine no reason why a tomb
should have such a position. It is not, indeed, easy to understand why
any building at all, except an astronomical observatory, should have
such a position. A temple perhaps devoted to sun-worship, and generally
to the worship of the heavenly bodies, might be built in that way. For
it is to be noticed that the peculiar figure and position of the
pyramids would bring about the following relations:--When the sun rose
and set south of the east and west points, or (speaking generally)
between the autumn and the spring equinoxes, the rays of the rising and
setting sun illuminated the southern face of the pyramid; whereas during
the rest of the year, that is, during the six months between the spring
and autumn equinoxes, the rays of the rising and setting sun illuminated
the northern face. Again, all the year round the sun's rays passed from
the eastern to the western face at solar noon. And lastly, during seven
months and a half of each year, namely, for three months and three
quarters before and after midsummer, the noon rays of the sun fell on
all four faces of the pyramid, or, according to a Peruvian expression
(so Smyth avers), the sun shone on the pyramid 'with all his rays.' Such
conditions as these might have been regarded as very suitable for a
temple devoted to sun-worship. Yet the temple theory is as untenable as
the tomb theory. For, in the first place, the pyramid form--as the
pyramids were originally built, with perfectly smooth slant-faces, not
terraced into steps as now through the loss of the casing-stones--was
entirely unsuited for all the ordinary requirements of a temple of
worship. And further, this theory gives no explanation of the fact that
each king built a pyramid, and each king only one. Similar difficulties
oppose the theory that the pyramids were intended to serve as
astronomical observatories. For while their original figure, however
manifestly astronomical in its relations, was quite unsuited for
observatory work, it is manifest that if such had been the purpose of
pyramid-building, so soon as the Great Pyramid had once been built, no
other would be needed. Certainly none of the pyramids built afterwards
could have subserved any astronomical purpose which the first did not
subserve, or have subserved nearly so well as the Great Pyramid those
purposes (and they are but few) which that building may be supposed to
have fulfilled as an astronomical observatory.
Of the other theories mentioned at the beginning of this paper none seem
to merit special notice, except perhaps the theory that the pyramids
were made to receive the royal treasures, and this theory rather because
of the attention it received from Arabian literati, during the ninth and
tenth centuries, than because of any strong reasons which can be
suggested in its favour. 'Emulating,' says Professor Smyth, 'the
enchanted tales of Bagdad,' the court poets of Al Mamoun (son of the
far-famed Haroun al Raschid) 'drew gorgeous pictures of the contents of
the pyramid's interior.... All the treasures of Sheddad Ben Ad the great
Antediluvian king of the earth, with all his medicines and all his
sciences, they declared were there, told over and over again. Others,
though, were positive that the founder-king was no other than Saurid Ibn
Salhouk, a far greater one than the other; and these last gave many more
minute particulars, some of which are at least interesting to us in the
present day, as proving that, amongst the Egypto-Arabians of more than
a thousand years ago, the Jeezeh pyramids, headed by the grand one,
enjoyed a pre-eminence of fame vastly before all the other pyramids of
Egypt put together; and that if any other is alluded to after the Great
Pyramid (which has always been the notable and favourite one, and
chiefly was known then as the East pyramid), it is either the second one
at Jeezeh, under the name of the West pyramid; or the third one,
distinguished as the Coloured pyramid, in allusion to its red granite,
compared with the white limestone casings of the other two (which,
moreover, from their more near, but by no means exact, equality of size,
went frequently under the affectionate designation of "the pair").'
The report of Ibn Abd Alkohm, as to what was to be found in each of
these three pyramids, or rather of what, according to him, was put into
them originally by King Saurid, runs as follows: 'In the Western
pyramid, thirty treasuries filled with store of riches and utensils, and
with signatures made of precious stones, and with instruments of iron
and vessels of earth, and with arms which rust not, and with glass which
might be bended and yet not broken, and with strange spells, and with
several kinds of _alakakirs_ (magical precious stones) single and
double, and with deadly poisons, and with other things besides. He made
also in the East' (the Great Pyramid) 'divers celestial spheres and
stars, and what they severally operate in their aspects, and the
perfumes which are to be used to them, and the books which treat of
these matters. He put also into the coloured pyramid the commentaries of
the priests in chests of black marble, and with every priest a book, in
which the wonders of his profession and of his actions and of his nature
were written, and what was done in his time, and what is and what shall
be from the beginning of time to the end of it.' The rest of this
worthy's report relates to certain treasurers placed within these three
pyramids to guard their contents, and (like all or most of what I have
already quoted) was a work of imagination. Ibn Abd Alkohm, in fact, was
a romancist of the first water.
Perhaps the strongest argument against the theory that the pyramids were
intended as strongholds for the concealment of treasure, resides in the
fact that, search being made, no treasure has been discovered. When the
workmen employed by Caliph Al Mamoun, after encountering manifold
difficulties, at length broke their way into the great ascending passage
leading to the so-called King's Chamber, they found 'a right noble
apartment, thirty-four feet long, seventeen broad, and nineteen high, of
polished red granite throughout, walls, floor, and ceiling, in blocks
squared and true, and put together with such exquisite skill that the
joints are barely discernible to the closest inspection. But where is
the treasure--the silver and the gold, the jewels, medicines, and
arms?--These fanatics look wildly around them, but can see nothing, not
a single _dirhem_ anywhere. They trim their torches, and carry them
again and again to every part of that red-walled, flinty hall, but
without any better success. Nought but pure polished red granite, in
mighty slabs, looks upon them from every side. The room is clean,
garnished too, as it were, and, according to the ideas of its founders,
complete and perfectly ready for its visitors so long expected, so long
delayed. But the gross minds who occupy it now, find it all barren, and
declare that there is nothing whatever for them in the whole extent of
the apartment from one end to another; nothing except an empty stone
chest without a lid.'
It is, however, to be noted that we have no means of learning what had
happened between the time when the pyramid was built and when Caliph Al
Mamoun's workmen broke their way into the King's Chamber. The place
may, after all, have contained treasures of some kind; nor, indeed, is
it incompatible with other theories of the pyramid to suppose that it
was used as a safe receptacle for treasures. It is certain, however,
that this cannot have been the special purpose for which the pyramids
were designed. We should find in such a purpose no explanation whatever
of any of the most stringent difficulties encountered in dealing with
other theories. There could be no reason why strangers from the East
should be at special pains to instruct an Egyptian monarch how to hide
and guard his treasures. Nor, if the Great Pyramid had been intended to
receive the treasures of Cheops, would Chephren have built another for
his own treasures, which must have included those gathered by Cheops.
But, apart from this, how inconceivably vast must a treasure-hoard be
supposed to be, the safe guarding of which would have repaid the
enormous cost of the great Pyramid in labour and material! And then, why
should a mere treasure-house have the characteristics of an astronomical
observatory? Manifestly, if the pyramids were used at all to receive
treasures, it can only have been as an entirely subordinate though
perhaps convenient means of utilising these gigantic structures.
Having thus gone through all the suggested purposes of the pyramids save
two or three which clearly do not possess any claim to serious
consideration, and having found none which appear to give any sufficient
account of the history and principal features of these buildings, we
must either abandon the inquiry or seek for some explanation quite
different from any yet suggested. Let us consider what are the principal
points of which the true theory of the pyramids should give an account.
In the first place, the history of the pyramids shows that the erection
of the first great pyramid was in all probability either suggested to
Cheops by wise men who visited Egypt from the East, or else some
important information conveyed to him by such visitors caused him to
conceive the idea of building the pyramid. In either case we may
suppose, as the history indeed suggests, that these learned men, whoever
they may have been, remained in Egypt to superintend the erection of the
structure. It may be that the architectural work was not under their
supervision; in fact, it seems altogether unlikely that shepherd-rulers
would have much to teach the Egyptians in the matter of architecture.
But the astronomical peculiarities which form so significant a feature
of the Great Pyramid were probably provided for entirely under the
instructions of the shepherd chiefs who had exerted so strange an
influence upon the mind of King Cheops.
Next, it seems clear that self-interest must have been the predominant
reason in the mind of the Egyptian king for undertaking this stupendous
work. It is true that his change of religion implies that some higher
cause influenced him. But a ruler who could inflict such grievous
burdens on his people in carrying out his purpose that for ages
afterwards his name was held in utter detestation, cannot have been
solely or even chiefly influenced by religious motives. It affords an
ample explanation of the behaviour of Cheops, in closing the temples and
forsaking the religion of his country, to suppose that the advantages
which he hoped to secure by building the pyramid depended in some way on
his adopting this course. The visitors from the East may have refused to
give their assistance on any other terms, or may have assured him that
the expected benefit could not be obtained if the pyramid were erected
by idolaters. It is certain, in any case, that they were opposed to