People have speculated for years over the mysteries of the Giza Pyramids and
the Sphinx. Theories of aliens and Atlanteans have dominated the arguments
against mere ancient Egyptians having the capability to construct such
spectacular creations.
One belief, that the ancient Egyptians were actually
descendents of the lost civilization of Atlantis, while interesting, doesn't
quite hold up under closer scrutinization. According to most historians,
the Sphinx is dated to 2500 B.C. Many, like the notable John Anthony West,
believes the structure to be much older.
He claimed the damage to the Sphinx
was water erosion from a great flood, the same that drowned Atlantis.
Robert Schoch, an American geologist, agreed to research it, in an attempt to
prove the hypothesis. The results of Schoch's studies agreed with the idea
that it was caused by water -- but rainwater, not a flood. If Schoch is
correct, then the Sphinx resided there during the last substantial rainfall,
between 7000 and 5000 B.C, a minimum of at least another 2500 years before the
commonly recognized date of construction. Most say that more years of
water erosion would have been necessary for the amount of damage to the
structure.
Edgar Cayce, widely accepted as a modern-time soothsayer in the
1930's, supported the theory of Atlantis with one of his many guided glimpses
into the past. He also said that both the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid
were built by Atlantis survivors, and that it was done in 10,500 B.C. He
predicted that they'd sealed their knowledge and wisdom into a "Hall of Records"
in the pyramid and that this jackpot of information would be discovered in 1998.
Guess what? It came and went.
However, as an interesting twist to this
idea, consider SRI International, the world's largest private scientific
research institute, backed by the American military, the Pentagon and the CIA.
During the 1970's, they sent many expeditions with high-tech equipment to seek
out hidden chambers. In 1979, they quit looking, presumably finding
nothing of interest.
Conspiracy buffs jumped on the bandwagon, claiming they
had found something and kept it secret from the world. The proof? A
belief that the year 1998 was a numerology mistake by Edward Cayce since in the
year 1979, the 19 + 79 equals '98. And the secret they're keeping --
anything from technology to the belief of some sort of galactic countdown, which
they would hide to diffuse panic, since some global transformation was to take
place after the discovery.
The 'countdown' idea is held by others to some
degree, as well. According to one source, it's called the Great Solar
Cycle, a time we, as in Earth, have been given to progress and prepare for our
advancement, or graduation, to the Ascension.
The theory is that the pyramids
were buildt in 10,500 B.C. (this date is under great debate as the actual date
of construction), which is also the time of our Solar Breath. This same
source claims that the pyramids' internal airshafts aligned with their celestial
counterparts and gives rise to the Stargate Theory, which involves precision
alignment of constellations to scan backwards to a specific point of the same
alignment. In essence, time travel.
While all this sounds like science
fiction, so did computers at one time, so who knows? At this point, it
seems rather far-fetched, to say the least.
However, constellations do play an
integral part of the pyramids and Sphinx of Giza. Robert Bauval and Graham
Hancock first introduced the observation that the three pyramids were in the
same alignment as the three stars of Orion's Belt. It is through this
observation that we may actually see substantial evidence to pinpoint the date
of construction to 10,500 B.C.
Using the widely accepted date of 2500 B.C. and
computer generated star charts, Orion's Belt would not have aligned with the
pyramids. Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the stars change, so
when computer simulations were used to wind back the skies, the stars of Orion's
Belt were in alignment with the positioning in Giza in 10,500 B.C!
Furthermore, this was the Age of the Lion (Leo constellation), and the vernal
point (where the sun rose) was directly in front of the Sphinx, long held to
have body of a lion! It is entirely possible that the position is
directing us to a specific point in time.
In 1998, Hancock pointed our
attention to the Cambodian site of Angkor Wat, stating that additionally, these
temples were in the position of the constellation Draco, in 10,500 B.C.
This allegation has been widely rebutted from historians, astrologists,
astronomers, and numerous others.
Is it so bizarre the Egyptians would map out
stars with the pyramids? Ancient people the world over used the sun to
tell time. Sailors used the sun and stars for their directional value.
Consider this -- the earth has a grand cycle of precession of the equinoxes
which repeats approximately every 26,000 years. Ancient people tracked the
twelve constellations of the zodiac which are equal to lengths of roughly 2,165
years. How can we be sure? The Bible, a wealth of historical facts,
tells us in a very subtle way that possibly only astology buffs or a
mathematician may notice.
The story of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments
tells the tale. Upon returning, he scorned the people for making a golden
calf. Of course they were -- they were in the Age of Taurus (the bull).
Aries the Ram was in ascension and amazingly enough, this was also a time when
the sacrifice of lambs cleansed sins. We can see from this history that
the people paid attention to the constellations.
Orion is the key to the
26,000 years cycle of the equinoxes. Of all the stars in the sky, it's
among the easiest to spot. Orion moves up for 13,000 years and back down
for the last 13,000 years. We are, right now, at Orion's approximate
highpoint (which also gives credence to the countdown idea, if one believes that
10,500 B.C. marks some sort of starting point).
Yet another thought -- were
the creators purposefully drawing our attention to Orion? Orion's Belt is
easily the most recognizable part of the constellation -- but consider the sword
Orion carries. The central "star" of the sword isn't a star at all.
The Great Orion Nebula is a large glowing cloud of material. One of the
most studied in the sky, it's widely believed to be a huge star formation
approximately 1630 light years away.
The nebula is actually the glow of many
newborn stars shining on the surrounding gaseous cloud. Millions of years
from now, planets -- maybe even some like Earth -- will be born there, according
to scientists. Returning to the theory of a helping hand from off-world
visitors for a moment, this is one reason some believe the aliens idea, and that
our attention is being drawn to Orion for a purpose.
Perhaps there's no reason
other than pride. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Celts all had gods
they followed. Their beliefs are still with us today in holidays, days of
the week, months of the year -- do some research on the word Thursday, for
example. You'll see how it's derived from the Norse god, Thor.
With this
in mine -- that pieces of ancient gods have been passed down -- and that we
recognize Orion as a hunter, maybe the Egyptians simply wished to honor him.
Their warrior and hunter god was Anhur. Furthermore, he was the
personification of royal warriors (royalty/pharaohs were entombed in the
pyramids), and his consort was the lion goddess. He was honored as a
protector of Re (also known as Amun-Re or Re-Atum), who the Egyptians believed
created all of humankind from his tears. So, it wouldn't be so strange to
accept that they chose to honor the hunter placed in the night sky.
Additionally, just as the constellation Orion was used to measure the equinoxes,
the Sirius star was used to track the year. It's helical path is 365.25
days, so at the rising of the star, it corresponded to New Year's Day in ancient
Egypt.
Based on the fact that the Sirius Star is also known as the Dog Star,
author Robert Temple tried to make the connection that the Sphinx does not have
the body of a lion, but rather that of a dog, to honor Anubis.
Anubis is the
jackal-headed god of the dead and his theory is that the Sphinx doesn't only
honor him, but that he's guarding the dead in the pyramid temples.
Backing up
a bit, during studies of a West African tribe called the Dogon, whose religion
centers on the Sirius star, and has for eons, he discovered that they also
believed in Sirius' companion star -- but it's invisible to the naked eye.
In fact, this too-tiny-to-see companion star remained undiscovered until 1842,
and wasn't photographed until the 1970's. So, how could the Dogon know of
it?
This led to the connection, according to Temple, that the knowledge was
gained from contact with off-world visitors. he believes the contact took
place in Egypt, hence the Sphinx with the body of the dog (the Dog Star), and
that they then are responsible for the human race and that the Giza structures
are our indicators.
However, upon some research, it should be pointed out that
the Egyptians didn't nickname Sirius the Dog Star, so the sphinx-dog correlation
doesn't hold together. Sirius was associated with Isis, not Anubis; and it
was the Greeks who much later christened it the Dog Star, becaus it's in the
constellation Canis Major (the Great Dog).
Arguments can be made for and
against all the ideas presented here as an explanation of the mysteries of the
pyramids, and their date of creation. Whether it has anything to do with
aliens or not, there's obviously a connection to Orion, the constellations, and
the Egyptian gods.
