THE GREAT PYRAMID

by F. Howard Buchanan.[1]

 

PART I

I MUST confess to having taken upon myself a very great measure of boldness in daring to come before such an audience as this, still more so in selecting as my subject that of " The Great Pyramid of Gizeh," one of the Seven Wonders of the World—a work so vast in extent that a man would be bold indeed who ventured to hope that he could condense all the known facts about it into the compass of one afternoon's discourse. I am only too conscious that I must utterly fail to satisfy the natural lust of archaeologists—in which I am sure Dorset abounds —for deeper and more technical detail of a monument in stone still standing which antedates even your neighbouring Stonehenge.

If, however, honesty is a virtue, I trust my boldness has been no crime. Realizing that one cannot hope to cover such a vast ground as my theme really warrants in one brief hour, I propose to transport you, by slide and speech, direct into Egypt and bring you without more delay than is necessary right into the atmosphere of the Desert and its Pyramids, and there, advancing step by step, view from many angles this great Temple of Stone, to learn what we may of its hidden mysteries and virtues.

In order to visit the Pyramids we first of all travel to Cairo, the capital of Egypt, a land of which Herodotus wrote that it contained more wonders than any other. Before Herodotus, the prophet Jeremiah said much the same thing, and he affirmed that its wonders were set therein as signs by the Great Architect of the Universe. Most of its famous mosques have been built to a great extent from and with the smooth polished white casing-stones removed by successive Arab conquerors from the Pyramids. Some of those casing-stones remain on the Second Pyramid at this present time, thus attesting to the extreme skill of the masons of over 4,000 years ago.

On leaving Cairo we cross the Nile by the Kaer-en-Nil bridge, and find ourselves on an avenue of acacia trees some 8 miles in length, at the end of which are three Pyramids, plainly visible, looking in the distance like huge tents or colossal crystals of mountain size. Approaching nearer, it will be seen that the Great Pyramid itself is built upon a rock which rises 100 feet above the plain. Both geological and mechanical enquiry and investigation have proved that the hill on which the Great Pyramid stands was once jagged in outline towards the summit, and that the first step of preparation for this remarkable building act (which commenced all stone architecture on this earth subsequent to the Deluge) was to cut away all the upper rotten part of the rock, and level it down to a grand platform, and on that platform, levelled, smoothed, and white, the proportions of the base, decided on long before, were accurately laid down.

At the outset let me disillusion you as regards the theory that the Great Pyramid is the tomb of a Pharaoh. It is a building of far greater importance than that. The coffer standing in its “sanctum sanctorum," the King's Chamber, is not a sarcophagus. It is a mighty measure of capacity. Its cubic contents equals that of the sacred Ark of the Covenant of Moses, and, furthermore, it is intensely interesting to us to find that our old Anglo-Saxon "Quarter" measure for corn (the measure standardised by law in Magna Charta) is exactly a fourth part of this Pyramid coffer. That this ancient measure could never have been the last resting-place of an Egyptian King is proved in two ways; firstly, by the fact that it is two-fifths of an inch wider than the portcullis entrance of the Ascending Passage, and could therefore never have been pushed through, and, secondly, that the passage itself was sealed up before the King's Chamber was built; a body could only have been placed in the chamber during the actual process of construction, a proceeding utterly at variance with Egyptian custom.

The Great Pyramid is nothing more nor less than a Bible in stone, a statement in mathematics of divine law and ordinance, a mighty scientific inspiration vouchsafed to the descendants of Seth. No less a revered and mysterious personality than Melchisedec may be regarded as its originator and supervisor; and we need not feel this to be in any degree a fallacious statement. For if the Grand Geometrician of the Universe gave to Noah the plan of the saving Ark, and to Moses the design of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, and to David the construction of the Temple on Mount Moriah, there is nothing incongruous or fictitious in assuming that the Great Pyramid is also a monument of Divine revelation. With these facts held firmly in thought, let us consider some of its most remarkable and salient features.

The Great Pyramid covers an area of some thirteen and a half acres of solid rock. It is approximately 456 feet high, but was originally intended to be 486 feet high. Its topstone is missing, and it is now generally accepted by authorities that it was never placed in position. The space at the top is about 30 feet square. The length of each side at the base is 755 feet, but before the outer layers of white limestone were removed each side was 20 feet longer, and the Pyramid itself supposedly 30 feet higher. It is calculated that at present the Great Pyramid contains 85,000,000 cubic feet of masonry. According to one authority the stone used in building was quarried at Tura, some ten miles from the Pyramid site, rolled down on a made road, and rolled up an embanked road and causeway on to the rock. According to Diodorus, the building took twenty years (others say thirty) to complete ; some 300,000 men were employed on it, working in gangs of 10,000, each gang working three months at a time.

The four sides of the Great Pyramid have been proved to face the four cardinal points of the compass with extraordinary exactitude, more so, it is said, than even the very latest modern observatory. The area of each of its four triangular faces is about five acres, each side being exactly 365¼ cubits, which is practically equivalent to the number of mean solar days in the year. The four corners are let into sockets, cut sharp down into the rock. The socket excavations were so accurately cut out and levelled by the hammer and chisel of the ancient mason that Mr. Inglis, the Scottish engineer who uncovered one in 1865, reported: "I have examined it all over its surface with my spirit level and can find no error in it."

The pyramid is built of huge blocks of limestone, arranged in terraces of gigantic stones some five feet in height, eight feet in breadth, and twelve feet in length, all joined together with a film of white cement no thicker than a sheet of silver paper.

The Great Pyramid is surrounded by the desert on all sides, except in the northward direction, where it faces and overlooks the Delta of the Nile from the exact mathematical vertical centre of it. This particular circumstance coincides in a remarkable manner with the prophecy of Isaiah xix.: "In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof. . . . And it shall be for a sign and a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt."

Only in quite modern times has it been shown that the Great Pyramid fulfils these two apparently contradictory conditions precisely.

Mr. Mitchell, of the U.S. Coast Survey Expedition, sent out to report on the Suez Canal Excavations in 1868, was much struck when cruising about in the Mediterranean with the singularly regular curvature of the North Coast of Egypt. He drew a curved line touching all the prominent coast points there, and found that it formed the perfect arc of a circle whose centre must be inland somewhere, he knew not then where. That centre has since been found to be the exact spot chosen on which to erect the first Pyramid.

The text from Isaiah would still seem not quite clear, but it should be remembered that there were two Egypts, an Upper and a Lower. The Great Pyramid is in the centre of those two Egypts, and at the border of both—on the border of the Lybian Desert, likewise, between the Eastern and Western parts. It is also in the centre of the inhabited area of the earth to-day. This fact is all the more remarkable when we realise that at the time the Pyramid was built, neither Australia nor America were known. The Pyramid also stands at the centre and at the border of the Nile Delta which the segment embraces.

It is interesting to note in passing that both the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge mark by means of the angles cast by the shadow of the stones the exact journey of the earth round the sun. They both mark solar astronomical time, as well as the . . . .

Fig 1. – THE GREAT PYRAMID IN THE CENTRE

And at the same time at the border of the sector-shaped land of Lower Egypt.

. . . . agricultural calendar for sowing and reaping. Stonehenge is so constructed that it is an expression of relationship of ancient Egyptian square and linear systems of measures: the diameter of the circle falling within the outer ring of stones being 1,163 British inches, which is the measurement of the Egyptian quarter "aroura." The Egyptians used the “aroura" to measure the seasons of the year.

The details concerning the Great Pyramid, its dimensions and units, its Passages and Chambers, as well as the theory of the purpose of its construction, are all clearly defined by the ancient Egyptian texts, and confirmed by the metrological data and Pyramid survey of Sir William Flinders Petrie.

An important branch of ancient Egyptian science, originating in the period 3500 to 2500 B.C., treats of the mathematical data of the astronomical ephemerides of the period. It is proved to demonstration that these data comprise formulae giving the astronomical constants and variables of processional and orbital movements and elements for every year within a period of 67½ centuries, extending from 4699 B.C. to A.D. 4205. The later Egyptian texts, dealing with these data independently, fix the years defined in relation to the years of known history. This fixing confirms the period as extending from 4699 B.C. to 4205 A.D. The striking feature of the identity effected is that the ancient Egyptian astronomical values and formulae for modern times agree precisely with the accepted values of formulae for modern times.

The ancient Egyptian data give a clear enunciation of the Law of Gravitation. This law and all astronomical changes and variations are expressed in terms of a single Law of Relativity, which is represented as the dominating Law of Creative Science. This law is expressed in geometrical terms. The Egyptian texts define these terms as embodied in the form of a Standard Pyramid of Scientific Reference. They give the proportions and numerical values of the Standard Pyramid dimensions, and specially define its metrological unit. This Standard Pyramid of the texts is identical in every respect with the Greater Pyramid of Gizeh, and the systems of geometry of the latter are seen to represent the gravitational astronomy and astronomical chronology of the ancient Egyptian ephemerides. The identity confirms the traditions descended from the ancient Egyptians concerning the Great Pyramid and the purpose of its construction.

Passing from the astronomical, geometrical and mathematical aspects of this structure, we will take . . . .

Fig 2 — REMNANT OF THE ORIGINAL CASING-STONE SURFACE OF THE GREAT PYRAMID,

Near the middle of its northern foot, as discovered by the excavations of Col. Howard Vyse in 1837.

. . . . a general view of the other pyramids still standing, principally those known as the Second and Third Pyramids. The Great, Second and Third Pyramids are the only ones usually recognised, the remainder being so small as scarcely to be worth attention. The granite used inside all the Pyramids is of a Syenitic variety, being brought from the first Cataracts at Syene, some 600 miles to the South. How this hard material was cut is a mystery, unless, in defiance of all the bronze age antiquaries, it is allowed that the use of iron and steel was then known. The discovery, by Colonel Howard Vyse, of a large mass of worked iron deep in the primitive masonry of the Great Pyramid almost seems to justify such a conclusion. The casing-stones themselves are especially worthy of consideration in this connection. These polished stones were wrought with such excellent skill as to be almost equal to modern optical makers work. They do not vary from a straight line and accurate square more than the hundredth part of an inch in a total length of 75 inches. The interstice between one stone and another was so thin as to allow for only a thin sheet of silver paper between them. Even this was filled and closed up by a cement, so that the stones, thus joined, gave to each triangular surface the appearance of a single polished slab, 5 acres in extent, sloping upwards to the sky. The accuracy of the two angles of these casing-stones is even more remarkable, one angle being cut to 3-10ths and the other to 7-10ths of a second. Note that this fractional exactitude had to be determined upon by the architect before a single casing-stone was chiselled, and had to be adhered to precisely by the skilled masons throughout the entire chiselling of the innumerable multitude of them. Surely Jeremiah was correct in assuming this whole structure to be the creative work of the Grand Geometrician of the Universe! (Jer. xxxii, i8-20.)

The layers or tiers of stone composing the bulk of the whole of the Great Pyramid are of varying thicknesses. They are mostly thinner higher up. The 35th course, or layer, is of very remarkable thickness, and can be picked out by the practised eye a long way off. It is estimated that it took 40,000 extra tons of lifting to make this 35th course. It is interesting to reason why this was done. Examination has shown that the top of this particular layer to the vertical centre line of the whole building, divided by ten, is equal to the exact length in inches that the base line is in cubits. Furthermore, when the horizontal measurement of this 35th course is divided by its height from the ground a very interesting number of special significance is arrived at—namely, 3.14159, which is the number where-with to square the circle, indispensable to higher branches of calculation, but a number that has been received as final by the modern world only in recent times. Various mathematicians were still hard at work in the eighties of last century trying to get a little nearer the mark than that decimal point if possible. Now all such effort has ceased, and this number is accepted which the builders of the Pyramid had perfect knowledge of over 4,000 years ago.

The cutting of the stone forming the layers is also remarkable from the point of view of their predetermined dimensions, on the accuracy of which the whole structure was minutely involved. No haphazard angle could be allowed here. The ultimate height of this Pyramid being decided upon beforehand, the angle stones had to be cut to such an exactitude that when the top stone was reached the height of the uppermost portion of it was at a predetermined and exact distance from the ground. The intricate calculation involved in doing this was most accurately worked out. That predetermined height was of the fractional exactness of 232.520 cubits, of 232½ cubits plus one half-an-inch in addition. The reason for this laboured precision may be found in the fact that if the height of the Pyramid is divided into twice the base, the result brought out again is that remarkable number 3.14159. The base line itself was fixed to be of the length of 365.242 cubits, the exact number of days in the solar year, even including the extra day every fourth year and allowing for the periodical dropping of a leap year at intervals. The builders, therefore, had an exact knowledge of the length of the solar year—an exactitude which we moderns did not attain until thousands of years had run their course. The grand angle-stones to be seen over the entrance passage's mouth are likewise of great mathematical interest, inasmuch as their angle is also a memorial of the circle-squaring angle of the . . . .

Fig 3 —ANGLES OF CASING-STONES OF GREAT PYRAMID,

As affected by its external slope and horizontal masonry courses.

. . . . whole form of the Great Pyramid, being, on either side of the vertical axis, 51deg. 51min. 14.3sec.

 

PART II

Before leaving the outside of this great structure to delve into its hidden internal mysteries it is worthy of note that the removal of the outer smoothly bevelled casing-stones, even though with violence and for plunder, over 1000 years ago, was a necessary preliminary to enable the scientific import of every part of the building and its secrets to be revealed in these latter days.

Despite the general and preconceived opinion already referred to, the Great Pyramid contained nothing but measurements, the significance and solutions of which, it is now maintained, can only be discerned through the Volume of the Sacred Law. In short, the language of the Pyramid is the language of mathematics, speaking in terms of numbers, measurements and magnitude, and by mathematical reference it reveals events, past, present and future. It is, in fact, a monumental representation of the mathematical and astronomical Science of a former civilization, and its geometrical framework defines, with the accuracy of modern astronomy, nine different astronomical values, while its internal geometrical system gives a complete exposition of Gravitational Astronomy. Thus it is concluded that this first Pyramid was built by members of an earlier civilization who possessed knowledge and faculties that have since been lost to the human race; that it was built with the definite purpose of transmitting a message to a later civilization which could understand and appreciate that message; and that the various geometrical and astronomical features of the exterior were designed to direct attention to the interior where the message lay hid.

Fig. 4 shows the vertical section of the building looking West in the plane of its passage.

The outer lines show the ancient finished surfaces and the courses of constructive masonry, the 50th of which is on the level of the floor of the King's Chamber. The builders used the measure of the Sacred Cubit, and since it is on this basis of measurement that the conclusions arrived at have been reached, it is essential to understand the connection between this cubit and the measurement known as the “Pyramid Inch." While the Bible does not give the precise number of inches comprised in the Sacred Cubit, the Great Pyramid does, though this fact has only been discovered during the last hundred years. The “Pyramid Inch” is derived from the earth’s Polar diameter, which measures exactly 500 million primitive inches. The Sacred Cubit is a unit of this system – namely, 25 primitive inches. This particular standard of measurement never occurs in Egyptian measurements except during periods when Egypt is under Semitic . . . .

Fig 4 —SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID FROM NORTH TO SOUTH

I. Subterranean Chamber II. Queen’s Chamber III. King’s Chamber

. . . . control or influence. The primitive Pyramid Inch is the original of the British Inch, the Hebrew unit of ten acres in ancient Cornwall having, for the side of the ten-acre square, a furlong of 8,000 inches. From the Great Pyramid itself, it is thus established that the Sacred Cubit was 25 inches. The British Inch differs from the Pyramid Inch by not more than one-half hair-breadth, and is therefore identical in origin with that of the inch of the Great Pyramid, and of the Hebrew Sacred Cubit. All Pyramid time measurements are calculated on the basis of one inch to a year, except as shown later, and it is on this basis, and this alone, that a solution to its measurements can be arrived at. These measurements have been found to check each other with a precision and accuracy which cannot be gainsaid; they have also been proved correct by the fulfilment of past history.

The entrance to the Great Pyramid was through a long, inclined descending passage commencing on the Northern side, 44 inches wide by 42 inches high. The angle of descent is peculiar and symbolic, being 26deg. 18min. 10sec. Joined with the lengths of the King's Chamber this typifies with extreme exactness the number of days and fractions of a day in a year—namely, 365.242, a result necessary for correct chronology but one not known for 3,000 years after this monument of stone was completed.

About the year A.D. 825 the Great Pyramid was first entered after being sealed up with its outer casing-stones, that entrance being made with the object of plunder by Maschid al Mamoun, Pasha of Egypt. The entrance passage then being hidden, Mamoun's workmen forced their way in at a point near the centre of the North side. The original builders had, however, placed the entrance 24 feet to the eastward, for an astronomical reason which affects the whole theory of Pyramid prophecy with its interpretation of past, present and future events.

At a point where the correct entrance passage meets the first ascending passage leading to the Grand Gallery and the King's Chamber, the forced entrance hole eventually connected with it, and in this manner the locations of all the internal passages and chambers were revealed. No treasure, however, was found by these adventurers, who left disillusioned and empty-handed.

The significance of the position of the correct entrance-passage being placed 24 feet to the eastward is seen when it is noted that in the year 2140 B.C. there was a conjunction of the stars Alpha Draconi and Eta Tauri—a conjunction with the Pole Star that only occurs, roughly speaking, once in over 25,000 years. Thus the star Draconis shone down this passage precisely at midnight of the Autumnal Equinox, 2140 B.C. The Pleiades were also shining opposite in the same line or meridian. Some 4,000 years later, in A.D. 1881, the star Draconis again shone down this passage, but the Pleiades were then by no means in the same meridian, and would not be so for some 21,000 odd years of movement. It is only natural to enquire for what purpose the builders made the passage-way in the exact position needed to cause such a unique result to come to pass; also, how they obtained a knowledge of a sidereal event that only occurs once in over 25,000 years? Again, for what purpose were such multitudes of stones so precisely adjusted as to make them fit in with the movements of the stars of heaven? That the adjustment was purposely effected is evident, and it can only be assumed that the intention was to indicate to future generations the particular epoch in which this imperishable monument was built.

The internal passages and chambers shown in Fig. VI are considered to contain the key to the prophetic import of the Great Pyramid. This is briefly summarized as follows:—

The rate of measurement is based on the scale of one Pyramid Inch to a Solar Year. Measuring the Descending Passage from the outside entrance to the junction of the Ascending Passage gives the Exodus date, 1486 B.C. The Ascending Passage itself measures 1542 inches, which, in years, is the duration of the Mosaic Dispensation up to the Birth of Christ. This brings one to the commencement of the Grand Gallery, and since it is from this point that one ascends towards the King's Chamber, descends to the Entrance Passage, proceeds along . . . .

Fig 5 —THE ENTRANCE PASSAGE

. . . . the horizontal passage leading to the Queen's Chamber, and also descends by the shaft to the "well" or "pit" leading to the Subterranean Chamber, it is naturally this point which is fixed upon for furnishing the zero starting point for all calculations, backwards or forwards. There are those who think that the Great Pyramid changed its rate of measurement from an inch to a year to an inch to a month after passing the Great Step at the top of the Grand Gallery—a step, be it noted, exactly equivalent to the British yard of 36 inches. Carrying on this rule of measurement in place of the former, they see this present age ending rapidly. Others, working on the inch to a year basis, see the end deferred some further 200 odd years. What of this apparent contradiction? Nothing. Each sees a fulfilment, and history will probably show that each is right in the main. The inch to a month measurement is certainly having a fulfilment now. The probability is that the inch to a year measure is also having a fulfilment, but, owing to the so much slower movement of time by this measure, it is not possible to check the matter so closely and quickly.

It is interesting here to note that, according to the inch to a year measurement, the late war should have lasted 51½ years; actually it was 51½ months right down to the time that the Armistice was signed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It is not considered strange by those students of Pyramidology who regard this monument as a Bible in Stone that the rate of measurement should alter after the Great Step has been passed, when it is remembered that in Matthew xxiv, 22, it is stated: “for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

The Pyramid's indication of the length of the Mosaic Dispensation as 1542 years establishes the builder's marvellous skill in placing on record beforehand the length of that eminently important period, by arranging the innumerable and gigantic stones in such a manner as to indicate that period of time by the number of inches of the floor line of the first Ascending Passage. The Descending Passage is considered symbolic of the downward trend of humanity. The Ascending Passage—Israel under the Law—the leading of mankind up to the Christian Dispensation, symbolized in the Grand Gallery. The Horizontal Passage may symbolize the setting aside of the Jewish nation during a part of the Christian Dispensation. The Queen's Chamber, at the end of the Horizontal Passage, is a cul-de-sac, possibly representing the history of the Jewish race—namely, that in their journeyings they reach this point but can proceed no further ; also, that they can only reach the

Fig 6 —THE PROPHETIC IMPORT

Millennium, represented by the King's Chamber, by retracing their steps along the Horizontal Passage back to Christ, and, in accepting Christianity, ascend to the King's Chamber. The King's Chamber, or Millennium, would thus represent the complete reign of Christ upon earth, a reign acknowledged and accepted by all nations, including the Jewish. It would seem clear that the time is not yet!

Summed up in more concrete form, the alpha and omega of these symbols may be stated thus—

The first entrance passage, going downwards, typifies the need for man to cultivate a humble and receptive spirit through which he traverses the Ascending Passage or “Hall of Initiation," where, receptive to the Truth, he is finally brought to understand the divine plan for world redemption. This latter does not come to pass, however, until he has traversed the last two low passages leading to the King's Chamber.

The two low passages referred to may chronicle the desperate struggles of the British people (actually the English-speaking races of the world, including America) with the enemies of Christianity, though culminating triumphantly with emergence into victory and light. This interpretation would seem well-nigh irrefutable when it is realized that the first of these low passages coincides exactly in length of inches with the precise number of months the Great War lasted, and, still more so, when it is seen that the commencement of this low passage fits in perfectly with the 4th-5th August, 1914, and its termination with equal precision, to the date of the signing of the Armistice on the 11th November, 1918. The beginning of the next low passage coincides with the date of 29th May, 1928, but lasts longer than the former, closing on the 15th-16th September, 1936. Students of Pyramidology the world over have no hesitation in accepting these two latter dates as the commencement and termination respectively of a further upheaval of world importance. What this may be, can, of course, only be surmised. Close observers of European politics will have noted the recent troubles in Egypt. Allied, as Egyptian problems usually are, with Turkish military aims, it may not be far wrong to assume that these prophecies depict a confederation of European and near Eastern peoples, under the domination of a dictatorship exercised upon or through a still future phase of the Russian peoples. The epoch of this Russian question, as related to the Jewish question, is contemporaneous with the establishment of the Bolshevist regime in Russia. One may therefore expect that the forces in the field in the last phase of Armageddon will be this anti-Christian, and therefore anti-British, Confederacy—possibly also including chemical warfare by Germany—but it is a phase which, according to the prophet Ezekiel, and according also to the witness of the Great Pyramid, ends all machinations of evil, and ushers in that grand millennium reign of peace which for . . . .

Fig 7 —THE LOW PASSAGES

(Not to Scale).

. . . . twenty long centuries has constituted the hope of the human race.

It is a sign of the times that in all countries there are people seeking, by devious ways, a solution of the riddle of life, and yearning for a clearer revelation of the divine plan and purpose. Many are earnestly studying the utterances of the ancient Hebrew prophets. Few have grasped that the facts of Pyramidology may constitute the great key to prophetical interpretation. From the moment that it was realized that the Great Pyramid represented something more than an untenanted tomb, and the measurements made by explorers revealed the fact that they had definite and very exact cosmical relations, the quest for light on this monument of ancient learning has been keenly pursued.

In being privileged to put this paper before you I can but hope that the facts given and conclusions drawn will have awakened interest in a tremendously inspiring subject. I am sure that you will find that the Great Pyramid will well repay study, whether taken from the archaeological, geometrical or religious standpoint.

 

The Great Pyramid

By F. Howard Buchanan

Extracted by SRA76 from: British Masonic Miscellany, Vol 4

compiled by George M .Martin P.M., S.C.

Published by David Winter and Son

Shore Terrace, Dundee (Scotland)

(Pages 58-78)

 


[1] I am indebted for much valuable data to the monumental work of Drs. Davidson and Aldersmith, whose book, The Great Pyramid—Its Divine Message, no student be should without (Williams and Norgate Ltd., London, 25s.).

 

Sourced from the British Masonic Miscellany Vol.4.

This lecture was first listed on the Lodge 76 lectures website on July 2022

This Article was extracted and transcribed in this format by Bro. J. Stewart Donaldson.

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