Robin Cook wrote:
> Take for example the King's Chamber shafts of
> Khufu which Gantenbrink showed were laid out to
> harmonize with the geometry of the pyramid. Even
> if these are considered to have both geometrical
> and astronomical significance (a kind of
> serendipity) obviously geometry came first.
Magli has pointed out that the final 16% part of the KCN shaft points accurately to Thuban in the year 2550 BCE. John Wall has argued that the overall slope of KCN - 7:11 - disproves the astronomical alignment, but the 7:11 paradigm only applies to the lower 84% of the shaft. In Gantenbrink's design (total geometric), the KCN shaft should exit at the top of course 104, but in reality KCN exits at the top of course 102, as if this specific level were being targeted.
These are two separate designs coming together. The lower 84% reflects the geometric design while the upper 16% reflects the astronomical design. It is not obvious at this stage which design came first.
> Khufu's descending passage is laid out with
> astonishing precision on the diagonal of the
> double square yet it points to nothing significant
> in the IVth dynasty. And while most pyramids and
> some mastabas have such polar passages directed to
> the northern sky (although what are we to make of
> the western passage in the Bent pyramid?) it would
> seem not to any definite stellar targets.
The Bent Pyramid passages accommodate both astronomical and geometric purposes, just as the shafts in the Great Pyramid do.
> Yet we know that a very important part of egyptian
> religion was played out in the sky. The target of
> the king's journey to become an Akh was seemingly
> the axis (mooring post?) of the rotating heavens,
> from where he mysteriously was reborn as a
> celestial entity on the eastern horizon. (Even if
> the AE considered the earth as flat they clearly
> conceived the celestial equator as a rotating
> circle, which they divided into Decans). But you
> can't be reborn on the eastern horizon if you are
> an 'imperishable'. So I see this term as an easily
> understood contrast between pole and horizon.
Then the king's soul is divided up into parts, one which goes to the celestial pole and the other which goes to the horizon, to be reborn with the rising sun. Maybe it's the shafts in Khufu's pyramid which divide the king's soul (just as a shaman's astral body is divided into parts), sending the parts in four different directions. Maybe it's a type of Pascal's Wager.
With the Bent W passage, I'd say its "purpose" is more geometric. For what it's worth, Butler gives the dimensions of this passage and he shows it is divided into two sections with different distinct slopes.
> The two most recognizable constellations are the
> Plough and Orion - the one representing the
> imperishables and Orion (with Sirius) rising on
> the eastern horizon. And while the geometry of
> Khufu's KC south shaft cannot be put aside it is
> intriguing that it points to Alnilam (Trimble) and
> yet is constructed within the pyramid held to
> represent Alnitak. Perhaps there is something in
> the OCT after all?
I was unaware that Trimble had pointed this out. Krupp has also stated that KCS points to Al Nilam for the year 2550 BCE, which as Magli has shown is the same year that KCN accurately points to Thuban. This kind of locks in these two stars and this date.
Hail Atlantis.