The real reason why they built the pyramids

a reply to: Kantjil

I believe this is plausible. IMO when someone discovered that they could plant seeds, manipulate genetics, store food, farming became the first stock market so to speak. People and civilizations would have gone to great lengths to make more and store more. Tracking the seasons and weather patterns would have become their gods.

originally posted by: MOMof3
a reply to: Kantjil

Tracking the seasons and weather patterns would have become their gods.

Especially in Ancient Egypt, where the seasonal flooding of the Nile River basin (and the fertile soil created by that flooding) is what let them survive/thrive. It was important for the Egyptians to be able to predict details of that flooding, which can be done by observing/recording/predicting the seasonal patterns.

originally posted by: KEACHI
a reply to: intrptr

Why is that the best answer, considering no bodies or mummies have been found in any of the pyramids.

Because most of them were looted.
It is well known their primary use was to protect their great wealth that got buried with them from looters.

King Tuts relatively minor burial chamber included over seven tons of gold. All the pyramids have evidence of breakins.

a reply to: chr0naut

I reckon Nick Tesla probably designed it too. When they drill into the great pyramid, at some time in the future, I bet they find it is full of Chakras and that styrofoam packing stuff, you know, the stuff that looks like peanuts, only white. It wasn't really ancient, either, that was just a conspiracy to control the world by a Roman family, the "Pissers", who tried to make it part of Christianity by becoming Emperor, or something. It was probably made in America but ran out of Orgone Energy and crashed in the middle of the Egyptian desert. Since there were no clouds, they couldn't get it airborne again. Shame really...

I think you could be on to something here, ecspecially that bit about the "Pissers" they are behind so many conspiracy's after all!

a reply to: chr0naut

I have said it before: Perhaps it was just a cool way to stack rocks.

By Jove I've think you've cracked it! NOT

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People

originally posted by: MOMof3
a reply to: Kantjil

Tracking the seasons and weather patterns would have become their gods.

Especially in Ancient Egypt, where the seasonal flooding of the Nile River basin (and the fertile soil created by that flooding) is what let them survive/thrive. It was important for the Egyptians to be able to predict details of that flooding, which can be done by observing/recording/predicting the seasonal patterns.

Actually, they couldn't predict the flooding. They knew when it should occur (at the rising of the star Sirius) and once it started they knew whether the resulting harvests would be good or poor (from the reading of the Nilometers) - but they had no other ability to predict weather and climate conditions.

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People

originally posted by: MOMof3
a reply to: Kantjil

Tracking the seasons and weather patterns would have become their gods.

Especially in Ancient Egypt, where the seasonal flooding of the Nile River basin (and the fertile soil created by that flooding) is what let them survive/thrive. It was important for the Egyptians to be able to predict details of that flooding, which can be done by observing/recording/predicting the seasonal patterns.

Actually, they couldn't predict the flooding. They knew when it should occur (at the rising of the star Sirius) and once it started they knew whether the resulting harvests would be good or poor (from the reading of the Nilometers) - but they had no other ability to predict weather and climate conditions.

Good clarification point. I didn't mean predict a specific flood that was coming, or predict the specific date that the seasonal flooding would occur (i.e., not "there's a flood coming tomorrow"), but rather they could predict when the season that brought the flooding was coming.

They knew flooding occurred on a seasonal basis, and by watching the position/rising times stars and sun, they could create a calendar that, among other things, could tell them when that flood season (and the growing season and harvesting season that made up the rest of their year) was approaching so they could do the necessary resource planning required for each of those seasons.

Their calendar was built around the agriculture of the Nile valley, and one major driving force of that calendar (and their agriculture) was the flooding of the Nile.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

All that is likely true, but it doesn't mean they had to build the pyramids to work any of that out, which is what I thought this thread was about, i.e why did they build them?
Personally I think they were multi purpose, but mostly they were designed to last otherwise they wouldn't have gone to all that trouble. Some think that they were made to tell a story which is encoded in the measurements, Randall Carlson has done a great deal of research on this, and his results, if they are correct are fascinating.

a reply to: surfer_soul

I think the idea of having a huge and impressive monument burial chamber by which to be remembered is still a likely explanation.

I mean, even people today (although moreso 100 years ago or so) are buried inside elaborate mausoleums or burial crypts; the more "important" the person, the more elaborate that mausoleum. We even build large-scale monuments today to honor some people -- but granted, that person being honored doesn't commission the monument himself/herself, nor are they usually buried in it. But I can see it happening with an Egyptian King.

And it wouldn't be surprising if the monument was also laid out in such a way to have some astronomical significance. Having a connection to the sky is a good way of adding some impressiveness to the legacy of the person honored by the monument.

originally posted by: surfer_soul
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

All that is likely true, but it doesn't mean they had to build the pyramids to work any of that out, which is what I thought this thread was about, i.e why did they build them?

Dead kings.

They built step mastabas and step pyramids for their dead kings. The dead kings continued to be buried in pyramids (smaller scale) until the 2nd Intermediate period and irregularly after that. The last one was New Kingdom, and by that time, nobles were buried in small pyramids as well.

Personally I think they were multi purpose, but mostly they were designed to last otherwise they wouldn't have gone to all that trouble. Some think that they were made to tell a story which is encoded in the measurements,

Then why aren't the measurements consistent?

And why are they found in the vast graveyards with mortuary temples beside them and the graves of royal and elite families around them? Why were the mortuary temples (next to the pyramids) of the kings whose name is associated with the pyramids given estates and income for the care of the deceased king-in-the-pyramid-right-next-to-the-temple?

Randall Carlson has done a great deal of research on this, and his results, if they are correct are fascinating.

...and apparently done without seeing what the ancient Egyptians themselves wrote about these places.

I'm amused at his description of himself saying he's an expert in paleontology. He's apparently unaware that paleontology studies dinosaurs and it's archaeology that studies ancient monuments.

If you've ever been down in the pyramids (I have, actually... both the Great Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid), you'll know that it's a difficult trip and at the end the chambers are not any larger than the house we own. Once they were opened, they became living spaces for bats - and any "events" that would have taken place in these chambers would have had to deal with the problem of lots and lots of bat urine and bat dung in addition to the airlessness and the very difficult climbs.

But if you run into some place, intent on proving Sacred Geometry, you can find it anywhere. I can find the laws of Sacred Geometry in the dimensions of my cat's head and her ears. This does not mean that she's a sacred animal (much as she'd like to be) or that the cosmos is run on principles encoded into her little fuzzy black skull.

a reply to: Byrd

And those chambers without tourists should keep it cold and dry for storage..

a reply to: Kantjil

IMO, the ancients learned the dangers of storing grains and would explain some of construction of the pyramids. Also, most americans have never experienced real hunger and have no understanding of what a powerful force it was.

Today we have silos to store and they are still dangerous if not done right and constructed tall.

"Silos are subject to unusual stresses because of the different ways people can load them. Earthquakes, explosions, metallic corrosion, unequal soil pressure and other factors can damage them and cause a silo to collapse. If that happens, people can lose their lives, and the collapse may contaminate the silo's grain and the environment. Silo failures are often sudden, and their collapse can damage surrounding structures. Although most concrete silos don't need moisture sealing, it's possible for water to seep through some silos."

a reply to: MOMof3

in the old days, having a silo as storage would be very tempting for a very fast smash and grab.. Look at how Indus was destroyed..

You used the black sun as a fixated point ( Saturn ) or the so called Sun wheel ( old time astronomy ), comes from the old Indian religions with their starting point at Indus before they were attacked by northern tribes..
The only reason you have religion is to feed people with a trickle down system based on obligation towards society..


Ancient astronomy

Wait the masons are gonna come running and say, they are tombs with five sides.. If you defy us, we chant for Cthulu..

Could you use sirius as a sufficient Calendar?

Also, most americans have never experienced real hunger and have no understanding of what a powerful force it was.

Dont think the western society knows, when that reptilian instinct kicks in, oooh booy.. You see human nature at its finest moments..

a reply to: Kantjil

Which chambers are those again?

a reply to: peter vlar

tombs?

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: MOMof3
Could you use sirius as a sufficient Calendar?

You can use many stars as a calendar, considering the time of the day that a particular star rises or sets will change over the course of a year. Siruis is a good star to track in this way because it is so bright.

The Egyptians did not have clocks to keep track as to the time of day Sirius was rising, but they did notice that as the year got later, Sirius could be seen rising in the pre-dawn sky right before sunrise. When they saw this, they knew it was a certain time of the year (in the case of Sirius rising just before Sunrise, it would be about the third week of September, going by our Calendar).

Until that time of the year, Sirius would have been too close to the sun (as the two appear in the sky) to be seen. Sirius is a star that is visible in the night sky from about October to early April, but not visible in the other months (because it is only in the daytime sky those other months, obscured by sunlight).

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: Byrd

And those chambers without tourists should keep it cold and dry for storage..

They're awfully good for bats.

Storage of what, though?

All the chambers in the pyramid of Khufu could fit inside my house - the King'c chamber is just over 1,000 cubic feet (10x10x10, in other words). The other chambers are smaller. The ascending/descending passageways are small (about 1 meter tall... you have to crouch when traveling them) and the stone slopes there do not show the mark of lots of things (or people) traveling them regularly.

I can say from personal experience that it would be very difficult to haul any amount of weight up through those corridors.

It really is a place for putting something in... and then sealing it up and leaving it.

originally posted by: MOMof3
a reply to: Kantjil

IMO, the ancients learned the dangers of storing grains and would explain some of construction of the pyramids. Also, most americans have never experienced real hunger and have no understanding of what a powerful force it was.

The total volume of chambers inside the Giza pyramids is roughly the size of your house plus your parent's house (or apartments.) - something like 4,000 cubic feet or so.

If you gave everyone in Egypt one pound of grain per day during a famine, the total amount stored inside the Giza pyramids would run out after you'd served the first 10,000 people their ration. So you could feed less than 1/10th of the people of Egypt in a famine, but only for one day.