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144 bow, the darkness ends there; in awesomeness it is draped; its joints are like a vulture whose claws are ready to clasp." There, at the top of the gallery, is "the entryway to the Mountain's top"; "to foe it is not opened; only to Them Who Live, for them it is opened." Three locking devices—"the bolt, the bar and the lock slithering in an awe-inspiring place"—protect the way into the uppermost chamber, from which the Ekur "surveys Heaven and Earth, a net it spreads out." These are details whose accuracy amazes as one reads them in conjunction with our present knowledge of the insides of the Great Pyramid. The entrance into it was through an opening in its north face, hidden by a swivel stone that indeed opened and closed "like a mouth." Stepping onto a platform, the entrant faced an opening into a descending passage, "like a great dragon's mouth opened in wait" (Fig. 44a). The gaping entrance was protected from the pyr- amid's weight above it by two pairs of diagonally placed massive stone blocks, "like two edges that keep enemies away," revealing an enigmatic carved stone in the entrance's midst (Fig. 44b). A short distance down the descending passage, an ascending passage began. It led to a horizontal passage through which one could reach the heart of the pyramid, an inner Chamber of Emis- sions "like a vulva." The ascending passage also led to a majestic ascending gallery, most elaborately constructed, its walls getting closer to each other by stages as they rise, giving the entrant a feel- Fig. 44 THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN