Page Content (OCR)
213 area projections—has been employed in determining the circumfer- ence, sides, and height of the pyramid. As our drawing clearly shows, not only the pyramid's envelope but also everything inside it was determined with the aid of three equal circles. Theodolitic equipment placed within shaft D beamed upward a key vertical line whose function we shall soon describe. But first this equipment beamed out the horizontal rock/masonry line, on which the centers of the three circles were placed. The first of these (Point 1) was at D; Points 2 and 3, where its circle intersected the line, served as centers for the other two, overlapping circles. To draw these circles the pyramid's architects, of course, had to decide on the proper radius. Researchers of the Great Pyramid have been long frustrated by the inability to apply to its perfect propor- tions any of the ancient Egyptian units of measurement—neither the common cubit of 24 fingers nor the Royal cubit of 28 fingers (20.63" or 525 millimeters). Some three centuries ago Sir Isaac Newton concluded that an enigmatic "Sacred Cubit" of some 25.2" was used not only in the construction of the pyramid but also in the construction of Noah's Ark and the temple in Jerusalem. Both Egyptologists and pyramidologists now accept this conclu- sion as far as the pyramid is concerned. Our own calculations show that the radius adopted for the three circles envisioned by us was equal to 60 such Sacred Cubits; the number 60 being, not acciden- tally, the base number of the Sumerian sexagesimal mathematical system. This measure of 60 Sacred Cubits is dominant in the lengths and heights of the pyramid's inner structure as well as in the dimensions of its base. Having selected the radius, the three circles were drawn; and now the pyramid began to take shape: where the second circle in- tersected the Base Level (Point 4), the pyramid's side was to rise at the angle of 52°—a perfect angle because it is the only one which incorporates the pi ratios into the pyramid. From the bottom of shaft D, shaft E was then tunneled down, precisely inclined at 45° to D. The theodolite-beam projected from E upward, intersecting circle 2 at Point 5, provided the sloping line for the pyramid's side and also marked off the half-area Level, on which the King's Chamber and the Antechamber were to be placed (the 5-U-K line) and the Grand Gallery was to end. Projected downwards, the E slope determined point P at which the Descend- ing Passage was to end. and the vertical line from P determined the Down Step S in the upper Horizontal Passage. Turning to the third circle, we see that its center (Point 3) The Prisoner in the Pyramid