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214 marked the vertical center line of the pyramid. Where it intersected the half-area Line, the Great Up Step (U) was placed, marking the end of the Grand Gallery and the beginning of the King's Chamber floor. It also determined the position of the Queen's Chamber (Q), which was placed exactly on the center line. By connecting Point 2 with Point U, the floor line of the Ascending Passage and the Grand Gallery was obtained. Shaft F was then tunneled from the end of the shaft E, precisely so that its beam intersected the ascending floor line 2-U at a right angle (90°). From its intersection with the first circle (Point 6), a line was drawn through Point 2, all the way up to the side of the pyramid (Point 7). This delineated the Descending Passage, its junction with the Ascending Passage (at Point 2), and the entrance to the pyramid. The shafts D, E, and F and the three circles have thus made possible most of the essential features of the Great Pyramid. Still undetermined, however, were the points at which the As- cending Passage would end and the Grand Gallery begin and, accordingly, where the level of the Horizontal Passage to the Queen's Chamber would be. Here was, we believe, where shaft B came into play. No one has so far pointed out the fact that its length is precisely equal to that of D and that it marks off ex- actly the distance between the Entrance Level and the level of the Horizontal Passage. B was placed where the Ascending Line intersected circle 2 (Point 8). Its vertical extension marks the beginning of the rising wall of the Grand Gallery; the dis- tance from Point 8 to Point 9, where the beam from D intersects the horizontal line from 8, is the place of the grandiose intersec- tion depicted in Fig. 68. wk ae Segment B, connected at Point 8 to the passages through the short level segment A, thus enabled the pyramid's builders to com- plete it inside. When that was done, there was no longer any archi- tectural or functional use for these segments, and the entrance to them was covered by placing there a well-fitting, wedge-shaped ramp stone (Fig. 72). Segments D, E, and F have also disappeared from view as the pyramid's masonry rose over the rocky base. It was then, perhaps, the function of the less precisely built segment G to enable the withdrawal of the beaming-theodolites from the D-E-F segments, or to make last-minute checks. Finally, where the Descending Pas- sage connected with this segment G, the opening was covered with THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN