The Great Pyramid

By Garry R. White

In the land of Egypt the Great Pyramids, the pyramids of Giza, are unique in many ways. The greatest of the three pyramids is considered by most pyramidologists to have been built by the Pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops, with the other two structures of later construction. Punitively earlier pyramids had demonstrated a shoddy design. The earliest, in the estimation of Egyptologists, were built as step pyramids – one of which collapsed of its own weight, and another attempted with too great an angle of ascent (52 degrees); many were built on unstable footings. Only with the passage of time did the standards approach the quality of construction exhibited in the Great Pyramids. That is when the age of the pyramids truly began, at least in the estimation of the archaeologists.

Further investigation implies that the first may have been the greater, with the later pyramids an imitation of the three of Giza. Therefore the question arises: what were the original pyramids built for and when? The three at Giza certainly were not used originally as burial chambers, although after they were broken into in later ages bodies were entombed within them. The three at Giza are also older than estimated, perhaps much older, and perhaps the first built.

During the 1800s archaeologists probed and speculated upon their origins and one man in particular achieved fame and fortune when he deciphered the cartouches identifying the pharaoh that had constructed the greatest pyramid at Gaza.

It was a hoax of monumental dimensions.

Egyptologist Colonel Richard Howard Vyse finally entered the Great Pyramid in 1837. Penetrating the inner passageways he eventually reached the inner chambers: one chamber referred to classically as the King’s Chamber. Here he made the mistake of his life in his persistent drive for fame and recognition. In the dead of night, alone in that massive structure, he made his way to the King’s Chamber. With a brush, a pot of paint, and a colossal nerve he perpetrated a hoax that is still believed by the general public as well as most experts.

With a limited knowledge of the ancient language and even greater limitation in his understanding of the cartouches used, he began to paint an inscription. Laying on his back he painstakingly copied on the chamber’s wall the cartouches he believed would prove to the world that the pyramid was built by Pharaoh Khufu as a burial site. He forged the Pharaoh’s name.

He successfully deceived the world. The problem is, as he lay on his back painting away he inadvertently drew the cartouches upside down, and in an amateurish manner. Further, he utilized several styles of cartouches that spanned two millennia in the development of the pictographic language. It was a royal hoax that continues to deceive the world. Vyse obtained his fame as he wished and went on to other questionable discoveries.

What is the truth about the pyramids, and more importantly what is the evidence that Vyse lied to the world about his discovery? The evidence was there all the time, waiting for someone to bother to read it. In the 1850s Auguste Mariette discovered a stela near the Great Pyramid in the ruins of a temple that Khufu built and dedicated to Isis. Now in the Cairo Museum, its inscription clearly states that the Great Pyramid was already there when Khufu assumed the throne. The inscription further indicates that the Sphinx was there as well; locating it exactly and reporting the fact that it had been struck by lightning, damage that we can still see today. This stela, named the inventory stela by Egyptologists; was declared a forgery in their opinion because of Vyse’s hoax perpetrated in 1837.

Which is the fraud? Vyse says the stela is the fraud; Khufu, who was the Pharaoh at the time, states from the grave that Vyse and his paint brush are the fraud. The historical writings of Egypt support Khufu. Pictographic writing from the time of the first Pharaoh, Menes show the existence of the Great Pyramid at the time he conquered Lower Egypt, circa 3100 BCE. Other writings support the belief that all three existed for some time prior to Menes and were the first pyramids built.

Who is to be believed? The choice is between an ambitious Englishman seeking fame and fortune or Khufu, and earlier, Menes – who were there.

Camden, New York

The Great Pyramid

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