The Riddle of the Pyramids

Fülszöveg

THE RIDDLE OF THE PYRAMIDS
Kurt Mendelssohn frs
This book is about a scientific discovery, beginning with a chance observation by the author which, at the time, did not appear to be of more than limited importance. But from this other facts emerged which have made Egyptologists suddenly look at the pyramids in a somewhat different light. The thesis put forward is a very simple one: the pyramids of Egypt are immensely large, very ancient and, by general consensus, extremely useless. These fantastic man-made mountains, containing altogether more than 25 million tons of quarried limestone, were heaped up in just over a century. However useless they may appear to us, they must have been considered in a different Ught by the ancient Egyptians since they expended an almost unbelievable amount of labour in constructing them, with no immediately obvious beneficial return to the populace.
Dr Mendelssohn examines the history of the pyramids, the question whether they were burial places... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE RIDDLE OF THE PYRAMIDS
Kurt Mendelssohn frs
This book is about a scientific discovery, beginning with a chance observation by the author which, at the time, did not appear to be of more than limited importance. But from this other facts emerged which have made Egyptologists suddenly look at the pyramids in a somewhat different light. The thesis put forward is a very simple one: the pyramids of Egypt are immensely large, very ancient and, by general consensus, extremely useless. These fantastic man-made mountains, containing altogether more than 25 million tons of quarried limestone, were heaped up in just over a century. However useless they may appear to us, they must have been considered in a different Ught by the ancient Egyptians since they expended an almost unbelievable amount of labour in constructing them, with no immediately obvious beneficial return to the populace.
Dr Mendelssohn examines the history of the pyramids, the question whether they were burial places or cenotaphs, and the physical laws that governed the erection of a pyramid. Stemming from this comes the answer to the problem of the curious shape of the Meidum pyramid which arose from an ancient technological disaster, and the final solution of the whole riddle: what mattered was not the pyramid itself - it was the actual building of the pyramid. Astounding as this may seem it does not contradict the well-established funerary nature of the pyramids, and it provides a rational explanation for the colossal labour effort involved as a pohtical and economic object in acliieving the formation of a centralised state. Tested in isolation on the Mexican pyramids the feasibility of the solution is very evident.
Having surveyed the pyramids and their objective Dr Mendelssohn finishes with a thought-provoking chapter on the meaning of a pyramid, which has much valid comment on our own modem society.
With 85 illustrations, 15 in colour and 42 line drawings Vissza