The purpose of building the ancient Egyptian pyramids was to measure the Earth's revolution and create an accurate calendar.
We will examine the purpose of building the ancient Egyptian pyramids.
First, let's look at the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It is a complex of rectangular pyramid-shaped buildings built in Egypt around 2500 BC, and is a very large structure made of stone.
I would like to clarify the purpose of this pyramid's construction.
The purpose of building the pyramids to date
①The tomb of the king,
② Religious facilities,
3) A window to the afterlife,
④Public works,
⑤To demonstrate the king's authority,
⑥ I want to get even a little closer to the sun (God)
This consideration does not deny the purpose of building pyramids up to the present day.
We will investigate whether there was another purpose for building the pyramids.
We believe that the reasons for the construction of the pyramids that have been proposed so far are insufficiently supported, and we would like to propose a new theory.
The original purpose of building the pyramids
It is believed to have been built "to measure the Earth's orbital period and create an accurate calendar ."
First, let's consider the Earth's orbital period and the calendar.
It is generally believed that the ancient Egyptians derived the number of days in a year from observing the phenomenon of the "Hilaic Rising" of the star Sirius.
This phenomenon, known as "Hilaical Rising," occurs when Sirius rises in the eastern sky before the Sun.
This phenomenon occurs once a year, and it is believed that observing it confirmed that a year has 365 days.
It is also said that this phenomenon led to the discovery of leap years because the date shifts slightly due to leap years, and advances by one day after four years.
There is a problem with this observation.
First, the observable period is short.
Because the sunlight is very strong, this phenomenon will likely only be observable for around three days.
If you miss the once-a-year observation date, it will be difficult to observe that year.
Secondly, after this "Hilaical Rising" phenomenon ends, it will be difficult to observe the changes in Sirius' position with the naked eye.
It seems difficult to observe day-to-day changes in this observation.
It is also difficult to record the condition one year ago, and it is also difficult to recognize the difference in one year when measuring one year later.
If we were to observe a year as exactly 365.24219 days, it would take 128 years .
If we observe this "Hilaical Rising" over a long period of time, we may be able to determine that a year is just 365 days long, but it seems difficult to accurately observe the decimal points of the calendar (leap years).
The benefit of this observation is that even if nothing happens, if you observe Sirius over a long period of time, you will find that a year is just over 365 days.
However, there was no certainty that the number of days calculated from this phenomenon coincided with the Earth's orbital period.
This led us to speculate that a different method may have been used to measure the orbital period.
I think that in this case , they measured the length of the shadow of the pyramid at noon and calculated the one-year orbital period .
What you really want to know is how many days it takes for the meridian altitude to return (annual cycle).
This annual cycle can be observed by observing the shadows of tall structures such as the pyramids.
In summer, the altitude at noon rises and the shadows become shorter, while in winter the altitude at noon falls and the shadows become longer.
The photo shows a shadow on the north side.
The advantages of this observation method are:
- "All you need to do is observe the length of the shadow, and it is easy to observe and record the progression of changes."
The progression of changes can be observed one day or even one year later, which is a major difference from observations of Sirius.
-Another advantage is that you can easily see changes simply by observing the length of the shadow .
Next, let's calculate the length of the pyramid's shadow.
This is an approximate length, but it changes by about 180 cm per day.
This is easily observable with the naked eye.
Possible methods for measuring the length of the shadow include marking a scale on the ground on the north side of the pyramid, or attaching a magatama (comma-shaped bead) to a rope from the base of the pyramid.
We will verify this based on physical evidence.
First, here is an aerial photo of the area around the pyramids.
Egypt is in the Northern Hemisphere, so the sun is in the south and casts a shadow on the north side of the pyramid.
The pyramids of Khufu and Khafre have ruins such as mastabas on the south, east, and west sides, but there is nothing on the north side (the area marked with a circle on the left side of the pyramid where the shadow is cast).
Perhaps this location was chosen to observe the shadow of the pyramid ?
It is also inevitable that each side of the pyramid faces north, south, east and west.
Let's actually apply the shadow length.
The length of the shadow of a pyramid is about 192 m at the Pyramid of Khufu.
The Pyramid of Khafre is about 188m high.
Applying this to the current map
The Pyramid of Khufu is a "parking lot"
Khafre's pyramid is a "road"
It is as follows.
If there are ruins, there would likely be some kind of scale on the ground where the shadow reaches its full length on the winter solstice, but it is unlikely that any ruins exist at present.
If there are ruins on the pyramid side, there may be protrusions at the base of the pyramid for hooking ropes.
At the Red Pyramid, we believe there are ruins like scales on the ground.
Next, let's look at the appearance of the pyramid.
The pyramid is covered with limestone veneers.
It is believed that this was done to "clarify the outline of the pyramid's shadow."
Only the upper decorative panel remains of Khafre's pyramid today; the lower decorative panel is said to have been removed after the pyramid was built to make way for a city.
If the goal is to clearly define the shadow of the pyramid, the upper decorative panel alone will do the job.
Let's consider another reason why decorative panels were installed.
It is believed that donkeys were the main means of transporting goods over land in ancient Egypt.
Donkeys can tolerate the heat, but considering that they will be traveling with humans, traveling in the desert during the hot hours of the day can be dangerous.
This suggests that they were mainly traveling after sunset.
Traveling after dark puts less strain on both animals and humans, but there is a risk of getting lost if you don't have a landmark.
If a large structure like a pyramid is visible and shining in the moonlight, it makes a great target.
(Photo shows limestone)
Perhaps the reason the pyramid was covered with decorative panels to make it shiny was to serve as a landmark when traveling at night ?
We believe that this has facilitated transportation at night and facilitated logistics.
Next, let's talk about the entrances and exits to the pyramids.
The pyramid has no public entrances or exits , and there is no evidence that ordinary people ever entered or exited it.
The pyramid is complete when closed , and it is thought that it was used in this closed state.
If the structure was made to measure the length of shadows , it would not have this entrance and could be used in a closed state, and there would be no problem.
We will consider why the large pyramids were built.
The Earth's orbital period is not exactly 365 days, but 365.24219 days, so when observing the length of the shadow of the pyramid, the observation results will deviate every year.
When measuring the altitude at noon from the length of the pyramid's shadow, the higher the structure, the greater the change in shadow length, improving the accuracy of the observation.
It is a very large pyramid, but it was probably necessary for more accurate observations .
It is believed that in ancient Egypt, the deviation of the Earth's orbital period from a 365-day year was determined by observing the shadows of the pyramids.
If you want to calculate the exact orbital period, the difference between 365.25 days (including a leap year once every four years) and a solar year of 365.24219 days is 0.00781 days.
If we apply this to the length of the shadow of the pyramid, the deviation after one year will be, assuming a daily change of 180 cm,
It is about 14 mm.
At first glance, it may seem difficult to observe, but after 32 years, the deviation will be 44.9856 cm, or 1/4 day.
A deviation of about 45 cm is believed to be sufficiently observable.
In ancient Egypt, perhaps they also observed the discrepancy between the solar year and leap years, which occurred once every four years?
From the above considerations, we have concluded that the purpose of building the pyramids was to measure the Earth's orbital period and create an accurate calendar .
Egypt recognized the need for leap years and introduced them in 238 BC with the Edict of Canopus .
The Canopic Decree states that "Sothis rises earlier every four years," and that the leap year was established due to observations of Sirius.
Since ancient times, the Egyptians have recognized that a year was 365 days long, but they also knew from observations of Sirius that it was not exactly 365 days and that there was a discrepancy.
However, as I explained earlier, there are many problems with observing Sirius, and I believe it would be difficult to create an accurate calendar based solely on Sirius observations.
This led us to believe that a combination of Sirius and the shadow of the pyramid was being observed here.
The advantages of this combined observation of Sirius and the shadow of the pyramid are:
- The relationship between annual parallax obtained from astronomical observations and changes in meridian altitude can be confirmed.
- The observation period will be longer, with observations possible for approximately 120 days in winter in the shadow of the pyramid and for approximately 3 days in summer in Sirius.
- It is possible to observe daily and yearly changes, which was difficult when observing Sirius.
- The shadow of the pyramid can be seen with the naked eye.
- When observing Sirius, its orbital period (365.24219 days), which takes 128 years, can be observed in approximately 32 years.
This increases the accuracy of the observations.
A summary of the pyramids.
There is no doubt that the ancient Egyptians determined the length of a year to be 365 days based on their observations of Sirius, as is evident in many sources.
However, I believe it would be extremely difficult to create an accurate calendar based solely on Sirius observations.
It is believed that by observing the shadows of large structures such as pyramids, it was possible to measure the Earth's orbital period.
In addition, by observing Sirius and the shadow of the pyramid, we can also confirm the relationship between astronomical observations (annual parallax) and noon altitude (solar calendar).
After confirming the discrepancy from a 365-day year through observation, the question of how to reflect this in the calendar was answered by the Canopus Edict of 238 BC, which provided the answer by introducing leap years.
It is not possible to determine whether all pyramids were built to measure the Earth's orbital period and create an accurate calendar, but we deeply consider that the purpose of the Great Pyramid built at Giza was to measure the Earth's orbital period and create an accurate calendar .