Herodotus – 20 Years to Build the Great Pyramid of Giza?

Giza Plateau, Cairo, Egypt, North Africa

 

 

Herodotus – 20 Years To Build The Great Pyramid Of Giza?

The so called father of history, the Greek/Turkish traveller Herodotus who lived from approx’ 484–425 BC is the person to blame for the impractical timespan allotted to the great pyramid’s construction, a timespan that has been steadfastly adhered to by the cronies of Egyptology for far too long.

In book 2 of his classic work “The Histories”, Herodotus wrote the following…

“Till the death of Rhampsinitus, the priests said, Egypt was excellently governed, and flourished greatly; but after him Cheops succeeded to the throne, and plunged into all manner of wickedness. He closed the temples, and forbade the Egyptians to offer sacrifice, compelling them instead to labour, one and all, in his service. Some were required to drag blocks of stone down to the Nile from the quarries in the Arabian range of hills; others received the blocks after they had been conveyed in boats across the river, and drew them to the range of hills called the Libyan. A hundred thousand men laboured constantly, and were relieved every three months by a fresh lot.”

“It took ten years’ oppression of the people to make the causeway for the conveyance of the stones, a work not much inferior, in my judgment, to the pyramid itself. This causeway is five furlongs in length, ten fathoms wide, and in height, at the highest part, eight fathoms. It is built of polished stone, and is covered with carvings of animals. To make it took ten years, as I said – or rather to make the causeway, the works on the mound where the pyramid stands, and the underground chambers, which Cheops intended as vaults for his own use: these last were built on a sort of island, surrounded by water introduced from the Nile by a canal. The pyramid itself was twenty years in building. It is a square, eight hundred feet each way, and the height the same, built entirely of polished stone, fitted together with the utmost care. The stones of which it is composed are none of them less than thirty feet in length.”

 

 

Herodotus wrote “The Histories” a very long time after the construction of the Great Pyramid, which was completed approx. 2560BC. We must also remember there wasn’t an abundance of available research materials for him to cross reference, he was simply reporting or recording information gathered from verbal conversations, which he claims he had with some Egyptian priests. Herodotus is basically repeating secondhand information regarding an event that happened in a time as distant to Herodotus as is the birth of Jesus Christ to you and me, approximately 2000 years!

So even if we are fair to Herodotus and we excuse the possibility that he might have created the yarn by himself, are we to believe that one or more initiated & oath sworn Egyptian scholar priests simply shared the secrets of the building of the pyramid with a Greek traveller who popped in while he was on holiday?

Maybe these priests had a standard tale or yarn to spin for entertaining tourists or visiting dignitaries that was also told to Herodotus? This might explain all the convenient but blatantly jolly round numbers used in this beautiful but flawed yarn, such as 10 years, 20 years and 100,000 men? Where are the odd fractured numbers 9.5 years or the 93,745 men?

I use the term “flawed yarn” because Herodotus incorrectly states in the very next sentence after he mentions the 20 years construction time, that the Height & Width of the pyramid are the same… It’s no wonder why so many great scholars have questioned the information contained within “The Histories”. Herodotus has been called “The Father of History” by many, but Voltaire aptly labeled him “The Father of Lies”.

“The pyramid itself was twenty years in building. It is a square, eight hundred feet each way, and the height the same, built entirely of polished stone, fitted together with the utmost care.”

Now come on people wake up! ALL Egyptologists have a basic understanding of the Great Pyramid’s dimensions, and ALL Egyptologists know this is a false statement being recorded by Herodotus. Whether you measure the pyramid using Egyptian cubits, Royal cubits, Imperial feet or Metric meters, the fundamental result is that the height and width are NOT the same, Herodotus or the source of information that Herodotus is quoting, is blatantly incorrect. The Great Pyramid of Giza is not of equal height & width, and it never has been (even with its missing granite casing stones & capstone).

 

 

The correct measurements are:

HEIGHT of The Great Pyramid:

Originally 280 cubits / 146.64m

(Now without capstone and casing stones approximately 262 cubits / 137.2m)

WIDTH of The Great Pyramid at its Base:

North side = 439.67 cubits (230.25m)

South side = 440.05 cubits (230.25m)

East side = 439.93 cubits (230.39m)

West side = 439.87 cubits (230.36m) Now approximately 434 (227.29m)

 

As you can see there is a huge difference between the numbers 280 and 440, they are not even close to being equal, there is a difference of approx 160 cubitsbetween the two measurements. This is a VERY BIG mistake for any priest or scholar to make.

So is the priest/person who told Herodotus this false information about the dimensions of the Great Pyramid, (an object that was standing in front of his eyes, and easily measureable), is this the same priest/person who told Herodotus that it took 100,000 men only 20 years to build the pyramid?

If yes, why do Egyptologists accept the 20 years to build statement as reliable fact if the accompanying information in the same paragraph is provably false?

Under keen scrutiny the page containing the “20 years to build” sentence begins to crumble into the jolly round numbers of a concocted fairytale, created to supplant or replace the original truth, whether it be secreted away or lost & forgotten or simply created by the author to fill a necessary part of his book?

 

 

If you are still doubtful that the “20 years to build the Pyramid” information comes from a flawed source recounted or created by Herodotus, please consider the following:

20 years = 7,300 days = 175,200 hours

2,300,000 blocks divided by 175,200 hours = 13 blocks per hour.

That is 13 blocks quarried, transported, shaped and fitted into their final positions in the pyramid EVERY HOUR, day & night, non-stop for 20 years…! Somebody has got to be lying, and I think it is Mr Herodotus, but again I must ask why do Egyptologists still adhere to this flawed time span for the construction of the Great Pyramid when plain logic argues against it?

 

“It is thought that the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall, 146.5 metres (480.6 ft), but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). Each base side was 440 cubits, 230.4 metres (755.9 ft) long…

…The mass of the pyramid is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes. The volume, including an internal hillock, is roughly 2.5million cubic metres (88million cu ft)…

…Based on these estimates, building the Great pyramid over a period of 20 years would involve: 

installing approx 800 tonnes of stone every day…”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

 

 

I will leave you with the quote below taken from the sacredsites website;

“…The Great Pyramid represents more building material than is to be found in ALL the churches and cathedrals built in England since the time of Christ.”

 

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