Table of Contents
Introduction
The study will mainly place emphasis on the mystery of the pyramids at Giza. Scholars have tried to explore the actual reasons behind how ancient people managed to construct such pyramids without the support of modern machinery. In this essay, some scholarly theories will be taken into consideration so as to understand the mystery behind construction of pyramids at Giza.
The “mystery”
The Great Pyramid of Giza is considered to be one of the biggest mysteries by millions of people. The mystery lies in context of what technique had been used by Egyptians to construct such pyramid which was not determined by the remaining ancient world. In modern scenario even, highly effective machinery is required to construct a structure weighing around 5.9 million tonnes (Sood, 2016). From the perspective of the ancient world, in order to build the monument, people need to carry from quarries stones of 800 tonnes and that also on a regular basis. The entire transportation idea appears to be an impossible task without use of machinery.
Brief summary of theories explaining the mystery
There are some scholarly theories which can help in solving the mystery. Firstly, Joseph T. “Judge” Rutherford, a theologian, proclaimed in an article “The Altar in Egypt” that there are some supernatural powers behind construction of the Great Pyramid. In this article, he proclaimed that Jehovah God did not construct the pyramid; rather it was built by the Egyptian rulers who were found to worship Satan the Devil (Merrill, 2012). The theory even extends to Satan putting in some knowledge in those dead stones. The French engineer and scientist, Jean-Pierre Houdin tried to highlight the possible measures for construction of the Great Pyramid using some computer graphics. At the first instance, a straight ramp was constructed which was used to drag millions of half blocks and these blocks were placed above the King’s Chamber (Kawae, Yasumuro, Kanaya and Chiba, 2013). In the final stage, the blocks used outside the straight ramp were taken away and slowly the internal spiral ramp was constructed.
Rationale for selection of the appropriate theory
The construction theory prescribed by Jean-Pierre Houdin is the most appropriate to explain the mystery. The primary reason behind this is the framework does not take into consideration presence of any supernatural powers in the construction of the Great Pyramid. On the other hand, the scholar has attempted to present some realistic facts regarding how the stone blocks were moved and the shape of the pyramid was formed (Kawae, Yasumuro, Kanaya and Chiba, 2013). It can be argued that the chosen theory has been criticized by many, but there is evidence of a forgotten spiral tunnel inside the monument. The transportation problem was somewhere solved by the presence of underneath interconnecting chambers. To a certain extent, the theory helps in scientifically solving the mystery of the Pyramid of Giza.
Conclusion
The essay has critically reflected upon the probable ancient techniques which might have been used in the construction of the Great Pyramid. Religious views have also been presented in context of explaining the theory. However, Houdin’s theory properly explains the probable construction mechanism used in case of the Great Pyramid.
- Kawae, Y., Yasumuro, Y., Kanaya, I. and Chiba, F. (2013). 3D reconstruction of the “cave” of the great pyramid from video footage. In Digital Heritage International Congress (DigitalHeritage), 2013. IEEE.
- Merrill, J. M. (2012). Books written in stone: Enoch the seer, the pyramids of Giza, and the last days. New York: Author House.
- Sood, V. (2016). Pyramid construction techniques. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 2(9), 1-190.