From: Subject: The Orientation of the Pyramids Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 18:30:13 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://localhost:8780/pubs/journals/pensee/ivr03/17orient.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 The Orientation of the Pyramids

The Orientation of the Pyramids

Immanuel Velikovsky

A little consideration reveals that, should the terrestrial axis be = turned=20 tomorrow into a new astronomical direction by any angle of = inclination=20 toward the ecliptic, the Great Pyramid would remain properly oriented to = the=20 north and south poles; there would be a new celestial pole and, if so=20 positioned, a new polar star, but the pyramid would remain with two of = its sides=20 aligned with the geographical poles. Should the terrestrial axis be = turned by=20 anything like 180=B0, north and south would change places (a = hieroglyphic text=20 quoted in Worlds in Collision, p. 107: "The south becomes = north, and=20 the Earth turns over"), but the pyramid would not be disoriented. = Actually,=20 quite a number of authors of classical antiquity refer to earlier = changes in the=20 inclination of. the terrestrial axis and to subsequent positions it took = (W.=20 in C., Part 1, Ch. 5; Part II, Chs. 7 and 8).

Should the orbit undergo a change, and with it the length of the year = and=20 besides, the relative length of the seasons, or should the rotational = speed=20 change, and with it the length of the day--the Great Pyramid would = remain true=20 to the terrestrial poles.

Only with the additional displacement of the geographical = position=20 of the axis (location of the poles), would the pyramid be disoriented = (unless=20 the poles should travel along the meridian of Gizeh). The present = azimuth=20 (orientation) of the sides of the Great Pyramid indicates that any = disturbance=20 in the geographical position of the poles since it was built must have = been of a=20 temporary character, the Earth's equatorial bulge acting as a = stabilizer. In=20 such a case wobbling would result--a residue of such wobbling is still = present.=20 For figures, see Earth in Upheaval, "Shifting Poles." In that = book I=20 also offer reasons why only the first kind of disturbance (shifting of = the=20 celestial pole) would be of stable nature.

In Worlds in Collision I described both kinds of change in = the=20 direction of the axis and in the position of the poles; but in = Earth=20 in Upheaval, on the basis of geophysical facts, I ascribed = lasting=20 change only to the first kind of displacement, and changes of temporal = character=20 to the second. An application of force (or force field) on the globe = creating=20 any such displacement would result in stress in the terrestrial strata = and in=20 great earthquakes, and the question could be asked: How is it that the = pyramids=20 still stand? Years ago I wrote on the subject (in a debate with = Professor J.Q.=20 Stewart, Princeton astronomer, in Harper's for June 1951): = "Their solid=20 construction (one percent free space inside) prevents the stones from = being=20 moved inward, and the angle of inclination of sides to horizon, from = moving=20 outward. The pyramid is the most stable of all forms. The king's chamber = inside=20 Cheops' pyramid has five ceilings of granite slabs, one above the other. = Earthquakes have been extremely severe in wrenching, as all the deep = beams of=20 granite over the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid are snapped through = at the=20 south end, or else dragged out ... The whole roof hangs now by merely = catching=20 contact' (Petrie, Egyptian Architecture)."

In a lecture delivered in April 1966 at Yale University on the = subject, "The=20 Pyramids, Their Purpose and Orientation," I stressed that the entirety = of=20 Egyptian astronomy, as G.A. Wainwright brought out, was developed with = the=20 celestial position of the terrestrial axis playing the governing role. = Chinese=20 astronomy was so oriented, too (J. Needham). See also the Section, = "Tao", in=20 W. in C. The persisting order of the world and solar motions = were=20 watched with the help of the obelisks, for which we have the testimony = of Pliny=20 (W. in C, p. 320).

The Babylonian and Greek astronomies were oriented primarily toward = east and=20 west, or to the rising and setting points of the sun at equinoxes and = solstices;=20 therefore the Babylonian stargazers, as a multitude of cuneiform texts = witness,=20 carefully watched whether the equinoctial days arrived on time and = whether any=20 change occurred in the horizon positions of sunrising points on the = winter and=20 summer solstice days. Should the equinox day retard or precede, or = should the=20 sun rise too far or not far enough to the north or to the south on the=20 solstices, the order of the world was no more the same. Actually, the = very=20 numerous cuneiform tablets found in the ruins of the Nineveh royal = library, and=20 if dating from before ca. -700, contain calendric and astronomical data = that=20 differ greatly from those of our times; that advanced mathematics was = employed=20 in preparing these tablets is readily admitted by specialists in = Babylonian=20 astronomy.

According to these tablets, the calendar was repeatedly altered, and = at=20 certain periods the vernal equinox was identified on dates far removed = from=20 March 21st; the values for the longest and shortest days (daylight = hours) of the=20 year repeatedly and drastically changed, too.

Significantly, the very same changes in the calendar and in estimates = of the=20 longest and shortest days of the year can be traced in Egyptian = texts.

Changes in the world order took place as late as the 8th century = before the=20 present era. With the recurrent alterations in the world order, the = sunrising=20 point on the summer solstice was inevitably displaced, and such = displacement was=20 observed and registered by the sages of all ancient civilizations; it = can be=20 traced in altered orientation of the foundations of Greek and Syrian = temples--a=20 subject discussed in Worlds in Collision, where works = of J. N.=20 Lockyer and F. G. Penrose, among others, are cited. Only recently the = excavators=20 of the Shechem temple (Jordan) found another such change in orientation: = old=20 foundations were not re-used when new foundations, less massive, were = laid on=20 the same site, differing in orientation by only five degrees. Professor = Bull of=20 Drew University commented that the change must have had to do with = observations=20 of the sunrising point (on the summer solstice) by worshipers.

PENSEE Journal III

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