Roxana Cooper Wrote:
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> ... And we musn't
> forget the pyramid and it's winding passages were
> also intended to protect Pharoah
> and his treasure for eternity, (though singularly
> failing to do so).
Hello Roxana,
My favourite theory about the passages and chambers inside/underneath Khufu's pyramid is that they were designed so that any tomb robbers who managed to break into it the Pyramid would be fooled into thinking somebody had beaten them to it and give up searching for the real burial chamber.
To this end the Pyramid has proven to be a resounding success.
Intruder's are first led down the Descending Passage to the vast but to them obviously incomplete Subterranean Chamber, from there they are guided via the Well Shaft to the Queen's Chamber with its self-evidently unfinished floor, from there they are drawn by the magnificent Grand Gallery to the Antechamber which looks to all the world like it once had portcullis blocks in it sealing the passage to the next chamber, the awesome King's Chamber - a room with an empty sarcophagus and sod all else in it... (excuse the vernacular there); at this point the robbers are thoroughly dispirited - who wouldn't be? - and trudge home empy-handed.
Meanwhile, Khufu's mortal remains and funerary paraphenalia continue to rest in the chamber underneath the ...
Yes, I know that this theory has more to do with a "Boys' Own" adventure story or an "Indiana Jones" movie than it does with reality, but I do rather like it.
MJ