Graham: "I was wondering why you did not include in the diagrams the bisection of the 45 degrees by the positioning of Djedefre's pyramid to Iunu ie 22.5 degrees."


The Djedefra / Iunu bearing is ~25 - ~26 degs N of E, depending on where inside the temple enclosure the bearing was heading, or if the bearing was to Djedut (Ddwt), the necropolis of Iunu, to the SW of the main temple enclosure.


The Djedefra / Khem ~26 degs E of N bearing is similar.

~52.2 degs / 2 = ~26 degs.

~52.2 degs N of E is the bearing from the centre of Menkaura's pyramid to the centre of the pyramid of Khufu (Menkaura's grandfather)

~52.2 degs N of W: a mirror alignment - Menkaura to Djedefra (both pyramids are similar in size, and red granite was used in both for much of the casing)

~52.2 degs S of E: from Djedefra's 'Shining Star,' through the pyramid fields along the western escarpment overlooking the Nile ending up at Netjerikhet's mortuary complex that has as it's central component, the 'mother' of all pyramids named 'Horus is the Star at the Head of the Sky'

~52.2 degs S of E: the angle of the 3-star asterism in the centre of Orion closely matched the angle of the 3 king's pyramids at Giza when it was ~142.2 degs az. (52.2 degs S of E) - viewed from Djedefra's 'Shining Star' and from anywhere on the 52.2 bearing along the western escarpment, the 3-star asterism shone in the south eastern sky right above Netjerikhet's pyramid.


The 45 deg alignment between Khufu's Akhet and Djedut, the necropolis of Iunu is understandable when understood in the light of "the king became akh in the Akhet and stable in Djedut (T 187)" especially when Djedefra's 'Shining Star' is also aligned with Djedut and with a 45 deg SE bearing to Khufu's Akhet.

It's actually a dual 45 deg alignment with Iunu - the other Khufu / Iunu 45 deg alignment may have been with the 'Dual Shrines of the bas of Iunu' (P 480) (bas of Iunu are the gods of Iunu)


Imhotep may have been responsible for creating linear alignments linking two important sacred shrines with Netjerikhet's Dyn 3 mortuary complex that has an intriguing positional relationship with Khem and Iunu - it's longitudinally midway between Iunu and Khem, and both these sacred places lie on the same latitude.

Two 7 : 24 : 25 right angled triangles back to back link all three - Iunu, Khem and Netjerikhet's mortuary complex are all located at the corners of the triangle. The king's visit to the 'Horus of Khem' shrine is shown on a panel beneath Netjerikhet's mortuary complex, and fragments of a shrine of Netjerikhet were discovered at Iunu that implies both Khem and Iunu were sacred places of significance to Netjerikhet.

The 7 : 24 : 25 right angled triangle may have been used as an aid in building the early 'step-pyramids, as the 73.74 deg angle closely approximates the steep slopes (72 - 74 degs) of the sides of the early step-pyramids.


see this link for a diagram of these alignments (scroll right to the bottom for the Netjerikhet / Iunu / Khem alignments): [sites.google.com]



45 deg alignments also align Snefru's two pyramids at Dahshur with the Enclosure of Ptah at Ineb-hedj ('The White Wall'), the administrative and religious centre of the 1st Lower Egyptian nome, "….the royal residence and capitol of Egypt during the Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom."


Only after becoming acquainted with the terrestrial, celestial, and textual landscapes of the Old Kingdom, can linear alignments between sacred places be understood in context.


Alignments investigated by Egyptologists:

The 45 deg Khufu / Iunu alignment was noticed over 150 years ago (Hekekyan Bey, 1852).

The French Egyptologist, Georges Goyon, in his book 'Le Secret Des Batisseurs Des Grandes Pyramides' 1977: 90, suggested Khufu's pyramid was aligned with Khem, 16.6 km to the north, using the North / Pole Star, Thuban.

Hans Goedicke, suggested the three Giza pyramids were aligned with Iunu - possibly to the sanctuary of the ben-ben (Washington Post, 30.11.1983), and according to Mark Lehner and Miroslav Verner, the axes of the necropolises in Giza and Abusir were probably directed toward Iunu (Lehner 1985: 143; Verner 2001 (1997): 302-3)

"The pyramids at Abusir, just as at Giza, were not positioned in the cemeteries randomly, but in accordance with a particular scheme that is not yet understood in all its aspects. The fundamental axis of the cemetery at Giza was a line linking the southeast corners of the pyramids, while at Abusir it was a line linking the pyramid’s northwest corners. Both lines, the axes of the pyramid cemeteries at Giza and at Abusir, converge towards a point that lies at Matariya, an eastern suburb of modern Cairo. In ancient times this was the site of the temple of Re and the famous center of the sun cult, Iunu, in Greek Heliopolis. It is possible that this was the "fixed point" of the world of the pyramid-builders." (Verner 2002: 112-3)

"It is therefore appropriate to ask, in a landscape as prospect-dominated as the Nile Valley, which sites and monuments were mutually intervisible and whether their respective locations, horizons and vistas are owed to something more than mere coincidence." (‘The Topography of Heliopolis and Memphis: Some Cognitive Aspects’ David Jeffreys)

"The idea that the distribution of the pyramids is governed by definable ideological (religious, astronomical, or similar) considerations is attractive. After all, if there were such reasons for the design of the pyramid and for the relationship of monuments at one site, why should we shut our eyes to the possibility that similar thinking was behind the apparently almost perverse scatter of the pyramids over the Memphite area? The argument that the Egyptians would not have been able to achieve this had they set their mind to it cannot be seriously entertained." (‘Discussions in Egyptology’ 30, Malek 1994: 101-114)

Miroslav Bárta: "As at Giza, the Abusir pyramids of Sahura, Neferirkara and Neferefra were very likely built (i.e. situated in the necropolis) according to a single master plan. Verner was able to show that their northwestern corners lie in a line which runs directly to the northeast and intersects the Giza pyramids line precisely at Heliopolis, in the sun temple of Ra (Verner 2002, 302––3)." Miroslav Bárta ('Location of the Old Kingdom Pyramids in Egypt', Cambridge Archaeological Journal 15.2 (2005: 186)

CT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2009 04:06PM by Chris Tedder.