DJEDEFRE’S ANGLE

Djedefre’s Pyramid was not originally a section of this article as there are only remains of a pyramid at Abu Roash. However there are some concepts that will relate to the Giza pyramids.

Djedefre and Khufu

Djedefre built his pyramid 8 km northwest of his father’s Great Pyramid at Giza. His pyramid seems to have been intentionally related to the Great Pyramid in several ways. First the height was chosen to be greater by only 25 feet (because of the higher ground). Second, The Great Pyramid was visible from Abu Roash and vice versa.

Thirdly, it was built at 45 degrees north-west from it. The reason for this was presumably geographic - Abu Roash was the location of the high point that was needed.





But the direction was an exact half right angle.

Djedefre’s -45 degree line started at the south mid-point of the pyramid to the north mid-point of Khufu’s pyramid. It also passed through the corresponding west and east mid-points of the pyramids.
It can be checked on Google Earth Pro using the ruler facility, which shows the angle calculated from grid references. The grid references are :
29deg 58 min 44.78secN & 31deg 08min 07.05secE
30deg 01min 55.75secN & 31deg 04min 27.28secE

It is evidenced that Djedefre completed his father’s complex at Giza, and this included boat pits. The boats were for the risen King Khufu to sail in the sky with Re.

This ‘45 degrees’ seems also to have been used as a design theme for the complex.
The satellite pyramid was built at the south-west corner of the enclosure thus re-enforcing the theme. (see diagram below). Up to that time satellite pyramids had been built in the middle due south.
The main long causeway from the enclosure was at 45 degrees to north. And within the enclosure there was a short 45 degree causeway from the enclosure entrance to the east mortuary temple.






Counterpart in the stars

Using the date for the Great Pyramid based on the exact 9-11 split in 2485 BC, and the date from Khasekhmwy that supports this, a date for Djedefre must be around 2460BC.
The northern circumpolar area would look like this diagram below. The small square represents the tomb in the pit, the large square represents the pyramid.



This stellar counterpart of the pyramid between Mizar and Kocab was like all the pyramids before i.e. that space between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor that contained the celestial pole.

The celestial pole was almost exactly on the Mizar-Kocab line. On the line too was a small star with the designation 10 Draconis, And this star was the closest visible star to the celestial pole. It was located half way between Mizar and Kocab and right in the centre of the square representing the tomb. This was most likely the chosen star to represent the tomb of Djedefre.

As Pushkov wrote “Thuban began to move away from the celestial Pole, losing its status of the central star, during Djedefre’s reign”

His pyramid was named “Djedefre is a sehed star” Sehed just means firmament. So the star 10 Draconis had no particular name even then !

As far as the Hed Sed was concerned, Djedefre had all the required components – a satellite pyramid, an enclosure, an east-side temple complex, and an unequivocal destination among the circumpolar stars.


Menkaure’s Connection

Djedefre had established the link with his father, Khufu, via the 45 degree line. Later the Giza plateau was developed more as the family cemetery.

It seems that Menkaure copied this link to Khufu’s pyramid. His pyramid was constructed around a similar +45 degree line. See diagram below (Khafre’s pyramid not shown) :



His angle was also +45 degree to north exactly. To make sure of the right angle between the lines he may well have using the 8km Djedefre-Khufu line and sighted a right angle from it.

A motivation for this line is that it was in the exact alignment towards On (Heliopolis) where the shrines of the Great Ennead were.

The total distance of this line was 2000 cubits from the mid-east of the Great Pyramid to the mid-west of his own pyramid. The 45 degrees and the 2000c were exact numbers, not approximations. [This can be checked on Google Earth Pro or by using the co-ordinates.]

This Menkaure-Khufu line was kindly named ‘The Chase Line’ by Ahatmose. It could also have been called ‘The Tedder Line” !

Other similarities between Djedefre’s and Menkaure’s pyramids were :

• The base lengths of the two pyramid were the almost same - within 2 cubits, 203 and 201
• The heights of the pyramids were almost the same about 128 and 124 cubits
• Both pyramids were faced with granite for the lower layers and white limestone above.

One more interesting observation ! :

Base Orientation

The alignment of the base to the stars was the standard practice for pyramids and several systems have been proposed.

Djedefre’s pyramid did not follow the pattern of pyramids before nor after it. (This was a big thorn in the side for Dr Spence !]

Here is what I think Djedefre did : To identify permanently with his father Khufu, as in the very top picture above, the stars were rotated by -45 degrees when it came to setting out the base. This now created a 45 degree line like in the very top picture - but in the sky.



He then used his star 10 Draconis to orientate the base of the pyramid.

In the above diagram, the azimuth of 10 Draconis was minus 49 minutes, which was the same as the pyramid on the ground.



Conclusion

The 45 degree lines demonstrate that there was a family co-ordination of the pyramids at Giza - and with Abu Roash.