New evidence about the function of the Pyramid field

Mansion of the Mace

1) The Development of the First Geographical Frame
Memphis, the first capital of Egypt, was founded in the area called Mechattawi, i.e. “that which unites the Two Lands”. South of Memphis, we find Dahshur and the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. This Pyramids marked the border between Upper and Lower Egypt. In Antiquity, this town was called Inheb-heg or “White Walls”, which according to Herodotus referred to a dam that had been built to protect the town against the waters of the Nile. In a later period, the town was named Anch-tawi, “the life of Two Lands”.

The Memphis/Giza region belonged to a single province, called a “nome” by the Egyptians. This was depicted by means of the sign in the lower part of the hieroglyph pictured in the figure. Seen from bottom to top, the complete hieroglyph consisted of a grid or matrix – the “nome” – which served as a base for the standard or seat, consisting amongst others of a right-angled triangle. Above the standard we see the hieroglyph for “fortification and enclosure” depicted beside the papyrus stalk of Lower Egypt. The hieroglyph O36 (see Egyptian Grammar) for “fortification [residence, mansion] and brick enclosure” is linked with Nome 1 of Dahshur/Memphis from Lower Egypt.
The three locations which appear to enclose the general area around the pyramid field of Giza (Rostau) are Memphis, Letopolis, and Heliopolis. The map of this region shows how these three locations, due to their geographical position, form an isosceles triangle. The emblem of the nome consists of a horizontal platform supporting the standard, with a fortification (mansion) and a mace above. As such, the first nome of Lower Egypt is called the “Mansion of the Mace”.

2) Dahshur, Mansion of the Mace (battle-axe)Nome 1 from Lower Egypt
Close to Dahshur, to the east on the “Osiris meridian”, in the direct neighbourhood of the two pyramids of Pharaoh Snofru from the Fourth Dynasty, three pyramids were built by Pharaoh Amenemhet II, Sesostris III and Amenemhet III. The erection of these three pyramids completed the image of the “smiting the enemy”. In all, five pyramids were built in this area.

These appear to form the five fingers which completed the hand and turned it into a fist that holds the mace or a battle-axe, thereby enhancing the iconographic image of the ritual pose.
This mace or battle-axe coincided with the star Propus (eta Gemini). This region of the Mounds of Horus and Seth (see also section 3) is described in the Pyramid and Coffin Texts as the “Mansion of the Mace” (cf. Pyramid Text §598, 948, 949 and in Coffin Texts I 294g; V 140b; VI 99b and 154a; VII 285a).

3) The Bent Pyramid the oldest Sundial
The northern pyramid of Dahshur was made of red rock and possesses a deviating slope of 43°22’. The Bent Pyramid of Dahshur deviates completely from the normal pyramid design. It slopes up to the bend at 54°28’, then declines to 43°22’. The identical angle of inclination of the two pyramids of Dahshur undoubtedly points towards a preliminary decision to abide by a specific angle throughout the entire design.

Egyptological dogma states that the decision to discontinue the slope of approximately 54° at a height of 49.40 metres and to carry on at an angle of 43°22’ was due to technical problems. We do not share this view. On the winter solstice (on January 16th or 17th, Julian Calendar, the Sun is directly over the tropic of Capricorn) around 3100-3000 BCE, at precisely 12h:00 PM, noon, the Sun reached an altitude of approximately 43° above the horizon at Philae/Aswan, the site where the Egyptians had projected the tropic of Cancer (cf. Chapter 1.4 of the book) In short, the Bent Pyramid of Dahshur is the world’s first and oldest Sundial.

4) The Planet Mars and the 363-year Cycle of the Myth of the Triumph of Horus
From early dynastic times onward, the Egyptians had already divided their country into Nomes or provinces, showing their proficiency in land surveying techniques. Each province possessed an individual insignia or emblem. One example of its application might be on the heads of persons depicted on walls, so that they personified a province. This reveals intentional

structuring, which contained a religious function.
The emblem of the first province of Lower Egypt is shown in 1). It represents a ground plan of a building, with a battle-axe on its right-hand side. This province extends from the pyramids close to Dahshur, the border between Upper and Lower Egypt, to approximately the pyramids of Giza. The temple city of Letopolis was located in Nome 2 and that of Heliopolis in Nome 13 of Lower Egypt. Close to Dahshur, we find the Red and the Bent Pyramids. According to a very ancient tradition, this is also the site where the gods Horus and Seth fought against each other, yet also rose again after their disastrous battle. It is also the site of reconciliation after that battle and furthermore that of the “Unification of the Two Lands”, where the treaty concerning the alliance was concluded. The moment of these battles and the corresponding reconciliations is described in the “Myth of the Triumph of Horus”.

Millennia afterwards, the commemorative festivities were held in the Horus-temple of Edfu. Written historical data about these battles and reconciliations are known, amongst others, from the Second and Eighth Dynasties, and from the Graeco-Roman period. The cycle that is mentioned in the “Myth of the Triumph of Horus” amounts to 363 years. This matches the cycle of the planet Mars, which, after completing this period, starts a new cycle of 363 years (the planet Mars in the Perihelium of the planet-orbit) from the Perihelium of the Earth-orbit. The planet Mars, including its cycle, was and remains extremely important to determine the Egyptian chronology and was definitely known and important to the ancient Egyptians from the fourth millennium BCE onwards (cf. Chronology in the Appendix of the book). In the past, the exact cycle of the planet Mars was difficult to determine due to its eccentric orbit. Kepler needed no less than five years to calculate the cycle and finally, at the beginning of the 17th century, he filled 900 sheets with calculations in order to determine the correct cycle. How the Egyptians resolved this problem thousands of years earlier is still unclear.

Never before have astronomers or Egyptologists noticed that the Egyptians were familiar with this cycle of the planet Mars. Even less correspondence was found with the various myths such as the one about the battle and the reconciliation between Horus and Seth, known as “The Horus and Seth Myth”, (also “The Conflict of Horus and Seth”, and the “Unification of the Two Lands”) and the one about the festivities around the “Triumph of Horus”, which were held much later.

Figure 36 of the book shows the planet Mars above the right arm of Orion near the star Propus, known as the “Battle-axe”, on New Year’s Day (cf. sections 4.18 and 4.22 in the book). At that moment, Mars is seen near the intersection of the Ecliptic and the Galactic Equator. This day, 19th July 4242 BCE, the New Year’s Day of ancient Egypt, is the oldest calendar day known to Mankind. From a mythological perspective, Mars is a god of war, a symbol of battle; he is also the deity who signified power and invincibility. The Constellation of Horus, Orion with the planet Mars, is the expression of their cosmic iconography, the personification of the
Pharaoh with the battle-axe in his right hand, his ritual regal bearing denoting “I shall maintain”. This was the emblem of prehistoric Egypt as a world power. It is probably very ancient and also ranks as the emblem of their ancestors, the Followers of Horus. Illustrations of this emblem, which were rendered in Egypt from 3516 BCE onward, are found on the website in chapter 8) The people of Mesopotamia adopted this image after 1500 BCE. It is also found amongst other cultures such as the Phoenicians, the Romans and those of Meru up to approximately 300 CE; for illustrations, see chapter 10 on the website.

The story that has gradually unfolded in this book has now reached the summit of perfection. The location of the Red and the Bent Pyramids near Dahshur indicates the site that the Egyptians used to carry out their astronomical observations. Standing on the Osiris meridian, they turned their eyes towards the south and gazed at the spot in the sky above these pyramids in order to determine the cycles of the planets. This is where one of the intersections of the Ecliptic with the Galactic Equator, the Perihelium, the “Gateway to the Cosmos”, the “Stopping-place of the Gods” is located. It is important to know whether this location is mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts, where its function is also expressed. In my opinion, the following twenty Pyramid Texts (§135; 218; 222; 480; 487; 598; 770; 915-916; 943; 948; 949; 961; 994; 1295; 1475; 1735; 1904; 1928 and 2099) mention the pyramids of Dahshur as the “High Mounds” or the “Mounds of Horus and Seth”. Pyramid Texts §948-949, with the “Mounds of Horus and Seth” as the Red and the Bent Pyramids, clearly refer to the Mansion of the Mace, where, via the Gateway to the Cosmos, the ferryman carried the deceased across the Milky Way, which the Egyptians believed to be the dwelling place of the souls. Equipped with this new knowledge, their religion, which was founded on the principle of resurrection, acquires a new countenance. The pyramids of Dahshur represent the “Gateway to the Cosmos”. Thus, the Egyptians built the Perihelium of the cosmos on earth.

The various illustrations in the book Egypt:”Image of Heaven”, such as figures 38, 39, 39A and 40, show all too clearly the diagrammatic rendering of the constellation of Orion as the Egyptians projected it stereographically onto the face of the Earth and subsequently built it. Even now, scholars consider this to be pure speculation, yet “there is more to explore”. A theory has to be well-founded, or it should be borne out by texts or corresponding evidence, for instance by means of a ground plan of the very ancient enclosing wall of the Temple of Heliopolis. The correspondence between the shape of the western wall (see also Ch.8, fig.8x) and the stylistic shape of the plan of the Pyramid Field is striking (see hieroglyph T15). A similar stylistic model of the “Arm” is also found in the design of the corridor of Sphinxes in combination with the ground plan of the temple at Luxor (see Ch.8, fig.8y). These are the only temples in Egypt (Heliopolis and Luxor) that were based on such a ground plan. The constellation Orion is the image in the starry sky of the god Horus; at certain moments, the planet Mars – representing the battle-axe – hovers above his right “Arm”. The “Arm” was the exceedingly sacrosanct symbol of Creation and of their ancestors. They applied this symbol in situ, not only in the Pyramid Field but also in the ground plan of the enclosing wall, to wit in the façade of that wall surrounding the temple of Heliopolis, as well as in the corridor of Sphinxes in combination with the temple of Luxor. The Edfu Texts state that the in situ presence of this prehistoric symbol raises the place to a cult centre of the Creator.

The Pyramid Field was universal and it functioned as the Perihelium on Earth, as a “temple” for the benefit of their religion of death and resurrection, as an observatory to detect the movements in the heavens (the“Egyptian” system), as a netherworld for the deceased, as an iconographic image on behalf of Creation, as an icon for the purpose of the pharaoh in his preservation of that Creation, as an eternal calendar, as a means to calibrate their general chronology that was based on the 363-year cycle of the planet Mars and was known to them as the moments when the “Unification of the Two Lands” occurred. This list is probably incomplete… The theory described in this book is the first step on the way to a more encompassing a far wider domain, covering the Cosmological Empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt.