The message of the Sphinx: a quest for the hidden legacy of mankind (32 page)

Cross-quarter causeways

Amongst the strangest and most unaccountable features of the Giza necropolis are the massive causeways that link each of the three great Pyramids with the Nile Valley below. Today only fragments of their floorings remain, but as late as the fifth century BC at least one causeway, that of the Great Pyramid, was still almost intact. We know this because it was seen and described by the Greek historian Herodotus (484-420 BC)—who reflected that its construction almost matched, in engineering prowess and architectural splendour, that of the Great Pyramid itself.
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Recent archaeological research has confirmed that the information provided by Herodotus is correct. Moreover, we now know that the roofs of the causeways were spangled on their undersides with patterns of stars
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—highly appropriate symbolism if, as we believe is the case, these grand and curious corridors were designed to serve as
Viae Sacrae—
ceremonial ‘roadways’ which initiates would follow on their way to the ‘Pyramid-stars’ of Rostau-Giza.
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The causeway from the Third Pyramid (the Pyramid of Menkaure) is directed due-east,
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like the gaze of the Sphinx, and thus conforms to the general north-south and east-west grid structure of the Giza necropolis. By contrast the two causeways linked to the other two Pyramids definitely do
not
conform to that grid structure. As a result of the work of geometrician John Legon, who has undertaken a detailed analysis of the site-plans and grids provided by modern Egyptologists (such as Selim Hassan, Reisner, Holscher, Ricke and Lauer), we now know that this anomalous nonconformity nevertheless incorporates its own strict symmetry: ‘while the causeway of the Third Pyramid is aligned due east-west, the causeways of the Second and Great Pyramids both have a bearing of 14 degrees—the former to the south and the latter to the north of due east.’
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61. The course of the sun throughout the year as viewed from the latitude of Giza. A full range of 56 degrees is defined between summer solstice at 28 degrees north of east and winter solstice at 28 degrees south of east (with the equinox, of course, at due east). The ‘cross-quarter’ sunrises therefore occur at 14 degrees north of east and 14 degrees south of east respectively, thus dividing the sun’s range along the horizon into four equal parts.

62. The Khufu causeway runs 14 degrees north of east in perfect alignment with the cross-quarter sunrise that falls between the spring equinox and the summer solstice (and thus also, on the sun’s ‘return journey’, between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox).

63. The Menkaure causeway runs due east in perfect alignment with sunrise on the spring equinox and on the autumn equinox.

64. The Khafre causeway runs 14 degrees south of east in perfect alignment with the cross-quarter sunrise that falls between the winter solstice and the spring equinox (and thus also, on the sun’s ‘return journey’, between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice).

Legon has also provided conclusive evidence that the design of the Khufu and Khafre causeways is in fact integrated with the geometry of the Giza complex as a whole—and not merely with that of the individual Pyramids themselves. Furthermore, far from being conditioned by the
topography
of the site (as had previously been supposed) the direction of these causeways (14 degrees north and south of east respectively) shows every sign of being part of a ‘unified plan’ whose ‘hidden purpose’ and impetus ‘possibly resided with the priests of Heliopolis’.
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But what ‘hidden purpose’ could dictate the decision to direct one causeway due east, another 14 degrees south of due east, and a third 14 degrees north of due east?

When sunrise is observed conscientiously throughout the course of the year from the latitude of Giza, the answer to this question becomes obvious. Here, as everywhere else on the planet, the sun rises due east—in line with the Menkaure causeway (and the gaze of the Sphinx)—on the spring equinox. What is unique about the latitude of Giza, as we have noted several times previously, is that on the summer solstice (the longest day of the year) the sun rises 28 degrees to the north of due east whilst on the winter solstice (the shortest day) it rises 28 degrees to the south of due east. This gives a full variation of 56 degrees and it is a simple matter of fact that what astronomers refer to as the ‘cross-quarters’ of this variation, i.e. the sunrise-points located exactly half way between each equinox and solstice, are at
14 degrees north of due east and 14 degrees south of due east respectively.
In short the three causeways signal and bracket the equinox with two gigantic ‘arrows’ pointed at the cross-quarter sunrises and a third arrow (the Menkaure causeway) pointed at the equinox sunrise itself. In this fashion the sun’s range throughout the year along the eastern horizon is architecturally divided into four equal segments each with a range of 14 degrees—i.e. into its astronomical ‘cross-quarters’.

Now a focus on the cross-quarter days, together with the equinoxes and solstices, is an extremely well-documented phenomenon amongst many ancient astronomically minded peoples (dictating the alignment of their temples and the dates of their most important festivals).
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It is therefore not surprising to find such a focus expressed in the architecture of the Giza necropolis. Neither should we be surprised by the
accuracy
with which the causeways define the cross-quarters since all the other alignments of the necropolis were achieved with equally high precision.

65. Epoch of 10,500 BC: the rising of Leo on the cross-quarter sunrise between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. This sunrise occurs at 14 degrees south of east, the point on the horizon targeted by the Khafre causeway.

66. Epoch of 10,500 BC: gaze of the Sphinx on the cross-quarter sunrise between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Note the profile of the constellation of Leo with only its head, back and shoulders protruding above the sky-horizon and compare with the profile of the Sphinx, as viewed from the south.

67. The Great Sphinx in the ‘ground-horizon’ of Giza, with only its massive head, back and shoulders protruding into view above ground level. Once again the images in the sky and on the ground ‘lock’ at 10,500 BC.

There is one feature of the layout, however, that is truly exceptional and remarkable.

Computer reconstructions of the ancient skies reveal that if we could travel back in time to the cross-quarter day that fell between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox in 10,500 BC, and position ourselves at the ‘top’, i.e. the western end, of the Khafre causeway gazing along it towards the edge of the ‘Horizon’ of Giza, then we would witness the following celestial events at dawn:

1.
       
The sun would rise at 14 degrees south of east in direct alignment with the causeway;
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2.
       
Immediately to the left of this point would be the great constellation of Leo-Horakhti, with only its massive head and shoulders protruding above the horizon line (
it would, in other words, appear to be partially sunk, or ‘buried’ in the ‘Horizon of the Sky’).