Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1851-05-31
THE PYRAMIDS OF GlzEH CONSIDERED AsTRo-
N0MCALLY.

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIzEH CONSIDERED AsTRo-
NOMICALLY.
PROM THE LIVERPOOL COURIER.
The perua Of letter addressed to Lord Bougham by Mr.
Wild has directed thoughts back to times Of great an
dquity and to land peculiarly interesting Our aites ton
has been specially drawn hose gigantic monuments which
now seem beacons warning lest our pride Of Learning and
we should forget that days Aeeng and
highest attainments Transform
Few questions have been more dcu n than those
which have been ever and proposed respecting the
Of the pyramids II Is matter comparatively of less i'm
Porance who built them than Is for what purposes they
erected While Heodotus and other ancient writers tell of
Cheops and his successors even in the historical
transmitted to the mind turns with from the
inquiry, who raised the smallest Of the three at Gzeh If
Cornth had Lais, Egypt had Rhodope. sHsc stunt
Pyramidum mracua, says Piny "supremumque illud ne
quis regum opus, miretur mnmam his sed
Rhodope meretrcua factsm."
The uses Of the pyramids appear to have been hreelod
although ancient writer's speak Of them only as sepuchres
Plato however, mentions their having served as
That besides the purpose sepuue they were used by the
priesthood in their religious rites there can be little doubt
and 10 those days the priests the learned not ony in
their special vocation but in the Sciences there Is as little
to astronomy Apart from prina acie evidence the cscu
aons which have been recently made appear
this opinion and in presenting abstract of these compute
TONS we have to acknowledge the letter already referred to-
upon Of terrace Of limestone Of which the Lybian noun
ans composed They the chief Of all the pyramds
and OF those standing three claim preeminence The largest
or the Great Pyramid the first erected and the Others
are situated near it. In respects they are all equally
interesting, for each confirms the opinion that their design
was made subservent to great scientific purpose and thu
their geographical position determined to this end their
tive proportions
The first astronomical truth which COWS out Of an exami
nation OF these works is the fact that the eahs axis has not
changed since they erected To this day four car
dna points indicated by their Sides Let as now examine
what other scientific laws appear to have guided in their
formation.
Suppose draw vertical section Of apy one Of them the
figure will be soscees triangle. Now il interesting to
observe that the angle of inclination of the side the base
or to perpendicular, is exactly such allows the northern
side TO be illuminated by the SUMS direct beams between the
spring and autumDai equnoTes the first impact of the solar
rays upon that aspect being the day from which the Egyptians
computed the commencement Of their year. The Pyramids
OF Gzeh situated in north latitude 3O required for this end
that the angle should be 300 half the complement Of
quadrant; and it is So
In this somewhat elementary inquiry, we thus find two
grand uses Of the pyramidsthe indication of the cardinal
points, with the deduction Of the stability the eaths axis
and the index to the Of the solar year. But
these are not all II necessary that the meridian should
be accurately and much in the same way as we
watch the transit OF the wires Of the telescope do
the Egyptians appear have made the observation The
star nearest to the pole the likely be chosen
and it is in the northern side of the pyramids that we find the
entrance.
mere entrances however, not sufficient. It was ne
cessary that the passage should incline like the axis Of an
equatorial telescope the axis Of the earth the pyra
mids examined this is the arrangement oowed-the incna
ton OF the entrance passages Of the largest being respectively
26o ~ 25o 55 and 800 Although this discovery is not
new, important tina. it should be brought forward in con
nexon with others.
This angle is interesting 10 its bearing upon fact pointed
out by Sir John Herche The star which nearest
to the true pole "a Us Minoies not the pole star to
the Egyptians and this from what termed the preces
sion OF the equinoxesan apparent motion in the stars slow
but sure Granting that nearly 1000 years have passed
since these mighty structures begun the influence Of
this change would be very decided alteration in the long
ude OF the polar star The largest the constellation Draco
though BY no very bright one, (a equal third
magnitude would then approach to that spot round
which the starry sphere seemed turn and even then its
polar distance would equal % 81 49, Dsductng this angle
from the latitude Of Gzeh, viz 29o So Is" find that the
star question must have then reached lower elimination
angle of 27 81 angle which would enable observer
within the pyramids watch its transit OF the entrance
We come now to consider another astronomical fact which
may be proved by direct experiment. extending, however,
heightened period We refer to the change which is
taking place in the obquy Of the elliptic That this angle
has been diminishing is proved by the observations handed
down from the earliest epochs and making all allowance for
the mperecton of instruments in these days. certain degree
Of credit must be attached the results transmitted to u.s.
Eratoshenes mentions that the obquy Of The ecpc two
centuries before The Christian amounted 23o 81 5
and quarter Of century ago Dr. Pearson computed at
230 ~ 49,. Reducing this to annual rate. Nader
estimates the etrogradaion If the ropc 0.475s"an ex
tremely small yet important quantity and this angle
reckoned the meridian is equal 1884, very nearly
48 English feet l. 20 Egyptian cubits. The importance
of this fact in its bearing upon the astronomical Of the
pyramids will be Immediately perceived.
By most happy circumstance Egyptian cubit was dis
covered in the temple ruins of Memphis and this has thrown
much light upon the of those ancient monu
This cub, which is divided twenty eight equal
parts exactly l7i3 English foot and is not
little interesting observe that this length multiplied by %
gives exactly the mediona yearly retogsdaon referred TO-
This retrogreson of the tropics amounting to % cubs an
nualy is Of equal IA in the half year and the
entrance great pyramid is exactly IA cubits to the east
ward Of the mesal ne of the northern aspect the excess Of
the longer division Of the base the shorter being
quently % cubs and the entire length 44s cubits.
Descending the entrance passage, to another
leading the chambers the inclination of which amounts to
26o 49, Mr. Wild has pointed out that this difference be-
tween the angles Of these passages 23 equal the
dminuton of the eclpc during period Of q 900 years. We
cannot however, understand why this number should have
been chosen rather than 000 which would have been very
nearly submulpe Of the grand epoch when The complete
circle Of the procession Of the equnoxes shall have been
peted So far them the relation between the angles Of these
passages may not be astronomical symbol.
The lesser pyramids appear to have served equal
ly important purpose They monuments, demonstrating
by their dimensions powerfully if written upon
them in characters, that the Egyptians understood the retro