The Mystery of Orion
Many years have passed since the birth of Egyptology and great steps have been taken for the understanding of the ancient Egyptian culture. Today we have even gone so far as to reconstruct the history of Egypt directly from the translation of the hieroglyphs.
In any case, many mysteries are still unsolved today.
Why did the Egyptians build the pyramids?
How did they manage to achieve such high values in the field of architecture and engineering?
When exactly were the pyramids built?
For many years the pyramids were exclusively considered huge tombs to commemorate the dead pharaoh and built by thousands of slaves. Robert Bauval, after a very long research, threw a new and intriguing light on the various questions surrounding the pyramids. Robert, carefully studying the position of the three most famous pyramids located on the Giza plateau, found that this was an all too obvious reproduction of the position of the stars that form the Orion Constellation Belt.
He also highlighted the theory that the ducts that depart from the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid, are not, as was assumed, simple ducts used for the ventilation of the mortuary, but given that they pointed directly towards the Constellation of Orion, the direct street in which the soul of the deceased pharaoh was apparently projected, outside, towards the constellation itself. Furthermore, the mystery of the conduits deepens as a small robotic camera has been sent into one of the conduits and an amazing discovery has been made: a secret door still closed deep inside the pyramid structure blocks the passage of the tunnel.
Looking at the area view of the Memphite necropolis of Giza, located southwest of Cairo, we can easily see how the three pyramids are aligned. At first glance these seem not to be perfectly aligned (classical Egyptology confirms that this can lead to think of a calculation error or due to the different conformation of the ground) but, if we compare it with the image of the stars that form the Belt of Orion things are starting to get clear.
It is hardly impossible to think of a mistake: the pyramids are aligned exactly with the stars of the Orion belt. Robert was the first to notice that the alignment of the pyramids of Giza was precisely mirrored by the stars of the Orion Constellation. Robert called this "Correlation Theory" which is the backbone of his very interesting research.
Astronomy is fundamental to Bauval's Correlation Theory. In a cycle of about 26,000 years the earth oscillates slightly on its axis and this produces an apparent change in the position of the stars. This phenomenon is known as Precession (the stars, at each half cycle, will be at a lower or higher declination). When the earth oscillates, the Pole Star, which roughly marks the Celestial Pole, changes.
Currently it is Polaris that marks the Celestial Pole but at the time of the construction of the pyramids it was marked by Thuban in the constellation of the Dragon. In 12,000 A.D. it will be Vega, in the constellation of the Lira that will mark the Polo. Another change in the position of the stars is due to the expansion of the universe.
Stars are not stationary in space; they have what is called proper motion: some stars move towards the earth while others move away (it has been observed that the stars of the Orion belt tend to move together through space).
The stars that are located at a great distance from the earth seem to move more slowly than the others: this is the case of those of Orion which is about 1,400 light years away. As we have said, it is very important to get a precise idea of how the sky was at the time the pyramids were built: today thanks to sophisticated software it is possible to study the sky of many centuries ago and this has greatly helped Robert to verify his interesting theory.
