Atlantis, the Egyptians, the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Maya
Atlantis: The Sunken Island
Atlantis is one of the most captivating myths that ancient times have left us. The first to write in detail about the island of Atlantis was Plato in his dialogues, Critias and Timaeus. In Critias, where he elaborates on Atlantis, Plato describes how the gods divided the world and its regions, then begins to discuss Athens and, ultimately, the fabulous Atlantis. According to Critias, the speaker in the dialogue, this island was located beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar, as named by Herodotus in the 5th century BC).
The story continues with the account of Solon's journey to Sais in 590 BC, where, through a priest of Isis, he learns about a magnificent island beyond the Pillars of Hercules with an advanced civilization that, according to the priest, governed the world for centuries.
However, a great cataclysm struck the island 9,000 years before Solon's arrival in Sais, sinking its mountains and civilization into the sea. Now, by analyzing Plato's text, we’ll try to provide a detailed description of the city.
"There was a plain on the island, the most beautiful and fertile of all plains, and not far from its center stood a mountain of moderate height..." This plain was very fertile, providing legumes as well as plants used to make beverages. Plato continues at length, explaining the genealogy of Atlantis's inhabitants and kings, who were direct descendants of the god Poseidon. He lists the island's wealth, including the famous metal "orichalcum," the most precious metal of that era, mined from several locations on the island.
Plato then makes a curious mention of elephants, which populated the island: "There was an abundance of elephants because there was plenty of pasture for all kinds of animals, both those that live in lakes, marshes, and rivers, as well as those in the mountains and even the largest, most voracious animals." This detailed description suggests a vast territory, protected on three sides by mountains shielding it from cold winds and open to the sea to the south. The plain and Poseidon's forest were irrigated by a complex, efficient irrigation system, along with an aqueduct that provided water to the population.
The main city, Atlantis, was located on the southern coast. It was surrounded by walls with a circumference of 71 kilometers, and the city itself, protected by additional rings of water and land, had a diameter of about five kilometers. The connection between Atlantis and other civilizations can be inferred from Plato's writing: "In that island called Atlantis, there was a kingdom that ruled not only the whole island but also other islands and some regions of the continent beyond; its power extended even beyond the Pillars of Hercules, including Libya, Egypt, and parts of Europe up to Tyrrhenia."
The Egyptians
The Egyptians were an advanced people for their time, sparking numerous theories about their extensive engineering, especially astronomical, knowledge. Among the most extravagant theories is that space travelers in ancient times may have visited our planet. According to my theory, the Atlanteans, a highly advanced people, conquered Egypt and implemented aspects of their civilization, creating a new culture with their knowledge. After the famous disaster that destroyed their island, no trace of their great civilization remained, but they left marks: the three pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.
The largest, most famous, and most fascinating pyramid is that of Khufu (Cheops). Herodotus, during his lengthy travels in Egypt, wondered how a people older than his own could construct such an architectural marvel. In his work Histories, the Greek historian explains that the Egyptians used machines capable of transporting the blocks used to build Khufu's pyramid.
The first scientific theory on the purpose of the Great Pyramid was developed by John Taylor, a London publisher, in 1864. He questioned why the walls inclined at 52° - 51° 51'. By comparing the height of the pyramid with the length of its base, he found the only possible answer: the slope couldn’t be different if the ratio between the height and base width was to match that between a circle’s radius and circumference. In other words, the builders seemed to understand what the Greeks would later call pi (π).
Why encode pi in the pyramid? Perhaps it represented Earth, with the pyramid symbolizing the hemisphere from the North Pole to the Equator? If the pyramid’s base length is multiplied by eight, then by sixty, and then by 360, the result is just under 25,000, astonishingly close to Earth’s circumference. Taylor concluded that, unable to build a gigantic dome, the Egyptians opted for the best alternative, encoding Earth’s measurements into the pyramid.
Thus, it’s possible, if not highly probable, that ancient Egyptians possessed far more advanced knowledge than previously believed. In 1833, astronomer Richard Anthony Proctor discovered that a crucial need for an agricultural society was a precise calendar, requiring careful observation of the moon and stars.
First, a long, narrow opening oriented north or south was needed to observe the movement of stars and planets and record it on star charts. According to Proctor, it was essential to identify true north and align an axis accordingly. Today, our reference point is the North Star, but in ancient Egypt, it wasn’t in the same position due to "precession of the equinoxes."
In ancient Egypt, the North Star was Alpha Draconis. Stars appear to trace semicircles overhead, from horizon to horizon. Those directly above (on the meridian) trace the largest circles, while those closer to the Pole trace smaller ones. If the ancient Egyptians had wanted to aim a telescope at Alpha Draconis, they would have inclined it at 26° 17', so by filling a water-filled pit, they could see their "North Star" reflected.
The four sides of each pyramid are oriented precisely toward the cardinal points, allowing a straight line from the northeast corner of the Great Pyramid to the southwest corner of Khafre’s pyramid. The line continues, touching the corners of Menkaure's pyramid, which is shifted about 60 meters from the other two pyramids' alignment.
Why this imperfect symmetry? Scholars pondered why the third pyramid was so much smaller than the other two, given that Pharaoh Menkaure was as powerful as his predecessors. They understood that Menkaure's pyramid was smaller and offset because the three pyramids represented the stars in Orion's Belt, with the Milky Way as the Nile. This held deeply intriguing implications.
Traditional theories suggest that the three Giza pyramids were built as tombs by three different Pharaohs. But if they represented Orion’s Belt, then the entire layout would have been designed long before the construction of the Great Pyramid. When? Due to Earth’s axis wobble, its position relative to the stars changes by 1 degree every 72 years, completing a full circle every 26,000 years. In the case of Orion, this wobble causes the constellation to shift upward for 13,000 years, then move back down.
During this cycle, the constellation slightly tilts, meaning the hourglass shape rotates clockwise and then backward. It was noted that only once did the pyramids' layout exactly match that of Orion’s Belt (without tilting): in 10,450 BC, when Orion’s Belt was at its lowest point.
The Sphinx, a Monumental Architectural Work
According to modern Egyptologists, the Sphinx appeared during the Old Kingdom, in the form of a crouching lion with the head of a pharaoh wearing the "nemes" headdress, representing the power and strength of the ruler, a conqueror of enemies. This is the Sphinx depicting Pharaoh Khafre.
According to modern Egyptologists' theory, the Sphinx was built during the Age of Taurus. However, it seems unlikely that a pharaoh would use a lion, an inappropriate symbol for the era, as an equinoctial marker. It is thus conceivable that the Sphinx was built in the Age of Leo, around 10,500 BC. Moreover, the Sphinx’s head is in better condition than the rest of the enormous structure. Seen from above, the head appears disproportionate, suggesting it is not the original. Strangely, the Sphinx is not aligned with the pyramids, as Egyptian architects rarely left anything to chance.
A stone ramp is offset by 14° from the pyramids, with the Sphinx further to the right. Some scholars suggest that the Egyptians moved the ramp and the Sphinx out of alignment with the pyramids to make the sun rise over the ramp while the Sphinx's head and shoulders were illuminated on the horizon. The surrounding tombs date back to the Old Kingdom but are carved on a much smaller scale. It is clear that the erosion on the tombs was due to sandstorms, suggesting that the Sphinx is older.
The wind’s effects on nearby tombs provided a useful comparison. Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed of layered particles. When sand strikes these "layered cakes," softer layers erode, forming indents, resulting in a series of parallel layers with an irregular profile. When stone surfaces are eroded by water, the effect is entirely different: rain channels form vertical grooves in the rock, creating rounded protrusions like small hills. Scholars agree that the Sphinx’s body and surrounding wall show water erosion, as their surfaces lack the more homogeneous appearance caused by wind erosion.
Based on studies by scholars like West, Hancock, and Bauval, we can assert that the Sphinx was built by an advanced civilization in remote antiquity. Additionally, the layout of the three pyramids at Giza aligns with the constellation of Orion as it appeared around 10,450 BC. What does this date signify? The arrival of civilization? The colonization by a “lost paradise” civilization?
Following Plato’s statement, we must assume that the Americas were also colonized by the people of Atlantis. To find traces of this civilization that dominated the world in ancient times, we need to study pre-Columbian civilizations that inhabited the Americas before the arrival of Columbus.
The first are the Aztecs. According to legend, they came from a wondrous island called Aztlan (Atl = water, an = near); the name of their homeland gives the name to their people. The bearer of civilization was a figure named Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), a wise, bearded, white man who brought culture and civilization from Aztlan to Central America. This wise man left with the promise of returning, and the arrival of Cortés' Spanish troops coincided with the year of the "Feathered Serpent's" promised return. Aztlan is represented in ancient inscriptions by a hieroglyph meaning "water" in the Aztec language.
Aztlan was a land with high mountains and a garden inhabited by gods. The symbol of this land was the "White Mountain." According to Aztec codices, the migration began with a mass departure from Aztlan, the land of herons and ancestral homeland. The Aztec kingdom followed the Toltec and Chichimec empires in Mexico. It is believed that the Toltecs introduced writing, the calendar, religion, and art to later Central American civilizations. The Toltec kingdom is thought to have declined in the 9th or 10th century AD, with survivors emigrating and influencing the new Maya kingdom in the Yucatán.
Ancient Toltec sites later became Aztec cities, including Tula, Teotihuacan, Cuicuilco, Cholula, and Xochicalco.
Archaeologists know little about this civilization of builders preceding the Aztecs. It’s certain that the Toltec, Aztec, and Maya civilizations are closely connected. C.W. Ceram states, “If we generally refer to the precursors of the Maya and Aztec civilizations as Toltecs, it should be noted that the term Toltec might mean nothing more than 'builders.'"
Were they Atlantean colonizers? The Aztecs, a warrior people, built their empire upon Toltec ruins, inheriting their religious beliefs. Quetzalcoatl was one of the principal deities among the Aztecs, Maya, and Toltecs—known as Kukumatz in Guatemala and Kukulkan in the Yucatán, both meaning "Feathered Serpent."
In the search for the real basis of this myth, common elements between the Atlantean civilization and others have been found, leaving traces in specific regions worldwide, reminiscent of the civilization Plato described. The topography of Atlantis's capital is remarkably similar to that of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan ("The Cactus on the Rock"), located on a mountainous island in a lake, encircled by concentric walls and canals, with access to the shore via three causeways, each with a drawbridge, making entry impossible when the bridges were raised. The temple of the god of war stood in the center. Tenochtitlan was built following designs from the distant East of Aztlan.
The Maya also remembered the legendary Aztlan, an island from which their civilization-bringer god Kukulkan (Feathered Serpent) came. Archaeology suggests that the Maya arrived in the Yucatán between 3000 and 1000 BC after a slow migration across Mexico, settling in an area the Aztecs called Tamonanchan. Here, they encountered the Olmecs, from whom they learned writing and the calendar system. They discovered the concept of zero, had a calendar more precise than ours, and extensive astronomical knowledge—they could even predict eclipses. Their advanced civilization is evident from the grand temple-pyramids, some with astronomical observatories in Maya city-states.
How did a civilization lacking extensive historical development reach such a high level of evolution? So, we must ask: who were the Maya? It is likely, if not certain, that they were direct descendants of a highly advanced civilization, the people of the "earthly paradise."
These are just some of the many questions archaeology presents about this mysterious people.
Another highly advanced civilization was the Inca. They lived in the Andes, where they built magnificent cities, efficient roads, and a great irrigation system, reminiscent of the one Plato described in Critias. Machu Picchu, discovered by Hiram Bingham, demonstrates their sophistication. Located on a steep, difficult-to-climb mountain, the only access to this splendid city was via a narrow path.
Buildings were constructed with heavy blocks believed to have been transported from distant regions. How did the Incas, like all pre-Columbian civilizations who never developed the wheel, manage to haul multi-ton blocks up the mountain?
Moreover, the stones fit so closely that not even a knife can slip between them. Archaeology attributes this to the workers’ dedication and the king’s discipline, though this seems improbable. It suggests that a highly advanced civilization from a distant past may have taught the Incas their engineering skills. This brings up the usual question: what was this civilization? The people Plato spoke of in his dialogues?
Now let’s address the famous catastrophe that destroyed Atlantis. The lost paradise’s people, unsatisfied with their dominion over Egypt, America, and parts of Europe, sought to conquer Athens but were soundly defeated, and the Greeks eventually occupied the Atlantean citadel. After years of warfare, a great earthquake and flood devastated Athens, engulfing its army and sinking Atlantis. It was a fitting punishment, as, over the centuries, the Atlanteans had become corrupted:
"When the divine element within them, mixed with mortal nature, was extinguished, the human character prevailed, and they degenerated. While to those with insight, they appeared wretched, to those unable to discern what life truly brings happiness, they seemed splendid, swollen as they were with greed and power. And Zeus, god of gods, seeing this miserable degeneration, decided to punish them to make them wiser. He summoned the gods and, having gathered them, said…"
We can all imagine what Zeus said to the council of gods. A flood that destroyed paradise is a legend found in nearly every civilization, from Biblical texts to the Deucalion flood, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the legend of Manu. These are just a few tales of a great catastrophe. Therefore, we may conclude that a flood truly struck the Earth in ancient times, sinking a magnificent island with its advanced inhabitants.
Only one survived—a priest? A king? Or simply a righteous man? We can call him by various names: Noah, Deucalion, Ziusudra, Coxcox, but he survived on an ark with his family and many animals. This, more or less, is the story of Atlantis, as narrated by Plato in his dialogues Critias and Timaeus.
There’s much more to discuss: its possible location, religion, myths, and the interpretations across various religions that could help recall this wondrous island.
But I don’t want to go on too long…
The Great Pyramid
One of the largest constructions ever created by humankind, the Great Pyramid has towered into the sky for thousands of years on the Giza Plateau in Egypt.
Its measurements are as follows: the northern side is 230 meters and 25.05 cm, the western side is 230 meters and 35.65 cm, the eastern side is 230 meters and 39.05 cm, and finally, the southern side is 230 meters and 45.35 cm, with a height of 146 meters. The pyramid weighs approximately 6 million tons and covers an area of 13.1 acres. The base angles are almost perfect: the southeast angle is 89° 56' 27", the northeast 90° 3' 2", the southwest 90° 0' 33", and the northwest 89° 59' 58" (only a two-second arc difference). According to reliable estimates, the Pyramid consists of approximately 2,300,000 blocks of limestone and granite, weighing between 2.5 and 70 tons each. Additionally, there was a mirrored casing of 22 acres made up of 115,000 highly polished stones, each weighing 10 tons, originally covering all four faces. After a violent earthquake in 1301 AD, most of the casing blocks were removed to build Cairo.
Why was this enormous pyramid built? How was it possible to create it in such an ancient time? Is it plausible that a Bronze Age civilization amassed 21 million tons of stone over about a century, with 12 million of those tons at Giza alone, creating something entirely distinct from anything built before or since?
Among Egyptian archaeology specialists, it is commonly believed that the pyramid was built as a tomb for the pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty (2575–2467 BC), Khufu (known as Cheops). This belief is primarily based on hieroglyphs found on some stones inside the pyramid resembling his seal and on Herodotus’s account, written in the 5th century BC—over 2000 years after it was constructed. Although no body was ever found within its well-sealed chambers, Egyptologists persist in this theory, suggesting a story of tens of thousands of slaves forced to work for decades to build a mountain of stones to house a single man's body. Strangely, the meticulous scribes of ancient Egypt left neither a word nor a hieroglyph about the pyramid. Furthermore, the oldest known image, a fresco depicting slaves forced to transport stone blocks on wooden sleds, was painted a thousand years after Egyptologists believe the pyramid was built. Not to mention the construction method, well-described by John Baines, professor of Egyptology at Oxford University: "As the pyramid grew in height, the length and width of the ramp at its base were extended to maintain a constant slope (around one in ten) and prevent collapse. Multiple ramps likely approached the pyramid from various sides."
However, to bring an inclined plane to the top of the Great Pyramid with a 1:10 slope, a ramp 1460 meters long would be needed, with a volume greater than the pyramid itself. It is hard to imagine how, on such a long ascent, slaves could have dragged blocks weighing several tons. Other Egyptologists have hypothesized the use of spiral ramps made of mud bricks attached to the sides of the Pyramid. Although these would have required less material to build, the idea of teams of workers dragging heavy stones up hairpin turns seems far-fetched.
The King's Chamber: discovered around 820 AD by Caliph Ma'mun, this chamber is located one-third of the way up the Great Pyramid, about 45 meters above the base. While one might expect a treasure proportional to the king's greatness, the pharaoh's chamber (funerary, according to orthodox Egyptology) was completely empty and devoid of decoration or inscription. Only a granite sarcophagus remained, empty (today, granite is carved for its hardness using abrasives like diamond dust or silicon carbide, also known as carborundum).
To access the King's Chamber, one must navigate narrow, difficult passages and tiny corridors and galleries. The question arises: how did tomb robbers manage to steal everything (if there ever was a treasure), leaving the chamber entirely bare, situated at a height of 45 meters and accessible only through an ascending gallery (blocked by extremely heavy granite plugs) leading to the Grand Gallery, about 46 meters long with a 26° incline?
Esoteric Theories on the Meaning of the Great Pyramid:
- Topographical Instrument: The Great Pyramid could have functioned as a highly precise theodolite, akin to a carefully oriented compass. It may have served as a geodetic reference point for constructing structures in the ancient world. It was a celestial observatory and a scale model of the hemisphere, incorporating the correct degrees of latitude and longitude, from which highly accurate maps of the northern hemisphere could be drawn.
- Water Supply: One inventive person demonstrated that it could have been used as a pump to draw water from the Nile, while another proposed that the original limestone casing might have condensed water from the desert air.
- Energy Generator: The word “pyramid” derives from Greek and can be translated as “fire (pyr) in the middle.” This is an odd name for a stone tomb. What kind of fire did the Greeks mean? Consider also the mathematical ratio incorporated into the structure, known as “phi,” also called the “golden ratio” during the Renaissance. It appears in nature and is used in architecture to create pleasing forms. It represents the number 1.618, obtained by dividing a line so that the ratio of the whole line to the longer segment is equal to the ratio of the longer segment to the shorter one. According to Egyptologist Schwaller de Lubicz, the Egyptians saw “phi” as a symbol of creativity, the fire of life. Plato called it the key to the physics of the cosmos.
The first clue about the energy generated by the Great Pyramid emerged in the 1930s when a Frenchman, André Bovis, noticed that the bodies of animals found inside appeared mummified: they hadn’t decayed or emitted odor. Back in France, he experimented with scale models and gathered evidence suggesting that something about the shape caused the mummification of dead organic matter. In the 1940s, a dowser named Verne Cameron discovered an energy field around the pyramid and energy jets emerging from the vertices; he also found that if he connected the vertices of multiple pyramids with thread or string, in series or parallel like batteries, the effect was amplified. In the 1950s, Czechoslovakian Karl Drbal discovered that the same shape could sharpen razor blades and alleviate or eliminate headaches. Gradually, it was noted that whatever energy caused these phenomena seemed to concentrate or focus at about one-third of the distance between the base and the apex, in the center of the pyramid, approximately where the King’s Chamber is located in the original pyramid.
The Egyptians must have known that the pyramid was an energy generator.
One of the most significant factors related to the Great Pyramid and its derived models is that the strongest energy effects are achieved when one side faces magnetic north, aligning it with Earth’s magnetic field.
