SECRET OF PYRAMIDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 638, 15 April 1929, Page 11

SECRET OF PYRAMIDS

SUNDIAL THEORY TO BE TESTED

NOT BUILT AS ROYAL TOMBS Aii attempt is to be made to solve the secret of the pyramids, on the assumption that they were built as sundials, by which the priests could measure the seasons. Mr. Moses B. Cotsworth, director of the International’ Fixed Calendar League, has written to the Egyptian Government, asking permission to erect 3, model of the original apex on the top of the Great Pyramid. Mr. Cotsworth believes that the space on the north side of the pyramid was used as a dial, or shadow floor, and in order to carry out liis tests satisfactorily, it will be necessary to repair the shadow floor of the Great Pyramid, so that it shall present an even surface. “The generally accepted theory that the Egyptians built their series of stupendous pyramids merely as royal graves will not hold.” declared Mr. Cotsworth to a London “Daily Chronicle” reporter. “No other race was so eminently practical as the. ancient Egyptians. “It was the exact knowledge, of the j seasons acquired, as 1 believe, ny. the priests, with the aid of the pyramids, that first enabled the Egyptians to produce two crops each year instead j of one. “More perfect pyramids Liter pro duced such accuracy in theii prognostication that they were enabled to [ obtain three crops of durali, their | most important grain. . “A delay of even a few days in I sowing seed for such important third crops brought bad harvests, which endangered the national life and prosperity.” PRIESTS’ MONOPOLY i The most important use of the | pyramids, Mr. Cotsworth maintains, was to keep a secret calendar which : preserved for them a monopoly 01 i accurate knowledge as to the recurrence of the seasons, j In a country whose people had no j ready means of reckoning time and i the reasons accurately, yet whose j livelihood depended upon their agricultural work being performed at the right dates, the Sacred Caste who ,kept the secret calendar would exerj cise an all-powerful influence, j The sun was the Egyptians’ god. j and the privilege of measuring his I pyramid’s shadow was accounted a sacred rite. I The priests announced from their t altars, on the 10th, 20th and 30th day j of each month the work that should lbe done during each ensuing ten j days?. | For instance, on September 20 a ’ pronouncement was broadcast thro igh- | out Egypt to cover the next tea I days: 1 “Day and night are equal. Autumn begins. Nile highest. Open wayj channels. Sow clover. Sow’ turnips ; and beets. Separate ewes from j rams. Sap of trees recedes. Gather I cotton and olives. Women make ! syrups of fruits. Men sow barley, j Sow winter vegetables. Fishes spawn, j Store fruit. 1 The high priests acquired, in time, the knowledge that the year was .242 of a day longer than 365 days, but they kept their knowledge to themselves, because the insertion of a leapday in the public calendar would have disclosed their *mos‘t valued sec j rcu