The Pyramids of Egypt

(c) 2007 David Grant Stewart, Sr.

The standardized unit of linear measurement for any architecturally precise society can be calculated by dividing multiple precise measurements of various structures into each other to achieve proportional relationships in integers.  Then divide the original measurement in modern units by the integral multiplier for the modern equivalent of the society’s base unit of linear measure.  The linear unit of measurement used to build the early pyramids, called the cubit, was equal to 21.47454545 inches or 54.54545454 centimeters. This does not appear to have been known for several thousand years.

Although the word pyramid has come to represent a geometric shape in modern languages, the original Greek and Egyptian etymology refers to the height of the structure rather than its geometry:

"The ancient Egyptian term for pyramid is mer. The English word pyramid comes from the Greek pyramis, plural, pyramides, a word of doubtful etymology that was thought to have been derived from the ancient Egyptian per em us, a term used in a mathematical papyrus to denote the vertical height of a pyramid."^[1]

Original hieroglyphs state that the height represented the lifespan of the pharaoh or king buried in the structure. The notion of a “cubit measurement of time” [Facsimile 2, Fig. 1] is preserved in Russian рука, arm and hand; Polish rok, year; Ukrainian рік, year; Russian срoк [= c + рoк], time period.

The height of the early pyramids represented the age of the pharaoh buried in it, to the nearest month

The pharaoh called Khufu (Greek, Cheops) (pyramid 146.59 meters high = 3224.98 twelfths of a cubit) lived 3225 months or 268 years and 9 months.

The pharaoh called Khafre (pyramid 143.50 meters high = 3157.000000 twelfths of a cubit = 3157 months) lived 263 years and 1 month.

The pharaoh called Sneferu-a (pyramid 104 meters high = 2288.000000 twelfths of a cubit = 2288 months) lived 190 years and 8 months.

The pharaoh called Sneferu (pyramid 98 meters high = 2156.000000 twelfths of a cubit = 2156 months) lived 179 years and 8 months.

The pharaoh called Nefirirkare (pyramid 70 meters high = 1540.000000 twelfths of a cubit = 1540 months) lived 128 years and 4 months.

The pharaoh called Menkure (Menkaure, etc.) (pyramid 66.50 meters high = 1463.000000 twelfths of a cubit) lived 121 years and 11 months.

The king called Zoser (Djoser, Joser) (pyramid 60 meters high = 1320.000000 twelfths of a cubit) lived 110 years.

Generally speaking, the higher the pyramid, the older it is.  Genesis records a trend of progressively decreasing life spans after the great flood:  Peleg (239), Terah (205 years), Abraham (175 years), Jacob (147 years), Joseph (110 years).

All previously known measurements (i.e. those given in meters) are from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition. The Egyptian measurements (all those given in cubits) and their significance are entirely my own.  The reader may demonstrate for himself that the heights of all of the pyramids are exact integers of this figure, or with very simple fractions as remainders.

Now compare these calculations with the findings of the great Flinders Petrie:^[2]

Arranging the examples chronologically, the cubit used was as follows:

However, as is evident from the above, my measurements were concerned only with the heights of the pyramids.

Therefore, the height of the pyramids in this Petrie example should be the only thing compared.  For the height of the Great Pyramid there are also several theories.  Petrie wrote: “The actual height originally was 5776.0 ±.” His figure is evidently in inches. This number 5776.0 inches/39.37 inches/meter = 146.71 meters.  The figure given in the Britannica was 146.59 meters.

Petrie documents that the cubit used in the construction of all measured parts of the pyramids differed by a high of 20.71 and a low of 20.51 inches. This yields a difference of 0.2 inch, or about 1%.

I suggest that regardless of whatever cubit was used in the internal measurements of any pyramid, it is probable that the one used for the only significant measurement, its height, was standardized, otherwise it would lose its meaning altogether every time there was the slightest deviation in the cubit.

Let’s do the arithmetic again, using all of the cubits found on internal measurements on all of the pyramids listed above.

Below I have included W.M. Flinders Petrie’s cubit for each pyramid alongside my own cubit:

Khufu* gives Flinders Petrie’s measurement of the original height of the great pyramid. Khufu** gives the later calculation given in the Encyclopedia Britannica which takes advantage of the latest measuring technology.

Starting with the third row, each alternate row (20.62, 20.64, etc.) gives one of W.M. Flinders Petrie's cubits. My own (Stewart’s) cubit of 21.47454545 inches is in the last row, calculated to ten decimal places.

A test of the validity of the measurements, as well as the validity of the cubit used, is in the month rows (this represents remaining fraction of the cubit calculation, multiplied by twelve).  NOT ONE of Petrie’s measurements comes close to an integer except for his cubit of 20.69 inches, which comes within 0.0088 of an integer for a single height measurement – Khufu* -- based on Petrie’s height measurement.  However, my cubit comes to an integer practically within the accuracy [+/- .02”] of his measurements at 268.968 cubits.  But in the Encyclopedia Britannica measurement of the height of the great pyramid, my cubit comes even closer to an integral number of months than his admitted accuracy allows: 8.9796 months.

Furthermore, ALL of the other pyramids come within FOUR TEN THOUSANDTHS of an integral number of months using my cubit. Using Petrie’s cubits, not one of them comes anywhere near this precision in any measurement or calculation whatsoever.

This demonstrates without further discussion that the height of the great pyramid given in the 15th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is accurate to its nearest significant figure, while Petrie’s is off by 146.71-146.59=0.12 meter. This is to be expected, otherwise our measuring technology has gone nowhere in the last hundred years.

It also demonstrates that my cubit of 21.47454545 inches or 54.54545454 centimeters is accurate to all of its ten significant figures, and that this is the cubit that was used in constructing the heights of all the great pyramids in question.

It is in my opinion silly to suppose that another cubit was used for the internal measurements of these pyramids. But even if it were, it would prove nothing. The irrefutable fact remains that all of the great pyramids were built to a height equaling the age of the Pharaoh buried in them to the nearest month.

For hundreds, if not thousands, of years, people have been trying to infer some significance from pyramid measurements. Now you know the significance of the height. If you want to discover more interesting correlations, you will have to use the cubit I have given you, at least for the great pyramids mentioned.

Most of the later, smaller pyramids were built to a standard height, and with different cubits. A prerequisite to proceeding with my cubit is to check accurate measurements and see if they come out to integral values.

It is interesting to note that the Egyptian cubit is precisely related to the meter by a ratio of  11:6 (one cubit = 6/11 meter, or 11 cubits = 6 meters).  The meter was designed to represent "one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator." Modern scientists have observed that the measurement did not fully account for the earth’s oblateness, although the figure is nonetheless relatively precise. The precise relationship between the cubit and the meter suggests that the measurement was derived from natural geometric or astronomical constants, although the specific origin is unclear.

The notion that it could possibly come from something so imprecise as a king’s forearm is not quite right, but the forearm is used as an approximation for what to call it. The word for cubit in Egyptian is 1NW.1, which conveys the idea of the earth 1N having a line of measurement W of the “secret horizon on the north” about equal to a forearm ..  The little vertical line after a hieroglyph means, “we want you to take that character literally.” The N character does not represent a placenta, as supposed by many, but is a representation of a giant star shielded behind a huge interstellar radiation shield. It is these giant starts that gave rise to the physically impossible notion of “black holes” = something out there has a tremendous gravitational pull, but we can’t see anything, so we’ll postulate the existence of a collapsed superstar that pulls everything into it. All these meanings are associated with the composite hieroglyphs.

I do not know what fundamental constant of nature the Egyptian cubit is linked to. The pendulum suggests itself, but the calculations do not come to any obvious conclusion. It is not associated in any obvious way with the speed of light, the diameter of the earth, or any other natural constant. Someone can look into this and may discover something. Nor do I know what is meant by the cubit measure of time mentioned in Facsimile Nº2. Nor do I know of any significance of any other dimensions of the pyramids other than their height, nor have I spent any time looking. Another area of research which will probably yield some interesting associations.