The three pyramids in Giza are the pinnacles of Egyptian pyramid architecture. Its charm lies not only in their grandeur, but also in the formation of two architectural groups with strict layout, which are symmetrical and balanced. Next to it, the little golden pagoda and the temple played the role of foil, and a series of tombs of Mastaba surrounded it, holding the moon like stars. The long and straight tunnel runs from the Nile through the enjoyment hall in the valley to the tomb in the pyramid, giving people a sense of depth and embodying the principle of advocating formal beauty in ancient Egyptian architecture. Many scholars are surprised by the accuracy of the directions and angles of the three pyramids and the level of the architectural technology of Shiling. Pyramids are regarded as an encyclopedia of ancient Egyptian civilization, and they left a mystery for future generations.
-Mu Taoni Huaqiang's Lost Civilization: Egypt, East China Normal University Press, 1999, page 4 1.
The outstanding achievements of the Great Pyramid earned it the reputation of being one of the seven wonders of the world. The Great Pyramid embodies the wisdom and strength of the ancient Egyptian people, not only creating brilliant achievements in architectural art, but also embodying the great achievements of ancient Egyptians in astronomy and geometry. The four sides of the pyramid face east, west, north and south. According to modern measurement, the errors between the south and north sides in the southwest direction are only 2' 28 "and1'57", and the errors between the east and west sides in the northwest direction are only 5' 30 "and 2' 30". In addition, the ancient Egyptians were very clear about the concept of the relationship between circumference and diameter. If we divide the sum of the four sides of the Great Pagoda by twice the height of the Great Pyramid (148.208), we can get the value of π: 931.22/(2×148.208). Or 1/2 (74. 104) divided by the side length of the pyramid is equal to 3. 14 1.598 2. The distance between the earth and the sun is 65.438+0.48 billion kilometers, which is 65.438+0 billion times the height of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. The weight of the pyramids is 5.955 million tons, while the weight of the earth is 599.5 billion tons, which is 65.438+0.0000 times. These figures sound surprising, but they are also difficult to explain by coincidence. Without a certain knowledge of geometry and astronomy, it is unthinkable to design such a huge and solid building.
-Liu's History of Ancient Egypt, Commercial Press, 245th edition.
[Material 3] The meaning of the pyramid is not easy to understand. They may be built for the economic purpose of providing employment opportunities. According to this theory, at that time, the population had increased to a surplus level, and the resources of agriculture, mining, manufacturing and commerce were not enough to maintain the lives of all residents. There is no doubt that this statement has some truth. But for propaganda purposes, what is more important is political and religious significance. The construction of the pyramids is an act of faith and a manifestation of the country's eternal and consolidated hope. They are the indestructible tombs of rulers, which should ensure the immortality of the nation, because Pharaoh is the embodiment of national survival. It is also possible that they are used as symbols of sun worship. They are the tallest buildings in Egypt and can bear the first ray of the rising sun and reflect it to the valley below.
-(America) Edward McNopens, Li Bili Ralph, Luo Guo Jing, etc. History of World Civilization (Volume I), Commercial Press, 1995, p. 54.
The interpretation of the above three materials discusses the social civilization value or significance of the pyramid. Pyramid embodies the wisdom and strength of ancient Egyptian people, and is the peak of ancient Egyptian architectural art. It not only created brilliant achievements in architectural art, but also embodied the great achievements of ancient Egyptians in astronomy and geometry. Some scholars believe that the meaning of the pyramid is not easy to understand, and it may be built for the economic purpose of providing employment opportunities; But for propaganda purposes, what is more important is political and religious significance.
13. The Sphinx
[Material 1] The Sphinx is also called the Sphinx. The word "Sphinx" comes from Greek Sphinx, which refers to a terrible monster in Greek mythology. It has a woman's head, a lion's body and two wings. Legend has it that it learned many riddles from the muse, the goddess of wisdom, and often stood at the crossroads, letting passers-by guess riddles, and killing each other on the spot if they couldn't guess. I don't know when it started. There is a saying in the west that the Egyptian Sphinx was carved according to the image of the Greek Sphinx. This is ridiculous, because the Egyptian Sphinx was born in 2600 BC, when the Greek nation did not exist. "Greeks appeared in the dusk before the dawn of history", about 1500 BC, while the Greek civilization in southern Europe appeared in the 7th century BC. Therefore, the Sphinx in Egypt could not have originated from Greek myths and legends. On the contrary, the image of the "Sphinx" in Greek mythology is likely to come from the former.
According to legend, in 26 1 1 BC, khalaf, the fourth Pharaoh of the fourth dynasty, crossed the Nile and came to Giza to inspect his future tomb. When he saw a bare hill in front of his tower, he suddenly felt unhappy and asked the ministers around him what was going on. The architect soon told him that this was a hill left after the stone used in the pyramid was mined. Because the stone contained impurities such as shells, it was not mined any more. Khalaf said that it is unsightly to leave such a bare hill here, and it must be disposed of. So, architects quickly got together to discuss countermeasures. Probably inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology and the shape of the mountain, they designed the mountain as the head of khalaf and the body of a lion, which not only reflected the majesty of Pharaoh, but also implied the cruel side of Pharaoh. A famous masterpiece of art was born in this way.
The sphinx is carved from a whole boulder. It is 20 meters high and 57 meters long. If you count two front paws made of stone, the total length is 72 meters. The uniqueness of this colossus is that its face and body are completely alienated, but they are skillfully combined. Its head is carved according to the image of Pharaoh in khalaf: its face is 4m wide, its nose is1.75m long, its mouth is 2.30m wide, its ears are1.925m long, and it has a pair of deep eyes. It wears a crown, carved with the relief of the sacred snake "Kubla" and a fan-shaped "Nemes" headscarf hanging from its ears; A long beard hung on his chin, symbolizing the dignity of the king, and a collar was worn around his neck. Its body is carved into the shape of a lion, with eagle feathers on it and a pair of huge claws in front.
This sphinx has a great influence on later Egyptian sculptures. Although successive pharaohs after khalaf did not imitate his statue in front of the pyramid, they made similar stone statues in other forms. ..... But the scale of the Sphinx carved by later generations is very small, so the Sphinx in front of the Havla Pyramid is used to being called the "Great Sphinx".
The original name of the Sphinx is now impossible to verify. In the New Kingdom, it was called Hall Em Eicht, which means "Horace at sunrise". Because, at this time, the Egyptians regarded it as the sun god and built the sun temple under the lion's paw for people to worship. By the 4th century BC, groups of Greeks had set foot in Egypt. As soon as they saw this strange stone statue, someone blurted out the name "Sphinx". Unexpectedly, this name later became synonymous with the Sphinx.
-Mu Taoni Huaqiang's Lost Civilization: Egypt, East China Normal University Press, 1999, pp. 56-58.
[Material 2] Approaching the Sphinx and studying it carefully can't help but make people feel a little disappointed: after a long period of wind, frost and solar eclipse, its majestic image in people's memory is not what it used to be. Although its face is still like the Pharaoh of khalaf more than 4,000 years ago, it is already scarred: most of the red cement on the outer layer has peeled off, and the crown, the sacred snake and the mustache are all gone, leaving only a square deep hole above the head to fix the crown, especially the parts under the eyes and above the lips are uneven, and the whole nose is gone. Its body is also mottled with traces of historical wind erosion.
Why did the Sphinx fall into such a tragic situation? For 200 years, it has been widely said that this is a sin left by Napoleon when he invaded Egypt. He wanted to find the secret passage into the Great Pyramid by shelling the Sphinx, so as to obtain the architectural drawings hidden in the legendary tower. Others say that Napoleon's soldiers trained the Sphinx as a target and the cannon blew its nose off. This statement has its reasonable and credible side, because Napoleon's troops did fight with the local Egyptian army near the pyramids and were stationed for some time. These invading troops from afar did everything they could, and it was nothing to blow up the nose of an ancient statue in a foreign country. However, this is not the case in history.
First of all, from the diaries and memoirs left by Napoleon himself, as well as Napoleon's biographies, memoirs and historical works written by others at the same time, Napoleon and his troops have never been found to have done anything to destroy the pyramids and the Sphinx, and there is no "evidence" that he ordered the artillery to bombard khalaf's nose. Napoleon was more than just a soldier. He has been interested in history since he was a child, including ancient Egyptian civilization. So when he led an expedition to Egypt in 1798, he took a scientific and artistic investigation team of nearly 200 people, including some historians and archaeologists, and left a famous saying, "Let scholars and donkeys walk in the middle of the team." Their efforts laid the foundation for the birth of modern Egyptology. From this point of view, it is unreasonable for Napoleon to order the shelling of the Sphinx.
Napoleon was ruled out as the "culprit", but why was the Sphinx scarred and how did it lose its nose? It should be said that this "culprit" is nature first. Because the stone used to carve the Sphinx is soft limestone, and there are many impurities in it, which belongs to "congenital deficiency", it is difficult for the Sphinx to withstand years of sun and rain, especially the strong sandstorm attack in western Egypt. According to records, by Ptolemy's reign (305-30 years ago), stones had fallen off the body of the Sphinx, and small stones were used to repair its sides, forelimbs and tail. Secondly, the stone statue is located in a low-lying place. It used to be a hill, but when the Havla Pyramid was built, the good stones in and around it were mined, and it became a low-lying area in the Giza highlands. Therefore, the Sphinx has been completely swallowed up by the desert several times in history. On a dream tablet between his front paws, the story of Thutmose IV, the Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty (who was in office before 1425- 14 17) is recorded:
At that time, the stone statue had been buried in the sand to the neck. Once, Tus, the young prince of Pharaoh Amenhotep II, came here to hunt and took a nap in the shadow of his head. In the dim light, he suddenly heard a stone statue say to him, "I'm Ashton in the Great Hall. Sand and stones suffocate me. If you can remove the sand from me, I will make you king of upper and lower Egypt. " The prince immediately promised to help him get rid of the sand. Later, he did clean up the sand and built adobe walls on the south, west and north sides of the stone statue to prevent the sand from accumulating again. Naturally, he himself became Pharaoh.
However, the adobe wall failed to stop the raging yellow sand from devouring the stone statue. When Herodotus came to Egypt in the 5th century BC, the stone statue must have disappeared again, because Herodotus did not mention it in history. Around the 4th century BC, the Sphinx was excavated again. Then it was flooded by the desert. In the process of several excavations, the stone statue itself will inevitably be hurt, and its crown is likely to be lost.
As for the disappearance of the sphinx's nose, it is a man-made result. According to Maqrizi (1364- 1436), a famous Arab historian in the middle ages, the lion body of the stone statue was covered with sand again. There is an Islamic Sufi sect named Saim Tahir. Out of opposition to idolatry, he is extremely annoyed that people often come here for pilgrimage, so he climbs the head of the stone statue, cuts off its exposed nose and destroys its facial image. Maqrizi also said that after this incident, a serious natural disaster occurred in the local area, and flying sand buried nearby farmland. Many people attribute it to the anger of the sun god.
Therefore, the Sphinx has fallen to this point, which is the result of natural and man-made disasters. Napoleon should be "innocent".
-Mu Taoni Huaqiang's Lost Civilization: Egypt, East China Normal University Press, 1999, pp. 58-60.
[Material 3] As another important relic of the Havla Pyramid, the world-famous Sphinx. There is also a temple of the Sphinx on its east side. The sphinx is Latin, meaning a statue with a lion's head, which is usually translated into lion's head. The Latin "Sphinx" may come from the Egyptian word Shesep ankh, which means "a living portrait (statue)". In Egyptian literature, this monument is generally called Horemakhet ("Horus on the Horizon"). So it seems that the "Sphinx" may refer to the sun god or the king, and the death of the king is integrated with the sun god. The Sphinx is located on the east side of the Havla Pyramid, near the northwest of the Valley Temple. It seems to be the guardian of Tallinn, but it may also be a symbol of khalaf's integration with the sun god after his death. Therefore, for thousands of years, this half-man, half-beast monster has constantly aroused people's reverie. The head statue of the Sphinx means the combination of human wisdom and lion's brave strength. The head statue of the Sphinx is about 20 meters high and 55 meters long. It is said that it was carved from the whole boulder left over from the construction of the Great Pyramid. If you count the other two front paws crawling on the ground, it is 73.5 meters long. Its head is 5 meters long, and its ears and nose are longer than those of ordinary people. For thousands of years, due to natural weathering and man-made destruction, the whole lion was black and blue, especially its nose collapsed and its face was a bit ugly. Nevertheless, its majesty is still the same as that of the past.
-Liu's History of Ancient Egypt, Commercial Press, 248th edition.