|
NOTE |
Ancient astronaut proponent Giorgio Tsoukalos claims that the fourteenth century Al-Khitat of Al-Maqrizi (1364-1442 CE) contains evidence that ancient astronauts assisted human beings in the construction of Egypt's pyramids. This book, the most significant collection of medieval Arabian and Coptic pyramid lore ever assembled, has never been translated into English, so I have translated the passages dealing with pyramids to make this text accessible to interested readers. The following contains all of the significant references to the pyramids in the volume, though some minor allusions have been omitted. A fair review of the voluminous legends collected by Al-Maqrizi reveals no extraterrestrials, and no coherent story. In reading this material, I could come to no better conclusion that Al-Maqrizi himself: "There is no agreement on the time of their construction, the names of those who have raised them, or the cause of their erection. Many conflicting and unfounded legends have been told of them." Note: I do not speak Arabic, so I am translating from the French edition published in 1895 and 1900. I cannot claim to be a professional translator, so before citing any material below, be sure to consult the original Arabic version. |
BOOK I
Chapter 9
EXCERPT 1:
Sa'id al-Lagawi (al-Andalusi), in his book The Generations of Nations, reported that all the sciences known before the Flood were first taught by Hermes, who lived in Upper Egypt. This Hermes was the first to ponder celestial substances and the movement of the stars. He was the first to build temples to worship God. He occupied himself with science and medicine, and he wrote well-measured poems for his contemporaries about things terrestrial and celestial. It is also said that he was the first to predict the Flood and anticipate that a celestial cataclysm would befall the earth in the form of fire or water, so, fearing the destruction of knowledge and the disappearance of the arts, he built the pyramids and temples of Upper Egypt. Within these, he included representations of the arts and instruments, including engraved explanations of science, in order to pass them on to those who come after him, lest he see them disappear from the world. This Hermes is the same as Idris.
Sa'id al-Lagawi (al-Andalusi), in his book The Generations of Nations, reported that all the sciences known before the Flood were first taught by Hermes, who lived in Upper Egypt. This Hermes was the first to ponder celestial substances and the movement of the stars. He was the first to build temples to worship God. He occupied himself with science and medicine, and he wrote well-measured poems for his contemporaries about things terrestrial and celestial. It is also said that he was the first to predict the Flood and anticipate that a celestial cataclysm would befall the earth in the form of fire or water, so, fearing the destruction of knowledge and the disappearance of the arts, he built the pyramids and temples of Upper Egypt. Within these, he included representations of the arts and instruments, including engraved explanations of science, in order to pass them on to those who come after him, lest he see them disappear from the world. This Hermes is the same as Idris.
Chapter 10
EXCERPT 1:
Al-Quda'i said: Al-Gahez and others report that the Wonders of the World numbered thirty, ten for all countries (except Egypt), which are: the Mosque of Damascus, the church of Er-Ruha (Edessa), the bridge of Sandjar, the Rhamdan palace, the Church of Rome, the Statue of Olives, the rooms of Chosroes at Modain, the Temple of the Winds in Palmyra, the two palaces of Khouarneq and Sadir at Herat, and the three stones of Baalbek, which are said to be a temple of Jupiter and Venus; they were built to ensure a temple for each of the seven planets, but they were destroyed. Twenty other wonders belong to Egypt. Among this number are TWO PYRAMIDS, whose construction is the largest and most amazing. On the surface of the earth there is no monument taller than they made by human hands and stone by stone. Seeing them, we take them for two mountains; this is what has led one author who had seen them to say: ‘There is nothing for which I do not fear the effects of time, except for the two pyramids. However, I rather fear for their effect on time.’ The STATUE OF THE TWO PYRAMIDS is also called Balwiah or Balhib. It is said to be a talisman against high sands, and was intended to prevent sand from invading the cultivated land of Giza.
Al-Quda'i said: Al-Gahez and others report that the Wonders of the World numbered thirty, ten for all countries (except Egypt), which are: the Mosque of Damascus, the church of Er-Ruha (Edessa), the bridge of Sandjar, the Rhamdan palace, the Church of Rome, the Statue of Olives, the rooms of Chosroes at Modain, the Temple of the Winds in Palmyra, the two palaces of Khouarneq and Sadir at Herat, and the three stones of Baalbek, which are said to be a temple of Jupiter and Venus; they were built to ensure a temple for each of the seven planets, but they were destroyed. Twenty other wonders belong to Egypt. Among this number are TWO PYRAMIDS, whose construction is the largest and most amazing. On the surface of the earth there is no monument taller than they made by human hands and stone by stone. Seeing them, we take them for two mountains; this is what has led one author who had seen them to say: ‘There is nothing for which I do not fear the effects of time, except for the two pyramids. However, I rather fear for their effect on time.’ The STATUE OF THE TWO PYRAMIDS is also called Balwiah or Balhib. It is said to be a talisman against high sands, and was intended to prevent sand from invading the cultivated land of Giza.
EXCERPT 2:
Master Ibrahim bin Wasif Shah said that King 'Adim, son of Naqtarim, was a violent and proud prince, tall in stature. It was he who ordered the rocks cut to make the pyramids, as had been done by the ancients. In his time there lived two angels cast out of heaven, and who lived in the well of Aftarah; these two angels taught magic to the Egyptians, and it is said that 'Adim, the son of Al-Budasheer, learned most of their sciences, after which the two angels went to Babel. Egyptians, especially the Copts, assure us that these were actually two demons named Mahla and Bahala, not two angels, and that the two are at Babel in a well, where witches meet, and they will remain there until the Day of Judgment. Since that time they worshiped idols. It is Satan, they say, who made them known to men and raised them for men. According to others, it was Badura who raised the first idol, and the first idol erected was the Sun, yet others claim that Nimrod ordered the first idols raised and the worship of them. It was also said that 'Adim first made use of the crucifixion, for this purpose: a woman married to a person of the court had adulterous relations with a man of the artisan class. The king ordered them crucified on two poles, the back of one of the culprits facing the back of the other; and on each post was written the names of perpetrators, their crime, and the date of punishment. Therefore adultery ceased. This king built four cities where all kinds of wonderful objects and talismans were deposited, and there he buried considerable treasures.
Master Ibrahim bin Wasif Shah said that King 'Adim, son of Naqtarim, was a violent and proud prince, tall in stature. It was he who ordered the rocks cut to make the pyramids, as had been done by the ancients. In his time there lived two angels cast out of heaven, and who lived in the well of Aftarah; these two angels taught magic to the Egyptians, and it is said that 'Adim, the son of Al-Budasheer, learned most of their sciences, after which the two angels went to Babel. Egyptians, especially the Copts, assure us that these were actually two demons named Mahla and Bahala, not two angels, and that the two are at Babel in a well, where witches meet, and they will remain there until the Day of Judgment. Since that time they worshiped idols. It is Satan, they say, who made them known to men and raised them for men. According to others, it was Badura who raised the first idol, and the first idol erected was the Sun, yet others claim that Nimrod ordered the first idols raised and the worship of them. It was also said that 'Adim first made use of the crucifixion, for this purpose: a woman married to a person of the court had adulterous relations with a man of the artisan class. The king ordered them crucified on two poles, the back of one of the culprits facing the back of the other; and on each post was written the names of perpetrators, their crime, and the date of punishment. Therefore adultery ceased. This king built four cities where all kinds of wonderful objects and talismans were deposited, and there he buried considerable treasures.
EXCERPT 3:
In the temples, Surid, the builder of the pyramids, who according to Ibn Wasif Shah raised them all, deposited treasures, wrote the precepts of science, and established a guardian to protect them against anyone who would like to destroy them. In the book of Al-Fihrist he said were found in Egypt constructions named berami (temples) built of stones of extraordinary size. These berami have different forms. We see rooms for grinding and crushing, for condensing, for breaking down, and for filtering, which proves that they were intended for the practice of chemistry. In these monuments there are engravings and unknown writing, and hidden science formulas have been found drawn on sheets of gold and silver and on the stone carvings. According to al-Hassan ibn Ahmad al-Hamdani, the construction of the berami is attributed to Berab ibn Darmesil ibn Nahwil ibn Khanukh ibn Qar ibn Adam.
In the temples, Surid, the builder of the pyramids, who according to Ibn Wasif Shah raised them all, deposited treasures, wrote the precepts of science, and established a guardian to protect them against anyone who would like to destroy them. In the book of Al-Fihrist he said were found in Egypt constructions named berami (temples) built of stones of extraordinary size. These berami have different forms. We see rooms for grinding and crushing, for condensing, for breaking down, and for filtering, which proves that they were intended for the practice of chemistry. In these monuments there are engravings and unknown writing, and hidden science formulas have been found drawn on sheets of gold and silver and on the stone carvings. According to al-Hassan ibn Ahmad al-Hamdani, the construction of the berami is attributed to Berab ibn Darmesil ibn Nahwil ibn Khanukh ibn Qar ibn Adam.
Chapter 40: The Pyramids
The pyramids were once very numerous in Egypt; there were many in the district of the Nile: some large, others small, each silt and brick, but the greater part of stone, some in steps and others smooth. At Giza, opposite the town of Masr, there were many pyramids, all small, which were destroyed at the time of Sultan ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Saladin), by Karakush, who used materials thus obtained to build the Citadel of the Mountain, the walls of Masr and Cairo, and the bridges of Giza. The three largest are those remaining in front of Masr. There is no agreement on the time of their construction, the names of those who have raised them, or the cause of their erection. Many conflicting and unfounded legends have been told of them. I will tell you about their history and of things that will satisfy you and only you, if it pleases God.
The writer Master Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah, in his History of Egypt and Its Wonders, speaking of Surid bin Sahluq bin Seriaq bin Tumidun bin Badresan bin Husal, one of the kings who ruled Egypt before the Flood and who resided in the city of Amsus (which will be discussed in the chapter of this book that deals with the cities of Egypt), said: The raising of the Two Pyramids in Egypt is attributed to Shaddad bin 'Ad: Copts claim that, thanks to the power of their magic, 'Adites could not enter their country. Here is what was the cause of the erection of the two pyramids: Three hundred years before the flood, Surid had a dream in which it seemed that the earth overturned, and the men fled straight ahead, and the stars fell and collided against each other with a terrible crash; Surid, scared, never spoke to anyone about this dream, but he was convinced that a major event would occur in the world. A few days later he had another dream in which he felt that the fixed stars had descended on the earth in the form of white birds and catching men while in flight, rushed between two high mountains which closed over them, and the bright stars became dark and obscure. Full of terror when he awoke, he went to the temple of the Sun, prayed, rolled in the dust, and wept. As soon as it was day, he gathered the chief priests of all the provinces of Egypt; the number was 130. He shut himself up with them and explained what he had seen in his first and second dream. The priests explained to the King that an extraordinary event would occur in the world, and the greatest of them, named Aqlimun, said unto him, ‘The dreams of kings do not happen for no reason, because of the importance of princes. I shall tell Pharaoh of a dream I had myself and that I have not spoken of to anyone. It seemed that while I was sitting with the king in the tower at Amsus, the sky, leaving its place, fell down and approached our heads, forming above us a dome that enveloped us. The king raised his hands to the sky with the stars mingling among men in various forms. People ran, seeking refuge at the king’s palace and requesting help. The king raised his hands to his head, telling me to do the same, and we were both in terrible anxiety. And now, from the tower where we were, we saw a part of the sky about to open and a bright light escaped from the breach. The Sun appeared, and we began to beg. And the Sun told us that the sky would return to its original place. I awoke full of terror, and then I fell asleep and I saw the city of Amsus overturned with its inhabitants, the idols fallen on their heads, and men descended from heaven holding in their hands iron whips, with which they hit mortals. “Why,” I asked them, “do you strike at men?” They said, “They have shown their wickedness to God.” “Is there not,” I said, “some way for us to redeem ourselves?” And they said: “Yes, whoever wants to be saved must go to reach the master of the Ark.” Thereupon I awoke full of terror.’ The King said: ‘Take the elevations of the stars and see what needs to happen.’ After a thorough review, it was recognized that a deluge would occur after which would appear a fire out of the constellation Leo which will burn the world. ‘See,’ said the King said, ‘if this disaster will reach our country.’ ‘Yes,’ they said, ‘the flood will reach us and we will be ruined for many years.’ ‘See,’ said the King, ‘if this country becomes prosperous as before or if it will remain still covered by water.’ ‘The country,’ said the priests, ‘will return to its former state and remain prosperous.’ ‘And after?’ asked the King. ‘Our country will be attacked by a king who will raise up the inhabitants and will take hold of their wealth.’ ‘And after?’ ‘A barbaric people, coming to the mountains of the Nile, will attack it and will be master of the largest part of the territory.’ ‘And after?’ ‘The Nile will be cut off and the country abandoned by its inhabitants.’ Then the king commanded the building of the pyramids and canals where the Nile would fill up reservoirs to a specific spot, and then would flow to certain areas of the West and the Saïd. He completed the pyramids with talismans, wonders, wealth, and idols, and he deposited within them the bodies of kings. According to his orders, priests engraved on these monuments all sayings of the wise. They wrote on every surface of the pyramids, the ceilings, foundations, and walls, all the sciences familiar to the Egyptians. They drew the figures of the stars; they wrote the names of the drugs and their useful and harmful properties, the science of talismans, mathematics, architecture—all the sciences of the world—and it was all laid out very clearly.
Having made this degree, the king had blocks cut and polished slabs of enormous size extracted from the land of the West and the rocks of the Aswan region, and thus laid the foundations of the three pyramids: East, West, and Colored. The workers had with them sheets (papyri) covered with writing, and as soon as a stone was cut and trimmed, they placed one of the sheets on the stone and gave it a blow, and the blow was enough to make it travel a distance of 100 sahmes (200 spans of the arrow), and this continued until the stone arrived at the Pyramids’ plateau. In the middle of a slab was drilled a hole; in this hole was planted vertically an iron pin, and then this was placed on the preceding slab. A second hole for the iron pin penetrated the second slab, and then molten lead was run into the hole around the pin in order to secure the two slabs and make them steadfast. This continued until the completion of the pyramid. When the monuments were complete, the king dug doors 40 cubits below ground level. The door of the East pyramid turned eastward and opens 100 cubits from the face of the pyramid. The door of the West pyramid is west and at 100 cubits from the face of the pyramid. The door of the Colored pyramid turns south and is also 100 cubits from the face of the pyramid. If this distance is dug (vertically), there is (at 40 cubits deep), the door that gives access, by vaulted corridors and masonry, to enter the pyramid. The king calculated for each of the pyramids a height above ground of 100 of his cubits, which is 500 of our current cubits. The length of each side was also 100 cubits, and the faces were calculated so that the pyramid’s height stopped eight cubits before the geometric summit. The construction of these pyramids began under favorable constellations, all chosen by mutual agreement. When they were finished, they were covered up and down with colored silk, and a feast was held which was attended by all the inhabitants of Egypt. In the Western pyramid were built thirty colored granite rooms filled with all kinds of wealth and various objects: statues of precious stones, beautiful iron tools, weapons that could not rust, malleable glass, extraordinary talismans, simple and compound drugs, and deadly poisons. In the East pyramid’s rooms were executed representations of the sky and the stars, and they were crammed with statues of the ancestors of Surid, perfumes which were burned for the planets, and the books that concerned the table of the fixed stars and the table of their revolution in the course of time, the list of events of past eras under their influence, and when they must be examined to know the future of everything about Egypt until the end of time. In addition, there lay basins containing magic elixirs and such things. In the Colored pyramid, they laid the bodies of priests locked in coffins of black granite, and with each priest was a book that traced the wonders of his art that he had exercised in his actions and his life, that which had been done in his time, and all that was from the beginning and will be until the end of time. On each side of the pyramids were made representations of characters performing all kinds of work and arranged according to their importance and dignity; these representations were accompanied by a description of their occupation, the tools they needed, and everything about them. No science was neglected; these were all drawn and described. Also placed in the pyramid were the treasures given to the planets, those given to the stars, and the treasures of the priests, all vast and incalculable in value.
At each of the pyramids a guardian was assigned: The Western pyramid was placed in the custody of a statue composed of granite; this statue was standing, holding in his hand something like a spear, and wore a viper wrapped around him. As soon as someone approached the statue, the viper sprang upon him, wrapped itself around his neck, killed him, and returned to his place. The guardian of the Eastern pyramid was a stone statue spotted black and white with eyes open and bright. She was seated on a throne and held a spear. If someone looked at her, he heard on the side of the statue a terrible voice that made him fall on his face and he died there without being able to get up. At the Colored pyramid was a stone statue of an eagle set on a similar stone base. Anyone who looked at it was attracted to it, stuck to it, and could not be detached until dead. With all of this completed, the pyramids were surrounded by intangible spirits; they were the victims of sacrifice, a ceremony to protect the pyramids against those who would like to approach them, with the exception of the initiates who complete the necessary rites to enter.
The Copts tell in their books that the sides of the pyramids were engraved with a text which in their language means: ‘I am Surid, the king who raised these pyramids at such and such a time. I completed the construction in six years. If someone who comes after me claims to be my equal, let him destroy them in six hundred years, for we know that it is easier to destroy than to build. I have, after completing these, covered them with silk; let another try to cover them only with mats.’ And after consideration it was recognized that the most prolonged passage of time could not destroy them.
The Copts recount that the spirit attached to the pyramid of the North is a naked yellow devil whose mouth is filled with long teeth. That of the Southern pyramid is a naked woman who reveals her natural parts; she is beautiful but her mouth is filled with long teeth. She charms men who look at her, smiles at them, draws them in, and makes them lose their reason. The spirit of the Colored pyramid is an old man holding a church censer wherein burn perfumes. Many people have seen these spirits on numerous occasions around the pyramids in the middle of the day and at sunset.
After his death, Surid was buried in the pyramid and his riches and treasures with him. Surid, according to the Copts, is said to have built temples, filled them with treasures and engraved on their walls all the sciences, and gave them sprits for guardians to protect them against those that may want to destroy them. The pyramids of Dashur were said to be raised by Shadat bin ’Adim with stones once cut by his father. According to some authors, this Shadat is the same as Haddah bin ’Ad, but those who refuse to admit that the 'Adites entered Egypt ignore the name Shadat bin ’Adim and instead say Shaddad bin ’Ad, a name that they have much more opportunity to say, for the other is not widely used. According to these, a single king (strange) would have entered Egypt and tamed its inhabitants; this king is Bokht-Nasr (Nebuchadnezzar). But God is the most learned!
In his book entitled Kitab al-Aswa, Abul-Hasan Ali Al-Masu‘di says that the Caliph Abdallah Al-Ma'mun ibn Harun al-Rashid, on his trip in Egypt, having gone to visit the pyramids, had the desire to demolish one to know what it contained. “It is impossible,” he was told. “It is imperative to open one,” he said. And his workmen created the breach which is still gaping in the pyramid. For this, he used fire, vinegar, and levers; blacksmiths worked there, and he spent considerable sums of money. The thickness of the wall was approximately 20 cubits; reaching the end of the wall, they found at the bottom of the hole a green basin filled with gold bullion. It contained 1,000 dinars, each dinar weighing an ounce. Al-Ma'mun, admiring the purity of the gold, and considering the expenditures needed to make the breach in the pyramid, discovered the gold was the absolute equivalent of this sum. The Caliph was filled with astonishment in seeing that the ancients were able to know precisely the amount that would be spent and the specific location where the basin of coins would have to be. This basin, we are told, was made of emerald; Al-Ma'mun displayed this treasure, and it was one of the most amazing wonders ever in Egypt.
For many years, they made use of the breach made by Al-Ma'mun and many people entered and followed the entrance thus formed. Some returned unharmed; others perished. One day, twenty young people gathered and prepared to enter. For this purpose they brought all that was needed: food, beverages, ropes, candles, etc. They turned into the corridor and saw bats as big as vultures who beat against their faces. Then one of the young people climbed down into the pyramid with ropes, but the corridor’s mouth closed over him. His companions made every effort to rescue him until they were exhausted. They then heard a terrible voice that made them faint. When they returned to their senses, they left the pyramid. While they sat, amazed at what had happened to them, behold, their companion came out of the earth before them, began to say things they could not understand, and then fell down dead. They took him and carried him away, but the guards seized them and took them back to prove what that they told of their adventure. Then the young people sought an explanation of the words that their companion had spoken before dying, and this is how they translated them: “Thus shall be punished anyone who seeks what should not be known.” This explanation was given by a man from the Saïd.
“I have been thinking,” said Ali ibn Radwan, a doctor, “about the pyramids, and I concluded that they demonstrate a profound knowledge and experience in architecture and mechanics on the part of those who had plotted the square of their bases, carved their interlocking stones, and coated all with a sea of plaster to raise the building to the point where it was possible to hold heavy weights. As the building rose, its courses shrank in area, so that the surface of the next course (the second course), parallel to the square of the base, formed a square smaller than that of the base itself. Then on the second course was traced a square even closer to the amount needed for the heavy weight to be there mounted, and each course was made of perfectly carved stones, alternately male and female, forming a base equal to the previous. In this way they continued to the point where it was no longer possible, then the height was truncated and the protruding edges used for lifting heavy materials that were infolded, and doing this from the top to the bottom, they obtained a (smooth) block forming the pyramid.
"The First Pyramid, measured along the curved still in use today in Egypt for construction, gives a length of each side (near the base) as 400 cubits, but in black cubits its length is 500 cubits and 24 fingers. The base is square, and the sides and the angles are equal. Both of the sides are parallel to the meridian line, the other two are parallel to the east-west line, and each side is 500 black cubits. The apothem descending from the top of the pyramid in the middle of the side above the base is 470 cubits, and would, if the pyramid was complete, also be 500 cubits. The faces of the pyramid form four isosceles triangles, and each of their sides would measure, if the pyramid were complete, 560 cubits. If the four triangles were joined at their peaks, the same point would be the top of the pyramid. These dimensions lead to height value of 430 cubits, and on this line is the center of gravity. Each of the triangles forming the faces of the pyramid measures a total area of 125,000 square cubits, and by them the total surface thus obtained for the total area of the pyramid is 500,000 black cubits. And I've always heard it said that there was in the world no building more colossal, or more beautiful, or more grandiose. And God knows best!"
Al-Ma’mun had opened a breach in this pyramid and discovered a corridor that led to a sloping path, which rose upward to a cube-shaped room, on the floor of which was a marble coffin, still in place today because nobody has been able to move it. It is after this fact that Galen says that the pyramids were tombs. Here’s what he said about it at the end of the fifth book of his treatise On Hygiene: “They give the name of haram to anyone who has reached this age (old). The name is derived from the pyramids in which they will soon be placed.” Al-Hauqali, in his Description of Egypt, said: “We see in this country the two pyramids that have no equals on the surface of the earth. Not in Muslim countries or in countries unfaithful was there ever nor will there ever be the like of them. One of the Abbasids read the following sentence on one of them: “I’ve built both, Let him who pretends to be a mighty king demolish them! Destruction is easier than building.” And the Abassid tried (I think it was Al-Ma'mun or Al-Mu'tasim), but the income of Egypt was sufficient to the task, even though in his time, the income earned with equity, justice, and kindness to his subjects, even when the Nile reached 17 cubits and 6 fingers, amounted to 4,257,000 dinars, the tax being 2 dinars per feddan. Therefore he abandoned his project and it occupied him no more.
At the limits of the territory of Fustat, west of the Nile, we encounter colossal structures, in considerable numbers, and which spread into the Saïd. They are called pyramids, but they cannot be compared to the two pyramids located in front of Fustat two parasangs (leagues) from this locality. The height of each of these two pyramids is 400 cubits; their width is equal to their height, and they are made of stone from Al-Kaddan; each stone has a length and a thickness of 10 to 8 cubits depending on its location and based on the technical requirements. These two pyramids become narrower as they rise, so as to leave the top platform equal to the size necessary for a camel to kneel. The faces of these pyramids are covered with Greek writing. It was argued that these monuments were tombs, but this is not true; their builder erected them because he foresaw the Flood and he knew that this cataclysm would destroy everything on the surface of the earth, except what could be stored in buildings such as these two pyramids. Thus, he stored within them all the valuables and treasures he could, and the Flood having occurred, then subsiding, the entire contents of the pyramids became the property of Bansar bin Mizraim bin Ham bin Noah. The last kings converted these monuments into storehouses and established deposits within. And God knows better than anyone.
Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Is'haq al-Nadim, the stationer, in his book entitled The Index, said about Hermes al-Baheli: There is no agreement about him. It was said he was one of the seven guards responsible for monitoring the seven temples (the planets) and was assigned to guard the temple of Atared (Mercury), whose name he took, as Atared in the Chaldaic language means Hermes. It is said that for some reason he moved to Egypt where he reigned and had children including Tat, Sa, Ashmun, Atrib, and Qoft. He was the wisest of his time, and after his death he was buried in the monument at Masr known under the name Abu Hermes, but which most Greeks give the name of Al-Haraman (the two pyramids), because one of them is his tomb and the other the tomb of his wife. According to others, it is the tomb of the son of Hermes, the son who would have succeeded him after his death.
These monuments, the pyramids I mean, have a length of 480 Hashemite cubits and a width of 480 cubits also. The basic construction tapers at the top, the dimensions (of the summit) are more than 40 cubits (on each side) and this is done intentionally and by calculation. In the middle of the edifice is built a nice room in the interior within which is a kind of mausoleum. At the top of the tomb are two blocks perfectly polished and beautiful, surmounted by two stone statues of a man and a woman facing each other. The man is holding a stone tablet covered with writing, and the woman a mirror and a tablet of gold adorned with fine sculptures. Between their two pedestals is a closed stone vessel covered in gold. If the lid is raised, one sees a kind of odorless and dry pitch, in which is placed a gold box containing a mass of blood that once in contact with the air undergoes coagulation and then dries. The tombs are closed with lids of stone which, once removed, let one see within them a man lying on his back, perfectly preserved and dried and on whose flesh is still visible the hair. In the neighboring sarcophagus is the body of a woman in the same position and in the same state as that of the man. From this room extends a corridor the height of a man and leading underground. The roof is made of stone and in it one sees portraits and statues lying or standing, and many things of which we do not know the meaning.
The legal scholar Muwaffaq al-Din Muhammad 'Abd al-Latif ibn Yusuf al-Baghdadi, better known by the name Ibn Al-Mutahan, says in his History that one day a stranger came to the infidel king al-Aziz Uthman ibn Salah al-Din ibn Yusuf and persuaded him that under the small pyramid was a treasure. He sent masons and a crowd of soldiers who began to demolish the structure and went to work for months and months, but unable to handle the task, they left. The money spent and the technical research employed in this business were considerable. And today, whosoever would see the mass of stones taken from the pyramid would think it was completely destroyed, but looking at the pyramid itself, we do not find that the damage is significant. I had the opportunity to see the stonemasons, and I asked their leader if he could raise these stones into their places. He replied, “Even if the Sultan would give us one thousand dinars a stone, it would be impossible.”
Abu'l-Hassan Al-Masu'di, in his Meadows of Gold, says: "As for the pyramids, their height is amazing and their construction wonderful. They are covered with several kinds of entries in the various languages of peoples past and gone. People versed in the science of measurement ensured that the vertical height of the Great Pyramid is at least 400 cubits, and as the building rises, it gradually narrows. The width is approximately equal to the height, and its sides are covered with texts and tables on science, magical formulae, and the secrets of nature. One of the entries says: ‘We have constructed (the Pyramids), and if some king says he matches our reach and power, let him destroy them and clear away every trace! However, it is easier to destroy than to build, and breaking apart is easier than putting together.’”
It is said that a Muslim king had the idea to destroy one of the pyramids, but the income of Egypt would not suffice for the task because it was made of stone and marble. These pyramids were the tombs of kings. Formerly, when a king died, his body was placed in a basin of stone, called by the Egyptians and the Syrians geroun, and which was closed up. Then they laid out the base of a pyramid based on the dimensions established according to the desired height, and they placed the sarcophagus in the middle of the pyramid. They built over it an arch, and then the construction was determined according to the size, placing the entrance to the pyramid below the pyramid itself. The door led to one underground stone archway whose length was 100 cubits at most. Each of these pyramids has a door that leads inward, as we have said. They built some of these pyramids with edges like the steps of stairs, and when the building was complete, they flattened the steps from top to bottom. That was their method of construction, and for this they needed exceeding strength, patience, and obedience.
In the book On Buildings and Wonders, it is said that the two pyramids located west of Fustat Misr are monuments that can be counted among the wonders of the world. Each is 400 cubits in height and width, and they are built with huge stones and exposed to the four winds, each edge of their angles facing one of the winds. The wind that has the greatest influence is the southern, called Merisi. One of these pyramids is the tomb of A'adimun (Agathodaemon) and the other of Hermes. Between these two figures there are nearly a thousand years, A'adimun being the older of the two. The inhabitants of Egypt, that is to say the Copts, argue that these two characters were two prophets who appeared before the coming of Christianity. This view is consistent with that professed by the Sabeans about prophets, but not with the regard that one must have for the great prophets. But for the Copts, the two prophets in question were pure souls, holy, free from corruption, and equipped with heavenly and terrestrial inspiration. They also knew events before they had occurred and knew of the secrets of the world. Among the Arabs of Yemen, some consider the two pyramids to be the tombs of Shaddad ben ’Ad and another of their kings who conquered Egypt in the past. These are pure Arabs of the tribes of Amalek and others. But, from what we have said of the doctrine of the Sabeans, they are the tombs of pure bodies.
Abu Zayd al-Balkhi found in the middle of inscriptions traced on the pyramid certain lines that were translated into Arabic and meant: “These two pyramids were raised when the Eagle was in conjunction with Gemini." Calculation of the time that had elapsed from that time until the Hegira of the Prophet found it to be twice 36,000 solar years, that is to say 72,000 solar years.
Al-Hamadani, in his book On Crowns, said: Of all that was overwhelmed by the Flood nothing has remained except for the village of Nahavand, found as it was before the cataclysm, and the Pyramids of Saïd.
Abu Abdallah Muhammed bin Abd ar-Rahim al Kaisi, in his book The Present of Hearts, reports that the pyramids are square at the base with triangular faces, and that they number eighteen. In front of Fustat there are three, the principal one of which has a perimeter of 2,000 cubits, each side being 500 cubits, and its height is 500 cubits also. Each of the stones that compose it has a thickness of 30 cubits wide by 10 cubits. The layout and size of these stones are perfect. Near the city of the Pharaoh of the time of Joseph is another pyramid even bigger; its perimeter is 3,000 cubits and its height 750; the stones from which it is built each measure 50 cubits. In the vicinity of the city of the Pharaoh from the time of Moses is a pyramid even greater and more extraordinary. And finally another pyramid, known as the pyramid of Madoum (Meidum), is similar to a mountain and consists of five terraces. Al-Ma’mun opened the largest of the pyramids located in Fustat, entered the corridor of the building and went into a chamber square at the base and arched at the top, very large, and in the middle of which was dug a well 10 cubits deep. This well was square and the men found on each side a door leading down to a large room filled with dead bodies, each of which was wrapped in a shroud longer than one hundred dresses sewn end to end. Time has altered these bodies, and they have become black; these bodies, which are not larger than ours, have lost nothing of their tissue or their hair. There are no bodies of old men with white hair. These bodies were still solid, and nobody could detach even one member. However, they were extremely light, for time had made them as heavy as some dry straw. In this well were four rooms filled with corpses and huge bats. The ancients buried animals in the sand, and as for me, I found a roll of fabric forming a large volume more than a cubit thick. The fabric was worn by time, but having held it, I found it to be a piece of linen as intact as a turban, white with traces of red silk, and finally, in the interior, a dead bird. It lacked neither feathers nor any part of its body, as if it had died recently. In the inside of the pyramid is another door that leads to the top of the monument. The corridor has no stairs and is almost five spans wide. It is said that a man who entered in Al-Ma’mun’s time discovered a small room therein where there was a statue of a man in stone green as dahang. This statue was brought to Al-Ma’mun. It had a lid that could be removed, and within they found the body of a man wearing a gold breastplate encrusted with all kinds of jewels. On his chest lay a sword of inestimable price, and near the head was a red ruby the size of a hen’s egg which shone like a flame, which Al-Ma’mun took for himself. The statue within which this dead man was encased was put up near the door of the king’s palace in Cairo where I saw it in the year 511 (1138 CE).
The cadi Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Salama ibn Ja'far al-Quda'i said: Ali bin Al-Hassan bin Khalaf bin Qadid reports the following after Yahya Uthman bin Salah who had it from Muhammad bin Ali bin Sakhr Al-Tamimi: A villager from Qoft, well versed in business and the history of Egypt, and who took care of old books and ruins, told me he found in an ancient volume a text about the pyramids: People who excavated a tomb in the monastery of Abu Hermes (Aba Jeremias) found there a dead man wrapped in his shroud and on his chest a piece of paper rolled into a fabric. Having unwound it, they looked at the writing but could not understand anything, for the paper was written in the ancient language of the Egyptians. They sought someone who could read it to them, but in vain. They said that at the convent of Al-Qalmun in Fayum there lived a monk who knew this kind of writing. They went in search of the monk, doubting strongly that he could explain it to them, but he read it and this is what the text meant: ‘This book was written in the first year of the Emperor Diocletian and was copied from a book copied itself in the first year of Emperor Philip. This emperor had made this copy from a gold tablet, written letter by letter. This translation was made from the original book for Philip by the Coptic brothers Ilwa and Yertsa. The Emperor having asked them how they could read things that others could not, they said that they were descendants of one of the ancient Egyptians, who alone had not been drowned by the Flood. He owed his salvation to the fact that, alone among the Egyptians, he went to Noah and believed in him, and Noah took him with him in the Ark. The Flood waters having receded, he returned to Egypt with some of the descendants of Ham, son of Noah, and he remained there until his death. His son inherited his knowledge of the Egyptian language, and they had inherited the same, for this science was transmitted in the family generation to generation. The length of time that had elapsed before Philip’s copy was made was 2,372 years. As to him who made the copy on gold leaf writing separately letter by letter such as Philip found, his time was separated from the original manuscript by 1,785 years. The copied book said: "We have seen what the stars predicted. We saw a disaster descend from the sky and come up out of the earth. When we were sure what this event would be, we sought more information and we found that the waters would cover the earth, destroying its animals and plants. Being quite sure of the event, we told our king, Surid bin Sahluq: He built a tomb for himself and others for his family. The king built the Eastern pyramid for himself, the Western pyramid for his father Huhait, and the colored pyramid for the son of Huhait. He raised a house (?) in the Delta and in the Saïd and engraved on their walls the details of science, astronomy and prognostication, the stars, alchemy, art, medicine, and all the useful or harmful things. These were briefly explained and easy to understand for those who know our writing and language. The arrival of the calamity which threatened the earth would take place when the heart of the Lion would be in the first minute of the Crab's head, while the planets find the following points of heaven: the Sun and the Moon in the first minute of the head of Aries; Quris (Saturn) at 1° 28' of Aries, Rawis (Jupiter) at 29° 28' of Pisces; Auis at 29° 3' of Pisces; Afrad Batn at 28° and a few minutes beyond Pisces, Mercury at 27° and a few minutes of Pisces, and Al-Guzhar in Libra; the apogee of the Moon at 5° and a few minutes of the Lion. Then we looked at what would happen after this disaster. The world would have to bear calamities, and we discovered that the planets presage a new scourge descending from the sky that would be the opposite of the first. This scourge of fire would burn the four corners of the earth. Seeking the time when the disaster would occur, we found that this would happen when the heart of the Lion would be in the last minute of 15° of the Lion and that Eilis would be in the same minute, followed by Quris in the triangle of Sagittarius. Jupiter-Rawis would be at the beginning of the Lion at the end of its evolution, and Auis with him in the same minute as Salis is in Aquarius facing Eilis-Sun and the tail with him at 22° [text corrupt]. This will produce a long eclipse of the Sun, the moon traveling parallel to it. Mercury-Atared would be at its aphelion, having in front of it Moqabalin, with Batn Afrad following the direct route while Mercury is about to return. The king asked: 'Do you have any other misfortunes to tell us?' They said, 'If the heart of the Lion stopped in its ninth revolution, there will be on earth no living being. All will burn and perish. If this star race ends, the links that hold the sky will be broken and it will fall to the ground.' 'And what day will the sky fall?' asked the king. 'Two days after the beginning of the movement of the heavens,' they answered."’ That was what was on the paper.
And when Surid died, he was buried in the Eastern pyramid, Huhait in the Western pyramid, and Karwars in the pyramid whose base is of Aswan granite and whose top part is of a stone called kaddan. These pyramids have entrances in underground vaults; the length of each corridor is 150 cubits. The Eastern pyramid’s door opens to the North; the entrance of the Western pyramid opens to the South. And in the pyramids gold and countless emeralds are piled high.
Whoever translated the Coptic book into Arabic made the calculation of dates from Sunday the first day of Thoth (or the first day of the Sun) in the year 225 of the Arab calendar, and the figure reached 4,321 solar years. They then calculated how many years had elapsed from the Flood to that day, and found it to be 1,741 years, 59 days, 13 hours, 56 minutes, 51 seconds, and subtracting the latter from the first number, he obtained 399 years, 205 days, 10 hours, 2 minutes and 1 second, by which he knew that the book in question was written before the Flood, by exactly the same number of years, days, hours, minutes and seconds.
The pyramid of the monastery of Abu Hermes is the tomb of Qarias, an Egyptian rider who alone was worth a thousand horsemen. If he met this same number of horsemen, they could not resist him and would take flight. Upon his death, the king led the mourning and all the people were plunged into despair; they buried him in the monastery of Abu Hermes and above his tomb built the pyramid. The earth and stones that were used in the construction came from the Fayum, as it is easy to realize upon examination, for this earth indeed is that of the Fayum and is found in no similar land, not in Memphis nor Usim.
The tomb of the king under whom lived Qarias is the great pyramid north of Dayr Abu Hermes. It has at its entrance a stele of kaddan stone bearing an inscription in blue letters; the stele is two cubits high and a cubit wide and is entirely covered with writing like on the temples. One may access the pyramid’s door through stages, some of which are still completely intact. In this pyramid are accumulated the valuables of its master, gold and emeralds, but the door is obstructed by stones that have fallen from above, and if you climb on these stones, you can see on the other side a sort of chamber.
Ibn Afir reported, following his masters, that Jiad bin Miad bin Shamir, son of Shaddad bin 'Ad bin Uz bin Aram bin Shem bin Noah reigned in Alexandria, which was then called Aram Zat Al-'Amâd. His reign was long and lasted for 300 years; it was he who, after his arrival in Egypt, built the pyramids and wrote on them: I am Jiad bin Miad bin Shamir bin Shaddad, the clever uniter of the valleys, inspired by God in this way. It is I who have gathered the stones in the region. It is I who am the assembler of armies, the raiser of columns, the destroyer of the ungrateful. (My grave) will be discovered by a people who will have a Prophet by the name of Hamad, and this will happen when the land of the country (Egypt) will be attacked by seven black tribal chiefs. The date of this inscription is 1,400 years.
Ibn Afir and Ibn 'Abd Al-Hakam said: The pyramids were built at the time of Shaddad bin 'Ad, based on what the historians tell us, but they could find no true knowledge of the pyramids or certain concepts in the work of any of the scholars of Egypt.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah bin 'Abd Al-Hakam said: I cannot believe that the pyramids were not built before the Flood, for if they had been built after at least a few people would know about it.
Muhammad ibn Al-Shabramat Jorhami said the Amalekites, driven by Jorham of Mecca, fled to Egypt where they raised the pyramids, built fortresses, and built all kinds of wonders. They remained in Egypt until they were expelled by Malik Al-Dar Khazai.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd Al-Hakam said: West of the pyramids were four hundred cities, not to mention the villages, from the border of Egypt to the Magreb.
Ibn Afir said: Our old people of Egypt have always recognized that the pyramids had been built by Shaddad bin 'Ad. It is also this king who dug caves where he buried treasures (?). The people of that time believed in resurrection, and when an individual died, all that he had was buried with him; if the dead man were a worker, buried with him were the tools of his trade. The Sabeans made pilgrimages to the pyramids.
Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni, in the book Traces Remaining of Centuries Past, says the Persians and Magi deny the Flood; however, some Persians admit it, but they claim that this disaster, which occurred at the time of Timhurts, had no effect in Syria and the West, and did not extend to the whole inhabited earth. According to them, it would not have passed (to the east) the Wadi of Helwan and would leave intact the empires of the East. The Westerners, warned of the disaster by their elders, built high buildings in the style of the Egyptian pyramids, to take refuge when the cataclysm came. Traces of the Flood and the heights reached by its waters are still seen midway up on the pyramids, a limit the waters could not exceed. It is said that when the waters of the Flood receded, there was found the village of Nahavand, which had remained absolutely the same as it was before, and the pyramids and temples of Egypt. They were built by the first Hermes, whom the Arabs call Idris, whom God had inspired with the science of the stars. By consulting the stars, he foresaw the disaster that threatened the land, that only a few people would survive, and that scientific knowledge was necessary. Therefore, helped by the people of Egypt, he erected the pyramids and temples where he engraved a record of all sciences.
Abu al-Salt al-Andalusi, in his little book, said of the character of the Egyptians: From the state of that people, it seems that there was among them a caste of scholars, and in particular of architects and astronomers. This is proved by what they have left: marvelous structures such as the pyramids and temples, whose ruins boggle the mind and stun the most perceptive imagination. It shows the wreckage of works that surprise and confound. Also, Abu Ala Ahmad bin Sulayman Al-Ma'ri could say in the poem he wrote on the death of his father:
The firmest spirit loses its firmness
And the straightest judgment loses its straightness,
And to eloquent people, whenever
They see a beautiful thing, it looks like the work of geniuses.
And what is more surprising and more wonderful, after the power of God and the works of the Most High, is that the power that raised these huge constructions made them of huge stones. In each the base is square, pyramidal in shape, with a height of 319 cubits, and bounded by four triangular faces whose bases are equal, each being 460 cubits! And despite this enormous mass, with the perfection of the work, its technical accuracy, and the beauty of the whole, they have nothing to fear from the breath of the wind, or the rain clouds, or earthquakes. This description also applies to each of the two pyramids that rise in front of Fustat on the western bank of the Nile, as we have seen; and they are counted among the wonders of Egypt. And there is no monument in the world for which the effects of day and night stand in fear, except the pyramids which, in my opinion, are dangerous for the day and the night themselves. The pyramids rise above the ground in Egypt, dominate the marshes, and penetrate deep into the atmosphere. It is of one of them that Abu at-Tayyb al-Mutanabbi speaks in these verses:
Where is he who has built the two pyramids?
Who were his people? When did he live? When did he die?
The monuments survived those who lived among them
Then, struck by their annihilation, like them they disappear.
One day we went to the pyramids, and after having toured them and investigated them well, we redoubled our admiration for them and one of us said:
By your life! What hast thou seen more wonderful
In all that thou sawest than the pyramids of Egypt?
Drawn up towards the sky and probing
Higher into the atmosphere than the Phoenix and the Eagle,
They stand, overlooking the Earth,
Like two breasts heaving upon a chest.
It is claimed that the pyramids are the tombs of illustrious kings who wanted to distinguish themselves after their death, as they were distinguished during their lives, and make their memories unforgettable across the centuries and the length of the ages.
When the caliph Al-Ma'mun came to Egypt, he gave the order to open one of the pyramids. They tackled one of those facing Fustat, and after untold hardships and considerable fatigue, they arrived inside the pyramid and found strewn about wells and arduous ramps. The passage was perilous, and finally at the end was a room about 8 cubic cubits. In the middle of the room was a marble basin with a lid that closed. This was removed, and within the basin they found a corpse corrupted by the length of the centuries. Al-Ma'mun then ordered that no longer should any pyramid be opened, for the expenditure involved in the opening a breach in just this one had been so extraordinarily large.
Some believe that the first Hermes, whom they call the Thrice Great because of the three gifts he possessed: prophecy, kingship and wisdom, is the same as him the Hebrews call Enoch ben Jared ben Mahalalel ben Fatian (Kenan) ben Enos ben Seth ben Adam, who is also the same as Idris. He foresaw, from the position of the planets, the arrival of a Flood that would submerge the whole earth; therefore he built a large number of pyramids in which were deposited treasures, science books, and everything he feared would be destroyed and disappear from view. He wanted to ensure their safety from destruction. It is also said that the builder was a king named Surid bin Shaluq bin Siriaq. According to others, the character who raised the pyramids located facing Fustat was Shaddad bin 'Ad who built them following a dream. The Copts, who contest the invasion of Egypt by the Amalekites, attribute the construction of these monuments to Surid, also following a dream telling him that a calamity would descend from heaven. This was the Flood. Surid, say the Copts, raised the two pyramids in the space of six months, covered them with multicolored silk and engraved upon them this inscription: “I have built these in six months: tell those who come after me to try to destroy them in 600 years, for it is easier to destroy than to build. I covered them in colored silk. Let my successors try to cover them with mats, for braids are more common than brocade.” In looking at the faces of these pyramids, one can see that longitudinal lines are cut forming narrow parallel strips all filled with visible writing, but no one is able to read it or to understand the letters’ meaning. In summary, this is so wonderful a work that trying to describe it in detail is precisely the opposite of what is recommended in another context by Ali bin Abbas al-Rumi, although there is no point of resemblance between the two objects that are otherwise quite different:
If you want to describe something,
Don’t exaggerate, for it decreases the description.
If you’re exaggerating, this would suggest
You have turned away from much of the truth;
And the truth will decrease in proportion as you exaggerate
To add what you did not see to what you know.
It is reported that Al-Ma’mun sent a man up the Great Pyramid with a long string of 1,000 royal cubits, each being one and two fifths of a regular cubit. The perimeter of the base, each face being equal, was 400 cubits per side. Ascending the pyramid took three hours, and when the man reached the top he found that it ended in a square platform area large enough to hold eight kneeling camels.
Bodies buried in the pyramid were, they say, wrapped in cloth frayed by time and that this was made of thread of gold impregnated with compounds that formed a mass of myrrh and aloe to the thickness of a span.
It is said that in a certain place in the pyramids an arched entrance was discovered, pierced by three doors leading into three rooms. Each door was 10 cubits high and 5 wide, and was carved out of marble and perfectly adjusted. On each lintel an inscription was traced in indecipherable blue characters. They spent three days trying to open the doors, and at the end they noticed, at about 10 cubits in front of them, three marble columns, on each of which was a niche toward the top. Each niche contained the statue a different bird: in the first column the likeness of a dove in green stone, in the center column the likeness of a vulture in yellow stone, and in the third the likeness of a rooster in red stone. They moved the vulture, and the door in front of them moved. They lifted the vulture, and the door also lifted even though it was so heavy that a hundred men would not have been able to budge it. They removed the other two statues and those two doors rose as well. They entered the central chamber in which were three transparent and luminous stone beds and on these three beds lay three bodies covered with three robes. Near the head of each was a book in unknown characters. In the second room were arranged many shelves supporting stone baskets containing vases of gold wonderfully encrusted with jewels. In the third room also stood shelves and baskets of stone in which were deposited instruments of war and a large number of weapons. One of the swords was measured, and it was not less than seven spans. One breastplate measured eighteen spans. Al-Ma'mun took everything that was found in these rooms, and then the birds were put back in their places. The three doors closed and resumed their former position.
The number of pyramids was, they say, eighteen, including the three in front of Giza, the largest of which has a perimeter of 2,000 cubits square, with each side being 500 cubits. Al-Ma’mun, having opened it, found, they say, a basin closed with a stone slab and filled with gold. On the lid was an inscription that was translated into Arabic and meant: “We made this pyramid in one thousand days. We give some other man one thousand years to destroy it, for we know it is easier to destroy than to build. We covered it with silk; let another cover it with mats, though it be easier to obtain mats than brocade. And on each side we have deposited a sum equal to that which must be spent to get that far." Al-Ma’mun, having established what was spent to penetrate thus far, found in the basin an equivalent amount, neither more nor less.
It is said that he even found a statue of a man made of green stone similar to the daheng with a closed stone lid, similar to the dawat, and when the lid was removed, in the statue was found the body of a man beneath a gold breastplate covered in jewels. Lying on his chest was a long sword of inestimable value; near his head was a red ruby as big as a hen’s egg. Al-Ma’mun took these, saying: “This is better than gold.” Some writers say that the green Egyptian statue where the body was entombed remained on display near the king’s palace in the city of Masr until the year 611 AH (1214-1215 CE).
Near the town of Far'un (or Pharaoh) were two pyramids. Near Meidum was another, the last one.
In the year 579 AH (1183-1184 CE) the house of Hermes was discovered in the territory of Busir, province of Giza. The qadi, Ibn al-Shahrzuri opened it and pulled out all sorts of things: rams, monkeys, frogs in fibrous balls, vases of daheng, and bronze statues.
Ibn Khuradadhbeh said in The Marvels of Construction: Both Egyptian pyramids each have a width of 400 cubits, and the more they rise, the more their width shrinks. Both are made of alabaster and marble, and their height is 400 cubits by 400 cubits wide. On their faces texts about the art of magic and all the wonderful secrets of medicine were etched by hand. There is also this entry: “I am the one who built these. Let him who proclaims himself a powerful king destroy them, for to destroy is easier than to build!” An estimate of the expenditure required for this work has been established, and it has been recognized that the income of the whole world would not be enough.
In the book entitled The Marvels of Construction, he says about the pyramids: This type of construction is specific to Egypt, and elsewhere is found nothing similar. You would imagine, when seeing them, that these are the two breasts of Egypt, and the foreigner who enters this country could imagine that they were put there by the generosity of the citizens as a sign of hospitality. If you do not see it thusly, they will give you some facts concerning them, but we imagine that these are but fables. Stories that relate to the pyramids, with their description and their measurements, abound. The pyramids are very numerous in all the territory of Giza and on a line passing through Masr al-Qadima for a long three days’ journey. At Abu-Sir there are many. Some are large, others small. Some are of earth and others of bricks, but the greatest number are of stone. Some are built in steps, while others have smooth faces.
At Giza there were once many very small pyramids, but at the time of Sultan Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, they were destroyed by the eunuch Baha al-Din Karakush, who employed the materials in the construction of the bridges of Giza. Of these pyramids only hills of rubble remain.
As for the pyramids that we always talk about, these are the three pyramids at Giza, which are located directly in front of Fustat. There is some distance between them, and each of them has one of its angles to the east. Two are very large and of the same size; they are close to one another and built in white stone. The third is smaller than the other two, a quarter of the size or thereabout, and it is built in pink speckled granite of such extraordinary strength and solidity that iron itself leaves no trace even with great effort. In comparison to the other two it seems small, but if you look at it in isolation and ignore the other two, it’s large enough to shock the eye into fright with its immensity.
In the construction of the pyramids a truly admirable method was followed in the shape given to the monument, and the perfection of its execution, since they have weathered the passage of time with impunity, while time itself has barely touched them. By looking closely, we see that the greatest minds were tapped, subtle intelligences were surpassed, and bright souls spent everything they had in engineering them. Masters of the arts have built them as demonstrations of their power to such an extent that they seem to speak of the superiority of the people who built them. They tell their story, exposing the builders’ knowledge and understanding, and give us something of their life and times; and this because they have given the pyramids the shape of a cone with a square base and terminating in a point. A special feature is that the cone’s center of gravity is in the middle. The faces reinforce one another, abutting and supporting each other, because there is no other side on which they can rely. The square base is remarkable because the breath coming from the four winds collides at an angle, but the wind cannot break on an angle if it encounters a flat surface.
The surveyors allege that the base of each of the two large pyramids is 400 cubits, the cubit being the black cubit, and that the top platform has a surface of 10 cubits. It is said that an archer shot an arrow toward the top of one of the pyramids, but the arrow never even reached the middle of the monument. It is also said that the platform on top is a square of 11 cubits, the cubit being the natural cubit, and one of these pyramids has a door through which one can enter and which leads visitors via narrow corridors to an underground chamber, shallow wells, precipices, etc. This is reported by at least some of those who have visited it. Many people, driven by curiosity, continue to enter and descend into the depths, but undoubtedly, they eventually reach a dead end. As for the well-trod tourist path, there is a ramp that leads to the summit where we find a square chamber containing a stone shrine. This path was not intended by the builders; it was broken into by chance, and they say it was Al-Ma’mun who opened it.
People who have followed this route and climb to the summit return saying that they have seen extraordinary things: the room is filled with bats and thickly coated with their guano; these animals reach the size of a pigeon. Near the summit are also windows and skylights to let in air and light, and these openings are cut into huge stones measuring 10 to 20 cubits long by 2-3 cubits wide and as many in thickness.
What is more wonderful is the admirable arrangement of stacked stones, and it is impossible to do better, for between two stones we could not succeed in introducing a needle or even a hair. Between the stones is spread blue clay of an unknown nature and composition, and on the surface of the stones are drawn inscriptions in an ancient and unknown language; no person in Egypt has heard of anyone who could understand them. These entries are so numerous and so extensive that if we wrote them on paper, they would cover ten thousand leaves. I read in some old books of the Sabeans that one of these pyramids was the tomb of Adamun (Agathodaemon) and the other the tomb of Hermes. According to them, these two personages were great prophets and Adamun was the greater. The Sabeans made a pilgrimage to the pyramids, and the people came from the far corners of all countries.
King Al-Aziz Uthman ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, who reigned after his father, was pushed by ignorant people of his court to destroy the pyramids. He began with the small red pyramid and sent quarrymen and stonemasons, led by some emirs of the kingdom and the great empire, ordering them to destroy it. They pitched their tents near the pyramid, gathered laborers and workers, and did not spare any expense. They remained there about eight months with their people and their horses, destroying every day one or two stones with infinite pains and after strenuous efforts. Men posted above raised each stone with levers, and others pulled from below by means of ropes and cables. The falling of each stone made a terrible noise that could be heard from afar; the mountains quaked and the earth trembled. The stone sank into the sand, and new efforts were needed to lift it by means of levers placed below by digging a path through which they made the drive. Thus, they broke the stone into heaps, and each piece was carried away on carts and thrown at the foot of the nearby mountain. And after lengthy efforts and enormous expense, exhausted by fatigue, they were forced to abandon the work without being able to accomplish it. All they managed to do was to deface the pyramid and give proof of their impotence and the futility of their efforts. This was in 593 [1196-1197 CE]. Today, if you look at the heap of stones torn from the pyramid, you would think it was completely destroyed, but if we look at the pyramid itself, you would be convinced that the men did nothing at all for they removed only a small part of the side, which is now a mass of fallen stones. A fellow who witnessed the tragic attempt to demolish every stone asked the head of the workers: “If the sultan gave you a thousand dinars to put one of these stones back in place as it was, could you do it?” “No, by God,” replied the other, “it would be impossible, even if he doubled the amount.”
In front of the pyramids are many caves, so great and deep a rider could go in lance in hand and ride for a whole day without reaching the bottom. Since they are high, spacious, and deep, it seems that they are the quarries where the stones were extracted for the pyramids.
As the quarries that provided the stones of the Red Pyramid, they are located, he says, in Qulzum (Clysma) and Aswan. Near the pyramids, you can still see the remains of magnificent buildings and many caverns carved into the rock. It is rare that the entryways to these caves lack carvings in the unknown language (which we already discussed), and the lawyer Amarat al-Yenini drank from the same breast as God when he said:
O, my friends, there is not, under the sky, a construction
Which equals the perfection of the two pyramids of Egypt;
It is a building that time itself fears, and yet everything
On the surface of the earth fears time.
The eye is delighted by the beauty of their arrangement,
And the mind cannot grasp the purpose of their construction.
This idea is drawn from the words of a wise: Everything is afraid of time except for the pyramids, for time, however, is afraid of them.
Abd al-Hassan bin Wahib bin Jafar bin al-Hajib, who died in 387 [997 CE], said:
Contemplate the two pyramids, pointing upward
Before your eyes, their summit in height and breadth;
As if the vast Earth had been
Thirsting because of the enduring heat of her liver,
She discovered her breasts protruding,
Invoking God because she is separated from me, her child.
And God heard and gave the Nile to console her
Watering her, and making her forget her pain,
Thanks to the generosity of the Lord who directs,
Who led the people to improve and organize their affairs.
Saif al-Din ibn Gobarat said:
By God! What wonders, what wonderful things
Say the two pyramids to our hearts!
The history of their people falls silent on the ears,
But they raise their veil and show us countless beauties;
They are like tents pitched
Without stick or strings.
Another said:
Look at the two pyramids and learn from them
They tell of past times;
Contemplate the dark mysteries they contain,
Beholding with the eye of your heart, not the eyes in your head.
If they could speak, they would tell us
What was at the beginning and will be at the end of time.
When they begin to appear in front of the eye,
They seem to be the ears of a buried horse.
The imam Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad bin Yusuf al-Tifashi said:
Have you not seen the pyramids, whose edifices endure
While the law of the world destroys men and works of genius alike?
If the world were a mill, the upper millstone would be heaven,
The lower millstone the pyramids, and the earth itself that which is ground.
And he continues:
The people who once
Lived in Egypt were strong.
Virtue is a remnant of them,
And science for them was a banner;
But their banners have all fallen.
And they and their science have become extinct.
Look, and you will see the visible remains;
The antiquity of them is palpable.
He said:
O, my friends, nothing can resist the two accidents (i.e., day and night);
If just one thing survives, a second will subsist;
The two pyramids of Egypt are the highest point reached by the power of man,
And the two pyramids have aged along with time.
Don’t be surprised to see me grow old, because
Time caused the loss of my youth.
Go to Carthage and see there
The monuments of the ’Adites and weep.
And the portico of Cosroes [Khosrau II]: Contemplate it,
Talk about it all the time, as with sincerity.
And do not think that death is just for me;
Far from it! Everything in this world is perishable.
I found this handwritten by Sheikh Shahab al-Din Ahmad ibn Yahia ibn Abu Heglat al-Tlemsani: The cadi Fakhr al-Din Abd al-Wahab al-Masri recited for me verses about the pyramids he had composed in 655 (1257-1258 CE) and which are excellent:
The construction of the pyramids is like a preacher
Who affects the heart without using a word.
There comes to my mind a good word. Ancient:
“Where is the one who raised the pyramids?”
These are high mountains and are almost
Higher above the ground than Saturn.
If Cosroes had had their sides for a throne,
He would have preferred that throne to his portico.
They have passed through the heat and cold of time
For a very long time, and have felt nothing of those two things,
Neither the scorching sun, nor the wind that
Blows, nor the torrent which flows.
Was it a pious man who raised them as testimony to his piety,
Building the Pyramids for one of his idols?
Or is it the work of a man who believed in the return of the soul
To the body after leaving it?
Did he build them for his treasures and his corpse
As a tomb to protect them from the Flood?
Or are these observatories for the planets
Selected by learned observers because of the excellence of the place?
Or are they the description of planetary calculations,
Such as those once done by the Persians and the Greeks?
Or do we have etched on their faces
A science that seeks to understand the mind?
In the heart that sees them, the need to know what their writing means
Arises as a desire biting at the fingertips.
The writer Master Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah, in his History of Egypt and Its Wonders, speaking of Surid bin Sahluq bin Seriaq bin Tumidun bin Badresan bin Husal, one of the kings who ruled Egypt before the Flood and who resided in the city of Amsus (which will be discussed in the chapter of this book that deals with the cities of Egypt), said: The raising of the Two Pyramids in Egypt is attributed to Shaddad bin 'Ad: Copts claim that, thanks to the power of their magic, 'Adites could not enter their country. Here is what was the cause of the erection of the two pyramids: Three hundred years before the flood, Surid had a dream in which it seemed that the earth overturned, and the men fled straight ahead, and the stars fell and collided against each other with a terrible crash; Surid, scared, never spoke to anyone about this dream, but he was convinced that a major event would occur in the world. A few days later he had another dream in which he felt that the fixed stars had descended on the earth in the form of white birds and catching men while in flight, rushed between two high mountains which closed over them, and the bright stars became dark and obscure. Full of terror when he awoke, he went to the temple of the Sun, prayed, rolled in the dust, and wept. As soon as it was day, he gathered the chief priests of all the provinces of Egypt; the number was 130. He shut himself up with them and explained what he had seen in his first and second dream. The priests explained to the King that an extraordinary event would occur in the world, and the greatest of them, named Aqlimun, said unto him, ‘The dreams of kings do not happen for no reason, because of the importance of princes. I shall tell Pharaoh of a dream I had myself and that I have not spoken of to anyone. It seemed that while I was sitting with the king in the tower at Amsus, the sky, leaving its place, fell down and approached our heads, forming above us a dome that enveloped us. The king raised his hands to the sky with the stars mingling among men in various forms. People ran, seeking refuge at the king’s palace and requesting help. The king raised his hands to his head, telling me to do the same, and we were both in terrible anxiety. And now, from the tower where we were, we saw a part of the sky about to open and a bright light escaped from the breach. The Sun appeared, and we began to beg. And the Sun told us that the sky would return to its original place. I awoke full of terror, and then I fell asleep and I saw the city of Amsus overturned with its inhabitants, the idols fallen on their heads, and men descended from heaven holding in their hands iron whips, with which they hit mortals. “Why,” I asked them, “do you strike at men?” They said, “They have shown their wickedness to God.” “Is there not,” I said, “some way for us to redeem ourselves?” And they said: “Yes, whoever wants to be saved must go to reach the master of the Ark.” Thereupon I awoke full of terror.’ The King said: ‘Take the elevations of the stars and see what needs to happen.’ After a thorough review, it was recognized that a deluge would occur after which would appear a fire out of the constellation Leo which will burn the world. ‘See,’ said the King said, ‘if this disaster will reach our country.’ ‘Yes,’ they said, ‘the flood will reach us and we will be ruined for many years.’ ‘See,’ said the King, ‘if this country becomes prosperous as before or if it will remain still covered by water.’ ‘The country,’ said the priests, ‘will return to its former state and remain prosperous.’ ‘And after?’ asked the King. ‘Our country will be attacked by a king who will raise up the inhabitants and will take hold of their wealth.’ ‘And after?’ ‘A barbaric people, coming to the mountains of the Nile, will attack it and will be master of the largest part of the territory.’ ‘And after?’ ‘The Nile will be cut off and the country abandoned by its inhabitants.’ Then the king commanded the building of the pyramids and canals where the Nile would fill up reservoirs to a specific spot, and then would flow to certain areas of the West and the Saïd. He completed the pyramids with talismans, wonders, wealth, and idols, and he deposited within them the bodies of kings. According to his orders, priests engraved on these monuments all sayings of the wise. They wrote on every surface of the pyramids, the ceilings, foundations, and walls, all the sciences familiar to the Egyptians. They drew the figures of the stars; they wrote the names of the drugs and their useful and harmful properties, the science of talismans, mathematics, architecture—all the sciences of the world—and it was all laid out very clearly.
Having made this degree, the king had blocks cut and polished slabs of enormous size extracted from the land of the West and the rocks of the Aswan region, and thus laid the foundations of the three pyramids: East, West, and Colored. The workers had with them sheets (papyri) covered with writing, and as soon as a stone was cut and trimmed, they placed one of the sheets on the stone and gave it a blow, and the blow was enough to make it travel a distance of 100 sahmes (200 spans of the arrow), and this continued until the stone arrived at the Pyramids’ plateau. In the middle of a slab was drilled a hole; in this hole was planted vertically an iron pin, and then this was placed on the preceding slab. A second hole for the iron pin penetrated the second slab, and then molten lead was run into the hole around the pin in order to secure the two slabs and make them steadfast. This continued until the completion of the pyramid. When the monuments were complete, the king dug doors 40 cubits below ground level. The door of the East pyramid turned eastward and opens 100 cubits from the face of the pyramid. The door of the West pyramid is west and at 100 cubits from the face of the pyramid. The door of the Colored pyramid turns south and is also 100 cubits from the face of the pyramid. If this distance is dug (vertically), there is (at 40 cubits deep), the door that gives access, by vaulted corridors and masonry, to enter the pyramid. The king calculated for each of the pyramids a height above ground of 100 of his cubits, which is 500 of our current cubits. The length of each side was also 100 cubits, and the faces were calculated so that the pyramid’s height stopped eight cubits before the geometric summit. The construction of these pyramids began under favorable constellations, all chosen by mutual agreement. When they were finished, they were covered up and down with colored silk, and a feast was held which was attended by all the inhabitants of Egypt. In the Western pyramid were built thirty colored granite rooms filled with all kinds of wealth and various objects: statues of precious stones, beautiful iron tools, weapons that could not rust, malleable glass, extraordinary talismans, simple and compound drugs, and deadly poisons. In the East pyramid’s rooms were executed representations of the sky and the stars, and they were crammed with statues of the ancestors of Surid, perfumes which were burned for the planets, and the books that concerned the table of the fixed stars and the table of their revolution in the course of time, the list of events of past eras under their influence, and when they must be examined to know the future of everything about Egypt until the end of time. In addition, there lay basins containing magic elixirs and such things. In the Colored pyramid, they laid the bodies of priests locked in coffins of black granite, and with each priest was a book that traced the wonders of his art that he had exercised in his actions and his life, that which had been done in his time, and all that was from the beginning and will be until the end of time. On each side of the pyramids were made representations of characters performing all kinds of work and arranged according to their importance and dignity; these representations were accompanied by a description of their occupation, the tools they needed, and everything about them. No science was neglected; these were all drawn and described. Also placed in the pyramid were the treasures given to the planets, those given to the stars, and the treasures of the priests, all vast and incalculable in value.
At each of the pyramids a guardian was assigned: The Western pyramid was placed in the custody of a statue composed of granite; this statue was standing, holding in his hand something like a spear, and wore a viper wrapped around him. As soon as someone approached the statue, the viper sprang upon him, wrapped itself around his neck, killed him, and returned to his place. The guardian of the Eastern pyramid was a stone statue spotted black and white with eyes open and bright. She was seated on a throne and held a spear. If someone looked at her, he heard on the side of the statue a terrible voice that made him fall on his face and he died there without being able to get up. At the Colored pyramid was a stone statue of an eagle set on a similar stone base. Anyone who looked at it was attracted to it, stuck to it, and could not be detached until dead. With all of this completed, the pyramids were surrounded by intangible spirits; they were the victims of sacrifice, a ceremony to protect the pyramids against those who would like to approach them, with the exception of the initiates who complete the necessary rites to enter.
The Copts tell in their books that the sides of the pyramids were engraved with a text which in their language means: ‘I am Surid, the king who raised these pyramids at such and such a time. I completed the construction in six years. If someone who comes after me claims to be my equal, let him destroy them in six hundred years, for we know that it is easier to destroy than to build. I have, after completing these, covered them with silk; let another try to cover them only with mats.’ And after consideration it was recognized that the most prolonged passage of time could not destroy them.
The Copts recount that the spirit attached to the pyramid of the North is a naked yellow devil whose mouth is filled with long teeth. That of the Southern pyramid is a naked woman who reveals her natural parts; she is beautiful but her mouth is filled with long teeth. She charms men who look at her, smiles at them, draws them in, and makes them lose their reason. The spirit of the Colored pyramid is an old man holding a church censer wherein burn perfumes. Many people have seen these spirits on numerous occasions around the pyramids in the middle of the day and at sunset.
After his death, Surid was buried in the pyramid and his riches and treasures with him. Surid, according to the Copts, is said to have built temples, filled them with treasures and engraved on their walls all the sciences, and gave them sprits for guardians to protect them against those that may want to destroy them. The pyramids of Dashur were said to be raised by Shadat bin ’Adim with stones once cut by his father. According to some authors, this Shadat is the same as Haddah bin ’Ad, but those who refuse to admit that the 'Adites entered Egypt ignore the name Shadat bin ’Adim and instead say Shaddad bin ’Ad, a name that they have much more opportunity to say, for the other is not widely used. According to these, a single king (strange) would have entered Egypt and tamed its inhabitants; this king is Bokht-Nasr (Nebuchadnezzar). But God is the most learned!
In his book entitled Kitab al-Aswa, Abul-Hasan Ali Al-Masu‘di says that the Caliph Abdallah Al-Ma'mun ibn Harun al-Rashid, on his trip in Egypt, having gone to visit the pyramids, had the desire to demolish one to know what it contained. “It is impossible,” he was told. “It is imperative to open one,” he said. And his workmen created the breach which is still gaping in the pyramid. For this, he used fire, vinegar, and levers; blacksmiths worked there, and he spent considerable sums of money. The thickness of the wall was approximately 20 cubits; reaching the end of the wall, they found at the bottom of the hole a green basin filled with gold bullion. It contained 1,000 dinars, each dinar weighing an ounce. Al-Ma'mun, admiring the purity of the gold, and considering the expenditures needed to make the breach in the pyramid, discovered the gold was the absolute equivalent of this sum. The Caliph was filled with astonishment in seeing that the ancients were able to know precisely the amount that would be spent and the specific location where the basin of coins would have to be. This basin, we are told, was made of emerald; Al-Ma'mun displayed this treasure, and it was one of the most amazing wonders ever in Egypt.
For many years, they made use of the breach made by Al-Ma'mun and many people entered and followed the entrance thus formed. Some returned unharmed; others perished. One day, twenty young people gathered and prepared to enter. For this purpose they brought all that was needed: food, beverages, ropes, candles, etc. They turned into the corridor and saw bats as big as vultures who beat against their faces. Then one of the young people climbed down into the pyramid with ropes, but the corridor’s mouth closed over him. His companions made every effort to rescue him until they were exhausted. They then heard a terrible voice that made them faint. When they returned to their senses, they left the pyramid. While they sat, amazed at what had happened to them, behold, their companion came out of the earth before them, began to say things they could not understand, and then fell down dead. They took him and carried him away, but the guards seized them and took them back to prove what that they told of their adventure. Then the young people sought an explanation of the words that their companion had spoken before dying, and this is how they translated them: “Thus shall be punished anyone who seeks what should not be known.” This explanation was given by a man from the Saïd.
“I have been thinking,” said Ali ibn Radwan, a doctor, “about the pyramids, and I concluded that they demonstrate a profound knowledge and experience in architecture and mechanics on the part of those who had plotted the square of their bases, carved their interlocking stones, and coated all with a sea of plaster to raise the building to the point where it was possible to hold heavy weights. As the building rose, its courses shrank in area, so that the surface of the next course (the second course), parallel to the square of the base, formed a square smaller than that of the base itself. Then on the second course was traced a square even closer to the amount needed for the heavy weight to be there mounted, and each course was made of perfectly carved stones, alternately male and female, forming a base equal to the previous. In this way they continued to the point where it was no longer possible, then the height was truncated and the protruding edges used for lifting heavy materials that were infolded, and doing this from the top to the bottom, they obtained a (smooth) block forming the pyramid.
"The First Pyramid, measured along the curved still in use today in Egypt for construction, gives a length of each side (near the base) as 400 cubits, but in black cubits its length is 500 cubits and 24 fingers. The base is square, and the sides and the angles are equal. Both of the sides are parallel to the meridian line, the other two are parallel to the east-west line, and each side is 500 black cubits. The apothem descending from the top of the pyramid in the middle of the side above the base is 470 cubits, and would, if the pyramid was complete, also be 500 cubits. The faces of the pyramid form four isosceles triangles, and each of their sides would measure, if the pyramid were complete, 560 cubits. If the four triangles were joined at their peaks, the same point would be the top of the pyramid. These dimensions lead to height value of 430 cubits, and on this line is the center of gravity. Each of the triangles forming the faces of the pyramid measures a total area of 125,000 square cubits, and by them the total surface thus obtained for the total area of the pyramid is 500,000 black cubits. And I've always heard it said that there was in the world no building more colossal, or more beautiful, or more grandiose. And God knows best!"
Al-Ma’mun had opened a breach in this pyramid and discovered a corridor that led to a sloping path, which rose upward to a cube-shaped room, on the floor of which was a marble coffin, still in place today because nobody has been able to move it. It is after this fact that Galen says that the pyramids were tombs. Here’s what he said about it at the end of the fifth book of his treatise On Hygiene: “They give the name of haram to anyone who has reached this age (old). The name is derived from the pyramids in which they will soon be placed.” Al-Hauqali, in his Description of Egypt, said: “We see in this country the two pyramids that have no equals on the surface of the earth. Not in Muslim countries or in countries unfaithful was there ever nor will there ever be the like of them. One of the Abbasids read the following sentence on one of them: “I’ve built both, Let him who pretends to be a mighty king demolish them! Destruction is easier than building.” And the Abassid tried (I think it was Al-Ma'mun or Al-Mu'tasim), but the income of Egypt was sufficient to the task, even though in his time, the income earned with equity, justice, and kindness to his subjects, even when the Nile reached 17 cubits and 6 fingers, amounted to 4,257,000 dinars, the tax being 2 dinars per feddan. Therefore he abandoned his project and it occupied him no more.
At the limits of the territory of Fustat, west of the Nile, we encounter colossal structures, in considerable numbers, and which spread into the Saïd. They are called pyramids, but they cannot be compared to the two pyramids located in front of Fustat two parasangs (leagues) from this locality. The height of each of these two pyramids is 400 cubits; their width is equal to their height, and they are made of stone from Al-Kaddan; each stone has a length and a thickness of 10 to 8 cubits depending on its location and based on the technical requirements. These two pyramids become narrower as they rise, so as to leave the top platform equal to the size necessary for a camel to kneel. The faces of these pyramids are covered with Greek writing. It was argued that these monuments were tombs, but this is not true; their builder erected them because he foresaw the Flood and he knew that this cataclysm would destroy everything on the surface of the earth, except what could be stored in buildings such as these two pyramids. Thus, he stored within them all the valuables and treasures he could, and the Flood having occurred, then subsiding, the entire contents of the pyramids became the property of Bansar bin Mizraim bin Ham bin Noah. The last kings converted these monuments into storehouses and established deposits within. And God knows better than anyone.
Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Is'haq al-Nadim, the stationer, in his book entitled The Index, said about Hermes al-Baheli: There is no agreement about him. It was said he was one of the seven guards responsible for monitoring the seven temples (the planets) and was assigned to guard the temple of Atared (Mercury), whose name he took, as Atared in the Chaldaic language means Hermes. It is said that for some reason he moved to Egypt where he reigned and had children including Tat, Sa, Ashmun, Atrib, and Qoft. He was the wisest of his time, and after his death he was buried in the monument at Masr known under the name Abu Hermes, but which most Greeks give the name of Al-Haraman (the two pyramids), because one of them is his tomb and the other the tomb of his wife. According to others, it is the tomb of the son of Hermes, the son who would have succeeded him after his death.
These monuments, the pyramids I mean, have a length of 480 Hashemite cubits and a width of 480 cubits also. The basic construction tapers at the top, the dimensions (of the summit) are more than 40 cubits (on each side) and this is done intentionally and by calculation. In the middle of the edifice is built a nice room in the interior within which is a kind of mausoleum. At the top of the tomb are two blocks perfectly polished and beautiful, surmounted by two stone statues of a man and a woman facing each other. The man is holding a stone tablet covered with writing, and the woman a mirror and a tablet of gold adorned with fine sculptures. Between their two pedestals is a closed stone vessel covered in gold. If the lid is raised, one sees a kind of odorless and dry pitch, in which is placed a gold box containing a mass of blood that once in contact with the air undergoes coagulation and then dries. The tombs are closed with lids of stone which, once removed, let one see within them a man lying on his back, perfectly preserved and dried and on whose flesh is still visible the hair. In the neighboring sarcophagus is the body of a woman in the same position and in the same state as that of the man. From this room extends a corridor the height of a man and leading underground. The roof is made of stone and in it one sees portraits and statues lying or standing, and many things of which we do not know the meaning.
The legal scholar Muwaffaq al-Din Muhammad 'Abd al-Latif ibn Yusuf al-Baghdadi, better known by the name Ibn Al-Mutahan, says in his History that one day a stranger came to the infidel king al-Aziz Uthman ibn Salah al-Din ibn Yusuf and persuaded him that under the small pyramid was a treasure. He sent masons and a crowd of soldiers who began to demolish the structure and went to work for months and months, but unable to handle the task, they left. The money spent and the technical research employed in this business were considerable. And today, whosoever would see the mass of stones taken from the pyramid would think it was completely destroyed, but looking at the pyramid itself, we do not find that the damage is significant. I had the opportunity to see the stonemasons, and I asked their leader if he could raise these stones into their places. He replied, “Even if the Sultan would give us one thousand dinars a stone, it would be impossible.”
Abu'l-Hassan Al-Masu'di, in his Meadows of Gold, says: "As for the pyramids, their height is amazing and their construction wonderful. They are covered with several kinds of entries in the various languages of peoples past and gone. People versed in the science of measurement ensured that the vertical height of the Great Pyramid is at least 400 cubits, and as the building rises, it gradually narrows. The width is approximately equal to the height, and its sides are covered with texts and tables on science, magical formulae, and the secrets of nature. One of the entries says: ‘We have constructed (the Pyramids), and if some king says he matches our reach and power, let him destroy them and clear away every trace! However, it is easier to destroy than to build, and breaking apart is easier than putting together.’”
It is said that a Muslim king had the idea to destroy one of the pyramids, but the income of Egypt would not suffice for the task because it was made of stone and marble. These pyramids were the tombs of kings. Formerly, when a king died, his body was placed in a basin of stone, called by the Egyptians and the Syrians geroun, and which was closed up. Then they laid out the base of a pyramid based on the dimensions established according to the desired height, and they placed the sarcophagus in the middle of the pyramid. They built over it an arch, and then the construction was determined according to the size, placing the entrance to the pyramid below the pyramid itself. The door led to one underground stone archway whose length was 100 cubits at most. Each of these pyramids has a door that leads inward, as we have said. They built some of these pyramids with edges like the steps of stairs, and when the building was complete, they flattened the steps from top to bottom. That was their method of construction, and for this they needed exceeding strength, patience, and obedience.
In the book On Buildings and Wonders, it is said that the two pyramids located west of Fustat Misr are monuments that can be counted among the wonders of the world. Each is 400 cubits in height and width, and they are built with huge stones and exposed to the four winds, each edge of their angles facing one of the winds. The wind that has the greatest influence is the southern, called Merisi. One of these pyramids is the tomb of A'adimun (Agathodaemon) and the other of Hermes. Between these two figures there are nearly a thousand years, A'adimun being the older of the two. The inhabitants of Egypt, that is to say the Copts, argue that these two characters were two prophets who appeared before the coming of Christianity. This view is consistent with that professed by the Sabeans about prophets, but not with the regard that one must have for the great prophets. But for the Copts, the two prophets in question were pure souls, holy, free from corruption, and equipped with heavenly and terrestrial inspiration. They also knew events before they had occurred and knew of the secrets of the world. Among the Arabs of Yemen, some consider the two pyramids to be the tombs of Shaddad ben ’Ad and another of their kings who conquered Egypt in the past. These are pure Arabs of the tribes of Amalek and others. But, from what we have said of the doctrine of the Sabeans, they are the tombs of pure bodies.
Abu Zayd al-Balkhi found in the middle of inscriptions traced on the pyramid certain lines that were translated into Arabic and meant: “These two pyramids were raised when the Eagle was in conjunction with Gemini." Calculation of the time that had elapsed from that time until the Hegira of the Prophet found it to be twice 36,000 solar years, that is to say 72,000 solar years.
Al-Hamadani, in his book On Crowns, said: Of all that was overwhelmed by the Flood nothing has remained except for the village of Nahavand, found as it was before the cataclysm, and the Pyramids of Saïd.
Abu Abdallah Muhammed bin Abd ar-Rahim al Kaisi, in his book The Present of Hearts, reports that the pyramids are square at the base with triangular faces, and that they number eighteen. In front of Fustat there are three, the principal one of which has a perimeter of 2,000 cubits, each side being 500 cubits, and its height is 500 cubits also. Each of the stones that compose it has a thickness of 30 cubits wide by 10 cubits. The layout and size of these stones are perfect. Near the city of the Pharaoh of the time of Joseph is another pyramid even bigger; its perimeter is 3,000 cubits and its height 750; the stones from which it is built each measure 50 cubits. In the vicinity of the city of the Pharaoh from the time of Moses is a pyramid even greater and more extraordinary. And finally another pyramid, known as the pyramid of Madoum (Meidum), is similar to a mountain and consists of five terraces. Al-Ma’mun opened the largest of the pyramids located in Fustat, entered the corridor of the building and went into a chamber square at the base and arched at the top, very large, and in the middle of which was dug a well 10 cubits deep. This well was square and the men found on each side a door leading down to a large room filled with dead bodies, each of which was wrapped in a shroud longer than one hundred dresses sewn end to end. Time has altered these bodies, and they have become black; these bodies, which are not larger than ours, have lost nothing of their tissue or their hair. There are no bodies of old men with white hair. These bodies were still solid, and nobody could detach even one member. However, they were extremely light, for time had made them as heavy as some dry straw. In this well were four rooms filled with corpses and huge bats. The ancients buried animals in the sand, and as for me, I found a roll of fabric forming a large volume more than a cubit thick. The fabric was worn by time, but having held it, I found it to be a piece of linen as intact as a turban, white with traces of red silk, and finally, in the interior, a dead bird. It lacked neither feathers nor any part of its body, as if it had died recently. In the inside of the pyramid is another door that leads to the top of the monument. The corridor has no stairs and is almost five spans wide. It is said that a man who entered in Al-Ma’mun’s time discovered a small room therein where there was a statue of a man in stone green as dahang. This statue was brought to Al-Ma’mun. It had a lid that could be removed, and within they found the body of a man wearing a gold breastplate encrusted with all kinds of jewels. On his chest lay a sword of inestimable price, and near the head was a red ruby the size of a hen’s egg which shone like a flame, which Al-Ma’mun took for himself. The statue within which this dead man was encased was put up near the door of the king’s palace in Cairo where I saw it in the year 511 (1138 CE).
The cadi Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Salama ibn Ja'far al-Quda'i said: Ali bin Al-Hassan bin Khalaf bin Qadid reports the following after Yahya Uthman bin Salah who had it from Muhammad bin Ali bin Sakhr Al-Tamimi: A villager from Qoft, well versed in business and the history of Egypt, and who took care of old books and ruins, told me he found in an ancient volume a text about the pyramids: People who excavated a tomb in the monastery of Abu Hermes (Aba Jeremias) found there a dead man wrapped in his shroud and on his chest a piece of paper rolled into a fabric. Having unwound it, they looked at the writing but could not understand anything, for the paper was written in the ancient language of the Egyptians. They sought someone who could read it to them, but in vain. They said that at the convent of Al-Qalmun in Fayum there lived a monk who knew this kind of writing. They went in search of the monk, doubting strongly that he could explain it to them, but he read it and this is what the text meant: ‘This book was written in the first year of the Emperor Diocletian and was copied from a book copied itself in the first year of Emperor Philip. This emperor had made this copy from a gold tablet, written letter by letter. This translation was made from the original book for Philip by the Coptic brothers Ilwa and Yertsa. The Emperor having asked them how they could read things that others could not, they said that they were descendants of one of the ancient Egyptians, who alone had not been drowned by the Flood. He owed his salvation to the fact that, alone among the Egyptians, he went to Noah and believed in him, and Noah took him with him in the Ark. The Flood waters having receded, he returned to Egypt with some of the descendants of Ham, son of Noah, and he remained there until his death. His son inherited his knowledge of the Egyptian language, and they had inherited the same, for this science was transmitted in the family generation to generation. The length of time that had elapsed before Philip’s copy was made was 2,372 years. As to him who made the copy on gold leaf writing separately letter by letter such as Philip found, his time was separated from the original manuscript by 1,785 years. The copied book said: "We have seen what the stars predicted. We saw a disaster descend from the sky and come up out of the earth. When we were sure what this event would be, we sought more information and we found that the waters would cover the earth, destroying its animals and plants. Being quite sure of the event, we told our king, Surid bin Sahluq: He built a tomb for himself and others for his family. The king built the Eastern pyramid for himself, the Western pyramid for his father Huhait, and the colored pyramid for the son of Huhait. He raised a house (?) in the Delta and in the Saïd and engraved on their walls the details of science, astronomy and prognostication, the stars, alchemy, art, medicine, and all the useful or harmful things. These were briefly explained and easy to understand for those who know our writing and language. The arrival of the calamity which threatened the earth would take place when the heart of the Lion would be in the first minute of the Crab's head, while the planets find the following points of heaven: the Sun and the Moon in the first minute of the head of Aries; Quris (Saturn) at 1° 28' of Aries, Rawis (Jupiter) at 29° 28' of Pisces; Auis at 29° 3' of Pisces; Afrad Batn at 28° and a few minutes beyond Pisces, Mercury at 27° and a few minutes of Pisces, and Al-Guzhar in Libra; the apogee of the Moon at 5° and a few minutes of the Lion. Then we looked at what would happen after this disaster. The world would have to bear calamities, and we discovered that the planets presage a new scourge descending from the sky that would be the opposite of the first. This scourge of fire would burn the four corners of the earth. Seeking the time when the disaster would occur, we found that this would happen when the heart of the Lion would be in the last minute of 15° of the Lion and that Eilis would be in the same minute, followed by Quris in the triangle of Sagittarius. Jupiter-Rawis would be at the beginning of the Lion at the end of its evolution, and Auis with him in the same minute as Salis is in Aquarius facing Eilis-Sun and the tail with him at 22° [text corrupt]. This will produce a long eclipse of the Sun, the moon traveling parallel to it. Mercury-Atared would be at its aphelion, having in front of it Moqabalin, with Batn Afrad following the direct route while Mercury is about to return. The king asked: 'Do you have any other misfortunes to tell us?' They said, 'If the heart of the Lion stopped in its ninth revolution, there will be on earth no living being. All will burn and perish. If this star race ends, the links that hold the sky will be broken and it will fall to the ground.' 'And what day will the sky fall?' asked the king. 'Two days after the beginning of the movement of the heavens,' they answered."’ That was what was on the paper.
And when Surid died, he was buried in the Eastern pyramid, Huhait in the Western pyramid, and Karwars in the pyramid whose base is of Aswan granite and whose top part is of a stone called kaddan. These pyramids have entrances in underground vaults; the length of each corridor is 150 cubits. The Eastern pyramid’s door opens to the North; the entrance of the Western pyramid opens to the South. And in the pyramids gold and countless emeralds are piled high.
Whoever translated the Coptic book into Arabic made the calculation of dates from Sunday the first day of Thoth (or the first day of the Sun) in the year 225 of the Arab calendar, and the figure reached 4,321 solar years. They then calculated how many years had elapsed from the Flood to that day, and found it to be 1,741 years, 59 days, 13 hours, 56 minutes, 51 seconds, and subtracting the latter from the first number, he obtained 399 years, 205 days, 10 hours, 2 minutes and 1 second, by which he knew that the book in question was written before the Flood, by exactly the same number of years, days, hours, minutes and seconds.
The pyramid of the monastery of Abu Hermes is the tomb of Qarias, an Egyptian rider who alone was worth a thousand horsemen. If he met this same number of horsemen, they could not resist him and would take flight. Upon his death, the king led the mourning and all the people were plunged into despair; they buried him in the monastery of Abu Hermes and above his tomb built the pyramid. The earth and stones that were used in the construction came from the Fayum, as it is easy to realize upon examination, for this earth indeed is that of the Fayum and is found in no similar land, not in Memphis nor Usim.
The tomb of the king under whom lived Qarias is the great pyramid north of Dayr Abu Hermes. It has at its entrance a stele of kaddan stone bearing an inscription in blue letters; the stele is two cubits high and a cubit wide and is entirely covered with writing like on the temples. One may access the pyramid’s door through stages, some of which are still completely intact. In this pyramid are accumulated the valuables of its master, gold and emeralds, but the door is obstructed by stones that have fallen from above, and if you climb on these stones, you can see on the other side a sort of chamber.
Ibn Afir reported, following his masters, that Jiad bin Miad bin Shamir, son of Shaddad bin 'Ad bin Uz bin Aram bin Shem bin Noah reigned in Alexandria, which was then called Aram Zat Al-'Amâd. His reign was long and lasted for 300 years; it was he who, after his arrival in Egypt, built the pyramids and wrote on them: I am Jiad bin Miad bin Shamir bin Shaddad, the clever uniter of the valleys, inspired by God in this way. It is I who have gathered the stones in the region. It is I who am the assembler of armies, the raiser of columns, the destroyer of the ungrateful. (My grave) will be discovered by a people who will have a Prophet by the name of Hamad, and this will happen when the land of the country (Egypt) will be attacked by seven black tribal chiefs. The date of this inscription is 1,400 years.
Ibn Afir and Ibn 'Abd Al-Hakam said: The pyramids were built at the time of Shaddad bin 'Ad, based on what the historians tell us, but they could find no true knowledge of the pyramids or certain concepts in the work of any of the scholars of Egypt.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah bin 'Abd Al-Hakam said: I cannot believe that the pyramids were not built before the Flood, for if they had been built after at least a few people would know about it.
Muhammad ibn Al-Shabramat Jorhami said the Amalekites, driven by Jorham of Mecca, fled to Egypt where they raised the pyramids, built fortresses, and built all kinds of wonders. They remained in Egypt until they were expelled by Malik Al-Dar Khazai.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd Al-Hakam said: West of the pyramids were four hundred cities, not to mention the villages, from the border of Egypt to the Magreb.
Ibn Afir said: Our old people of Egypt have always recognized that the pyramids had been built by Shaddad bin 'Ad. It is also this king who dug caves where he buried treasures (?). The people of that time believed in resurrection, and when an individual died, all that he had was buried with him; if the dead man were a worker, buried with him were the tools of his trade. The Sabeans made pilgrimages to the pyramids.
Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni, in the book Traces Remaining of Centuries Past, says the Persians and Magi deny the Flood; however, some Persians admit it, but they claim that this disaster, which occurred at the time of Timhurts, had no effect in Syria and the West, and did not extend to the whole inhabited earth. According to them, it would not have passed (to the east) the Wadi of Helwan and would leave intact the empires of the East. The Westerners, warned of the disaster by their elders, built high buildings in the style of the Egyptian pyramids, to take refuge when the cataclysm came. Traces of the Flood and the heights reached by its waters are still seen midway up on the pyramids, a limit the waters could not exceed. It is said that when the waters of the Flood receded, there was found the village of Nahavand, which had remained absolutely the same as it was before, and the pyramids and temples of Egypt. They were built by the first Hermes, whom the Arabs call Idris, whom God had inspired with the science of the stars. By consulting the stars, he foresaw the disaster that threatened the land, that only a few people would survive, and that scientific knowledge was necessary. Therefore, helped by the people of Egypt, he erected the pyramids and temples where he engraved a record of all sciences.
Abu al-Salt al-Andalusi, in his little book, said of the character of the Egyptians: From the state of that people, it seems that there was among them a caste of scholars, and in particular of architects and astronomers. This is proved by what they have left: marvelous structures such as the pyramids and temples, whose ruins boggle the mind and stun the most perceptive imagination. It shows the wreckage of works that surprise and confound. Also, Abu Ala Ahmad bin Sulayman Al-Ma'ri could say in the poem he wrote on the death of his father:
The firmest spirit loses its firmness
And the straightest judgment loses its straightness,
And to eloquent people, whenever
They see a beautiful thing, it looks like the work of geniuses.
And what is more surprising and more wonderful, after the power of God and the works of the Most High, is that the power that raised these huge constructions made them of huge stones. In each the base is square, pyramidal in shape, with a height of 319 cubits, and bounded by four triangular faces whose bases are equal, each being 460 cubits! And despite this enormous mass, with the perfection of the work, its technical accuracy, and the beauty of the whole, they have nothing to fear from the breath of the wind, or the rain clouds, or earthquakes. This description also applies to each of the two pyramids that rise in front of Fustat on the western bank of the Nile, as we have seen; and they are counted among the wonders of Egypt. And there is no monument in the world for which the effects of day and night stand in fear, except the pyramids which, in my opinion, are dangerous for the day and the night themselves. The pyramids rise above the ground in Egypt, dominate the marshes, and penetrate deep into the atmosphere. It is of one of them that Abu at-Tayyb al-Mutanabbi speaks in these verses:
Where is he who has built the two pyramids?
Who were his people? When did he live? When did he die?
The monuments survived those who lived among them
Then, struck by their annihilation, like them they disappear.
One day we went to the pyramids, and after having toured them and investigated them well, we redoubled our admiration for them and one of us said:
By your life! What hast thou seen more wonderful
In all that thou sawest than the pyramids of Egypt?
Drawn up towards the sky and probing
Higher into the atmosphere than the Phoenix and the Eagle,
They stand, overlooking the Earth,
Like two breasts heaving upon a chest.
It is claimed that the pyramids are the tombs of illustrious kings who wanted to distinguish themselves after their death, as they were distinguished during their lives, and make their memories unforgettable across the centuries and the length of the ages.
When the caliph Al-Ma'mun came to Egypt, he gave the order to open one of the pyramids. They tackled one of those facing Fustat, and after untold hardships and considerable fatigue, they arrived inside the pyramid and found strewn about wells and arduous ramps. The passage was perilous, and finally at the end was a room about 8 cubic cubits. In the middle of the room was a marble basin with a lid that closed. This was removed, and within the basin they found a corpse corrupted by the length of the centuries. Al-Ma'mun then ordered that no longer should any pyramid be opened, for the expenditure involved in the opening a breach in just this one had been so extraordinarily large.
Some believe that the first Hermes, whom they call the Thrice Great because of the three gifts he possessed: prophecy, kingship and wisdom, is the same as him the Hebrews call Enoch ben Jared ben Mahalalel ben Fatian (Kenan) ben Enos ben Seth ben Adam, who is also the same as Idris. He foresaw, from the position of the planets, the arrival of a Flood that would submerge the whole earth; therefore he built a large number of pyramids in which were deposited treasures, science books, and everything he feared would be destroyed and disappear from view. He wanted to ensure their safety from destruction. It is also said that the builder was a king named Surid bin Shaluq bin Siriaq. According to others, the character who raised the pyramids located facing Fustat was Shaddad bin 'Ad who built them following a dream. The Copts, who contest the invasion of Egypt by the Amalekites, attribute the construction of these monuments to Surid, also following a dream telling him that a calamity would descend from heaven. This was the Flood. Surid, say the Copts, raised the two pyramids in the space of six months, covered them with multicolored silk and engraved upon them this inscription: “I have built these in six months: tell those who come after me to try to destroy them in 600 years, for it is easier to destroy than to build. I covered them in colored silk. Let my successors try to cover them with mats, for braids are more common than brocade.” In looking at the faces of these pyramids, one can see that longitudinal lines are cut forming narrow parallel strips all filled with visible writing, but no one is able to read it or to understand the letters’ meaning. In summary, this is so wonderful a work that trying to describe it in detail is precisely the opposite of what is recommended in another context by Ali bin Abbas al-Rumi, although there is no point of resemblance between the two objects that are otherwise quite different:
If you want to describe something,
Don’t exaggerate, for it decreases the description.
If you’re exaggerating, this would suggest
You have turned away from much of the truth;
And the truth will decrease in proportion as you exaggerate
To add what you did not see to what you know.
It is reported that Al-Ma’mun sent a man up the Great Pyramid with a long string of 1,000 royal cubits, each being one and two fifths of a regular cubit. The perimeter of the base, each face being equal, was 400 cubits per side. Ascending the pyramid took three hours, and when the man reached the top he found that it ended in a square platform area large enough to hold eight kneeling camels.
Bodies buried in the pyramid were, they say, wrapped in cloth frayed by time and that this was made of thread of gold impregnated with compounds that formed a mass of myrrh and aloe to the thickness of a span.
It is said that in a certain place in the pyramids an arched entrance was discovered, pierced by three doors leading into three rooms. Each door was 10 cubits high and 5 wide, and was carved out of marble and perfectly adjusted. On each lintel an inscription was traced in indecipherable blue characters. They spent three days trying to open the doors, and at the end they noticed, at about 10 cubits in front of them, three marble columns, on each of which was a niche toward the top. Each niche contained the statue a different bird: in the first column the likeness of a dove in green stone, in the center column the likeness of a vulture in yellow stone, and in the third the likeness of a rooster in red stone. They moved the vulture, and the door in front of them moved. They lifted the vulture, and the door also lifted even though it was so heavy that a hundred men would not have been able to budge it. They removed the other two statues and those two doors rose as well. They entered the central chamber in which were three transparent and luminous stone beds and on these three beds lay three bodies covered with three robes. Near the head of each was a book in unknown characters. In the second room were arranged many shelves supporting stone baskets containing vases of gold wonderfully encrusted with jewels. In the third room also stood shelves and baskets of stone in which were deposited instruments of war and a large number of weapons. One of the swords was measured, and it was not less than seven spans. One breastplate measured eighteen spans. Al-Ma'mun took everything that was found in these rooms, and then the birds were put back in their places. The three doors closed and resumed their former position.
The number of pyramids was, they say, eighteen, including the three in front of Giza, the largest of which has a perimeter of 2,000 cubits square, with each side being 500 cubits. Al-Ma’mun, having opened it, found, they say, a basin closed with a stone slab and filled with gold. On the lid was an inscription that was translated into Arabic and meant: “We made this pyramid in one thousand days. We give some other man one thousand years to destroy it, for we know it is easier to destroy than to build. We covered it with silk; let another cover it with mats, though it be easier to obtain mats than brocade. And on each side we have deposited a sum equal to that which must be spent to get that far." Al-Ma’mun, having established what was spent to penetrate thus far, found in the basin an equivalent amount, neither more nor less.
It is said that he even found a statue of a man made of green stone similar to the daheng with a closed stone lid, similar to the dawat, and when the lid was removed, in the statue was found the body of a man beneath a gold breastplate covered in jewels. Lying on his chest was a long sword of inestimable value; near his head was a red ruby as big as a hen’s egg. Al-Ma’mun took these, saying: “This is better than gold.” Some writers say that the green Egyptian statue where the body was entombed remained on display near the king’s palace in the city of Masr until the year 611 AH (1214-1215 CE).
Near the town of Far'un (or Pharaoh) were two pyramids. Near Meidum was another, the last one.
In the year 579 AH (1183-1184 CE) the house of Hermes was discovered in the territory of Busir, province of Giza. The qadi, Ibn al-Shahrzuri opened it and pulled out all sorts of things: rams, monkeys, frogs in fibrous balls, vases of daheng, and bronze statues.
Ibn Khuradadhbeh said in The Marvels of Construction: Both Egyptian pyramids each have a width of 400 cubits, and the more they rise, the more their width shrinks. Both are made of alabaster and marble, and their height is 400 cubits by 400 cubits wide. On their faces texts about the art of magic and all the wonderful secrets of medicine were etched by hand. There is also this entry: “I am the one who built these. Let him who proclaims himself a powerful king destroy them, for to destroy is easier than to build!” An estimate of the expenditure required for this work has been established, and it has been recognized that the income of the whole world would not be enough.
In the book entitled The Marvels of Construction, he says about the pyramids: This type of construction is specific to Egypt, and elsewhere is found nothing similar. You would imagine, when seeing them, that these are the two breasts of Egypt, and the foreigner who enters this country could imagine that they were put there by the generosity of the citizens as a sign of hospitality. If you do not see it thusly, they will give you some facts concerning them, but we imagine that these are but fables. Stories that relate to the pyramids, with their description and their measurements, abound. The pyramids are very numerous in all the territory of Giza and on a line passing through Masr al-Qadima for a long three days’ journey. At Abu-Sir there are many. Some are large, others small. Some are of earth and others of bricks, but the greatest number are of stone. Some are built in steps, while others have smooth faces.
At Giza there were once many very small pyramids, but at the time of Sultan Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, they were destroyed by the eunuch Baha al-Din Karakush, who employed the materials in the construction of the bridges of Giza. Of these pyramids only hills of rubble remain.
As for the pyramids that we always talk about, these are the three pyramids at Giza, which are located directly in front of Fustat. There is some distance between them, and each of them has one of its angles to the east. Two are very large and of the same size; they are close to one another and built in white stone. The third is smaller than the other two, a quarter of the size or thereabout, and it is built in pink speckled granite of such extraordinary strength and solidity that iron itself leaves no trace even with great effort. In comparison to the other two it seems small, but if you look at it in isolation and ignore the other two, it’s large enough to shock the eye into fright with its immensity.
In the construction of the pyramids a truly admirable method was followed in the shape given to the monument, and the perfection of its execution, since they have weathered the passage of time with impunity, while time itself has barely touched them. By looking closely, we see that the greatest minds were tapped, subtle intelligences were surpassed, and bright souls spent everything they had in engineering them. Masters of the arts have built them as demonstrations of their power to such an extent that they seem to speak of the superiority of the people who built them. They tell their story, exposing the builders’ knowledge and understanding, and give us something of their life and times; and this because they have given the pyramids the shape of a cone with a square base and terminating in a point. A special feature is that the cone’s center of gravity is in the middle. The faces reinforce one another, abutting and supporting each other, because there is no other side on which they can rely. The square base is remarkable because the breath coming from the four winds collides at an angle, but the wind cannot break on an angle if it encounters a flat surface.
The surveyors allege that the base of each of the two large pyramids is 400 cubits, the cubit being the black cubit, and that the top platform has a surface of 10 cubits. It is said that an archer shot an arrow toward the top of one of the pyramids, but the arrow never even reached the middle of the monument. It is also said that the platform on top is a square of 11 cubits, the cubit being the natural cubit, and one of these pyramids has a door through which one can enter and which leads visitors via narrow corridors to an underground chamber, shallow wells, precipices, etc. This is reported by at least some of those who have visited it. Many people, driven by curiosity, continue to enter and descend into the depths, but undoubtedly, they eventually reach a dead end. As for the well-trod tourist path, there is a ramp that leads to the summit where we find a square chamber containing a stone shrine. This path was not intended by the builders; it was broken into by chance, and they say it was Al-Ma’mun who opened it.
People who have followed this route and climb to the summit return saying that they have seen extraordinary things: the room is filled with bats and thickly coated with their guano; these animals reach the size of a pigeon. Near the summit are also windows and skylights to let in air and light, and these openings are cut into huge stones measuring 10 to 20 cubits long by 2-3 cubits wide and as many in thickness.
What is more wonderful is the admirable arrangement of stacked stones, and it is impossible to do better, for between two stones we could not succeed in introducing a needle or even a hair. Between the stones is spread blue clay of an unknown nature and composition, and on the surface of the stones are drawn inscriptions in an ancient and unknown language; no person in Egypt has heard of anyone who could understand them. These entries are so numerous and so extensive that if we wrote them on paper, they would cover ten thousand leaves. I read in some old books of the Sabeans that one of these pyramids was the tomb of Adamun (Agathodaemon) and the other the tomb of Hermes. According to them, these two personages were great prophets and Adamun was the greater. The Sabeans made a pilgrimage to the pyramids, and the people came from the far corners of all countries.
King Al-Aziz Uthman ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, who reigned after his father, was pushed by ignorant people of his court to destroy the pyramids. He began with the small red pyramid and sent quarrymen and stonemasons, led by some emirs of the kingdom and the great empire, ordering them to destroy it. They pitched their tents near the pyramid, gathered laborers and workers, and did not spare any expense. They remained there about eight months with their people and their horses, destroying every day one or two stones with infinite pains and after strenuous efforts. Men posted above raised each stone with levers, and others pulled from below by means of ropes and cables. The falling of each stone made a terrible noise that could be heard from afar; the mountains quaked and the earth trembled. The stone sank into the sand, and new efforts were needed to lift it by means of levers placed below by digging a path through which they made the drive. Thus, they broke the stone into heaps, and each piece was carried away on carts and thrown at the foot of the nearby mountain. And after lengthy efforts and enormous expense, exhausted by fatigue, they were forced to abandon the work without being able to accomplish it. All they managed to do was to deface the pyramid and give proof of their impotence and the futility of their efforts. This was in 593 [1196-1197 CE]. Today, if you look at the heap of stones torn from the pyramid, you would think it was completely destroyed, but if we look at the pyramid itself, you would be convinced that the men did nothing at all for they removed only a small part of the side, which is now a mass of fallen stones. A fellow who witnessed the tragic attempt to demolish every stone asked the head of the workers: “If the sultan gave you a thousand dinars to put one of these stones back in place as it was, could you do it?” “No, by God,” replied the other, “it would be impossible, even if he doubled the amount.”
In front of the pyramids are many caves, so great and deep a rider could go in lance in hand and ride for a whole day without reaching the bottom. Since they are high, spacious, and deep, it seems that they are the quarries where the stones were extracted for the pyramids.
As the quarries that provided the stones of the Red Pyramid, they are located, he says, in Qulzum (Clysma) and Aswan. Near the pyramids, you can still see the remains of magnificent buildings and many caverns carved into the rock. It is rare that the entryways to these caves lack carvings in the unknown language (which we already discussed), and the lawyer Amarat al-Yenini drank from the same breast as God when he said:
O, my friends, there is not, under the sky, a construction
Which equals the perfection of the two pyramids of Egypt;
It is a building that time itself fears, and yet everything
On the surface of the earth fears time.
The eye is delighted by the beauty of their arrangement,
And the mind cannot grasp the purpose of their construction.
This idea is drawn from the words of a wise: Everything is afraid of time except for the pyramids, for time, however, is afraid of them.
Abd al-Hassan bin Wahib bin Jafar bin al-Hajib, who died in 387 [997 CE], said:
Contemplate the two pyramids, pointing upward
Before your eyes, their summit in height and breadth;
As if the vast Earth had been
Thirsting because of the enduring heat of her liver,
She discovered her breasts protruding,
Invoking God because she is separated from me, her child.
And God heard and gave the Nile to console her
Watering her, and making her forget her pain,
Thanks to the generosity of the Lord who directs,
Who led the people to improve and organize their affairs.
Saif al-Din ibn Gobarat said:
By God! What wonders, what wonderful things
Say the two pyramids to our hearts!
The history of their people falls silent on the ears,
But they raise their veil and show us countless beauties;
They are like tents pitched
Without stick or strings.
Another said:
Look at the two pyramids and learn from them
They tell of past times;
Contemplate the dark mysteries they contain,
Beholding with the eye of your heart, not the eyes in your head.
If they could speak, they would tell us
What was at the beginning and will be at the end of time.
When they begin to appear in front of the eye,
They seem to be the ears of a buried horse.
The imam Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad bin Yusuf al-Tifashi said:
Have you not seen the pyramids, whose edifices endure
While the law of the world destroys men and works of genius alike?
If the world were a mill, the upper millstone would be heaven,
The lower millstone the pyramids, and the earth itself that which is ground.
And he continues:
The people who once
Lived in Egypt were strong.
Virtue is a remnant of them,
And science for them was a banner;
But their banners have all fallen.
And they and their science have become extinct.
Look, and you will see the visible remains;
The antiquity of them is palpable.
He said:
O, my friends, nothing can resist the two accidents (i.e., day and night);
If just one thing survives, a second will subsist;
The two pyramids of Egypt are the highest point reached by the power of man,
And the two pyramids have aged along with time.
Don’t be surprised to see me grow old, because
Time caused the loss of my youth.
Go to Carthage and see there
The monuments of the ’Adites and weep.
And the portico of Cosroes [Khosrau II]: Contemplate it,
Talk about it all the time, as with sincerity.
And do not think that death is just for me;
Far from it! Everything in this world is perishable.
I found this handwritten by Sheikh Shahab al-Din Ahmad ibn Yahia ibn Abu Heglat al-Tlemsani: The cadi Fakhr al-Din Abd al-Wahab al-Masri recited for me verses about the pyramids he had composed in 655 (1257-1258 CE) and which are excellent:
The construction of the pyramids is like a preacher
Who affects the heart without using a word.
There comes to my mind a good word. Ancient:
“Where is the one who raised the pyramids?”
These are high mountains and are almost
Higher above the ground than Saturn.
If Cosroes had had their sides for a throne,
He would have preferred that throne to his portico.
They have passed through the heat and cold of time
For a very long time, and have felt nothing of those two things,
Neither the scorching sun, nor the wind that
Blows, nor the torrent which flows.
Was it a pious man who raised them as testimony to his piety,
Building the Pyramids for one of his idols?
Or is it the work of a man who believed in the return of the soul
To the body after leaving it?
Did he build them for his treasures and his corpse
As a tomb to protect them from the Flood?
Or are these observatories for the planets
Selected by learned observers because of the excellence of the place?
Or are they the description of planetary calculations,
Such as those once done by the Persians and the Greeks?
Or do we have etched on their faces
A science that seeks to understand the mind?
In the heart that sees them, the need to know what their writing means
Arises as a desire biting at the fingertips.
Chapter 41: On the Statue Named "The Terrible"
This statue is located between the two pyramids and was formerly called Balhib, and now the Egyptians call it Abu al-Hul (The Father of Terror).
Al-Quda'i said: the statue of the pyramids, named Balhuba is a colossal stone statue located between the two pyramids, of which one sees only the head. The common people give it the name of Abu al-Hul; it is also called Balhib. It is, they say, a talisman against the sand and prevents it from invading the cultivated land of Giza.
In the book The Marvels of Construction, it is said: Near the pyramids one sees emerging from the ground, a head and neck of colossal size. People give this figure the name of Abu al-Hul and claim the rest of the body is buried in the sand. Working from the proportions of the head, the total body length should be 70 cubits or more. The face is painted red and covered with a perfectly preserved glaze. The figure is beautiful, and its features full of charm and grace; the face seems to smile.
We asked an eminent man what was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen: “The proportion of the face of Abu al-Hul,” he said. Indeed, the different parts of the face—the nose, eyes, ears—are as well-proportioned as any features that we find in nature. The nose of a child, for example, is in proportion to its size, and that same nose, which makes the child beautiful, would make a man hideous if he had it in the middle of his face; similarly, a child would be hideous if he had a man’s nose. It would be the same for any part of the body. It is therefore necessary that all members be proportionate to the body and its size. It is admirable that the artist who executed the statue of Abu al-Hul could, despite the enormity of the monument, preserve the proportions of its members, although nature has never created a body of this size.
With regard to this statue, on the territory of Masr near the royal palace, was a second, also of colossal size and as perfectly proportioned as the first. In her lap she holds a child and on her head sits a basin; the whole is of a single block of granite. It is claimed that it is a woman, the wife of the Abu al-Hul we talked about. It lies in a street which gave it its name. Surely, if you put on the head of Abu al-Hul the end of a thread, stretch the wire, and place the other end on the woman’s head, you would obtain an exactly horizontal line. Abu al-Hul is, they say, a talisman to prevent the desert sand from filling the Nile, and the woman is another talisman whose virtue is to prevent the waters of the Nile from flooding the city of Masr.
Ibn al-Mutawag says: The Lane of the Statue is a street that begins at the end of the Grand Market in the neighborhood of the Street of ’Amar. The idol is known as the wife of Pharaoh, and is looked upon as a talisman for preserving the countryside from flooding by the Nile waters. It is said that the Balhib of the pyramids faces the Nile, the back of Balhib being turned toward the desert, while the woman's back is turned towards the river, the two statues facing the east. In 711 (1311-1312 CE) an emir named Balat arrived with workers, stonemasons, and quarry workers. They smashed the statue known as the Figure of the Woman and cut it into large and small pieces, thinking that below it would be a hidden treasure, but nothing was found under that huge stone pedestal. Though they dug until they reached water, they discovered nothing. With these stones was built the base of the granite column that can be seen at the new mosque built outside Masr and called the New Mosque of El-Naser. Thus the statue disappeared, and God knows best!
In our time, a figure named Sheikh Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, one of the Sufis of the convent of Dervishes founded by Sa'id al-Su'ada, set off in 780 (1378-1379 CE) to combat and destroy superstitions. He went to the pyramids and mutilated the face of Abu al-Hul, which has remained in that state down to the present. Since then, the sand has largely invaded the territory of Giza, and the inhabitants of this province attribute this encroachment of sand into their lands to the mutilation of the statue. God is the cause of all things, and nothing is more beautiful than what was said by Zafir al-Haddad:
Examine the shape of the two pyramids and admire;
Between the two is Abu al-Hul the marvelous.
As travelers, having passed the night, will go,
Beloved with beloved it stands between them jealous.
And the Nile water at their feet is like tears;
And the voice of the wind, which blows near them, is as a complaint.
And the prison of Joseph appears like a lover
Abandoned, and who sadly laments.
It is said that Atrib bin Qobt (Copt) bin Masr (Mizraim) bin Baysar (Bansar) bin Ham bin Noah, when dying, recommended his brother put his body in a boat and bury it on an island in the middle of the river. When he died, his brother (Ashmun) executed the orders, of which no Egyptian had knowledge. He was therefore accused of the murder of Atrib, and an uprising formed against him which lasted nine years. At the end of the fifth year, he offered to lead the rebels to the tomb of Atrib. They went there, but after digging up Atrib’s grave, found not the body, for demons had transported it to the place where now stands Abu al-Hul for burial near the grave of his father and his grandfather Baysar. Suspicion therefore did nothing but increase against the brother, and the rebels returned to Memphis and continued the war. Iblis (the Devil) went with them and showed them where he had moved the body of Atrib. He withdrew Atrib from his tomb and placed him on a bed, and the demon spoke to them with his (Atrib’s) tongue. They submitted to his ideas. They then worshiped him, and they worshiped as they had worshiped the idols of old. Ashmun was killed and his body buried on the banks of the Nile, but the Nile waters failed to flood his tomb. Seeing this, some of the rebels rallied to him, stating that he was killed unjustly, and they went to worship on his grave as the others did for Atrib. Some cut stone and carved it into the form of Ashmun. This statue, later known as Abu al-Hul, was placed between the two pyramids and became an object of veneration. Thus, there were three sects in Egypt. And the Sabeans have never ceased to venerate Abu al-Hul and to sacrifice white roosters to him and to burn sandarac for him.
Al-Quda'i said: the statue of the pyramids, named Balhuba is a colossal stone statue located between the two pyramids, of which one sees only the head. The common people give it the name of Abu al-Hul; it is also called Balhib. It is, they say, a talisman against the sand and prevents it from invading the cultivated land of Giza.
In the book The Marvels of Construction, it is said: Near the pyramids one sees emerging from the ground, a head and neck of colossal size. People give this figure the name of Abu al-Hul and claim the rest of the body is buried in the sand. Working from the proportions of the head, the total body length should be 70 cubits or more. The face is painted red and covered with a perfectly preserved glaze. The figure is beautiful, and its features full of charm and grace; the face seems to smile.
We asked an eminent man what was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen: “The proportion of the face of Abu al-Hul,” he said. Indeed, the different parts of the face—the nose, eyes, ears—are as well-proportioned as any features that we find in nature. The nose of a child, for example, is in proportion to its size, and that same nose, which makes the child beautiful, would make a man hideous if he had it in the middle of his face; similarly, a child would be hideous if he had a man’s nose. It would be the same for any part of the body. It is therefore necessary that all members be proportionate to the body and its size. It is admirable that the artist who executed the statue of Abu al-Hul could, despite the enormity of the monument, preserve the proportions of its members, although nature has never created a body of this size.
With regard to this statue, on the territory of Masr near the royal palace, was a second, also of colossal size and as perfectly proportioned as the first. In her lap she holds a child and on her head sits a basin; the whole is of a single block of granite. It is claimed that it is a woman, the wife of the Abu al-Hul we talked about. It lies in a street which gave it its name. Surely, if you put on the head of Abu al-Hul the end of a thread, stretch the wire, and place the other end on the woman’s head, you would obtain an exactly horizontal line. Abu al-Hul is, they say, a talisman to prevent the desert sand from filling the Nile, and the woman is another talisman whose virtue is to prevent the waters of the Nile from flooding the city of Masr.
Ibn al-Mutawag says: The Lane of the Statue is a street that begins at the end of the Grand Market in the neighborhood of the Street of ’Amar. The idol is known as the wife of Pharaoh, and is looked upon as a talisman for preserving the countryside from flooding by the Nile waters. It is said that the Balhib of the pyramids faces the Nile, the back of Balhib being turned toward the desert, while the woman's back is turned towards the river, the two statues facing the east. In 711 (1311-1312 CE) an emir named Balat arrived with workers, stonemasons, and quarry workers. They smashed the statue known as the Figure of the Woman and cut it into large and small pieces, thinking that below it would be a hidden treasure, but nothing was found under that huge stone pedestal. Though they dug until they reached water, they discovered nothing. With these stones was built the base of the granite column that can be seen at the new mosque built outside Masr and called the New Mosque of El-Naser. Thus the statue disappeared, and God knows best!
In our time, a figure named Sheikh Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, one of the Sufis of the convent of Dervishes founded by Sa'id al-Su'ada, set off in 780 (1378-1379 CE) to combat and destroy superstitions. He went to the pyramids and mutilated the face of Abu al-Hul, which has remained in that state down to the present. Since then, the sand has largely invaded the territory of Giza, and the inhabitants of this province attribute this encroachment of sand into their lands to the mutilation of the statue. God is the cause of all things, and nothing is more beautiful than what was said by Zafir al-Haddad:
Examine the shape of the two pyramids and admire;
Between the two is Abu al-Hul the marvelous.
As travelers, having passed the night, will go,
Beloved with beloved it stands between them jealous.
And the Nile water at their feet is like tears;
And the voice of the wind, which blows near them, is as a complaint.
And the prison of Joseph appears like a lover
Abandoned, and who sadly laments.
It is said that Atrib bin Qobt (Copt) bin Masr (Mizraim) bin Baysar (Bansar) bin Ham bin Noah, when dying, recommended his brother put his body in a boat and bury it on an island in the middle of the river. When he died, his brother (Ashmun) executed the orders, of which no Egyptian had knowledge. He was therefore accused of the murder of Atrib, and an uprising formed against him which lasted nine years. At the end of the fifth year, he offered to lead the rebels to the tomb of Atrib. They went there, but after digging up Atrib’s grave, found not the body, for demons had transported it to the place where now stands Abu al-Hul for burial near the grave of his father and his grandfather Baysar. Suspicion therefore did nothing but increase against the brother, and the rebels returned to Memphis and continued the war. Iblis (the Devil) went with them and showed them where he had moved the body of Atrib. He withdrew Atrib from his tomb and placed him on a bed, and the demon spoke to them with his (Atrib’s) tongue. They submitted to his ideas. They then worshiped him, and they worshiped as they had worshiped the idols of old. Ashmun was killed and his body buried on the banks of the Nile, but the Nile waters failed to flood his tomb. Seeing this, some of the rebels rallied to him, stating that he was killed unjustly, and they went to worship on his grave as the others did for Atrib. Some cut stone and carved it into the form of Ashmun. This statue, later known as Abu al-Hul, was placed between the two pyramids and became an object of veneration. Thus, there were three sects in Egypt. And the Sabeans have never ceased to venerate Abu al-Hul and to sacrifice white roosters to him and to burn sandarac for him.
BOOK II
Chapter 2
EXCERPT 1:
The writer Master Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah, in his book History of Egypt and Its Wonders, reports [...] Surid also raised another statue composed of a large number of mixed substances, and if someone was suffering in any part of his body, he had only to wash the corresponding part of the statue and drink the used water for the evil to cease immediately. This is the same Surid who raised in Egypt the two great pyramids we attribute to Shaddad bin ’Ad, but the Copts refuse to admit that the ’Adites ever entered their country, saying they were magically repelled. When Surid died, he was buried in the pyramid with his treasures. According to what is said, he lived 300 years before the Flood and reigned for 190 years.
After him reigned his son Hargib, as educated and well-versed as his father in the art of magic and talismans. He created many marvelous objects, he extracted metals, he brought to light the art of chemistry, and he built the pyramids of Dashur, to which place he carried considerable wealth, precious stones, drugs, and poisons and entrusted it all to the care of the spirits. A man who injured another, he had his fingers cut off; and another who stole money, he made the thief into the slave of his victim. At his death, he was buried in the pyramid, and with him his riches and treasures.
The writer Master Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah, in his book History of Egypt and Its Wonders, reports [...] Surid also raised another statue composed of a large number of mixed substances, and if someone was suffering in any part of his body, he had only to wash the corresponding part of the statue and drink the used water for the evil to cease immediately. This is the same Surid who raised in Egypt the two great pyramids we attribute to Shaddad bin ’Ad, but the Copts refuse to admit that the ’Adites ever entered their country, saying they were magically repelled. When Surid died, he was buried in the pyramid with his treasures. According to what is said, he lived 300 years before the Flood and reigned for 190 years.
After him reigned his son Hargib, as educated and well-versed as his father in the art of magic and talismans. He created many marvelous objects, he extracted metals, he brought to light the art of chemistry, and he built the pyramids of Dashur, to which place he carried considerable wealth, precious stones, drugs, and poisons and entrusted it all to the care of the spirits. A man who injured another, he had his fingers cut off; and another who stole money, he made the thief into the slave of his victim. At his death, he was buried in the pyramid, and with him his riches and treasures.
EXCERPT 2:
After him [the tyrant Armalinus] reigned his cousin Far'ân ibn Mashur. Nobody dared stand up to him because of his violence and his power. He had reigned for a short time when the priest Qlimun (Philemon) had a dream in which white birds seemed to descend from sky and say: "Whoever wishes for salvation must go to the master of the ark." The Egyptians already knew of the future arrival of the Flood from the time of Surid, and it is for this reason that the pyramids were built and people had made underground dwellings of plated glass where the winds were carefully imprisoned. Far'ân had made a number of these for himself and his family. Qlimun did not hesitate, and bringing his parents, his children and his disciples, he went to Noah and embraced the true faith. He remained with Noah and went with him in the ark. So the Flood came during the reign of Far'ân; Egypt was completely submerged, its buildings destroyed and sciences annihilated. The water stayed on the ground for six months and rose halfway up the great pyramids, and God willing, we will give some account of this event in the section of this book dealing with calamities of Egypt. They say Far'ân was arrogant and cruel; he seized wealth and took away women, and he wrote to Al Darshil bin Lawil of Babel, advising him to kill Noah, for he despised priests and temples. In his time, the land of Egypt faltered, its crops were reduced to almost nothing, and the two regions were devastated. He was wed to his mistakes and crimes, which were associated with his entertainment and games, and the people followed the same path as him. Vice spread from one to another. When the Flood came and the rain began to fall, Far'ân rose to flee to the pyramid, but the earth parted before him when he reached the door, his feet failed him, and he fell helpless and crying; and all those who had taken refuge underground died of consumption. And God knows best.
After him [the tyrant Armalinus] reigned his cousin Far'ân ibn Mashur. Nobody dared stand up to him because of his violence and his power. He had reigned for a short time when the priest Qlimun (Philemon) had a dream in which white birds seemed to descend from sky and say: "Whoever wishes for salvation must go to the master of the ark." The Egyptians already knew of the future arrival of the Flood from the time of Surid, and it is for this reason that the pyramids were built and people had made underground dwellings of plated glass where the winds were carefully imprisoned. Far'ân had made a number of these for himself and his family. Qlimun did not hesitate, and bringing his parents, his children and his disciples, he went to Noah and embraced the true faith. He remained with Noah and went with him in the ark. So the Flood came during the reign of Far'ân; Egypt was completely submerged, its buildings destroyed and sciences annihilated. The water stayed on the ground for six months and rose halfway up the great pyramids, and God willing, we will give some account of this event in the section of this book dealing with calamities of Egypt. They say Far'ân was arrogant and cruel; he seized wealth and took away women, and he wrote to Al Darshil bin Lawil of Babel, advising him to kill Noah, for he despised priests and temples. In his time, the land of Egypt faltered, its crops were reduced to almost nothing, and the two regions were devastated. He was wed to his mistakes and crimes, which were associated with his entertainment and games, and the people followed the same path as him. Vice spread from one to another. When the Flood came and the rain began to fall, Far'ân rose to flee to the pyramid, but the earth parted before him when he reached the door, his feet failed him, and he fell helpless and crying; and all those who had taken refuge underground died of consumption. And God knows best.
Chapter 3
EXCERPT 1:
Abdul Hassan al-Masu'di says […] After him [’Adim] there reigned his son Shadat ben ’Adim, generally called Shaddad bin ’Ad, a priest learned in magic. And it is said he built the pyramids of Dashur. He executed great works and made wonderful talismans and built cities on the eastern side (of the Nile).
Abdul Hassan al-Masu'di says […] After him [’Adim] there reigned his son Shadat ben ’Adim, generally called Shaddad bin ’Ad, a priest learned in magic. And it is said he built the pyramids of Dashur. He executed great works and made wonderful talismans and built cities on the eastern side (of the Nile).
Chapter 78
EXCERPT 1:
Ibn Wasif Shah says [...] In the year 734 [1333-1334 CE], there was discovered in Ashmunein, in a valley carved between two mountains, square basins filled with fresh and clear water. People who followed the edges of these basins for a whole day and a whole night could not reach the end of them. It is said that these basins are the work of Surid, the builder of the pyramids, and were made to serve him against the rain of fire that had been prophesied. Later, the valley was filled in because of fears that men would perish.
Ibn Wasif Shah says [...] In the year 734 [1333-1334 CE], there was discovered in Ashmunein, in a valley carved between two mountains, square basins filled with fresh and clear water. People who followed the edges of these basins for a whole day and a whole night could not reach the end of them. It is said that these basins are the work of Surid, the builder of the pyramids, and were made to serve him against the rain of fire that had been prophesied. Later, the valley was filled in because of fears that men would perish.
Chapter 80
EXCERPT 1:
The temple at Akhmim was among the finest and largest. The Egyptians had built it to store their wheat because they had been warned in advance of the coming of the Flood. But they disagreed about the nature of the destruction; according to some, it would be a fire that would burn everything on the surface of the earth; according to others, it would be a flood. Therefore, they constructed this temple before the Flood. In it they depicted portraits of the kings who ruled Egypt. The temple was built of marble blocks, each measuring five cubits wide and two cubits thick. It included seven rooms constructed from stones each eighteen cubits long and five wide; these stones were covered with paint the color of lapis and other shades, and for those who see them, these paintings appear to have been executed today, since they are that perfect. Each room was named after one of the seven planets, and all the walls were engraved with images of different shapes and sizes, along with signs explaining the sciences of the Copts: chemistry, cosmography, the art of talismans, medicine, astronomy, geometry, etc., all of which are represented by these images.
The temple at Akhmim was among the finest and largest. The Egyptians had built it to store their wheat because they had been warned in advance of the coming of the Flood. But they disagreed about the nature of the destruction; according to some, it would be a fire that would burn everything on the surface of the earth; according to others, it would be a flood. Therefore, they constructed this temple before the Flood. In it they depicted portraits of the kings who ruled Egypt. The temple was built of marble blocks, each measuring five cubits wide and two cubits thick. It included seven rooms constructed from stones each eighteen cubits long and five wide; these stones were covered with paint the color of lapis and other shades, and for those who see them, these paintings appear to have been executed today, since they are that perfect. Each room was named after one of the seven planets, and all the walls were engraved with images of different shapes and sizes, along with signs explaining the sciences of the Copts: chemistry, cosmography, the art of talismans, medicine, astronomy, geometry, etc., all of which are represented by these images.
This is the end of the Al-Khitat excerpts on the pyramids of Egypt.
Translation © 2012-2015 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.
