FEBRUARY 7 - DASHUR PYRAMIDS

Yesterday, we arranged with Ahmed to take us today to see the Dashur Pyramids not very far from our hotel.  Sites from our car on the way to Dashur. 







Admission was only $3.82.  Most sites in Egypt have "foreigner" rates and less expensive "resident" rates to encourage Egyptians to visit these wondrous treasures.



There are two pyramids in this location - the "Bent Pyramid" and the "Red Pyramid, "named such because of its color.

Clearly, the architect of the first one didn't get the angles quite right; although both were commissioned by King Snofru, the first king of the 4th Dynasty, I'm sure he probably wasn't too happy;  I doubt the same architect was involved in the building of the second, more correctly angled one.  











Michael is somewhat of a "fan" of the television show "Ancient Aliens" whose whole idea is that ancient extra-terrestrials were responsible for, and creators of, just about everything in the universe.  One of their big "contributions" were the pyramids according to the ancient alien theorists which, they say, were built with lasers.  Anyway, Michael (jokingly) told Ahmed about the "laser" theory who quickly quelled that theory by showing us the notch in this giant stone.  The notch was used to leverage and move these giant blocks of limestone so that they were placed tightly together, dispelling the notion they were moved by "anti-gravity rays" by ancient aliens. 

Ahmed also showed us circular markings on the giant block stones of the pyramid that resulted from polishing the surface by workers using sand and ball-shaped basalt stones also dispelling the idea of "diamond cutters" used by ancient aliens.  

 


 

We had an opportunity to go inside one of them but the space was so small and the decline so steep that there was no way for us to walk down those steps.  Michael's backpack is so big that he wouldn't have been able to lean forward enough to accommodate it.  Ahmed assured us that when we got to Saqqara, we would have the opportunity to actually go inside one of them. 


Comments

  1. NOBODYApril 22, 2022 at 8:54 PM

    Leona and Michael, this video will give you a completely different view of Ancient Egypt: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt1MsjMg_4M.

    ReplyDelete

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