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Know_files/FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS.pdf - D Ank Unlimited

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Graham Hancock – <strong>FINGERPRINTS</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>GODS</strong><br />

Pyramid (2pi) called for the specification of a tricky and idiosyncratic<br />

angle of slope for its sides: 52°. Likewise, the desired height/perimeter<br />

ratio of the Pyramid of the Sun (4pi) called for the specification of an<br />

equally eccentric angle of slope: 43.5°. If there had been no ulterior<br />

motive, it would surely have been simpler for the Ancient Egyptian and<br />

Mexican architects to have opted for 45° (which they could easily have<br />

obtained and checked by bisecting a right angle).<br />

What could have been the common purpose that led the pyramid<br />

builders on both sides of the Atlantic to such lengths to structure the<br />

value of pi so precisely into these two remarkable monuments? Since<br />

there seems to have been no direct contact between the civilizations of<br />

Mexico and Egypt in the periods when the pyramids were built, is it not<br />

reasonable to deduce that both, at some remote date, inherited certain<br />

ideas from a common source?<br />

Is it possible that the shared idea expressed in the Great Pyramid and<br />

the Pyramid of the Sun could have to do with spheres, since these, like<br />

the pyramids, are three-dimensional objects (while circles, for example,<br />

have only two dimensions)? The desire to symbolize spheres in threedimensional<br />

monuments with flat surfaces would explain why so much<br />

trouble was taken to ensure that both incorporated unmistakable pi<br />

relationships. Furthermore it seems likely that the intention of the<br />

builders of both of these monuments was not to symbolize spheres in<br />

general but to focus attention on one sphere in particular: the planet<br />

earth.<br />

It will be a long while before orthodox archaeologists are prepared to<br />

accept that some peoples of the ancient world were advanced enough in<br />

science to have possessed good information about the shape and size of<br />

the earth. However, according to the calculations of Livio Catullo<br />

Stecchini, an American professor of the History of Science and an<br />

acknowledged expert on ancient measurement, the evidence for the<br />

existence of such anomalous knowledge in antiquity is irrefutable. 16<br />

Stecchini’s conclusions, which relate mainly to Egypt, are particularly<br />

impressive because they are drawn from mathematical and astronomical<br />

data which, by common consent, are beyond serious dispute. 17 A fuller<br />

examination of these conclusions, and of the nature of the data on which<br />

they rest, is presented in Part VII. At this point, however, a few words<br />

from Stecchini may shed further light on the mystery that confronts us:<br />

The basic idea of the Great Pyramid was that it should be a representation of the<br />

northern hemisphere of the earth, a hemisphere projected on flat-surfaces as is<br />

done in map-making ... The Great Pyramid was a projection on four triangular<br />

surfaces. The apex represented the pole and the perimeter represented the<br />

equator. This is the reason why the perimeter is in relation 2pi to the height. The<br />

16 The most accessible presentation of Stecchini’s work is in the appendix he wrote for<br />

Peter Tompkins, Secrets of the Great Pyramid, pp. 287-382.<br />

17 See The Traveller’s Key to Ancient Egypt, p. 95.<br />

179

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