Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

alignment is part of a symbolic system repeated again and again, and that it occurs not simply in any time in the star’s
cycle, but at the special time of culmination. Still, objectors would say that other examples of the same alignment are
needed for verification. To honor this, we can examine other subterranean passages.
Actually there are only two extensive subterranean passages associated with the six giant pyramids: 12 third-dynasty
Djoser’s step pyramid at Saqqara, fourth-dynastry founder Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid at Dashur, the great
pyramids of Khufu and Khafre at Giza, and the fourth-dynasty Unfinished Pyramid at Zawiyet el-Aryan. Besides Khufu’s
Great Pyramid, the other subterranean passage is beneath Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid at Dashur. Located 21 kilometers (13
miles) south of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the giant Bent Pyramid of Sneferu is at latitude 29.79 degrees. We learn
from Egyptologist I. E. S. Edwards 13 that the subterranean passage of the Bent Pyramid starts at the entrance to the
pyramid on its north face, about 12 meters (39 feet) above ground. It continues down through the masonry for 25 meters
(82 feet), first at an angle of 28.36 degrees, and then shifts to an angle of 26.33 degrees before moving from the masonry
down into the bedrock after another 48 meters (157 feet). The passage continues, precisely directed at a constant angle
through the bedrock to a chamber under the center of the pyramid, and the entire subterranean length of the passage into
the bedrock is at a constant angle of 26.33 degrees. This angle, combined with the latitude of the Bent Pyramid, points to
a location in the sky with a precise declination of 86.54 degrees—identical to the subterranean passage of the Great
Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. So if the subterranean passage that is now under the Bent Pyramid existed at Zep Tepi,
plunging into the bedrock beneath a horizon-viewing platform on the surface, essentially the same starry drama as at Giza
could have been observed at Dashur—with the only difference being that at Dashur, Sirius would rise to a slightly higher
altitude by about 20 arc minutes.
The ancient name of the Bent Pyramid was the Southern Shining Pyramid. 14 Perhaps, when Sneferu marshaled his
kingdom to build the Bent Pyramid, the location was already known and revered as the Southern Shining—the place on
Earth, and especially south, where the ruler of the heavens, Sirius, shines eternally and never disappears beneath the
horizon. Sneferu built three large pyramids. The first, at Meidum, bears an exalted personal ancient name: Sneferu
Endures. The last, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) north of the Southern Shining Pyramid, had the ancient name of the
Shining Pyramid. Sneferu’s son, Khufu, built the pyramid called the Horizon of Khufu. The Bent Pyramid and its
subterranean passage are also located topographically so that the distant southern horizon was nearly perfectly flat and
unobscured.
The subterranean passage under the Bent Pyramid has not been surveyed as extensively and repeatedly as has the
subterranean passage under the Khufu Great Pyramid, thus we don’t know whether the Bent Pyramid passage may also be
as precisely wrought as the Khufu Pyramid passage. *75 We do know, however, from measuring the structures that the
builders of both of these giant pyramid complexes were capable of and in fact implemented great precision over long
distances. If it can be shown, then, that the only two subterranean passages under the two key true giant pyramids were
oriented to the same declination in the sky with the same high precision, then that alone would contribute evidence that
the builders indeed had astronomical intent—whether or not that intent was Vega. In light of these findings, perhaps
another survey of this aspect of the Bent Pyramid could further illuminate the origins of these two subterranean passages.
We also note that the two other great pyramids on the Giza plateau, the Menkaure and Khafre pyramids, have
shorter, less surgically precise subterranean passages that don’t extend down all the way under the center of their
structures. Menkaure’s bedrock passage descends 31 meters (102 feet), about half of that length through the lower
courses of masonry and the rest down into the bedrock at an angle of 26.03 degrees, and Khafre’s passage descends a
much shorter distance at an angle of 25.92 degrees. These yield declinations to the sky of about half of one degree lower
than their Great Pyramid partner, and the broader angular spread of their openings means that they would have captured
the light of the culminating Vega during the same times as did the passage under Khufu’s pyramid. *76
Finally we must look at the dual nature of many aspects of the Bent Pyramid. First there is the bend in the slope of
the pyramid itself. Further, the north descending entrance passage is bent, within the masonry of the lower part of the
pyramid that is not bent, and the west entry passage is bent (from 30.15 degrees to 24.28 degrees), 15 also entirely within
the lower courses of masonry that are not bent. Many Egyptologists believe that the Bent Pyramid was bent due to a
series of accidents and poor planning of the construction, but there seems to be ample evidence that it was planned in its
structure. As Schoch puts it:
I suspect strongly that the Bent Pyramid was meant to be bent from the beginning. Unlike any other Egyptian
pyramid, it expresses duality—two angles, two geometries, two tunnel and chamber complexes. There is something