The mystery of the Great pyramid : traditions concerning it and its connection with the Egyptian Book of the dead : with numerous illustrations

NOTES

it is in the Rubric to the longer one that the name of Herutat-ef is given as its “ discoverer”. It states that “ this chapter was found in the city of Khemennu (Hermopolis)

. under the feet of the god (Thoth) during the reign of ... Menkaura, by the royal son (of Khufu) Heru-tat-ef ; he found it when he was journeying about to make an inspection of the temples’. The Rubric also states that “it was a thing of great mystery, which had never [before] been seen or looked upon”.

The statement in the Rubric to ch. xxxb (Papyrus of Ani) is practically identical in wording, while that to chapter cxxxvii (Papyrus of Nu) reads: “ Thou shalt write down these writings in accordance with the things which are found in the books of the royal son Heru-tat-ef, who discovered (them) in a hidden chest—now they were in the hand-writing of the god himself—in the Temple... during his journey to make an inspection of the temples, and of the lands, and of the funeral shrines of the gods.” It is, no doubt, due to these chapters having been credited to Heru-tat-ef, that in later ages he was regarded as possessing great learning.

Note T: Tue Pyramip INcuH (page 72)

The Pyramid inch is an earth-commensurable unit and therefore a perfectly scientific one, being a definite fraction of the earth’s polar diameter, which measuresaccording to the most recent surveys—soo million such inches. This unit is monumentalized in the Great Pyramid itself as a single inch and as a cubit of 25 such inches. It was the unit of linear measure belonging to the race responsible for the erection of the Great Pyramid, and while the Egyptians themselves did not use it, their own measures were derived therefrom (see pp. 251-9 of Witness of Great Pyramid for detailed explanation). This unit was carried by this race into Britain and has been our unit of linear measure ever since; the fact that it is now very slightly less than its original true length by a thousandth part (1,000 Pyramid inches= 1,001 British inches) is due chiefly to lapse of time, and to the want of

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