Ancient Mysteries of Egypt

by Robert Scheer

To visit Egypt is to delve into some of the greatest mysteries on Earth. The more we learn about the ancient Egyptian civilization, the more we begin to realize that they may have known more about medicine, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, philosophy -- more about the secrets of the universe in general -- than we understand today. What is even more mysterious is that Egyptian civilization seems not to have developed gradually over the years, but instead to have suddenly appeared -- as if a great body of knowledge was suddenly revealed by a superior culture.

The greatest Egyptian monuments may be much older than today's mainstream archaeologists are willing to admit. Although the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are "officially" dated as Fourth Dynasty (2575 - 2150 bce) there is evidence to suggest they may actually be 10,000 years older. In the 3rd century bce, Plato wrote about having been told that Egypt was invaded by people from Atlantis "nine thousand years ago."  The American psychic Edgar Cayce felt that the Great Pyramid was built in 10,400 bce. Wear marks on the Sphinx seem to be caused by having been submerged in water. Water marks were found on the sides of the Great Pyramid at a level 400 feet higher than the Nile river is today, and deposits of sea salt inside the Pyramid corroborate the theory that it and the Sphinx must have been built before the time of the melting of the last great Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago.

The Great Pyramid was built from 50-ton blocks of granite, quarried 600 miles away, and assembled with greater precision than could be accomplished today. No evidence has been found to support the suggestion the Great Pyramid was a tomb. More likely it was used to teach the secrets of the universe. It was originally covered with 115,000 highly-polished casing stones. Martin Gray tells us: "Herodotus, visiting in the fifth century bce, reported that inscriptions of strange characters were to be found on the pyramid's casing stones. In 1179 an Arab historian recorded that these inscriptions were so numerous that they could have filled 'more than ten thousand written pages.' A European visitor of the early 14th century, tells how the stones were covered with strange symbols arranged in careful rows. Sadly, in 1356, following an earthquake that leveled Cairo, the Arabs robbed the pyramid of its beautiful casing of stones to rebuild mosques and fortresses in the city. As the stones were cut into smaller pieces and reshaped, all traces of the ancient inscriptions were removed from them. A great library of ageless wisdom was forever lost." According to legend, students at an ancient mystery school would, after years of training, spend a night in the main chamber of the Great Pyramid. Centuries later, when Napoleon did so, he reportedly emerged "pale and dazed", and when questioned about his experience is said to have replied, "You would not believe me if I told you."

There is further evidence to support the theory that the Sphinx was built much earlier than during the Fourth Dynasty. Besides being weathered as if it had been submerged under water, it is also aligned to the constellation Leo the lion as it was 12,000 years ago. In his book Heaven's Mirror, Graham Hancock writes, "computer simulations show that in 10,500 bce the constellation of Leo housed the sun on the spring equinox - i.e. an hour before dawn in that epoch Leo would have reclined due east along the horizon in the place where the sun would soon rise. This means that the lion-bodied Sphinx, with its due-east orientation, would have gazed directly on that morning at the one constellation in the sky that might reasonably be regarded as its own celestial counterpart."

According to Edgar Cayce, the Hall of Records -- containing the history of Atlantis -- will be found buried between the paws of the Sphinx. The search for this mysterious library has been hampered by Egyptian officials, but Egyptologist and author John Anthony West reported in July, 1999 that the Egyptian establishment has lately been "warming" to the idea of giving greater access to unorthodox investigators. 

Whether or not proof will ever be found that the Egyptian civilization was the legacy of Atlantis, many pilgrims to Egypt intuitively "know" that the Sphinx and Great Pyramid are much more than they appear to be. It is not uncommon for first-time visitors to Egypt to experience the sensation that they have "come home." The mysterious ancient monuments and spectacular temples of Egypt can be doorways to deeper understanding -- of the universe and of ourselves.