Egyptian Pyramids: Their Lure on Humanity. (Philosophical Discusions)

[The Source]

Egyptian Pyramids: Their Lure on Humanity. (Philosophical Discusions)

I thought this would be an interesting topic. We know that the pyramids are there, but we seem to put them into the back of our minds. Once something interesting is found, we are then lured back into their ancient and mysterious existance. From time to time, there are movies that challange our insight on the subject. As a art student, Egypt has a stronghold on our understanding of the human art form. Over the dacade that have past and to come, they will reveal more and more about humanities dominance on Earth. Egyptian symbolism is everywhere. For a simple example, you can find the 'Great Pyrimid' on the U.S. dollar bill. What is it about this ancient society that lures you? Or- Humanity? What do you believe that this culture will help us understand about our own social constructs? What are your theories?

[Terran I]

I would like to see and explore the Egyptian piramids, they were made thousands of years ago and we know pratically nothing about them! We need someone "smart" to tell us something about them. But not only the Egyptian piramids are mysteries to think about, many civilizations had pyramids. But who knows maybe we will learn something important about life from them. Maybe we will learn something about life after death. Or maybe something about Gods, aliens, etc. Maybe they can explain what we were created to do on Earth. Or we can learn how to evolve into something smarter, stronger, better than what we are now. Anything is possible, isn't it?

[igyman]

Ancient Egypt itself and its mythology is something very interesting to me, though, except for a few gods, I don't really know much of their mythology. It is also fascinating to me that, considering the technological development of that time, those people managed to erect structures of such magnificent architecture, I don't mean only pyramids, but sphinx and palaces as well.

 

I'm not sure how well I can answer those two questions that you posed, but I think that, if you disregard the fact that it was a society of social inequalities, the Egyptian society (as well as Greek and Roman in my opinion) worked. It thrived until a more powerful force arised.

 

Oh, right, the pyramid on the American Dollar is, from what I heard, speculated to be a symbol of the Illuminati.

[Jae Onasi]

I think part of the lure is that the Great Pyramid was created using some pretty exacting math and without the benefit of things like cranes to lift the heavy blocks. How they did it is such a mystery that it fascinates us.

[Terran I]

@Jae Onasi Well it looks like people than were smarter than we are now! Someone discovered the way to lift those blocks, so if they could build better than us,using their minds, what else could they do better than us?

[HerbieZ]

Quite a few sources and two films point out that Pyramids are alien landing pads. Thats what gets me.

[The Source]

The three famous Great Pyramids are not the only Pyramids that they have created. There are hundreds of smaller versions scattered through out the region. We only focus on the three main ones. What is interesting is the scale of their archetecture. Like someone had said, "they were smaller than us." It is believe through speculation that tens of hundreds of people gathered to build them. There is an interesting question, which has also come to light, "Why were the ancients driven to make such large monuments?" Could an outside visitation sparked their motivation? Otherwords, did an alien precence, in an uninvolved manner, influence the Egyptians to create these massive stone structures?

 

We know from studying their history that the Egyptians were motivated by their interest in the afterlife. Everything that was created was geared towards 'reincarnation', or the life that will occur after (supernatural). I wonder what triggered this to occur.

 

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Imagine being the first person to stumble upon a small section of this stuff. You are walking in the middle of no where, you trip over a small piece of stone, and you start digging.

[mjpb3]

Well, I will admit to being a total and complete Egyptophile. I love watching anything on TV, reading anything I can get my hands on and just gazing on any and everything Egypt that I can.

 

I think the thing that amazes me the most and really makes me think, is the fact that our modern culture views ancient Egypt as "primative" but when you see all that the ancient Egyptians accomplished with what was available to them at the time, it amazes me. They didn't have modern machinery to help them with construction, but look at all they constructed! And almost everything is still standing even after all this time. That simply amazes me.

[The Source]

Well, I will admit to being a total and complete Egyptophile. I love watching anything on TV, reading anything I can get my hands on and just gazing on any and everything Egypt that I can.

 

I think the thing that amazes me the most and really makes me think, is the fact that our modern culture views ancient Egypt as "primative" but when you see all that the ancient Egyptians accomplished with what was available to them at the time, it amazes me. They didn't have modern machinery to help them with construction, but look at all they constructed! And almost everything is still standing even after all this time. That simply amazes me.

What is even more interesting is that: According to science, the size of George Washington's brain was 1/10th smaller than modern day man. So, think about the size of their brains, and what they have accomplished for their 'primitive' state. Now, that is amazing.

[Jae Onasi]

Because I have to be retentive about scientific things....

I'd have to check out the brain size thing, but there are any number of reason for the presumed size difference--if they measured it at his death (and I doubt they did, but who knows), they may have used an inaccurate scale or had a different convention on what all was part of the brain (did they exclude the midbrain, for instance). It could have been smaller due to a congenital disorder, a birth injury, or some disease he had later in life. He had pneumonia when he died and had been bled several times--he was undoubtedly dehydrated and that may have been a factor. Maybe he was just built that way. There's no real way for us to know his brain size for sure because it decomposed a very long time ago. There's also a pretty wide variation in brain size from person to person.

If the Egyptians had smaller brains, I don't believe they were much smaller.

[St. Jimmy]

I like the Egyptians and I think there were an amazing race of people. I studied them for a short time and was fascinated the whole time. We do know that the pyramids were used as Huge tombs for pharohs and the like. Most of the time larger pyramids were made by more power hungry Pharaoh's or royals who wanted a better after life. As Macleod said, So much of their stuff was created for the after-life 'cause that's purely what some of them lived for. I don't really know what the other cultures pyramids are for but that's my two cents. If the Egytian pyramids have any other major purposes I don't really know of them. I could go on for hours but I have to go...

[Terran I]

It is not the size that matters, but the usage of the brain. Modern man uses around 7%(do not quote me on this I am not sure of the exact percentage) of the brain, what if they used more than that? Even with smaler brains they could have achieve more, maybe that was their advantage over us.

[HerbieZ]

It's evolution, i mean look what weve accomplished. 2 Petabytes of content online. Floating in a virtual network that we use everyday. Now that is impressive.

[Mace MacLeod]

Random thoughts:

 

It's evolution, i mean look what weve accomplished. 2 Petabytes of content online. Floating in a virtual network that we use everyday. Now that is impressive.

 

I think it would be more impressive if 1.99995 of those Petabytes weren't pop culture worship, bad spelling and/or seedy pornography.

 

As for the Illuminati thing, the unfinished pyramid on the US 1$ bill symbolises that the US is not a finished work. The all-seeing eye is similar to the Freemasons' design, I'll give you that, but it's supposed to represent God's favour to the US and the spiritual destiny of the country. Or so it says on the treasury department's website. Mass conspiracy theories abound despite that.

 

And well, the human form really hasn't changed all that much in the last 50,000 years aside from overall size and life expectancy. Better nutrition, medicine, education about the body have all increased these things, and it's entirely possible the brain has grown along with this trend. But size isn't everything--elephants have brains a lot bigger than ours, but they don't build pyramids or computers.

 

The ancient Egyptians believed quite strongly that you can take it with you when you die. The pyramids were the tombs of the great Pharaohs, who were believed to be Gods themselves (at one point at least). They themselves were certainly sure of their divinity, there's no doubt about that. The thousands of slaves who actually built the pyramids might not have been quite as enthusiastic, but hey, history is written by the victor.

 

To quote "Red Dwarf":

 

Rimmer: I mean, take the pyramids. No one knows how they built them, just with people to move these massive blocks! Massive, MASSIVE blocks!

Lister: They had massive whips, Rimmer. Massive, MASSIVE whips!

[Darth InSidious]

First off: the pyramids are generally dated to circa 3,200 BC.

 

All evidence seems to suggest that they were originally tombs, hence the stone sarcophagi.

 

They were constructed by free workers working very hard, and the maths used was pretty much down to plumb-lines and the stars. Complicated, difficult, but not impossible. They did it better than us because they had to. We don't need to, so we don't.

 

There were no slaves used in the construction of the pyramids. The last estimate bounded about for the construction of the pyramids was at 30-35,000 freedmen spending 25 years, IIRC. They were well-fed, clothed and housed on-site. The slaves thing is a myth, not helped by Holywood and the likes of Cecil B. DeMisinformation...

 

Also, the 2 petabytes online are, if you look at it, nonexistant in the way that the pyramids are in existence. They could disappear overnight. The pyramids, on the other hand, could last another 5,000 years easily.

 

Egyptian art is largely representative, and makes no major distinctions between the real and the ritual/symbolic/mythical.

 

The pyramid on the US dollar bill is a symbol used by the Freemasons to denote the Supreme Architect.

[Mace MacLeod]

Given the structure of Egyptian society, I have a very hard time believing the pyramids or any other massive construction projects the Pharaohs built depended on anything but slave labour. Conquering societies is a practice that still hasn't been entirely eradicated. There's no way those things could have been constructed without a huge reserve of fresh bodies.

 

The eye is a common emblem, used by the Masons and many others. And my grandfather was a Mason, and it sure as hell didn't do him any favours as to ruling anything beyond his personal domain.

[Terran I]

Darth InSidious is right slaves did not build Pyramids, but I think a read somewhere that only 20.000 man were used to make them( I am not sure about that, I'll have to check that)

Edit: I found the magazine and it is around 20.000 men, 10.000 more or less!

[Darth InSidious]

Given the structure of Egyptian society, I have a very hard time believing the pyramids or any other massive construction projects the Pharaohs built depended on anything but slave labour. Conquering societies is a practice that still hasn't been entirely eradicated. There's no way those things could have been constructed without a huge reserve of fresh bodies.

Only if you work people to death. The people of Egypt were free, and as I said, those that did work on the pyramids were fed, watered, clothed etc, as were there families.

 

You might want to do some reading on the village of Deir el-Medina

 

The eye is a common emblem, used by the Masons and many others. And my grandfather was a Mason, and it sure as hell didn't do him any favours as to ruling anything beyond his personal domain.

I never made any comment on the Masons. I just said that the all-seeing eye atop the pyramid is the symbol used by the Masons for the Supreme Architect

[Sabretooth]

Egypt has always held me in fascination whenever I have seen it, or heard it. It was the most organized and civilized civilization of its time, and possibly the largest civilization of its time to have a central state. Its technology is truly a marvel, because nowhere else can you find such magnificent architecture and art, on such a grand scale. Look at the hieroglyphs, the perfectly-carved gold sarcophagii, the resistant and artful buildings et al. I always thought that the Egyptians were gifted. They were originally tribal, like everyone else, but I believe they united under one banner, since the Nile was the heart of Egypt and everything else was pretty much deserted. If at all anyone was to benefit from the Nile, the Egyptians would have to share and unite. Their cultures moulded together and so they founded their polytheistic religion, which pretty much influenced their art and lifestyle.

 

Other than that, the Egyptians were strong and organized, a lot like the Romans who cropped up later. That gave them an edge over their barbaric and disorganized enemies, to an extent. They were also relatively disciplined and had used effective methods to capture, train and use slaves proficiently. It was in this way that they built the great Pyramids.

 

The Pyramids have fascinated mankind since. Egypt lies near Arabia and Israel, the heart of the world. This means that just about every civilization, from the Napoleonic French, to the Arabs, or Chinese traders to British explorers, everyone have seen the pyramids and adored it. It is a strange and simple building, but its size is what amazes everyone, in my opinion. Perhaps we will never find out.

[Darth InSidious]

I will say this once more.

 

There were NO slaves used in the construction of the pyramids.

[mjpb3]

I will say this once more.

 

There were NO slaves used in the construction of the pyramids.

 

I'll back up InSidious' *ahem* statement...

 

It has been proven by archaeologists and Egyptologist that workers on the pyramids were housed, fed, and even paid to work for the pharaohs during pyramid construction. It's proven, look it up.

 

Egyptologists have found whole cities close to pyramids where it is clearly evident that workers on the pyramids were housed, fed and where workers even raised their families over several generations.

 

I'm not saying that life was *grand* as a pyramid construction worker, but they were not slaves as previously believed.

[Jae Onasi]

I will say this once more.

 

There were NO slaves used in the construction of the pyramids.

 

Not even one? I can understand that it was generally free men building it, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them happened to be slaves, too.

 

I'm not denying the statement but I'm tossing this out just for thought. Note--I am not defending slavery!

In the Antebellum South, slaveowners housed and fed their slaves. Slaves were an important commodity and while some were treated horribly and many were treated poorly, slaveowners still recognized their value and for the most part took care of them in varying degrees. Slaves were fed and housed because if they weren't, they'd get sick or die from exposure and lack of food. Slaveowners wanted their people working, not lying in bed with a fever or in a grave. If someone dug up a plantation 2000 years from now, they'd find evidence of housing (albeit shacks), food, and such.

With that many people building the pyramids, you'd have to have a good size infrastructure to feed and house them, so having little cities by the pyramids makes sense. I'm just not sure I'm convinced that just because they had housing and food it means none of them were slaves.

 

I think part of the fascination with the pyramids besides all the interesting things inside is that they've remained standing for so long. Now that's great building.

[Sabretooth]

I will say this once more.

 

There were NO slaves used in the construction of the pyramids.

 

I never explicitly mentioned that they used slaves.

 

My idea was that a strength of the Egyptian Civilization was its ability to control and use slaves better than any other civilization, which is why it was able to stand on its feet and perform the great marvels that still stand today.

 

My topic did not concern the actual construction of the Pyramids.

[The Source]

Random thoughts:

 

As for the Illuminati thing, the unfinished pyramid on the US 1$ bill symbolises that the US is not a finished work. The all-seeing eye is similar to the Freemasons' design, I'll give you that, but it's supposed to represent God's favour to the US and the spiritual destiny of the country. Or so it says on the treasury department's website. Mass conspiracy theories abound despite that.

 

And well, the human form really hasn't changed all that much in the last 50,000 years aside from overall size and life expectancy. Better nutrition, medicine, education about the body have all increased these things, and it's entirely possible the brain has grown along with this trend. But size isn't everything--elephants have brains a lot bigger than ours, but they don't build pyramids or computers.

 

The ancient Egyptians believed quite strongly that you can take it with you when you die. The pyramids were the tombs of the great Pharaohs, who were believed to be Gods themselves (at one point at least). They themselves were certainly sure of their divinity, there's no doubt about that. The thousands of slaves who actually built the pyramids might not have been quite as enthusiastic, but hey, history is written by the victor.

 

To quote "Red Dwarf":

 

Rimmer: I mean, take the pyramids. No one knows how they built them, just with people to move these massive blocks! Massive, MASSIVE blocks!

Lister: They had massive whips, Rimmer. Massive, MASSIVE whips!

Yeah. I know the Illuminati story, but the design was inspired by the pyramids. Symbology is one of my line of study. Hehehe... I am just glad I wasn't the only one who knew about them.

 

"the human form really hasn't changed all that much in the last 50,000 years " - Actually, this is very untrue. Over the past several years, mankind has gone under some minute changes, which were the result from adapting technology. Kids are adapting to game consoles and pcs. In a recent study, I will have to dig up my source, the human thumb is changing. Brain size is also changing from absorbing more information at high rates of speed. I just heard all of this during my Adolescent of Psychology class. We are changing. Another evolutionary set of changes: The function of the apendix, and the function of our tonsiles.

 

I will say this once more.

There were NO slaves used in the construction of the pyramids.

This is a very well know missconception. They did use slaves to develop the Pyramids. It all has to do with ratio. I don't know the figures, for I don't think anyone can figure them out. I do know from study that there were both slaves and paid workers that built the pyramids.

[Emperor Devon]

I will say this once more.

 

There were NO slaves used in the construction of the pyramids.

 

Source?

 

Using slaves over paid workers would be an efficient choice.

 

Kids are adapting to game consoles and pcs. In a recent study, I will have to dig up my source, the human thumb is changing. Brain size is also changing from absorbing more information at high rates of speed.

 

Interesting. Could you post a link to your source? I'd like to read it.