Confessions of an Egyptologist: Lost Libraries, Vanished Labyrinths & the Astonishing Truth Under the Saqqara Pyramids by Erich von Daniken

Author:Erich von Daniken [Daniken, Erich von]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BODY; MIND & SPIRIT, Ancient Mysteries & Controversial Knowledge, history, Ancient, Egypt, UFOs & Extraterrestrials, Social Science, Archaeology, Biography & Autobiography, Historical
ISBN: 9781632657442
Google: WsofEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
Published: 2021-09-06T23:37:45.124520+00:00

Figures 16 and 17. The pyramid of Amenemhet III at Hawara.

Together, Adel and I climbed the pyramid of Amenemhet III, panting in the hot dry air, our shirts sticking to our chests. The whole structure, which had partially disintegrated, consisted of black mud bricks that had initially been made by pressing clay and mud between boards and then air-drying them (see Figure 17). I was looking for something extraordinary—for a granite ledge that could have borne the burden of “giant figures” in Herodotus' time. But there was nothing to be found. The pyramid had partially disintegrated, and Adel explained that the residents of the area had broken mud bricks out of its walls to use for their houses. There was no trace of the limestone that had originally covered the structure. Rain had carved furrows into the mountain of mud bricks, washing out large chunks, some of them as long as fifty centimeters. I photographed several broken bricks in which we could see straw, dried grass, and small stones.

The pyramid itself stands fifty-eight meters high and is flattened at the top. Below us, we saw a few walls and sand mounds. Farther in the distance, we saw high-voltage pylons and a thin canal that cut diagonally through the surrounding farmland. But nowhere did we see the remains of a navigable canal with gigantic locks that Herodotus and others claimed to have observed. No 1,500 rooms above ground, never mind an equal number below ground. No walls full of reliefs that had amazed ancient visitors.

I thought of the colorful reliefs on the temple walls of the monument to Seti I in Abydos. Like the pyramid of Amenemhet III, these were also more than 3,000 years old, and yet they had survived all the storms of history and the weather. Where were the Parian stones about which Pliny had exclaimed? Where were the inextricable, confusing corridors that wore him out? And even if the formerly huge Lake Moeris had dried up completely, where were the remains of the two pyramids that Herodotus reported, each of which rose fifty fathoms out of the water and reached just as deeply into it? Structures like these do not just disappear into thin air, even after thousands of years.

I also remembered that every pharaoh was proud of his accomplishments and wanted to preserve them to prove his importance to posterity. If Amenemhet III had been the builder of the labyrinth we sought, then indestructible inscriptions would have celebrated his own deeds and praised the builder of the monument and showered him with honor. None of this can be found at Hawara.

With our all-terrain vehicle, we explored the whole area, eventually leaving the streets and dirt roads behind and venturing out into the desert. We searched for the shorelines of the vanished Lake Moeris, which Herodotus claims was a human marvel of 3,600 stadia and with a coastline as long as that of Egypt. We didn't find anything—no navigable canals, no remains of the mighty locks that had still existed in Strabo's time.

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