Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid (Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge) - Softcover

Smyth, Charles Piazzi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108044417 ISBN 13: 9781108044417

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819–1900) was appointed to the post of Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Regius Professor of Astronomy at Edinburgh University in 1846. He was respected for his practical work, and his Teneriffe, an Astronomer's Experiment (1858) is also reissued in this series. However, this book, first published in 1864, is testimony to the author's interest in 'pyramidology', and although it was so popular in his own lifetime that it was reprinted five times, his eccentric interpretation of the data he had collected by measuring all aspects of the Great Pyramid of Giza damaged his scientific reputation. Smyth was convinced that the British measurement standard of an inch as a basic unit of length was associated with the sacred cubit of the Bible. This measure was supposedly incorporated in the Pyramid, which he claimed was built under divine guidance by the Ancient Israelites, and enshrined scientific information.

About this title

Book Description

Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900), Astronomer Royal for Scotland, was keenly interested in 'pyramidology': he was convinced that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built under divine guidance and contained scientific information. This 1864 work sets out his argument, based on the measurements he had made of the Pyramid.

About the Author

Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) was a Victorian antiquarian-astronomer. He was born in Naples, Italy, to Captain (later Admiral) William Henry Smyth and his wife Annarella. He was called Piazzi after his godfather, the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, whose acquaintance his father had made at Palermo when serving in the Mediterranean. In 1846 he was appointed Astronomer Royal for Scotland, based at the Calton Hill Observatory in Edinburgh, and professor of astronomy in the University of Edinburgh. Later, he wrote a popular account of a scientific voyage in Teneriffe, an astronomers Experiment. It was the first book ever illustrated by stereoscopic photographs ('photo-stereographs') and included 20 stereoviews of Teneriffe taken by the author using the wet collodion process. A stereoscope could be purchased which allowed the pictures to be viewed in 3-D without removing them from the book. In 1871 and 1872 Smyth investigated the spectra of the aurora, and zodiacal light. Smyth went on an expedition to Egypt to accurately measure every surface, dimension, and aspect of the Great Pyramid and subsequently published his book Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid in 1864. He died in 1900 and was buried at St. John's Church in the village of Sharow near Ripon. A small stone pyramid-shaped monument, topped by a Christian cross, marks his grave site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108044417
• ISBN 13: 9781108044417
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464