Pyramid of Secrets: The Architecture of the Great Pyramid Reconsidered in the Light of Creational Mythology

The foremost of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Great Pyramid is unique among Egyptian pyramids in its precision and complex interior design. What does this astonishing structure signify? Why was it built? Numerous fantastic theories have sought to answer these questions, but all have ultimately collapsed like waves upon the firm shore of common sense. And yet doubts still persist about the official view that the Pyramid is 'a tomb and nothing but a tomb'.

In 'Pyramid of Secrets', Alan F. Alford provides a plausible antidote to the questionable theories of mainstream and alternative writers.

Alford's opening premise is that the Great Pyramid is a religious monument, whose full significance may be apprehended only through a true understanding of ancient Egyptian religion. Crucially, however, he argues that Egyptian religion was not simply a Sun cult, as Egyptologists believe, but rather a 'cult of creation', i.e. a cult whose primary aim was to celebrate and re-enact perpetually the myth of the creation of the Universe. In keeping with this, he argues that the true pyramid (the smooth-sided type) was not a solar symbol, as is generally believed, nor a stellar symbol, as some would have it, but rather a symbol of the creation of the Universe - a spiritual symbol par excellence.
Alford argues that Egyptology has misinterpreted the architecture of the Great Pyramid as a result of its misplaced emphasis on solar symbolism. The purpose of his book 'Pyramid of Secrets' is to reconsider the architecture of the Great Pyramid in the light of creational mythology.

Taking the Egyptian creation myth as his guide, Alford emphasises the importance of two complementary ideas. Firstly, he argues that the body of the king, identified with the body of the creator-god, had to be buried beneath the pyramid, at ground level or below.
Secondly, he argues that what the pyramid raised on high was the seed with which the creator-god had impregnated the sky. In Egyptian tradition, this seed was the meteorite.
These two fundamental religious axioms demand a radical reappraisal of the Great Pyramid's architecture.

Firstly, Alford maintains that the king was not buried in the King's Chamber (at a height of 140 feet in the superstructure), as is widely presumed, but in a cave-like room beneath the Pyramid, where his body and burial treasure may remain intact to this day.

Secondly, Alford suggests that the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber contained iron meteorites - the seed of creation.

Thus the stage is set for a bold re-evaluation of the Great Pyramid's upper chamber system.

Until now, it has been assumed that the upper passages and chambers were built to facilitate a funeral procession. But Alford, having put the lie to this theory, argues instead that the entire upper system was sealed off at the time of construction by means of plugs, 'lefts', and camouflaging stones - a thought that has never, for one moment, occurred to Egyptologists. Having set out the archaeological evidence that this was indeed the case, he then asks why the Pyramid would have been built in this way, and offers what he believes to be the only reasonable conclusion: that the Pyramid, in its upper parts, was built as a sealed repository and time capsule in order to safeguard the material treasures and spiritual knowledge of its builders for the benefit of a future generation of men. This idea would make sense, the author claims, if the builder civilisation lived in fear of an 'end time' cataclysm.

Having explained and justified his repository/time capsule theory, Alford goes on to reconstruct the plundering of the Pyramid, making specific suggestions as to the artefacts that were removed. Also, significantly, he predicts the exact locations of further intact secret passage and chamber systems, in addition to the mooted rooms above the Queen's Chamber shafts (here, he makes a specific prediction as to the contents of these rooms). These predictions, along with the earlier prediction that the king's body will be found in a tomb beneath the Pyramid, allow the validity of Alford's theory to be assessed against the results of future explorations.

In a surprising twist to his repository/time capsule theory, Alford suggests that the King's Chamber functioned as an amplifier and broadcaster of sound. Agreeing in part with Christopher Dunn (1998), he argues that the granite beams in the superstructure vibrated in harmony with Earth resonance and transmitted low frequency vibrations to the chamber below. The King's Chamber, built of highly resonant granite, then amplified these vibrations and their harmonics, and transmitted audible sound to the outside world via its 'airshafts'. The aim, says Alford, was to re-enact the myth of the creation. The sound waves, representing the voice of the creator-god, would have spiritualised the iron of creation (a sample of which was sealed in the sarcophagus) and blasted it into the sky via the 'airshafts' (symbolically speaking) for the formation of the stars, the Sun, and the Moon (which were made of iron according to Egyptian belief). This idea fits neatly with the author's theory that the Pyramid itself symbolised the creation of the Universe.

The myth of creation also provides the framework for Alford's repository theory. The builder's aim, he suggests, was to preserve for posterity the sacred science of creation, which provided the basis for all ritual magic in Egypt. This knowledge was encoded into artefacts, which were deposited inside the secret chambers, but also, significantly, into the architecture of the chambers themselves, most notably the Grand Gallery and the Antechamber (to the King's Chamber), such that even if these rooms were robbed, the Pyramid would still protect its ultimate secret for the benefit of a future civilisation. Conceivably, this secret could provide a scientific insight into the mysteries of the creation of the Universe and the construction of the Pyramid (Alford hints that the secret may pertain to a 10-letter word beginning with 'L').

Alford's book thus points the way for further exploration of the Pyramid along two parallel lines: firstly, on-site probes of the anomalous areas which he identifies, i.e. a quest for further secret chambers; and, secondly, desktop analysis of architectural data, i.e. a quest for an encoded message. Both of these approaches, he believes, will offer vindication of his theory that the Pyramid was a creational symbol and a repository of spiritual and scientific knowledge.

In summary, 'Pyramid of Secrets' takes an original and distinctive approach to the mystery of the Great Pyramid, provides a comprehensive and plausible theory for the monument's symbolism and purpose, offers a unique opportunity to reconcile the warring camps of mainstream and alternative Egyptology, and holds out a real prospect of important discoveries in the near future that will herald the closure of the controversy. If Alford is correct in his theory that ancient Egyptian religion was a cult of creation (a companion volume on this subject is planned for 2004), then this book represents nothing less than the first ever study of the Pyramid from an authentic ancient Egyptian perspective.

Note: As you read this, the authorities in Egypt are reaching decisions about future exploration - or non-exploration! - of the Great Pyramid. If Alford is right in his theory, then the authorities are making WRONG decisions based on fundamental misconceptions about the Pyramid's purpose. This is IMPORTANT, and arguably URGENT. And YOU can make a difference to the future chain of events. This is no time for ANYONE to be labouring under any form of self-delusion.