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The
Underground Labyrinth of Egypt
Lost History of the Pyramids
by Tony Bushby
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The Fayum Oasis district, just a few kilometres outside the boundary of
the Memphis Nome, presents a site of unusual interest. It was in that
lush, fertile valley that Pharaohs calling
themselves the "masters of the royal hunts" fished and hunted
with the boomerang.1 Lake Moeris once bordered the Fayum Oasis and on
its shores was the famous Labyrinth, described by Herodotus as "an
endless wonder to me". The Labyrinth contained 1,500 rooms and an
equal number of underground chambers that the Greek historian was not
permitted to inspect. According to Labyrinth priests, "the passages
were baffling and intricate", designed to provide safety for the
numerous scrolls they said were hidden in subterranean apartments. That
massive complex particularly impressed Herodotus and he spoke in awe of
the structure:
"There I saw twelve palaces regularly disposed, which had
communication with each other, interspersed with terraces and arranged
around twelve halls. It is hard to believe they are the work of man.
The walls are covered with carved figures, and each court is
exquisitely built of white marble and surrounded by a colonnade. Near
the corner where the labyrinth ends, there is a pyramid, two hundred
and forty feet in height, with great carved figures of animals on it
and an underground passage by which it can be entered. I was told very
credibly that underground chambers and passages connected this pyramid
with the pyramids at Memphis."
Many ancient writers supported Herodotus' record of underground
passages connecting major pyramids, and their evidence casts doubt on
the reliability of traditionally presented Egyptian history. Crantor (300
BC) stated that there were certain underground pillars in Egypt that
contained a written stone record of pre-history, and they lined
accessways connecting the pyramids. In his celebrated study, On the
Mysteries, particularly those of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and the
Assyrians, Iamblichus, a fourth-century Syrian representative of the
Alexandrian School of mystical and philosophical studies, recorded this
information about an entranceway through the body of the Sphinx into
the Great Pyramid:2
"This entrance, obstructed in our day by sands and rubbish, may
still be traced between the forelegs of the crouched colossus. It was
formerly closed by a bronze gate whose secret spring could be operated
only by the Magi. It was guarded by public respect, and a sort of religious
fear maintained its inviolability better than armed protection would
have done. In the belly of the Sphinx were cut out galleries leading to
the subterranean part of the Great Pyramid. These galleries were so
artfully crisscrossed along their course to the Pyramid that, in setting
forth into the passage without a guide throughout this network, one
ceasingly and inevitably returned to the starting point."
It was recorded in ancient Sumerian cylinder seals that the secret
abode of the Anunnaki was "an underground place...entered through
a tunnel, its entrance hidden by sand and by what they call Huwana..
.his teeth as the teeth of a dragon, his face the face of a lion".
That remarkable old text, unfortunately fragmented, added that "He
[Huwana) is unable to move forward, nor is he
able to move back", but they crept up on him from behind and the way
to "the secret abode of the Anunnaki" was no longer blocked.
The Sumerian record provided a probable description of the lion-headed
Sphinx at Giza, and if that great creature was built to guard or
obliterate ancient stairways and lower passages leading to subterranean
areas below and around it, then its symbolism was most appropriate.
Local 19th-century Arab lore maintained that existing under the Sphinx
are secret chambers holding treasures or magical objects. That belief
was bolstered by the writings of the first-century Roman historian
Pliny, who wrote that deep below the Sphinx is concealed the "tomb
of a ruler named Harmakhis that contains great treasure", and,
strangely enough, the Sphinx itself was once called "The Great
Sphinx Harmakhis who mounted guard since the time of the Followers of
Horus". The fourth-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus
made additional disclosures about the existence of subterranean vaults
that appeared to lead
to the interior of the Great Pyramid
"Inscriptions which the ancients asserted were engraved on the
walls of certain underground
galleries and passages were constructed deep in the dark interior to
preserve, ancient wisdom from being lost in the flood."
... According to Masoudi in the 10th century, mechanical statues with
amazing capabilities guarded subterranean galleries under the Great
Pyramid. Written one thousand years ago, his description is comparable to
the computerised robots shown today in space movies. Masoudi said that
the automatons were programmed for intolerance, for they destroyed all
"except those who by their conduct were worthy of admission".
Masoudi contended that "written accounts of Wisdom and
acquirements in the different arts and sciences were hidden deep, that
they might remain as records for the benefit of those who could
afterwards comprehend them". That is phenomenal information, as it
is possible that, since the times of Masoudi, "worthy"
persons have seen the mysterious underground chambers. Masoudi
confessed, "I have seen things that one does not describe for fear
of making people doubt one's intelligence.... According to Masoudi
In the same century, another writer,
Muterdi, gave an account of a bizarre incident in a narrow passage
under Giza, where a group of people were horrified to see one of their
party crushed to death by a stone door that, by itself, suddenly
suddenly slid out from the face of the passageway and closed the
corridor in front of them.
Herodotus said Egyptian priests recited to him their long-held
tradition of "the formation of underground apartments" by the
original developers of Memphis. The most ancient inscriptions therefore
suggested that there existed some sort of extensive chamber system
below the surface of the areas surrounding the Sphinx and pyramids.
Those old records were confirmed when the presence of a large cavity
was discovered in a seismic survey conducted at the site in 1993. That
detection was publicly acknowledged in a documentary called The Mystery of
the Sphinx, screened to an audience of 30 million people on NBC TV
later that year. The existence of chambers under the Sphinx is well
known. Egyptian authorities confirmed another discovery in 1994; its
unearthing was announced in a newspaper report that was carried under
the headline, "Mystery Tunnel in Sphinx":
Workers repairing the ailing Sphinx have discovered an ancient
passage leading deep into the body of the mysterious monument. The Giza
Antiquities chief, Mr. Zahi Hawass, said there was no dispute the
tunnel was very old. However, what is puzzling is: who built the
passage? Why? And where does it lead...?
Mr Hawass said he had no plans to remove the stones blocking
the entrance. The secret tunnel burrows into the northern side of the
Sphinx, about halfway between the Sphinx's outstretched paws and its
tail.
The popular supposition that the Sphinx is the true portal of the Great
Pyramid has survived with surprising tenacity. That belief was
substantiated by l00-year-old plans prepared by Masonic and Rosicrucian
initiates, showing the Sphinx was the ornament surmounting a hall that
communicated with all Pyramids by radiating underground passages. Those
plans were compiled from information originally discovered by the
supposed founder of the order of the Rosicrucians, Christian
Rosenkreuz, who allegedly penetrated a "secret chamber beneath the
ground" and there found a library of books full of secret
knowledge.
The schematic drawings were produced from information possessed by
mystery school archivists before sand-clearing commenced in 1925, and
revealed hidden doors to long-forgotten reception halls, small temples
and other enclosures.
The knowledge of the mystery schools was strengthened by a series of
remarkable discoveries in 1935 that provided proof of additional
passageways and chambers interlacing the area below the Pyramids. The
Giza complex showed major elements of being a purposely built, uniting
structure with the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid and the Temple of the
Solar-men directly related to each other, above and below the ground.
Chambers and passageways detected by sophisticated seismograph and
ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment in the last few years
established the accuracy of the plans. Egypt is also successfully using
sophisticated satellites to identify sites buried beneath the surface at
Giza and other locations. The novel tracking system was launched at the
beginning of 1998 and the location of
27 unexcavated sites in five areas was precisely determined. Nine of
those
sites are on Luxor's east bank and the others are in Giza, Abu Rawash,
Saqqara and Dashur. The printouts of the Giza area show an almost
incomprehensible mass of net-like tunnels and chambers criss-crossing
the area, intersecting and entwining each other like latticework
extending out across the entire plateau. With the space surveillance
project, Egyptologists are able to determine
the location of a major site, its probable entrance and the size of
chambers before starting excavations. Particular attention is being
focused on three secret locations: an area in the desert a few hundred
metres west/southwest of the original location of the Black Pyramid,
around which is currently being built a massive system of concrete
walls seven metres high covering eight square kilometres; the ancient
highway that linked the Luxor
temple with Karnak; and the "Way of Horus" across northern
Sinai.
HEADLINE NEWS
Among the mystics or members of Egyptian mystery schools, tradition
explained that the Great Pyramid was great in many ways. Despite the
fact that it was not entered until the year 820, the secret schools of
pre-Christian Egypt insisted that the interior layout was well known to
them. They constantly claimed that it was not a tomb nor a burial chamber
of any kind, except that it
did have one chamber for symbolic burial as part of an initiation
ritual.
According to mystical traditions, the interior was entered gradually
and in various stages via underground passageways. Different chambers
were said to have existed at the end of each phase of progress, with
the highest and ultimate initiatory stage represented by the now-called
King's Chamber.
Little by little, the traditions of the mystery schools were verified
by archaeological discoveries, for it was ascertained in 1935 that
there was a subterranean connection between the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid
and that a tunnel connected the Sphinx to the ancient temple located on
its southern side (today called the Temple of the Sphinx).
As Emile Baraize's massive 11-year sand and seashell clearing project
neared completion in 1935, remarkable stories started to emerge about
discoveries made during the clearing project. A magazine article,
written and published in 1935 by Hamilton M. Wright, dealt with an
extraordinary discovery under the
sands of Giza that is today denied. The article was accompanied by
original photographs provided by Dr. Selim Hassan, the leader of the
scientific investigative team from the University of Cairo who made the
discovery. It said:
"We have discovered a subway used by the ancient Egyptians of
5,000 years ago. It passes beneath the causeway leading between the
second Pyramid and the Sphinx. It provides a means of passing under the
causeway from the Cheops Pyramid to the Pyramid of Chephren [Khephren].
From this subway, we have unearthed a series of shafts leading down
more than 125 feet, with roomy courts and side chambers."
Around the same time, the international news media released further
details of the find.
The underground connector complex was originally built between the
Great Pyramid and the Temple of the Solarmen, for the Pyramid of Khephren was
a later and superficial structure. The subway and its apartments were
excavated out of solid, living bedrock -a truly extraordinary feat,
considering it was built
thousands of years ago.
There is more to the story of underground chambers at Giza, for media
reports described the unearthing of a subterranean passageway between
the Temple of the Solarmen on the plateau and the Temple of the Sphinx
in the valley. That passageway had been unearthed a few years before
the release and publication
of that particular newspaper article.
The discoveries led Dr. Selim Hassan and others to believe and publicly
state that, while the age of the Sphinx was always enigmatic in the
past, it may have been part of the great architectural plan that was
deliberately arranged and carried out in association with the erection
of the Great Pyramid.
Archaeologists made another major discovery at that time. Around
halfway between the Sphinx and Khephren's Pyramid were discovered four
enormous vertical shafts, each around eight feet square, leading
straight down through solid limestone. It is called "Campbell's
Tomb" on the Masonic and Rosicrucian plans, and "that shaft
complex", said Dr Selim Hassan, "ended in a spacious room, in the
centre of which was another shaft that descended to a roomy court
flanked with seven side chambers". Some of the chambers contained
huge, sealed sarcophagi of basalt and granite, 18 feet high.
The discovery went further and found that in one of the seven rooms
there was yet a third vertical shaft, dropping down deeply to a much
lower chamber. At the time of its discovery, it was flooded with water
that partly covered a solitary white sarcophagus.
That chamber was named the "Tomb of Osiris" and was shown
being "opened for the first time" on a fabricated television
documentary in March 1999. While originally exploring in this area in
1935, Dr. Selim Hassan said:
"We are hoping to find some monuments of importance after clearing
out this water. The total depth of these series of shafts is more than
40 metres or more than 125 feet... In the course of clearing the
southern part of the subway, there was found a very fine head of a
statue which is very expressive in every detail of the face."
According to a separate newspaper report of the time, the statue was an
excellent sculpted bust of Queen Nefertiti, described as "a
beautiful example of that rare type of art inaugurated in the Amenhotep
regime". The whereabouts of that statue today are unknown.
The report also described other chambers and rooms beneath the sands,
all interconnected by secret and ornate passageways. Dr. Selim Hassan
revealed that not only are there inner and outer courts, but they also found
a room they named the "Chapel of Offering" that had been cut
into a huge, rock outcrop
between Campbell's Tomb and the Great Pyramid. In the centre of the
chapel are three ornate vertical pillars standing in a triangular shaped
layout. Those pillars are highly significant points in this study, for
their existence is recorded in the Bible. The conclusion drawn is that
Ezra, the initiated Torah writer (c. 397 BC), knew the subterranean
layout of passages and chambers at
Giza before he wrote the Torah. That underground design was probably the
origin of the triangular shaped layout around the central altar in a
Masonic lodge. In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, in the first
century, wrote that Enoch of Old Testament fame constructed an
underground templeconsisting of nine chambers. In a deep vault inside
one chamber with three
vertical columns, he placed a triangular-shaped tablet of gold bearing
upon it the absolute name of the Deity (God). The description of
Enoch's chambers was similar to the description of the Chapel of
Offering under the sand just east of the Great Pyramid.
An anteroom much like a burial chamber, but "undoubtedly a room of
initiation and reception," was found higher up the plateau closer
to the Great Pyramid and at the upper end of a sloping passage, cut
deep into rock on the northwest side of the Chamber of Offering
(between the Chamber of Offering and the
Great Pyramid). In the centre of the chamber is a l2-foot long
sarcophagus of white Turah limestone and a collection of fine alabaster
vessels. The walls are beautifully sculpted with scenes, inscriptions
and emblems of particularly the lotus flower. The descriptions of
alabaster vessels and the emblematic lotus flower have remarkable
parallels with what was found in the
temple-workshop on the summit of Mt Sinai/Horeb by Sir William Petrie
in 1904.
Additional underground rooms, chambers, temples and hallways were
discovered, some with vertical circular stone support columns, and
others with wall carvings of delicate figures of goddesses clothed in
beautiful apparel. Dr Selim Hassan's report described other
magnificently carved figures and many
beautifully coloured friezes. Photographs were taken and one author and
researcher who saw them, Rosicrucian H. Spencer Lewis recorded that he
was "deeply impressed" with the images. It is not known where
the rare specimens of art and relics are today, but some were rumoured
to have been smuggled out of Egypt by
private collectors.
The foregoing particulars are but a few contained in Dr Selim Hassan's
extensive report that was published in 1944 by the Government Press,
Cairo, under the title Excavations at Giza (10 volumes). However, that is
just a mere fragment of the whole truth of what is under the area of
the Pyramids. In the last year of sand clearing, workers uncovered the
most amazing discovery that
stunned the world and attracted international media coverage.
Archaeologists in charge of the discovery were "bewildered"
at what they had unearthed, and stated that the city was the most
beautifully planned they had ever seen. It is replete with temples,
pastel-painted peasant dwellings, workshops, stables and other
buildings including a palace. Complete with hydraulic underground
waterways, it has a perfect drainage system along with other modem
amenities. The intriguing question that arises out of the discovery is:
where is that city today?
Its secret location was recently revealed to a select group of people
who were given permission to explore and film the city. It exists in a
huge natural cavern system below the Giza Plateau that extends out in
an easterly direction under Cairo. Its main entry is from inside the
Sphinx, with stairs cut into rock that lead down to the cavern below
the bedrock of the River Nile.
The expedition carried down generators and inflatable rafts and
travelled along an underground river that led to a lake one kilometre
wide. On the shores of the lake nestles the city, and permanent
lighting is provided by large crystalline balls set into the cavern walls
and ceiling. A second entry to the city is found in stairs leading up
to the basement of the Coptic Church in
old Cairo (Babylon). Drawing from narratives of people "living in
the Earth" given in the books of Genesis, lasher and Enoch, it is
possible that the city was originally called Gigal.
Film footage of the expedition was shot and a documentary called
Chambers of the Deep was made and subsequently shown to private
audiences. It was originally intended to release the footage to the
general public, but for some reason it was withheld.
A multi-faceted spherical crystalline object the size of a baseball was
brought up from the city, and its supernatural nature was demonstrated
at a recent conference in Australia. Deep within the solid object are
various hieroglyphs that slowly turn over like pages of a book when
mentally requested to do so by whoever holds the object. That
remarkable item revealed an unknown form
of technology and was recently sent NASA in the USA for analysis.
Historical documents recorded that, during the 20th century, staggering
discoveries not spoken of today were made at Giza and Mt Sinai, and
Egyptian rumours of the discovery of another underground city within a
28-rnile radius of the Great Pyramid abound. In 1964, more than 30 enormous,
multilevelled
subsurface cities were discovered in the old Turkish kingdom of
Cappadocia. One city alone contained hugE caverns, rooms and hallways
that archaeologists estimated supported as many as 2,000 households,
providing living facilities for 8,000 to 10,000 people. Their very
existence constitutes evidence that many
such subterranean worlds lie waiting to be found below the surface of
the Earth.
Excavations at Giza have revealed underground subways, temples,
sarcophagi and one interconnected subterranean city, and validation
that underground passageways connected the Sphinx to the Pyramids is
another step towards proving that the whole complex is carefully and
specifically thought out.
OFFICIAL DENIALS
Because of Dr. Selim Hassan's excavations and modern space surveillance
techniques, the records and traditions of the ancient Egyptian mystery
schools that claim to preserve secret knowledge of the Giza Plateau all
rose to the highest degree of acceptability. However, one of the most
puzzling aspects of the discovery of underground facilities at Giza is
the repeated denial of their
existence by Egyptian authorities and academic institutions. So
persistent are their refutations that the claims of mystery schools
were doubted by the public and suspected of being fabricated in order
to mystify visitors to Egypt. The scholastic attitude is typified by a
Harvard University public statement in 1972:
"No one should pay any attention to the preposterous claims in
regard to the interior of the Great Pyramid or the presumed passageways
and unexcavated temples and halls beneath the sand in the Pyramid
district made by those who are associated with the so-called secret
cults or mystery societies of Egypt and the Orient. These things exist
only in the minds of those who seek to attract the seekers for mystery,
and the more we deny the existence of these things, the more the public
is led to suspect that we are deliberately trying to hide that which
constitutes one of the great secrets of Egypt. It is better for us to
ignore all of these claims than merely deny them. All of our
excavations in the territory of the Pyramid have failed to reveal any
underground passageways or halls, temples, grottos, or anything of the
kind except the one
temple adjoining the Sphinx."
It was well enough for scholarly opinion to make such a statement on
the subject, but in preceding years, official claims were made stating
that there was no temple adjoining the Sphinx. The assertion that every
inch of the territory around the Sphinx and pyramids had been explored
deeply and thoroughly was disproved when the temple adjoining the
Sphinx was discovered in the sand
and eventually opened to the public. On matters outside official
policy, there appears to be a hidden level of censorship in operation,
one designed to protect both Eastern and Western religions.
EVER-BURNING LAMPS
In spite of amazing discoveries, the stark truth is that the early
history of Egypt remains largely unknown and therefore unmapped territory. It
is not possible, then, to say precisely how miles of underground
passageways and chambers beneath the Giza Plateau were lit, but one
thing is for sure: unless the
ancients could see in the dark, the vast subterranean areas were
somehow illuminated. The same question is addressed of the interior of
the Great Pyramid, and Egyptologists have agreed that flaming torches
were not used, for ceilings had not been blackened with residual smoke.
From what is currently known about subsurface passageways under the
Pyramid Plateau, it is possible to determine that there are at least
three miles of passageways 10 to 12 storeys below ground level. Both
the Book of the Dead and the Pyramid Texts make striking references to
"The Light-makers"From what is
currently known about subsurface passageways under the Pyramid Plateau, it
is possible to determine that there are at least three
Iamblichus recorded a fascinating account that was found on a very
ancient Egyptian papyrus held in a mosque in Cairo. It was part of a
100 BC story by an unknown author about a group of people who gained
entry to underground chambers around Giza for exploratory purposes.
They described their experience:
"We came to a chamber. When we entered, it became automatically illuminated
by light from a tube being the height of one man's hand [approx. 6
inches or 15.24 cm] and thin, standing vertically in the corner. As we
approached the tube, it shone brighter...the slaves were scared and ran
away in the direction
from which we had come! When I touched it, it went out. We made every
effort to get the tube to glow again, but it would no longer provide
light. In some chambers the light tubes worked and in others they did
not. We broke open one of the tubes and it bled beads of silver-
coloured liquid that ran fastly around the floor until they disappeared
between the cracks [mercury?].
As time went on, the light tubes gradually began to fail and the
priests removed them and stored them in an underground vault they
specially built southeast of the plateau. It was their belief that the
light tubes were created by their beloved Imhotep, who would some day
return to make them work once again."
It was common practice among early Egyptians to seal lighted lamps in
the sepulchres of their dead as offerings to their god or for the
deceased to find their way to the "other side". Among the tombs
near Memphis (and in the Brahmin temples of India), lights were found
operating in sealed chambers and vessels, but sudden exposure to air
extinguished them or caused their fuel to
evaporate."
Greeks and Romans later followed the custom, and the tradition became
generally established -not only that of actual burning lamps, but
miniature reproductions made in terracotta were buried with the dead.
Some lamps were enclosed in circular vessels for protection, and
instances are recorded where the original oil was found perfectly preserved
in them after more than 2,000 years.
There is ample proof from eyewitnesses that lamps were burning when the
sepulchres were sealed, and it was declared by later bystanders that
they were still burning when the vaults were opened hundreds of years
later.
The possibility of preparing a fuel that would renew itself as rapidly
as it was consumed was a source of considerable controversy among
mediaeval authors, and numerous documents exist outlining their arguments.
After due consideration of evidence at hand, it seemed well within the
range of possibility
that ancient Egyptian priest-chemists manufactured lamps that burned if
not
indefinitely then at least for considerable periods of time.
Numerous authorities have written on the subject of ever-burning lamps,
with W. Wynn Westcott estimating that the number of writers who have
given the subject consideration as more than 150 and H. P. Blavatsky as
173. While conclusions reached by different authors are at a variance,
a majority admitted the existence of the phenomenal lamps. Only a few
maintained that the lamps
would burn forever, but many were willing to concede that they might
remain alight for several centuries without replenishment of fuel.
It was generally believed that the wicks of those perpetual lamps were
made of braided or woven asbestos, called by early alchemists
"salamander'It was generally believed that the wicks of those
perpetual lamps were made of braided or woven asbestos, called by early
alchemists "salamanders wool". The
fuel appeared to have been one of the products of alchemical research,
possibly produced in the temple on Mt Sinai. Several formulae for
making fuel for the lamps were preserved, and in H. P. Blavatsky's
profound work, Isis Unveiled, the author reprinted two complicated
formulae
Some believe the fabled perpetual lamps of temples to be cunning
mechanical contrivances, and some quite humorous explanations have been
extended.
In Egypt, rich underground deposits of asphalt and petroleum exist, and
some would have it that priests connected asbestos wicks by a secret
duct to an oil deposit, which in turn connected to one or more lamps.
Others thought that the belief that lamps burned indefinitely in tombs
was the result of the fact that in some cases fumes resembling smoke
poured forth from the entrances
of newly opened vaults. Parties going in later, and discovering lamps
scattered about the floor, assumed that they were the source of the
fumes. There were some well-documented stories concerning the discovery
of ever-burning lamps not only in Egypt but also in other parts of the
world.
De Montfaucon de Villars gave this fascinating account of the opening
of the vault of Rosicrucian Christian Rosenkreuz. When the Brethren
entered the tomb of their illustrious founder 120 years after his death,
they found a perpetual lamp brightly shining in a suspended manner from
the ceiling. "There was a statue in armour [a robot] which
destroyed the source of light when the chamber was opened. " That
is strangely similar to the accounts of Arab
historians who claimed that automatons guarded galleries under the
Great Pyramid.
A 17th-century account recorded another story about a robot. In central
England, a curious tomb was found containing an automaton that moved
when an intruder stepped upon certain stones in the floor of the vault. At
that time, the Rosicrucian controversy was at its height, so it was
decided that the tomb
was that of a Rosicrucian initiate. A countryman discovered the tomb,
entered and found the interior brilliantly lit by a lamp hanging from
the ceiling. As he walked toward the light, his weight depressed the
floor stones and, at once, a seated figure in heavy armour began to
move. Mechanically it rose to its feet and struck the lamp with an iron
baton, destroying it and thus
effectively preventing the discovery of the secret substance that maintained
the flame. How long the lamp had burned was unknown, but the report
said that it had been for a considerable number of years.
From The Secret in the Bible by tony Bushby
_http://www.joshuabohttp://www.johtt_
(http://www.joshuabooks.com/home.htm)
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