“On that day the altar to the Lord will be in the midst of the land of Egypt, and the memorial to the Lord will be at its borders. And he will be a sign and testimony of the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt"
(Isaiah 19:19, 20).
As you know, in any society of any type and any organization, you can find both good and bad. For example, in the USSR, much of the knowledge available to citizens of foreign countries was, alas, strictly prohibited. That is, the party (and, above all, party officials!), Decided what our people could know and what not. There were special "special stores" for the literature banned for the "broad masses", including, in general, completely innocent publications "Osprey" about our BMP-1 and the American "Bradley". And all why? Yes, because they said: "The fighting compartment of the BMP-1" is very cramped. " And that's it!
On the other hand, it was good that academic science was not defamed by amateurs, and anyone who wished could not easily go to Egypt, thrust a knife blade between two stones of the Great Pyramid, and then loudly declare that he was personally convinced that it was built by aliens ! Not reading Borchard, Maspero, but just like that, "on my own" … It is clear that there was also literature "not for everyone", too special, but it was studied by specialist scientists. But for the broad masses, there were also books, distinguished by the fact that they were prepared very carefully and were strictly scientific, despite all their availability. And in terms of content, and language, and illustrations.
Reconstruction of the temple of the god Horus in Edfu. Made on the basis of materials from the end of the 19th century, but it is quite relevant to this day.
Let us name at least two, quite scientific and at the same time quite popularly written for acquaintance with this topic, books: N. Petrovsky and A. Belov "Country of Big Hapi" (L.: "Detgiz", 1955) and V. Zamarovsky "Their majesty of the pyramid "(Moscow:" Science ", 1981). I read both and … on the whole, for a layman, I got a good grip. The books by G. Amatuni "If the Sphinx spoke" (Rostov-on-Don, 1970) or I. Efremov's dilogy "The Journey of Baurjed" and "On the edge of the Oykumene" were very scientific in their content, albeit artistic in form. From foreign translated literature, one can name such works as the stories "The Sculptor of the Pharaohs" and "The Maid of the Pharaohs" by the German writer Elisabeth Hering. That is, the topic of reading in our country as a whole was taken quite seriously, and if a book was published among the people, then it was a "serious product", and not some kind of tabloid artifact.
Take a closer look at these drawings, made from wall reliefs in the tombs (mastabs) of Egyptian officials. On them the whole life of the ancient Egyptians, and in addition, it is often written in hieroglyphs which of them is doing what. At the very bottom there are bricklayers. Above, they melt the metal, make vases and jugs to the left. The scribe weighs on a scale and records the weight of the precious metal in the form of rings. In the third row are woodworkers, joiners and painters. The fourth row is the tanners. There are also jewelers and stone vessel makers (top right). At the top left, the overseers admonish the negligent. Relief from the tomb of Rehmir at Sheh abd al-Qurna, near Thebes. (First half of the 15th century BC)
However, it was then, in the era of the USSR, that the first "examples of the yellow press" began to appear, presented as … a kind of creativity of the "popular masses" and promoted, for example, by such a popular magazine as Technics-Youth. I have been subscribing to this magazine since 1964, and have had filings at home since 1943, so everything that I call "intellectual debauchery" can be said to have arisen before my eyes.
First, articles by science fiction writer A. Kazantsev that in the pyramid in Palenque on the Yucatan Peninsula, on the lid of the tomb of the leader buried in it, a rocket is depicted (the rocket drawing was reproduced on a color tab and had a strong effect on weak minds), and in addition, the headings "Bold hypotheses", " Mysteries of Forgotten Civilizations "," Anthology of Mysterious Cases "and … away we go. Moreover, if at first it was so that the opinion of amateurs was then sorted out by specialists, then as the country became poorer (and with it the editorial staff of the magazine became poorer), it became … expensive to invite specialists, and the editorial board limited itself to only bold hypotheses. Moreover, all the fantasies of the authors were presented in such a way that … very many believed in them, but there was no criticism at all.
Here is how an Egyptian merchant ship is loaded (Relief at Deir el-Bahri). Below is the weighing of copper rings that served as money and trade - fish on the left, fish hooks on the right.
Well, 1991 simply untied everyone's hands and that's what TM began to write about the same Egyptian pyramids … So, already in No. 38 of 1993, the magazine published an article entitled "Egyptian Mysteries", which dealt with the hidden in the pyramid of Cheops "Storehouse of knowledge". That they are looking for it … and how they will find it … The topic was continued in the article "Robot in the Pyramid" that scientists decided to launch robots into the ventilation shafts of the Cheops pyramid and so they will have to find it. And, well, it would be fine if it was reported as information. H-e-e-t! For the sake of raising interest in him, the material was literally stuffed with all kinds of Egyptian miracles, and at the end it was written: "What if he is even a little bit right?" Meanwhile, it should be written as follows: "It is planned to carry out a search … results should be expected … we, dear readers, will immediately inform you about them." And that's it! Why guess - they will find, they will not find?
By the way, today both the pyramid of Khufu and Khafra have already been enlightened with everything they can, and they have not found any secret rooms in them!
In 1996 E. I. Menshov, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Ulyanovsk State Technical University published the material "What secret does the Red Choir keep in the sky?" Where he proposed the idea of encrypting the space data of our solar system in the three pyramids in Giza, as well as in those that are in the Sphinx. But since he didn't make ends meet, he added the hypothetical planet Vulcan to the calculations!
And here is all the agricultural work … All operations, starting with the harvest and ending with threshing, blowing and stacking are shown in great detail. Relief in the tomb of Ti, near Saqqar.
This seemed to him not enough, and he developed the topic in the article "The Mystery of the Egyptian Pyramids" (No. 10, 1998), where he "took" Edgar Cayce, and Atlantis with the Atlanteans, and … aliens from Venus who moved to Earth after the catastrophe, and the flood, in a word, everything that is possible. Scientists Egyptologists were allowed to read? What for! This is a "hypothesis", an assumption, what else do you want?
And what is the result? But - in issue 11/12 of the same year, material appears, the author of which begins like this: "I'm a bad scribbler" … but for 10 years your magazine has so many articles about the secrets of the pyramids that after another (meaning Menshov's article), decided to take a chance: "what, in fact, is my hypothesis worse than hundreds of others?"
And then came the pictures and the text, about which the editors responded like this: "And maybe not delirium!" However, let's look at this loyal "possibly". The author from Odessa suggested that inside the pyramid there was … a water lift! He ate water from the Nile, and on such big "traffic jams" he lifted stones higher and higher. I am not a hydraulic engineer and I cannot explain all this. But … well, it was not there, it was not! Neither the Khufu pyramid, nor the Khafre pyramid, nor the Menkaur pyramid, and dozens of other pyramids, did not even smell of any internal water lifters! I'm just sorry for the artist - to draw such … bullshit!
In 2003, No. 6, an article was published that the Egyptian pyramids were made of concrete blocks. A certain Frenchman came across, and we, of course, repeated - it's interesting, after all. Where is the concrete when all the blocks on the pyramids are cut from local stone? Workings, tools, descriptions, reliefs on the walls of mastabs and temples have been preserved. Why give people information at the level of unscientific fantasies? Or since a Frenchman said this, then the grace of God rested on him? Would send a correspondent to pick these same pyramids in Giza, and in Sakkara, and in Dashur, climb on them and … close this question forever: so that there are no interesting ones around? But apparently not - "intellectual debauchery" is much more interesting. The editorial board does not oblige to anything and the reader is good!
"Truly, our hearts are made of copper!" - sing these peasants, who need to carry grain to the "bins of the homeland." (The picture shows the office of the nobleman Khnumhotep, the governor of the Gazelle district. Image from his tomb near Beni Gassan)
Further - more, because market relations in the country are developing, which means that you can write whatever you want. And in No. 5 for 2004, we read an article: "Are the pyramids training centers for cosmonauts?" That the pharaohs traveled underground (!) And in space, hence their deification. The Egyptians had three of the cosmodrome, missile silos, shuttles and all that stuff. Well, and then, in No. 1 for 2008, the editorial board again returned to the theme of the pyramids: "How the wonder of the world was created." And How? And here's how - again channels, rafts circulate through them, blocks on them, which are then transported upward by ropes along inclined surfaces using a counterweight. There is a stone - there are people! There are more people - the stone goes up, then people get off, the elevator goes down after the stone … And so on until everything is built. How does it feel?
But after all, when did they find the remains of building embankments? But … what are the mounds, and who wrote about it? Specialists? They are all in a conspiracy to hide the truth! So I came up with it - yes! And if such a serious magazine began to write in the past, then … what then could one expect from the multitude of various and already completely yellow tabloids that appeared at the same time ?! "A woman got pregnant from an alien", "John Lennon was abducted by aliens", "Pyramids - spaceships", and so on and so on … everyone can, without straining, come up with a dozen titles of this kind of sensational articles!
The Egyptians wrote down everything: which pharaohs ruled, how many years and what names they had, how many onions and garlic the workers ate at the pyramids, how many geese they brought to the temple of God … how many cattle were stolen from the enemy, they wrote down mathematical problems and the shameful "Song of the Harper", children's exercises and fairy tales, teachings and speeches, were recorded a lot and tastefully, so a lot of things have come down to us! And there is nothing about starships in the papyri! And on the walls of temples too! And here it is shown that the village headmen were brought in for interrogation. And everything they say is recorded too! (Relief in the tomb of Ti, near Saqqar)
But … do not forget that it corrupts, like any unreliable and unverified information, as it expands the framework of morality and decency, and says to everyone - "so it is possible", because this is just "fantasy". But such a fantasy is harmful because it replaces painstakingly acquired knowledge with a spectacular play of the imagination.
Village Headman (Cairo Museum)
As a result, local newspapers are already beginning to publish articles by firefighters claiming that “he is interested and came to the conclusion that the pyramids are“breakwaters from the flood”that will occur when the ocean fills the workings-voids from mining and the globe from this topple over on one side! " Try to refute this bold statement ?! And there are more and more such "amateur experts" in various fields every year …
