DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0355
316
APPENDIX.
MR. AGNEW
Published, in 1838, a treatise on the application of the quad-
rature of the circle to the configuration of the Great Pyramids
of Gizeh, which, together with the causeway, he considers to be
" component parts of one immense system ;" and says, " that the
whole of the immense scheme of the three Pyramids proceeded
from a chief circle of origin, the properties of which were more
especially to be represented." He also observes in another place,
that " the Pyramids of Egypt appear in general to have been
emblems of the sacred sphere, and of its great circle, exhibited in
the most convenient architectural form;" and adds, that " the chief
object of these buildings being to serve for sepulchral monuments,
the Egyptians sought, in the appropriate figure of the Pyramid,
to perpetuate, at the same time, a portion of their geometrical
science." He imagines, that the three in question were built in
succession during the course of sixty years, and that each was
begun before the preceding was finished ; that the third mo-
narch, under whom the whole design was completed, dismissed
the people from their labours, and again opened the temples for
the national worship. He then goes into a variety of calculations
demonstrated by geometrical figures to support these opinions,
and to prove that the quadrature of the circle was known, " with
all practicable approach to exactness," by the antient Egyptians ;
and that in the bases, proportions, and relative positions of these
three Pyramids, and also in the size and course of the northern
causeway, and in those of the adjoining pits, certain geometrical
rules were attended to. For the causeway belonging to the Third
Pyramid he attributes other reasons.
He assigns to the interior of the Pyramids also mysterious
properties; but observes, that in their construction " the propor-
tion of five to four is very dominant;" and he endeavours to
prove that it might have referred to astronomical calculations,
which may shew the sera when these buildings were erected.
He likewise supposes, that the labyrinth near lake Mceris was
constructed on " some curious combination of geometrical figures,
relating to a sphere and circle, the radius of which was the
perpendicular of the forty-fathom Pyramid, which stood at one
end;" and that all the great buildings of Egypt, besides their
primary and special use, elucidated in their construction geome-
trical science. To understand clearly, however, the author's
APPENDIX.
MR. AGNEW
Published, in 1838, a treatise on the application of the quad-
rature of the circle to the configuration of the Great Pyramids
of Gizeh, which, together with the causeway, he considers to be
" component parts of one immense system ;" and says, " that the
whole of the immense scheme of the three Pyramids proceeded
from a chief circle of origin, the properties of which were more
especially to be represented." He also observes in another place,
that " the Pyramids of Egypt appear in general to have been
emblems of the sacred sphere, and of its great circle, exhibited in
the most convenient architectural form;" and adds, that " the chief
object of these buildings being to serve for sepulchral monuments,
the Egyptians sought, in the appropriate figure of the Pyramid,
to perpetuate, at the same time, a portion of their geometrical
science." He imagines, that the three in question were built in
succession during the course of sixty years, and that each was
begun before the preceding was finished ; that the third mo-
narch, under whom the whole design was completed, dismissed
the people from their labours, and again opened the temples for
the national worship. He then goes into a variety of calculations
demonstrated by geometrical figures to support these opinions,
and to prove that the quadrature of the circle was known, " with
all practicable approach to exactness," by the antient Egyptians ;
and that in the bases, proportions, and relative positions of these
three Pyramids, and also in the size and course of the northern
causeway, and in those of the adjoining pits, certain geometrical
rules were attended to. For the causeway belonging to the Third
Pyramid he attributes other reasons.
He assigns to the interior of the Pyramids also mysterious
properties; but observes, that in their construction " the propor-
tion of five to four is very dominant;" and he endeavours to
prove that it might have referred to astronomical calculations,
which may shew the sera when these buildings were erected.
He likewise supposes, that the labyrinth near lake Mceris was
constructed on " some curious combination of geometrical figures,
relating to a sphere and circle, the radius of which was the
perpendicular of the forty-fathom Pyramid, which stood at one
end;" and that all the great buildings of Egypt, besides their
primary and special use, elucidated in their construction geome-
trical science. To understand clearly, however, the author's