DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0166
154 THE GREAT PYRAMID.
meridional work, the astronomer recognises in him
a fellow-worker. He says, with the poet :—
I am as old as Egypt to myself,
Brother to them that squared the Pyramids :
By the same stars I watch.
And now consider what was this great obser-
vatory of ancient Egypt—the most perfect ever
made till telescopic art revealed a way of exact
observation without those massive structures. A
mighty mass, having a base larger than the square
of Lincoln's Inn, rising by just fifty layers to a
height of about 142 feet, and presenting towards
the south the appearance shown in fig. 11, where
the mouth of the Great Gallery is seen opening
southwards, and the lines are shown which have
been already indicated as ' observing directions ' in
the picture facing p. 138. The pyramid observatory
is shown in section in fig. 12. It will be noticed
that the successive layers are not of equal thick-
ness. There are just fifty between the base and
plane of the floor of the King's Chamber. The
direction-lines for the mid-day sun at midsummer,
midwinter, and the equinoxes are shown ; also the
lines to the two stars, Alpha Draconis and Alpha
Centauri, are given at the subpolar meridional
passage of the former and the meridional passage
meridional work, the astronomer recognises in him
a fellow-worker. He says, with the poet :—
I am as old as Egypt to myself,
Brother to them that squared the Pyramids :
By the same stars I watch.
And now consider what was this great obser-
vatory of ancient Egypt—the most perfect ever
made till telescopic art revealed a way of exact
observation without those massive structures. A
mighty mass, having a base larger than the square
of Lincoln's Inn, rising by just fifty layers to a
height of about 142 feet, and presenting towards
the south the appearance shown in fig. 11, where
the mouth of the Great Gallery is seen opening
southwards, and the lines are shown which have
been already indicated as ' observing directions ' in
the picture facing p. 138. The pyramid observatory
is shown in section in fig. 12. It will be noticed
that the successive layers are not of equal thick-
ness. There are just fifty between the base and
plane of the floor of the King's Chamber. The
direction-lines for the mid-day sun at midsummer,
midwinter, and the equinoxes are shown ; also the
lines to the two stars, Alpha Draconis and Alpha
Centauri, are given at the subpolar meridional
passage of the former and the meridional passage