Edfu - The Ralph Ellis Website

NEWS ARCHIVE ONE

The trip to the Himalaya was only a partial success, unfortunately I was stopped just 4km short of the proposed site for the 'Hall of Records' by a series of crevasses. This was a bitter blow, but the information gathered forms the basis of my next book 'Quest of the Gods'. The prototype of this new book has now gone off to a USA publisher for summer publication and it offers fantastic new insights into the true design of the Giza plateau. In short, the design of the Great Pyramid at Giza was based on a massive natural pyramid that lies deep within the Himalaya. The natural Himalayan counterpart to the Giza site can explain each and every detail of the Great pyramid's design. The site of the 'Hall of Records' is nearly within our grasp.

A lively discussion group has been formed to debate the books of Ralph Ellis. It is on the e-groups site and has a rapidly expanding membership. Once on the site, register your details and head for the 'Edfu' discussion group. There is also some good material to be found on the 'Egyptnews_talk' discussion site, which is run by Chris Ogilvie-Herald. Current topics on the Edfu site are:

a. Was the biblical Abraham a lowly shepherd, or a Hyksos shepherd pharaoh?

b. The Imperial Mile measures 1760 yards and the Khufu pyramid perimeter measures 1760 cubits. Is that coincidence or design?
We value all comments and I will try to answer all reasoned arguments, even playing the Devil's advocate sharpens the knowledge of all concerned. Join us for a great debate...

The third book in the series continues to grow and I can promise an analysis of the Giza pyramids that is many times more thrilling than anything contained in the book "Thoth". If you thought that "Thoth" had amazing new insights into the true layout of the monuments of the past, "Quest of the Gods" is going to be a real eye-opener. A small snippet of the grand plan that was eventually to be called Giza was confirmed to me recently by Sue, the wife of my extremely generous web-designer Mark Foster.

I had been struggling with the design of the Khafre pyramid, as my research indicated that it should have originally had two layers of granite at the base. But the texts say that there was only one layer, and I just could not get this to fit the pattern. This was truly a great problem as I know the architect of the pyramids well by now, sufficiently well to be able to be able to understand all of the dimensions on the plateau - both internal and external. But the grand design required two lower courses of granite on Khafre and I could not comprehend why the architect had only placed one there, it made no sense whatsoever.

I usually keep my deliberations to myself, as they are not universally accepted by others even in the 'alternative' field, but this one was so puzzling it had to be shared. Then Sue came back with a rather startling insight that had eluded me completely. Flinders Petrie, in his 1883 survey, said that there were actually two layers of granite at the base of Khafre. Problem solved, and the predictive powers of this new therory were vindicated. The location of the Hall of Records is known and it will be found in the very near future.

The planetary alignment is now behind us and, predictably enough, nothing has changed. It is amazing how many 'new age' authors wish to jump on this 'the end is nigh' bandwagon. Bauval speaks messianicly of the stellar symbolism of the New Millennium, others of the deep meaning of a planetary alignment that occurs every couple of centuries - the desire to sell books is obviously stronger than facing up to reality and common sense.

Operation Kailash is continuing to gather pace. A reconnaissance of the area is planned for this autumn, when the snow line is at its highest. Some political obstacles have now been lifted, with a possibility of using the Nepalese route instead of trekking through Lhasa, this should cut several days from the lengthy itinerary.

It may be pertinent to ask if such an expedition is any less fanciful than predicting the future through the positions of various cosmic bodies. I would counter that it is not in the same league whatsoever, all I am arguing is for is the possibility of an alien civilisation leaving a record of their visit. This may be speculative, but it is well within the bounds of what classical science deems to be possible.

Sales figures for both books in the Edfu stable have remained strong for the winter season. Planned advertising has been set at £5,000 for the spring, with a big push into the American market being the next target. Typically, the American sales are double the British sales per pound spent on marketing. It says a lot for the American thirst for this type of literature, the UK market in comparison is still in its infancy.

The second edition of "Jesus" is being developed for a future launch and steady progress is being made. The story-line to this title is so strong and reliable, that another 50 or so items have been added to the text which further reinforce the whole concept. In fact the trouble has been to contain the text within the page limit we have set for the book, and the amount of text per page may have to be increased to accommodate it all.

As a matter of interest, try counting the number of text lines per page and the average number of words per line in other well known books to see what real value you are getting for your money. For instance Graham Hancock began his alternative history career with "Sign and the Seal" at 39 lines per page (lpp). From there he slipped to "Keeper of Genesis" which clocked up 38 lpp and then he degenerated to a very shoddy 35 lpp in the "Mars Mystery". A law of ever diminishing returns on your investment, one presumes. The prize for the biggest rip-off in this competition, however, goes to Graham Phillips with "Act of God". This impressively thick volume could almost be mistaken as being a special edition for the myopic, it manages a miserable 32 lpp!

For comparison our title "Thoth" generates 41 lpp whereas "Jesus" manages 40 lpp, the text is also some 6mm wider on each page in our books. This, together with the high quality paper we use that is 20% thinner that the publishing standard, means that the slightly slimmer volumes that we create at Edfu are actually packed with much more information per purchase.

The very interesting article on the geology of the Giza plateau by Colin Reader on the "Giza the Truth" site, has thrown up a few more interesting facts. Colin states that the Khafre causeway has bisected and therefore influenced the construction of a quarry made by the pharaoh Khufu. Thus, a later construction has influenced the design of an earlier one. Colin interprets this as indicating that the Khafre causeway and the Valley Temple were built in pre-dynastic times - before the pyramids themselves were constructed. This is, of course, a possibility. But it is also possible that the whole of the Giza plateau was constructed long before the reign of Khufu, and that Khufu's true contribution to the site was no more than this small quarry, and some general repairs.

Colin also quotes the case of the 1979/80 ARCE Sphinx Project, for which Mark Lehner was the Field Director. The team sought to detect masonry marks under the 4th dynasty blocks applied to the rump of the Sphinx. However, what they found was extensive weather erosion of the underlying sphinx body. To explain the weathering under Khufu's or Khafre's repairs, Colin Reader suggests that this places the construction of the Sphinx to a few centuries before the fourth dynasty. However, as above, it could also indicate once more that the whole of the Giza plateau was constructed long before the reign of Khufu, and that Khufu's true contribution to the site was no more than a small quarry, and some general repairs.

Another very interesting article, this time by David Rohl on the Daily Express site. One of the subjects tackled in this article, is the lack of evidence for early dynastic useage of the contemporary sign of the zodiac. I too have been concerned that the early dynastic tombs in Egypt do not portray the standard Ptolomaic astrological zodiac. However, I am not so sure that the concept of this zodiac came out of Greece, especially with reference to the portrayal of Leo and all the star dating concepts at Giza that go with it.

Although it is true that the first trial of Heracles (Hercules) was to slay a lion, and that the famous Lion Gate is from early in Greek history, the question still remains as to whether this stellar Leo was a Greek concept - or something borrowed from elsewhere. The Lion itself is a Savannah beast, rather unsuited to Greece or Anatolia, so one may consider it unlikely that the Greeks invented Leo themselves. But the Greeks, of course, had many close contacts with other empires, notably the Persian. Is it not possible that the Greek Leo is actually a Sumerian concept, as the architectural style of the Lion Gate rather infers? Now I know that David Rohl knows a great deal about Sumer, and his books do not mention a Sumerian zodiac, but nevertheless I think there is possibly one Sumerian reference to the contemporary zodiac - in the epic of Gilgamesh. The Gilgamesh article on this site is a straightforward, yet still radical, reappraisal of the Gilgamesh epic. It portrays this adventure not as a quest by a king, but rather as a battle of the stellar constellations.

Having made this alteration, however, it has to be noted that the ancient texts do indeed seem to fit the standard description of the zodiac rather well. Yet if one is to believe this interpretation of Gilgamesh, then the constellations of Taurus and Aries must have been known in ancient Sumer, and, one might surmise, the rest of the zodiac as well.

In David Rohl's books, the links between Sumer and Egypt are well documented. So if King Lugulbanda knew of the 'Greek' zodiac, then so too must have the early dynastic Egyptian priesthood.

Edfu books is proud to announce the expedition of a lifetime, a trip to discover the innermost secrets of the Great Pyramid, a quest for the legendary 'Hall of Records'. The quest will form the basis of Ralph's new book 'Quest of the Gods' (working title) and to add some extra excitement to the expedition, the trip will be open to anyone who wishes to join us - on a selective basis. Make no mistake this will be an exciting trip to the roof of the world, to a location sacred to Budists, Hindus and Jains alike, the sacred mountain of Kailash - the Hub of the Universe. In addition the site is depicted so precisely and so exquisitely that there just has to be some truth in the rumours of a lost archive, but exactly what has lain beneath these sacred rocks for so long is anyone's guess.

Had a day out at the brand new, vastly expensive, London attraction of the 'Millennium Dome' today. Such an experience! We did the Faithless zone inside the first five seconds, followed in quick succession by the Mindless zone and the Illiterate zone and others. Getting rapidly exasperated, we at last found some food for thought in this wonderful millennium experience - in the McDonald's zone.

Having nearly the whole day left to while away, a quick diversion was made to a place that was sure to provide some cerebral stimulation, the Flinders Petrie zone, just down the road from Euston station. Having the advantage of a telescopic lens on this occasion, some new details on the drill cores that we have been debating were noticed. The lines on the cores do indeed appear to be helical, but they are far from being pairs of parallel tram-lines. Sets of parallel lines sometimes converge into just one line, then bifurcate again, some even have multiple branches that diverge and then parallel each other. In some respects they are more like fingerprint patterns that have been stretched out into more or less parallel lines. (The patterns were more clear on the porphyry cores).

This strongly indicates that the drill-tool did not make these lines, as the drill-tool in both scenarios explained so far in this debate, are rigid in their location and operation. For the lines to have a degree of flexibility in their travel, they would have to be formed by grit in the drill-hole. This 'grit' could either be the grinding paste used to achieve the cut, or indeed the swarf coming out of the drill-hole. Thus either of the two methods so far discussed could possibly explain these observations. I will have to get some pictures of this onto this site for clarification.

Regarding the message below, we have had a few e-mails asking what the holes in the granite slabs were for. I would imagine that the portcullis slabs would need holes simply to raise and lower them, perhaps with strong ropes being fed through the holes. The remaining slab in the anti-chamber is fixed and so does not require any holes. Having said all this, the function of the portcullis slabs has to be purely symbolic, as even when they were in the down position, an intruder could simply climb over the top of the slabs to gain access to the King's Chamber. They would merely impede unauthorised access, not prevent it.

Following the Chris Dunn debate, I noted on page 29 of his book 'Giza Powerplant', that there is a mention of a slab of dressed granite found in the Well Shaft of the Great Pyramid and that its purpose is not only unknown, but it is also mysterious that it should be there. The reference is taken from page 8 of Sir Flinders Petrie's book 'Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh', but in reality the reference is not entirely clear as to the location of this block.* Actually the location of the block is not so important in deciphering its function, as the dimensions. It is described as being dressed on two sides and the top, being 52.3cm in thickness, with a hole drilled through it. (more tube drilling!).

52.3cm is, of course, a length of one Royal or Thoth cubit. Petrie also gives us in his book the dimensions of the portcullis slots that are located in the anti-chamber, which are apparently 55cm wide. Thus I would say that there is no real mystery in either the form or location of the dressed granite slab. It is highly likely to simply be the remains of the portcullis slab, which when fitted in its slot would have had a clearance of 1.2cm on either side. When it was broken up in antiquity (when the designers tried to gain access to the King's Chamber to assess the earthquake damage?), the remains were slid down the Grand Gallery, down the Well Shaft and into the descending passage.

One presumes, like many of these artifacts, that it now languishes in some obscure corner of the basement of the British Museum.

*The previous paragraph talks of the descending passage and the next paragraph of the 'Well-Passage'. The block is simply described as being found in the 'passage'.

Having said that he was withdrawing from the internet, Robert Bauval is back once more, jumping into the affray with both feet. He has posted another missive on the Daily Grail that is long on accusations, but rather lacking in either evidence or detail. Readers must decide for themselves where the truth lies, but the descision sould not be to difficult to make. My reply is on this page but having gone into print once more, I must admit that I would rather be debating the real issues than slugging it out with a previously respected author.

Chris Dunn has made another reply in the ancient drilling debate on the, Giza Power site. I would like to thank Chris for a stimulating debate and I do sincerely hope that some interesting and informative points have been raised and clarified. Once more it is for readers to decide what they think of these issues, for Egypt is not about to give her secrets away quite so easily. Whether one likes the ultrasonic or the wine-press theory for the drilling of granite cores, it is a fact that no evidence of either process has been found in the archaeological sites so far excavated. Both of these contraptions would have preserved something of their fabric over the period of time that has elapsed, so the lack of any engineering artifacts in the record is quite a puzzle.

Once again I thank Chris for his replies and I hope that it shows that constructive debate can be made on the internet, the medium does have its role to play.

There is a new internet discussion broken out on the Chris Dunn web-site, concerning the practicalities of the advanced machining that appears to have been used on some of the Egyptian pyramids and temples. The debate is quite lively and some new ideas have been proposed which may interest some readers. Some of the early debate started on the "Giza the Truth" website, but then continued on the site of Chris Dunn himself, and my reply to that is here.

No doubt this debate will continue to fascinate readers in the near future.

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