Welcome to History for Granite. Join me to explore ancient Egypt. Together we’ll uncover
secrets that only stones from antiquity can reveal. Please subscribe to the channel to
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The third pyramid at Giza is truly a marvel, despite being much smaller than the neighboring
giants that dominate the plateau. This disparity in size is often cited as evidence for a decline
in power of the 4th dynasty pharaohs. I find that narrative somewhat misguided, and for
myself and many explorers throughout history, this pyramid built by Menkaure is extremely
alluring.
There was never a time when people were more fascinated by Menkaure’s pyramid than the
Islamic Golden Age, which occurred between the 8th and 14th centuries. The folklore of
that era held that the Menkaure pyramid was filled with a vast amount of treasure. A version
of such tales is preserved in the compilation, “One Thousand and One Arabian Nights”
in the chapter of night number two hundred ninety-eight.
A modern curiosity about the pyramid is the great breach across this pyramid’s northern
face. So let’s closely examine the history of this enormous scar.
The origin of the damage to Menkaure’s pyramid is considered to be reliably known due to
a written account made by an eyewitness. Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi was a celebrated physician
and traveler who lived from 1162 to 1231 AD. A manuscript written by him titled “Account
of Egypt” is preserved at Oxford University. This manuscript details a vivid account of
the year 1196 in which the pyramid damage took place. Abd al-Latif was a patron of the
Egyptian sultan Al-Aziz Uthman, and Uthman was the son of the famous sultan Saladin.
I’ll read the full excerpt from Account of Egypt because there are many rich details
within it that are worth considering:
Quote:
“When Mélic-alaziz Othman ben-Yousouf succeeded his father, he let himself be persuaded by
some people in his court, men without good sense, to demolish these pyramids; and they
started with the red pyramid, which is the third of these great pyramids and the smallest.
The sultan therefore sent sappers, miners, and workers, led by some of the main officers
and leading emirs of his court, and ordered them to destroy it. To execute the orders
with which they were charged, they established their camp near the pyramid; they gathered
from all around a large number of workers, and maintained them at great expense. They
stayed there eight whole months, with all hands occupied with execution of the commission
with which they were charged, removing each day, after inflicting much pain on themselves
and exhausting all their strength, one or two stones. Some pushed from above with wedges
and levers, while others pulled from below with cords and cables. When one of the stones
finally fell, it made a dreadful noise, that resounded at great distance, and which shook
the ground and make the mountains tremble. When it fell, it buried itself in the sand;
it was again necessary to make great efforts to pull it out; after which they made notches
in the stone to insert wedges: they thus managed to break these stones into many pieces; then
they loaded each piece on a chariot to take it to the foot of a mountain a short distance
away, where they discarded it.
After having stayed encamped in this place for a long time, and having spent their pecuniary
resources, with their pain and fatigue always growing while their resolve weakened day by
day, and with their strength exhausted, they were forced to shamefully give up their enterprise.
Far from gaining the success they were promised, and accomplishing their design, they got nothing
from it but to mar the pyramid, and to show, in full evidence, their impotence and their
weakness. This happened in the year 593 [1196]. Today, when one looks at the stones coming
from the demolition, one can persuade oneself that the pyramid was destroyed down to the
foundations; but if, in contrast, one looks at the pyramid, it seems to have suffered
no degradation, and that on one side only a part of the facing has come off.”
End Quote
Before we dive in to analysis of this tale, let me know if you found it believable. Leave
a comment below and tell me what first struck you about Abd al-Latif’s tale.
Historians are conditioned to favor written evidence as the strongest form, and consequently
this account is taken at face value and promoted in mainstream books and publications. For
example, in the 2017 book ‘Giza and the Pyramids: A definitive history” - Mark Lehner
and Zahi Hawass, cite Abd al-Latif’s account as factual and without question.
Now let’s take a moment to consider what has been proposed. Imagine you were tasked
with dismantling a large stone pyramid using only levers, wedges, cords and cables. How
would you go about doing this? Where might you begin the work? Don’t think too hard,
because the solution is so obvious that any child could provide the answer.
You would begin dismantling the pyramid from the very top! Attacking the problem this way
would provide many advantages, including:
1 – The ability to move blocks that are not encumbered with weight from above nor
obstructed from the sides.
2 – Not risking injury and death when a block is dislodged because nobody needs to
work from below it.
3 – The edge of the pyramid is always unobstructed so that each block can be conveniently rolled
down the side and smash the ground with maximum velocity.
And 4 – Should you grow weary and give up this pointless task, you will have reduced
the pyramid’s height significantly by removing a small fraction of the total masonry. There’s
even a great example of this provided within eyesight.
So, Abd al-Latif, Mark Lehner, and Zahi Hawass would have us believe that for 8 months an
army of workers toiled at demolishing Menkaure’s pyramid without attempting to do so from the
summit. Obviously, this is not an entirely truthful account. People often lie about the
pyramids, but the truth is embedded in the stones – a reflection of the massive work
and thought that went into their construction – and in this case, their destruction.
Well, what exactly were Al-Aziz Uthman’s men up to then? The answer is revealed by
studying other pyramids of the 4th dynasty and comparing the arrangements of their passages
and chambers.
All pyramids from the 4th, 5th and 6th dynasties have their entrances centered or nearly centered
on the north side. This includes the neighboring pyramids of Khafre and Khufu. It is, however,
unlikely that Al-Aziz Uthman’s men were unable to locate the entrance to Menkaure’s
pyramid. It is not remotely disguised, in fact the dressed casing stones advertise its
location quite clearly. The interior had also been opened and plundered long ago. It’s
true that there have been times where pyramids at Giza had their entrances obscured by stones
which had fallen from above in combination with increasing heaps of wind-blown sand.
But excavating a few courses of loose debris at the bottom of the pyramid would be much
easier than tunneling directly inwards through the solid masonry. So, what other reason might
there be for excavating stones at this location?
The answer is of course, to look at the Great Pyramid and note that the King’s Chamber
is high within the superstructure centered on the north axis. Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi
wrote in Account of Egypt that Khufu’s pyramid was open during this time, and that he and
others explored its interior. Furthermore, Menkaure’s pyramid has a dead-end corridor
leading from the upper chamber and directed above the main entrance. This corridor would
have provoked extreme curiosity, as people from the 12th century did not possess the
knowledge that some internal pyramid features are simply leftover construction elements.
Rather than attempting to tunnel upward in a confined space, Al-Aziz Uthman’s men opted
to excavate towards this location from the outside, allowing for a much superior and
comfortable workspace. Hoping to find store-rooms filled with treasure, they exerted a great
deal of effort concentrated in this specific area to meet this goal. There was negligible
effort to destroy the pyramid other than this central breach. They even stopped their work
right above the original granite casing line, perhaps because the limestone was much easier
to dig through.
Why then, did Abd al-Latif recount a story about destroying the pyramid rather than a
treasure-hunt? Here we must depart from rock-hard evidence towards reasonable speculation. My
guess would be that whomever proposed this pyramid demolishing project to Al-Aziz Uthman
wanted to hunt for treasure at the sultan’s expense. The details in Abd al-Latif’s account
focus a great deal on the cost of this endeavor, conspicuously not elaborating on the religious
implications of the failed attempt to destroy a pyramid. The story emphasizes the futility
of the desecration, seemingly to distract from the awfulness of the attempted effort.
Better to look a fool than be discovered as a thief, it would seem.
But let us not be fooled anymore by this fable, and let it be a lesson for spotting modern
speculations of hidden treasure within these great monuments.
Here is former Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, proclaiming
that a pharaoh’s treasure still hides within the Great Pyramid.
“I really believe that Khufu’s burial chamber is still hidden until now inside the
pyramid. And maybe when we send in the future, another robot to reveal what’s behind these
doors, maybe the secrets of Khufu pyramid will be revealed for the first time.”
There is no evidence to support Zahi’s assertion about Khufu’s burial, and even though he
repeats it often, I don’t think it’s what he actually believes. Rather, this story is
simply designed to entice tourism with mystery and treasure.
But for myself, there is no greater treasure than understanding the stories told from studying
the design of these megaliths. There’s more to learn about ancient Egypt from the pyramid
stones than most mainstream academic scholarship would have you believe. Every large block
has a story, and with enough context you can deduce exactly what the Ancient Egyptians
were up to thousands of years ago.
If any of you have a favorite pyramid stone or feature you would like investigated, please
tell me in the comments below and we can take a closer look together.
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