Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi, also known as Makrizi (1364–1442), wrote from Coptic sources that “the first pyramid [the Great] was especially dedicated to history and astronomy; the second [pyramid] to medical knowledge.” (40, p. 354)
Researchers and authors David Davidson and H. Aldersmith published in 1924 a large book titled The Great Pyramid: Its Divine Message. In this book the prophecy timeline was meticulously detailed and correlated to known world events and supposed future events. Davidson first got the idea of a timeline from W. Marsham Adams, author of The House of the Hidden Places: A Clue to the Creed of the Egyptians (1895) and The Book of the Master (1898). Adams wrote that “the unique system of passages and chambers in the Great Pyramid have little meaning as a tomb but have an allegorical significance only explained by referring to the Egyptian Book of the Dead.” (12, p. iii) When we think about this, if the Great Pyramid were only a tomb for the pharaoh, it would not need so many passageways, chambers, and unusual features; such as the Great Step, the granite “veil” stone in the antechamber to the King’s Chamber, and the distinctive elements of the pyramid’s subterranean portion. Adams wrote that select chapters in the Egyptian Book of the Dead refer to an “ideal structure and to the passages and chambers therein, and that these passages and chambers followed precisely the order and description of those of the Great Pyramid.” (12, p. 88)
The exact translation of the original title of the Egyptian Book of the Dead is The Book of Coming Forth into the Light (often translated Coming Forth by Day). And since the Great Pyramid was called Ta Khut, meaning “The Light,” you can see how some portions of the papyrus texts might relate to the Great Pyramid, especially since the Egyptian Book of the Dead describes passages, halls, chambers, transitions, tests, dangerous or even wrong turns, and various gates through which the dead must make their way—or through which initiates receive training about life beyond death.
Likely influenced by the popular Tibetan Book of the Dead, the German Egyptologist Karl Richards Lepsius, the first translator of the papyrus texts, labeled the whole collection Egyptian Book of the Dead. Curiously, the Tibetan Book of the Dead is actually titled Bardo Thodol, which in Tibetan means liminality liberation, akin to “threshold of liberation.” Its title is often transliterated as Liberation through Hearing during the Intermediate State. Both of these books are about consciousness and activity in the Netherworld or the realm of the dead. However, both appear to also have much information for the incarnate to use in becoming aware of the nonphysical realms of life beyond this physical reality and may therefore also be useful for experiencing the realms beyond the physical while in physicality. The fact that ancient people were so interested in the life after death of the physical body has added to this theory that the Great Pyramid with its many passageways, chambers, and unusual features may have been used to initiate incarnate souls into the other dimensions of life.
W. Marsham Adams likely got some of his ideas from Professor Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland from 1846 to 1888. (Piazzi Smyth was the pioneer of the modern practice of placing telescopes at high altitudes to enjoy the best observing conditions.) Professor Smyth and his wife Jessie (who accompanied him on all of his travels) camped next to the Great Pyramid to measure the exterior and interior of the amazing edifice. Professor Smyth published his book Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid in 1864 and expanded it over the years. This book is also titled in some editions, The Great Pyramid: Its Secrets and Mysteries Revealed. Smyth claimed that the measurements he obtained from the Great Pyramid revealed the “pyramid inch,” equivalent to 1.001 British inch. He believed it was the standard of measurement used by the architects of the ancient structure. Smyth also believed that the pyramid inch was a divinely inspired measurement handed down from the time of Shem, one of Noah’s three sons who are Shem, Ham, and Japheth and whose descendants eventually became seventy nations (Genesis 10). Shem’s descendants became the Semitic populations which include most all Middle Eastern peoples; this would also contain the Jews and Arabs, as well as many others in antiquity. While measuring the pyramid, Smyth wrote that he found the number of inches in the perimeter of the base equal to one thousand times the number of days in a year, and he found a numeric relationship between the height of the pyramid in inches to the distance between Earth and the Sun in miles. He also wrote that “proceeding around the globe due north and due south of the Great Pyramid . . . there is more earth and less sea in that meridian than in any other meridian all the equator round.” He also wrote that “taking the distribution of land and sea in parallels of latitude, there is more land-surface in the Great Pyramid’s general parallel of 30° than in any other.” (33, p. 89) And he made attractive and often reprinted maps to support his statements. Unfortunately, when carefully measured, neither of these statements appears to be correct. And there were other pronouncements from various pyramidologists that proved to be incorrect, such as the authoritative statement that the sarcophagus in the King’s Chamber and the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible have the same volume—adding a biblical and godly connection between the pyramid and the Bible. Here are the dimensions and volumes of the two famous artifacts. As we can see, the Ark has much less volume than the sarcophagus.
| Sarcophagus (interior) | Ark of the Covenant (exterior) |
| Length = 6.51 feet | Length = 3.75 feet |
| Width = 2.23 feet | Width = 2.25 feet |
| Depth = 2.87 feet | Height = 2.25 feet |
| Volume = 41.67 cubic feet | Volume = 18.98 cubic feet |
Thus, the theory that the Great Pyramid contained a prophecy that could be revealed by detailed measurements and correlated with verses in the Egyptian Book of the Dead was thrown into doubt as a result of these inaccurate statements by many of the original pyramidologists. Unfortunately, many, many people have repeated these mistaken claims for years, even today.
Nevertheless, before throwing the whole of pyramidology out the window, let’s continue with our exploration into the timeline prophecy.
In 1910 while calculating and measuring the prophecy inside the Great Pyramid, David Davidson and H. Aldersmith used a measurement now known as the “pyramid inch,” which was derived from John Greaves’ original work with the sacred cubit. Subsequent pyramidologists and even anti-pyramidologists, such as Petrie, affirmed that the 25-inch sacred cubit was clearly used in the construction of the Great Pyramid.
For David Davidson this use of the sacred cubit in the construction of the edifice was clear evidence that the measuring units did not originate in Egypt and that another more ancient culture using an oral tradition and meeting a cataclysmic end brought the wisdom to Egypt. Here’s Davidson: “The fact that these systems were derived from the scale of the Sacred Cubit of 25 P. inches again confirms that the Egyptian units of measure were not formulated in Egypt. The sacred system and its derived Egyptian Units all clearly belong to the period of the former civilization . . . ” (12, p. 70) To support his position Davidson points that the major ancient cultures all have a legend of a prior culture which met its end in a manner that was devastating. He writes: “In ancient Egypt, the tradition exists as ‘The Destruction of Mankind,’ in ancient Mexico and Peru as ‘The Destruction of the World,’ and in Babylonia and Assyria, and in China, as ‘The Deluge.’ These traditional accounts, when compared, indicate they are various versions of the Noachian [Noah] Deluge narrative in the Hebrew Book of Genesis.” (12, p. 39) Davidson clarifies his comments in a footnote stating, “It must always be remembered, however, that in all stages and periods of civilization the highest forms exist alongside the primitive and barbarous. Even the best authorities permit themselves to forget this.” (12, p. 39)
The length of a pyramid inch is not only a portion of the sacred cubit but is also the space on the underside of a stone relief in the antechamber