Pyramidology

Pyramidology is a term used to refer to various pseudoscientific speculations regarding pyramids.[1]

Most of these speculations deal in particular with the Egyptian pyramids, especially the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. However, "pyramidologists" also concern themselves with the monumental structures of pre-Columbian America (such as Teotihuacan the Mesoamerican Maya civilization, and the Inca of the South American Andes), and the temples of Southeast Asia.

The claims of pyramidology are regarded as pseudoscience by the scientific community at large, who regard their hypotheses as sensationalist, inaccurate and wholly deficient in empirical analysis and application of the scientific method. Even so, several writers whose speculative works consist of or use material of this nature have found a receptive audience among some sectors of the general public, and the sales of their books can be substantial.

Types of pyramidology
The main types of pyramidological accounts involve one or more aspects which are :

pseudoarchaeological: Theories that deny that the pyramids were built to serve as tombs; alternative explanations about the construction of the pyramids (for example the use of anti-gravity technology); and hypotheses that they were built by someone other than the historical Ancient Egyptians (e.g. Atlanteans, extra-terrestrials).
numerological: Theories that the measurements of the Great Pyramid are esoterically significant, and their geometric measurements contain some encoded message.
Pyramid power: Claims that pyramids as a geometrical shape contain supernatural powers.

[edit] History
Charles Piazzi Smyth probably coined the term, and claimed in 1870 to have made important contributions to "Pyramidology".[2]

Martin Gardner described Pyramidology in 1952, thusly:

“ [...] known as Pyramidology [...] rivals Atlantis in the number of books devoted to it [...]"[1] ”

Gardner continues:

“ [...] it was not until 1859 that Pyramidology was born. This was the year that John Taylor, an eccentric partner in a London publishing firm, issued his The Great Pyramid: Why was it Built? And Who Built it? [...] Taylor never visited the Pyramid, but the more he studied its structure, the more he became convinced that its architect was not an Egyptian, but an Israelite acting under divine orders. Perhaps it was Noah himself."[1] ”

This diagram from Smyth's Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid (1864) shows some of his measurements and chronological determinations made from themJohn Taylor was also the source of the frequenty claimed appearances of both Pi and the golden ratio in the proportions of the pyramids.

Taylor in turn influenced Charles Piazzi Smyth, who made numerous calculations on the pyramid, and attributed its construction to the Hebrews (Whom he assimilated to the Hyksos dynasty), under the guidance of Melchizedek.

These theories were then integrated in the works of Charles Taze Russell, who founded the Bible Student movement (most visible today in the Jehovah's Witnesses, although Russell's successor, Joseph F. Rutherford, denounced pyramidology as unscriptural resulting in Jehovah's Witnesses having little knowledge of Pyramidology. The other branch of the movment, known as Bible Students, continues to study and follow the views of Pyramidology).

Two brothers John and Morton Edgar, associates of Charles Taze Russell, wrote extensive treatises on the history, nature, and prophetic symbolism of the Great Pyramid in relation to known archaeological history, and prophetic and Biblical chronology. They are best known for the extensive and lengthy work Great Pyramid Passages and Chambers, originally published in 1910 and greatly expanded in 1923.

David Davidson wrote on pyramidology in books such The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message, and predicted various times for the end of the world based on measurements of the pyramid, starting about 1953.

In 1957 Adam Rutherford from Scotland, an adherent of Charles Taze Russell's theological views, wrote "Outline of Pyramidology". This was updated in 1961 and 1962 and renamed as "Pyramidology Books 1 & 2" followed by "Pyramidology Book 3" in 1966.[3] In these books Rutherford acknowledges his debt to Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, a fellow Scot for diagrams used in his books. Rutherford believed that the Great Pyramid of Cheops was God's revelation of "His great and wonderful plan to be portrayed in symbols of stone long before the Bible was written". This theory was based on a passage of scripture in Isaiah 19: 19-20, reading, "In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar (Hebrew "matstsebah" or monument) at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign, and for a witness unto the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt."


[edit] Pyramidiots
Barbara Mertz reports another term for Pyramidologists:

“ Even in modern times when people, one would think, should know better, the Great Pyramid of Giza has proved a fertile field for fantasy. The people who do not know better are the Pyramid mystics, who believe that the Great Pyramid is a gigantic prophecy in stone, built by a group of ancient adepts in magic. Egyptologists sometimes uncharitably refer to this group as 'Pyramidiots,' but the school continues to flourish despite scholarly anathemas.[4] ”


[edit] References
^ a b c Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, Dover, 1957; a reprint of In the Name of Science, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1952.
^ Charles Piazzi Smyth (1870). A poor man's photography at the Great pyramid in the year 1865, compared with that of the Ordnance Survey Establishment Subsidized by London Wealth, and under the Orders of Henry James: A Discourse Delivered before the Edinburgh Photographic Society on December 1st, 1869. London: Henry Greenwood.
^ Adam Rutherford, Pyramidology Books 1,2 and 3, C. Tinling & Co Ltd London, Liverpool and Prescot 1961, 1962 & 1966.
^ Barbara Mertz, Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A popular history of ancient Egypt, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1964