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MYSTERIOUS WORLD: Autumn 1999: The Riddle of the Sphinx Part IV: The Secret Chamber Editorial | Fragments | Cave of the Mounds | Thunderbird | Sphinx IV Register for our Hall of Records Newsletter! Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Advertising? Press Releases? Contact us! The Riddle of the Sphinx Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV obert Bauval was the first to truly begin to solve the Riddle of the Sphinx in his classic book, The Orion Mystery. Since then, other prominent authors, including most notably Graham Hancock, have picked up the ball on the question of the Riddle of the Sphinx, focusing their efforts not only on defining what the Riddle means, but what its answer is. Inevitably, all come to the same conclusion, that the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx is that the pyramids and Sphinx form a vast, three-dimensional treasure map, where X marks the spot on a mysterious Secret Chamber somewhere in the Giza necropolis. This chamber is believed to house an ancient Hall of Records which contains knowledge of the ancient world before the Flood, so naturally archaeologists, historians, and those interested in history in general are keen to discover the ancient Secret Chamber, if it truly exists. We learned in the previous installment of The Riddle of the Sphinx that the layout of the Giza necropolis was intended to reflect the patterns of certain constellations, most specifically, the constellation of Orion. Furthermore, we saw how the shafts in the Great Pyramid were aligned with major stars in the sky as they were located relative to Earth in 2500 b.c., and how it is believed that this proves that the ancient Egyptians were aware of the phenomenon of precession. Hancock and Bauval described at length in The Message of the Sphinx that the ancient Egyptian astronomer priests used their knowledge of astronomy and architecture to lay out the buildings of the Giza necropolis in such a way that their advanced understanding of these disciplines was permanently embedded in them. Furthermore, they believe that the ultimate purpose of the Giza necropolis was to serve as a permanent, three-dimensional "treasure map", that would allow enlightened individuals, in both their time and in the future, to find a "secret chamber" somewhere in the area. In this secret chamber, it is believed, are the records of the ancient world before even Egypt existed, possibly even from the world before the Flood. If true, the knowledge contained in this Secret Chamber, commonly referred to as the Hall of Records, would be the single greatest archaeological, historical, and spiritual discovery in the history of the world. The Quest of the Horus King was the quest for this ancient knowledge of the ancient history of mankind - the truth about our origins, history and, some believe, ancient technology that rivals and possibly exceeds some of our modern technology in some ways. In the world before the Flood, it is believed by some, there was an ancient civilization that rivaled ancient Atlantis in power. This ancient empire, that is sometimes referred to as the Osirian Empire, existed 12-15,000 years ago, and encompassed southern Europe, North Africa and the area now filled in by the Mediterranean Sea. The Osirian Empire was contemporaneous with the other mythical ancient empires such as Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean and the Rama Empire which occupied the area now known as India, though whether or not these empires were myth or legend will be discussed in future articles. David Hatcher Childress explains the theory of the Osirian Empire: According to esoteric tradition, about fifteen thousand years ago, there were a number of highly developed and sophisticated civilizations on our planet, each with a technology that largely surpasses our own.... It is said that at the time of Atlantis and Rama, the Mediterranean was a large and fertile valley, rather than a sea as it is today. The Nile River came out of Africa, as it does today, and was called the River Styx. However, instead of flowing into the Mediterranean Sea at the Nile Delta in northern Egypt, it continues into the valley, and then turned westward to flow in the deepest part of the Mediterranean Valley, just to the south of Crete, between Malta and Sicily, south of Sardinia and then into the Atlantic at Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules). This huge, fertile valley, along with the Sahara desert a vast, fertile plain, were known in ancient times as the Osirian Empire.1 According to Childress, there are currently in existence all over the world ancient esoteric writings that describe the destruction of the Osirian Empire as being closely linked with the destruction of Atlantis: According to esoteric information, stored (even today) in secret libraries in ancient Egypt, China, India, Tibet and other places, Atlantis was destroyed in a cataclysmic upheaval that was essentially isolated only to that mini-continent. With this cataclysmic change in the Atlantic, the Osirian Civilization was slowly flooded as the Mediterranean Basin began to fill with water. Great cities were flooded, and Osirians began moving to higher ground. This theory helps explain the strange megalithic remains all over the Mediterranean, especially on the islands of Malta, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Crete and the Baleric Islands of Spain. Sunken structures of megalithic proportions have been found off Morocco and Cadiz in Spain. It is an archaeological fact that there are more than 200 known sunken cities in the Mediterranean. Egyptian civilization, along with the Minoan and Mycenean in Crete and Greece are, in theory, remnants of this great, ancient culture.2 Childress mentions one specific example of a sunken city, Alexandria where a submerged port was found. This ancient port, by its very existence, is proof that the Mediterranean was once much shallower than it is today. Moreover, the megalithic construction of the port and other structures nearby, like Abydos and the Sphinx Temple, predate the historical Egyptians, hearkening back to the days of Predynastic Egypt and the "Followers of Horus" mentioned in part 2 of this series. Divers led by Steven Schwartz, author of The Alexandria Project also found huge sculptures, including a huge, 20-foot block of stone which they dubbed "The Crown of Osiris". This huge crown was part of a much larger statue of Osiris, which was probably in excess of 100 feet tall. Childress explains, With the Mediterranean slowly filling up with water, it must have stabilized after a few hundred years, and then the remnants of the Osirians, using a technology and science inherited from Atlantis, built what structures and ports they could. Later, in another tectonic shift, the port area, probably used by what we would call "pre-dynastic Egyptians" like those who built Abydos and the Temple of the Sphinx, was submerged, and was then generally useless. It is interesting to note, in accord with this theory, that a Temple to Poseidon was located at the tip of Ras El Tin. Atlantis was known to the ancients as Poseid, and Poseidonis or Poseidon, was a legendary king of Atlantis. Similarly, Poseidonis and Osiris are thought to be the same person. 3 The namesake of this fabled Osirian Empire was the Egyptian god Osiris, the ancient god of the Egyptians, who predated most of the gods of Egypt including Re. The origin of Osiris is not clear, though myths of Osiris abound in Egyptian religion and myth. Childress believes that Osiris was an actual historical person who, like Gilgamesh of Mesopotamian myth, was given godlike status over time. This man "Osiris" was known all around the Mediterranean, and examples of his handiwork can be found throughout the Mediterranean and its coasts. Suddenly, in view of the advanced and ancient civilization in the Mediterranean, the mystery of some of the awesome and inexplicable sites around the Mediterranean, such as Ba'albek [in Lebanon], does not seem quite so mysterious after all.... This theory of Ba'albek being some remnant of the Osirian Empire, along with some of the other megalithic sites in the Mediterranean, fits in well with the Arab legend that the massive stone blocks were built a short time after the Flood, at the order of the legendary King Nimrod, by a "tribe of giants." King Nimrod, and Poseidon, are just other names for Osiris of Egyptian mythology. 4 Nimrod also shows up in the Bible as a notable figure after the line of Ham, son of Noah. According to the Bible, the second generation of Noah's sons included one notable figure known as Nimrod: 1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. 6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah,and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (Gen. 10:1, 6-10, KJV) Even though Nimrod's kingdom appears in the Bible to have been restricted to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), this is unlikely as Cush, his father, was the father of the Kushites, who lived in what is now Ethiopia, south of Egypt. Similarly, Mizraim, Cush's brother, was the father of the Egyptians (miz rai'm is the Hebrew name for Egypt - literally, "the two lands", referring to upper and lower Egypt). It is also instructive to note, however, that the Bible said that the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, indicating that he may have spread outward from Mesopotamia, spreading out throughout the ancient Mediterranean world building magnificent structures the likes of which cannot be duplicated even today. Image from E.W. Bullinger, The Witness of the Stars (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1967), 125. All rights reserved. One of the prime factors for believing that all of the most ancient megalithic sites around the Mediterranean were built by one man, Nimrod, is their consistent relationships with the stars, particularly the constellation of Orion. We have already seen in part three of this series that the pyramids were built and laid out in such a way as to duplicate the stars of the constellation of Orion. Another link to Orion exists, however, in the city of Edessa, in what is now southeastern Turkey, in the same region as described in the Bible as being where Nimrod built his major cities. The oldest known name of Edessa was actually Ourhoi (Syriac), Ourhai (Armenian), or Er Roha (Arabic)5, which is very close to our modern "Orion". Furthermore, the name of the province of Edessa was originally called Orrheone. Adrian Gilbert explains in Magi: The Quest for a Secret Tradition, "Given that there is strong evidence there was an Orion cult at Edessa, the similarity between the words Orrheonis and Orionis is such as to suggest that it was from here that the Greek Orion cult had its origins."6 Top: The pillars of Edessa, on an ancient coin. The pillars are connected by a central figure surmounted by a cross shape and flanked by the moon. These pillars were closely linked with the throne of Nimrod/Orion. Bottom: An illustration of the pillars, with the constellation of Orion as it would appear to an observer looking south. Images from Adrian Gilbert, Magi: The Quest for a Secret tradition (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1996), 203-204. The city of Edessa is actually closely associated with Nimrod, and is even known as "The Throne of Nimrod" to this day. There is a prominent set of pillars in the city, which are closely associated with Nimrod's throne, and which even appear on the coinage of the day. One coin shows a figure standing between the pillars with his arms outstretched, surrounded by astronomical symbols. Gilbert noticed, when examining the pillars, that when viewing them from the north, the constellation of Orion passes in between them, just like the figure on the coin. A set of steps on the southern end of the pillars tends to reinforce the cultic aspect of these pillars, and they probably served in a late-night ritual wherein the king assumed his throne between the pillars just when Orion passed between them, symbolically taking on the ancient mantle of authority linked with the constellation. According to the myths, the Greek Orion (or Oarion) was a son of Poseidon. [Again, the Poseidon link.] Like Nimrod in the Bible he was a hunter and a giant. He was also exceedingly handsome but, as is so often the case, this was to lead him into trouble. When, after failing to rid the island of Chios of wild animals, Orion seduced Merope the daughter of its king, the latter having him blinded as a punishment. An oracle told Orion that he could have his sight restored if he travelled east and exposed his eyeballs to the rising sun. Accordingly, he went to the island of Lemnos and there Eos (the dawn goddess) fell in love with him, his sight being restored by her brother Helios (the Sun).7 We can see in the Greek Orion myth a number of parallels with the Egyptian legend of Osiris. The story of his blinding by the king of Chios echoes the murder of the Egyptian god-king Osiris by his brother Seth, whilst both Isis and Eos are goddesses associated with the dawn who entreat the Sun-god (Ra/Helios respectively) to bring Osiris/Orion back to full health. In ancient Egypt the resurrection of Osiris was a matter of profound religious significance, which seems to have been connected with the annual reappearance of the Orion constellation at dawn after a period of invisibility. However, Orion can also be "blinded", i.e., his stars become invisible, when the moon (especially a full moon) passes close by.8 This brings us full circle back to the Quest of the Horus King. We now know that the purpose of the Quest of the Horus King was not for mere wealth or power, but for a knowledge of the ancient Osirian Empire and its secrets which, some believe, included the knowledge of ancient technologies saved from the Flood. Moreover, we now know that the Horus King, by undergoing the Quest, was walking in the footsteps of none other than Nimrod himself, who many believe built elaborate underground complexes to hide his treasures. The pyramids, though grand, were built long after Nimrod had passed on, though enough of his wisdom had remained to enable the ancient Egyptians to build the magnificent pyramids. However, as was described in part one of this series, the Sphinx and its temple were built around the time of Nimrod, as far back as 9000 b.c. or earlier. It was during this time that the Osirian Empire flourished, the Sahara and all of Northern Africa being a lush paradise instead of the arid wasteland it is today. This is supported by geological data, and confirmed by the rainwater erosion prominent on the Sphinx and the walls of the Sphinx enclosure. The Horus King, looking to find his spiritual "father", Osiris/Nimrod, the founder of Egyptian civilization, underwent the quest in order to retain the ancient wisdom once held by Nimrod and his forebears. The idea of there being a secret chamber buried somewhere beneath the Sphinx was first popularized by renowned psychic Edgar Cayce in 1932. Cayce believed that this secret chamber contained an ancient Hall of Records, which contained, among other things, manuscripts detailing the history of mankind much further back than we are currently aware - possibly even back to the world before the Flood. He also predicted that the Hall would be discovered sometime around the year 2000. In recent years, this prophecy may have come true. Scientists using an array of techniques, searching on and around the Sphinx, have discovered one or more large, box-shaped, hollow areas just below the Sphinx. One of these enclosures is located beneath of the paws of the Sphinx, just where Cayce had predicted the Hall of Records would be found. Bauval explains, The Giza necropolis, it seems, has finally decided to discharge all its secrets at once. For not far from the Great Pyramid, in a shallow enclave to the East, is the Great Sphinx. It, too, may be guarding a treasure-trove under its belly: a "Hall of Records" of a civilization long lost in the mist of time. There, too, with amazing synchronicity, an entrance to such a vault has been known since 1993. Why have these "chambers" not yet been opened? What could be within them? Could the Egyptian authorities know more than they are letting on?9 The general consensus in the "legitimate" archaeological community is that Cayce's predictions are nonsense, and that the whole belief in a "secret chamber" beneath the Sphinx is just a bunch of superstitious mumbo-jumbo. Yet, Cayce's prediction of a secret chamber beneath the Sphinx struck a powerful chord in the public psyche worldwide. Ever since, the idea has been hotly debated by both amateurs and acamedics, erudite scholars and "pyramidiots". All types of people from around the world, from serious questers to utter quacks have descended upon the Giza plateau in the decades since Cayce's utterances, seeking out the lost chamber that is supposed to contain the wisdom of the ages. The lure of a "secret chamber" or Hall of Records at Giza has fired the imagination of the general public and has drawn into this history-long quest a horde of unusual seekers. Ranging from sedate scientists to armchair speculators, from eminent academic institutions to dubious psychic societies, from reputable archaeologists to innocuous Walter Mitty characters, and from staunch skeptics to New Age gurus, a bedazzling assortment of followers have rubbed shoulders at Giza. In trying to make an intelligent assessment of all these goings on, the innocent bystanders will have to sieve through a bewildering pile of conflicting rumours and "official" information poured into the media and the cybernet news machine. Periods of eerie silence from the Egyptian authorities as well as the Egyptological establishment, when coupled with some rather erratic behaviour from the main players, inevitably caused the great rumour mill of the Internet to hatch a series of global conspiracy theories involving foreign governments, the CIA, powerful business moguls and Egyptian government officials, as well as myself. The result is that truth has been mixed with fiction, blurring and distorting the reality of the drama which is unfolding there on the eve of the new millennium. For on this dusty plateau of Giza is being played history's most exciting and most meaningful game: the quest, no less, for the spiritual and cultural origins of civilization, and its true destiny.10 The Association of Research and Enlightenment (ARE) The more serious investigators into the question of the existence of a Secret Chamber can be divided into two primary groups: the ARE, and independent researchers such as John Anthony West, Robert Bauval, and Graham Hancock. The ARE, the Association of Research and Enlightenment, was formed by Edgar Cayce and his group of followers in 1931 for the purpose of researching ancient history through the use of Cayce's "psychic readings". Whatever one thinks of this sort of thing, the fact remains that Cayce's work was and is the prime motivating force behind the search for the secret chamber. To this end, in 1957 two amateur researchers, indirectly affiliated with the ARE, journeyed to Egypt to test Cayce's theory. These two intrepid women managed to get their way past massive amounts of red tape during a period of great turmoil and anti-American sentiment in Egypt. They went right up to the Sphinx and began drilling holes in the rock just in front of its paws, but hit the water table after only eight feet, as the Nile was at its height at that time of the year. Despite their failure to find anything of substance, the fact that these two wome… truncated (35,192 more characters in archive)