The following words are taken from the Works of Herodotus;
Herodotus's words are in brackets.
[It took ten years' oppression of the people to make the
causeway for the conveyance of the stones, a work not much inferior,
in my judgment, to the pyramid itself. This causeway is five
furlongs in length, ten fathoms wide, and in height, at the highest
part, eight fathoms. It is built of polished stone, and is covered
with carvings of animals. To make it took ten years, as I said- or
rather to make the causeway, the works on the mound where the
pyramid stands, and the underground chambers, which Cheops intended as
vaults for his own use: these last were built on a sort of island,
surrounded by water introduced from the Nile by a canal. ]
Note; Nowhere does he state that Cheops built the pyramid itself!
Nor does he state catagoricly that the underground chambers were
beneath the pyramid itself! In fact he states they were on a'sort of
island'.
[The pyramid itself was twenty years in building.]
Note; This is the section where Herodotis makes a mistake in the
phrasing or the translaters are making the error. As I will show
later on the above phrase is in error,or incomplete in explaination.
[It is a square, eight hundred feet each way, and the height the same,
built entirely of polished stone, fitted together with the utmost care.]
Note; We know that the pyramid was not built entirely of polished stones
as it now stands. They are of precisely cut blocks that are unpolished.
[The stones of which it is composed are none of them less than thirty
feet in length.]
Note; We know this is not true. There is not one stone
on the outside of the pyramid as we see it, that is of that dimension.
However, that may have been true of the dimensions of the white
capping stones it was once covered with.
[The pyramid was built in steps, battlement-wise, as it is
called, or, according to others, altar-wise.]
Note;Now he is refering to the actual pyramid as we see it today.
As it was BEFORE KHUFU COVERED IT WITH THE WHITE POLISHED STONES
THAT HAD WRITING ON THEM!
[After laying the stones for the base, they raised the remaining
stones to their places by means of machines formed of short wooden
planks. The first machine raised them from the ground to the top
of the first step. On this there was another machine, which received
the stone upon its arrival, and conveyed it to the second step, whence
a third machine advanced it still higher. Either they had as many
machines as there were steps in the pyramid, or possibly they had but
a single machine, which, being easily moved, was transferred from tier
to tier as the stone rose- both accounts are given, and therefore I
mention both.]
Note;IN OTHER WORDS THE PYRAMID WAS ALREADY THERE, HE WAS USING IT
TO LIFT THE STONES HE WAS PLACING OVER THE PYRAMID.
[The upper portion of the pyramid was finished first, then the middle,
and finally the part which was lowest and nearest the ground.]
Note;HOW IN GOD'S NAME ANY ONE WITH BRAINS COULD READ THAT WITHOUT
LAUGHING I DON'T KNOW! I HAVE READ WORKS BY SERIOUS PEOPLE TRYING TO
WORK THAT ONE OUT! HE WASN'T BUILDING THE PYRAMID! HE WAS COVERING IT
WITH POLISHED STONES!
[There is an inscription in Egyptian characters on the
pyramid which records the quantity of radishes, onions, and garlic
consumed by the labourers who constructed it; and I perfectly well
remember that the interpreter who read the writing to me said that the
money expended in this way was 1600 talents of silver.]
Note; It is obvious to me that Herodotus did not fully explain that
what he was talking about was the great work that Khufu did in
re-covering the pyramid with polished stones. NOT in the building of it!
And of course his method of placing the polished stone was ingenious.
By starting at the top of the pyramid to place the polished stone
he was then able to use the steps of the pyramid to get the huge
slabs up and put in place. And if they were thin sheets of polished
stone then the job of moving them was not as bad as moving blocks
of 30 feet. Thus, he worked his way down the pyramid to cover it!
Using the steps of the already built pyramid to raise them up. He
would have also been able to use the steps of the pyramid [with a
form of wedge] to brace and hold them in place. That makes his
statement that he started from the top and worked down reasonable.
So those silly people who have been trying to find a way that he
turned the whole pyramid upsidedown seem a bit doltish, don't they?
What we should be asking is; Did he add these polished sheets of
limestone to cover the pyramid because previous ones had been
stolen before his time? Has anyone tried to estimate the amount of
slabs taken from the pyramid and used in buildings in Cairo? And
if so do they tally with the amount that is missing? Or are there
more than the missing stones? That would mean that they had been
robbing the pyramid for building before his time.