Hullart.com Blog tagged 'Pyramids'

Pyramids of Egypt and the Mystery of Size

jim@hullart.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:00:00 +0100

One of the most interesting facts about the Egyptian Pyramids is the 'scale up and scale down' history of pyramid building. In just 60 years, based on historical accounts, the Egyptians went from a pyramid containing 330,000 cubic meters of material t0 one containing 2,600,000 cubic meters of material(Giza/ 4th Dynasty). In addition the complexity of construction progressed on a similar order. In the intervening time frame only two other pyramids were attempted and th [...]

The Ruins of Antiquity, the ruins of the Modern Age

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:00:00 +0100

As a part of the Burning Forest series I am creating a series of paintings depicting ruins of old and a vision of what the ruins of today might look like sometime in the not to distant future. The ruins of old in most cases reflect great architecture, character and the great materials used in construction. The ruins are as compelling as tghe original structures ( In some cases more compelling!). Of today's ruins I cannot say the same. In most cases I think they will look like [...]

Pyramids and the Power of Emptiness

jim@hullart.com — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0100

Lack of information, or emptiness, is one of the key precepts of Chinese aesthetics. It is the experience of having done the work of art that is important and not the work itself. Is that the case with the Pyramids? Was it more important to the builders to have done it than to have recorded the how and why? In the arts it is the undsaid that carries the energy through the piece. As Simon Leys relates in his book The Burning Forest,

" It should be observed [...]

The Mystery of Records and Purpose

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0100

" Extant Egyptian records, whether written or pictorial, throw no light on the methods employed by the builders of the pyramids either in planning or in constructing their monumental works."

So says I.E.S. Edwards in his famous book The Pyramids or Egypt. Logically this makes no sense. But whatever information they used to construct the pyramids on the Giza Plateau must also have been quickly lost as the preceding contructions reveal a lack of the same sophistication [...]

Pyramids and Order from Chaos

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Painting the pyramids made me think in different terms as regards meaning and purpose. As monuments meant to last an eternity they must have some meaning that goes beyond their 'local' purpose. I think it is to represent man who has the potential of being the ultimate order from chaos machine. I have written previously in regards to the structrue of the pyramid and that of man. Knowing that the ancients related the pyramid and its shape to the idea of order from chaos [...]

Logos and the Pyramids

jim@hullart.com — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0100

The golden section to some has represented logos or the male reproductive action. According to Peter Tompkins, in his book on the Secrets of the Great Pyramid, it not only represents this but also the logos of the gospel of St. John. How did the Egyptians see the golden section and why is it embedded in the construction mathematics of the Great Pyramid? Why do paintings that use the golden section and othe works of art appeal? I think that it is embedded in our sense of beauty and reflects a key [...]

Sensory Deprevation or Burial Chamber

jim@hullart.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Having visited the Kings Chamber in the great pyramid I must admit that it first appears to be more of a sensory deprivation chamber than a place of burial. The Egyptian culture was focused on how the interior life manifested itself in outward actions. Therefore I would not be surprised if these chambers, which we know were used for initiation rights, were also used by the priests to help their royal counterparts reach a deeper level of inner being. A level were a [...]

The Pyramids and Perfection

jim@hullart.com — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:00:00 +0100

As reported by Petrie, in his classic book from the 1800's on the Pyramids, the equisite detail and painstaking pursuit of perfection make these constructions both inspiring and enigmatic. A quote from the book.

" Hence the mean thickness of the [...]

Pythagoras and the Pyramid

jim@hullart.com — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Pythagoras gained a lot of his insight and direction from the Egyptians. One of the most important Pythagorean symbols was the tetractys. It is a pyramid shaped symbol made up of the first four whole numbers. One was for unity. Two was the dyad, the first principle of dichotomy. Three was the symbol [...]

Pyramid Construction and the Size of the Building Blocks

jim@hullart.com — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:00:00 +0100

A question that has always haunted me is why the builders used such large blocks in the construction? Logic would tell us that if at their size and weight(minimum 2.5 tons) it was difficult for them to handle they would have reduced their size to facilitate construction. The only conclusion that I can make is that they must not have had trouble working with such large masses or else the construction plan itself required the larger size. Why not make them the size of standard building blocks? [...]

Pyramid Math -- Part 1

jim@hullart.com — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0100

Not too long ago a program on Nova spotlighted a successful attempt to reconstruct a modern day pyramid near the great pyramids on the Giza Plateau. Over a several week(3) period, using the same methods they thought were used in the construcion of the Giza Pyramids, they were successful in building a pyramid of 186 stones(same size as the smallest in the Great Pyramid)that was 20 feet high. I decided to compare the performance on this new pyramid with the Great Pyramid to see how l [...]

Pyramid Math -- Part 2

jim@hullart.com — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0100

How many blocks per hour would the builders of the Great Pyramid have had to lay if it was built in 20 years?

Assumptions

20 years
365 days a year
no days off
2.4M blocks

1. 8 hour work day = 41 per hour
2. 10 hour work day = 32.9 per hour
3. 12 hour work day = 27.4 per hour

If this is true then we need to know what strategies they utilized to be this productive! This is the BIG STORY because if they were this productive then w [...]

Recent Article in Cosmos Magazine(Issue 18) on Gardens on Mars

jim@hullart.com — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0100

A recent article in Cosmos discussed the greening of mars. If we are looking for something of great value and magnitude that would get the world excited again about space it is just such a project. If we can green a planet perhaps we can learn enough to save and recover our own. For a world focused on 'industrialized consumptive destruction' this project, as a master project of a world wide Space Program, could turn the tide in thinking about priorities. Today we seem to think that it [...]

The Pyramids of Giza -- Purpose

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:00:00 +0100

On a recent trip to the Egypt, the Giza Plateau and many of the Temples, it became even more evident to me that the Egyptians created layered meanings into all that they made. Due to the complexity of their constructs it is easy to induce meaning and purpose into many of these objects. What follows is just one possible meaning and purpose that occurred to me while reflecting on the Giza sight ten years ago. This is a current revision based on more thought and reflection. (And even if it is total [...]