Pyramid Measures

It goes without saying that the Greeks admired the Egyptians. So many stories in Greek mythology bear resemblance to Egyptian ones that there must have been a lot of exchange between the two cultures.

In terms of measurement, there are fascinating connections between Greece and Egypt when we consider the Great Pyramid. The Egyptian measurements for the pyramids are listed in the Egyptian section. However, when we measure the Great Pyramid by Greek standards of measure, some interesting things emerge.

For one thing, the base measures a perfect square 500 x 500 Greek cubits. This will become more meaningful in the sections on Ezekiel and Herod.

Second, the apothem of the Great Pyramid measures a "clean" 600 Greek feet or 400 Greek cubits. This is important because according to early Greek writers, the apothem of the pyramid was one stadion. This is the Greek equivalent of the Roman stadium, from which we get the name of the arena where runners had to sprint a distance of one stadium. It is likely that the Greeks used the pyramid as the basis for their system of measurement standards.

Using Greek measures, the surface area of each pyramid face is a "clean" 100,000 Greek cubits. (i.e. unity).

The height of 318 Greek cubits connects this pyramid with the sun god since 318 is the gematria equivalent of the name Helios ("the sun"). The pyramid is where the sun-god pharaoh died and was re-born, much like the horizon line where the sun both sinks into and rises from each day.

But the Helios connection does not end there: 318 is the diameter of a circle with a circumference of 1000, unity. So instead of making the height the radius of a circle (as we did earlier), it is served better symbolically by making it the diameter. Thus, the pyramid height (318 Greek cubits) is the diameter of an implicit circle whose perimeter is 1000 Greek cubits, i.e. unity itself. This returns us to the 1000 unit diameter of Zoser's pyramid temple complex. Also, the area of this circle is 500 Greek cubits, which brings us back to the figure for the pyramid base.