My painting, “Construction of the Pyramids,” oil on canvas, 100×50 cm. Here are some academic facts about the pyramids. In the 19th century, the military man and Egyptologist Colonel Richard William Howard Vyse opened several chambers of the Great Pyramid and discovered graffiti typical of Egyptian builders, bearing the name Khufu (Cheops). Therefore, the pyramid became known as the Pyramid of Cheops, attributing its construction to him.
But rarely mentioned is the fact that Howard Vyse was seriously suspected by his contemporaries of falsifying the inscriptions in order to recoup the expenses of the expedition and make a discovery other than completely empty chambers. The fact is that there were no inscriptions anywhere in the pyramid, including the previously discovered chamber, and Vyse could have drawn them himself. But this could not be proven or disproved, and over time, this version became generally accepted.
Ultimately, a papyrus dating back to Khufu’s time was found, which reported the delivery of building stone by river to Khufu’s home in the pyramid region. This was taken as compelling evidence, although it didn’t specify what exactly was being built.
Since no mummy was found in the pyramid, it was theorized that the pyramid was a symbolic tomb, with the real burial site located elsewhere. The fact that the pyramid had several chambers was explained by the pharaoh’s whims.
As we can see, all these facts are quite unsubstantiated, and so I’ll allow myself to speculate on this topic. Furthermore, many Egyptian monuments, including the Khufu stele, state that pyramids and many temples existed since the time of the gods.
