Herodotus on The Pyramids // The Histories 440 BC // Ancient Greek Primary Source

[@gerardtrigo380]

It is amazing to realize that Herodotus was separated from the Pyramid builders by the same amount of time that we are separated from him.

[@varyolla435]

Yet one must remember that Herodotus got his information from the Egyptians themselves. While they were no longer building pyramids by that point = the technology and the history behind them remained. The Egyptians were not cavemen you know. lol! They had a highly organized civilization. They had knowledge and technology. They had a thriving trade with other cultures. They had the written word and would scribble all kinds of things anywhere they could. The canyon walls of the Valley of the Kings near the worker village of Deir el-Medina as an example are etched with graffiti from them. They had mathematics and studied the stars. They even engaged in genetic manipulation. After the Old Kingdom collapsed due to severe prolonged drought which was believed to have lasted almost a century = they adapted. We subsequently see whereby they crossbred grains with different species of grains that were more hardly in arid environments. They also crossbred their cattle with a non-African breed from near India which could survive on less water like their grains. As a result when another terrible drought struck the Middle East during the reign of Ramses the Great the ruler of the Hittites - an ancient enemy of Egypt - petitioned Pharaoh for foodstuffs as Egypt prospered while other cultures starved. Moral of the story: so the point here was this was not some hunter-gatherer culture. The Egyptians were an organized civilization and accordingly they would have retained a level of their history much the same as we do today. Some of what Herodotus wrote was obvious relating of mythology. Yet much of it has borne out via other historical/archeological evidence. So timespans between the relation of information matter when one is dealing with primitive cultures. For more developed ones it becomes possible for more accurate renderings of known history which would have been written down and maintained through the centuries. Have a nice day.

[@MarvelDcImage]

@@varyolla435 Diodorus of Sicily argues that Herodotus "only tells fairy tales and entertaining fiction". Diodorus claims that the Egyptians of his lifetime were unable to tell him with certainty who actually built the pyramids.

[@BigBodyBiggolo]

@@MarvelDcImage There are so many different sides to this story that anyone who claims to know the truth already stopped looking

[@varyolla435]

Think about what you just said Marvel. You assert that some other than an Egyptian claims that Herodotus - who as noted spoke directly to the Egyptians themselves = is supposedly in error because those Egyptians apparently were ignorant of their own history. Can anyone say = non sequitur. So Herodotus spoke to Egyptians centuries earlier who would have been far less removed from their dynastic roots than Diodorus who lived at a time when Ptolemaic Egypt was long established and the dynastic Egyptians were merely a memory. Moral of the story: no one argues that everything Herodotus wrote was true as historians - especially in the distant past - were often relying upon information which might at the time be viewed as real but which today we recognize it's roots in mythology. What one rather does is to take what has borne out to be correct = and discard the rest. So much of what Herodotus relates ties into what we see and what history has corroborated. Have a nice day. p.s. - what you allude to PR 9301 = argumentum ad ignorantiam which is a logical/deductive fallacy. You can not "suppose" that new evidence "might" turn up at some future point - and then argue from that premise. We rather base conclusions upon what we actually see rather than what we "hope" to see down the road as the latter is then arguing from ignorance and is thus unsubstantiated supposition.

[@pavlobro1764]

@@varyolla435 you my friend, are quite the intellectual, I'm impressed by your intelligence.

[@NoKOzKamui]

Something interesting to think about regarding the Egyptians memory of Khufu/Cheops is that he had been dead for around 2000 years by the time Herodotus was alive. Cheops was older to them than Emperor Nero is to us.

[@cheese3416]

Folder

[@NoKOzKamui]

@@cheese3416 Fixed, thanks for pointing that out.

[@dudester873]

True, but even to this day who disputes that Nero was evil?

[@rogeriopenna9014]

@@dudester873 actually, there is quite a dispute among historians.

[@andeve3]

Egyptian history is wild to think about.

[@OrionBlitz256]

Daughter's new bf: So how many guys have you slept with? Daughter: So you see that pyramid there...

[@Tony78454]

So your saying your hot for your daughter?

[@sarah-jaynemcdonald2594]

I don't get it?

[@sarah-jaynemcdonald2594]

@@willoughby1888 like this thread is not intellectual intercourse, I'm pulling out lol.

[@sarah-jaynemcdonald2594]

@@willoughby1888 let em talk! Lol.

[@sarah-jaynemcdonald2594]

@@willoughby1888 😂 you must have some laugh! Lol. Greetings from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ❤️ 👍🏻

[@budscroggins2632]

this is akin to folks in the year 4400 reading my thoughts on the building of Hadrian's Wall

[@richtofenillingroth641]

Lol true.

[@sonoftheway3528]

go make a video about your thoughts on Hadrian's wall and put it on youtube. maybe in 2000 years someone will find it and watch it

[@Altrantis]

I assure you. If society is still a thing by then, such discussions will exist.

[@EndsleyIV]

Not quite, you're a nobody unlike Herodotus. Not saying you're wrong, but his word is taken seriously by many; even if he may be wrong. But, i agree. Collect your thoughts to writing. In time, they will be important. As a historian myself, I've read countless personal accounts from goldmsiths of the Renaissance to chinese monks from the warring states period. These men weren't important in their time, but their understanding and perceptions have survived and now alone define their era where little else persisted. Thus, while you may die a nobody, your written legacy; wrong or not; defines our time. And that is history.

[@iunnox666]

@@EndsleyIV Way to miss the point.

[@TheSquidPro]

Fast forward to Napoleon 1800: "So who built these?" He asked a local. "I don't know"

[@vector9511]

Fast forward to 2020: "Who built these?" You ask the history channel. "Aliens"

[@danielblom391]

That's deep. We know it now, and some scholars back then knew. But for the people there, it was all a myth; the pyramids were there but at the same time not there, their purpose and their names utterly forgotten, swept away in thousands of years of neglect and sandstorms. Imagine the sense of mistery these locals would have felt about the pyramids.

[@SamDy99]

Islam: Destroyer of Nationalities and Cultures.

[@chrisd2051]

@@SamDy99 thats the truth

[@OkurkaBinLadin]

@@SamDy99 To be fair, greek peasants in 19th century also had no idea, who build Akropolis in Athens and why. It should be warning to us all. Nothing is forever and even legacy can be buried in sea of ignorance.

[@averongodoffire7344]

Man imagine witnessing the pyramids in there prime conditions It’s truly a shame of there slow dismantling and erosion

[@NoKOzKamui]

Not even Herodotus had seen them in their prime condition, as they were already around 2000 years old by the time he was alive.

[@averongodoffire7344]

As I said. True Shame

[@averongodoffire7344]

Oldest written name belongs to a Mesopotamian tax/trade recorder who would have at the time never think more of the day than a 9-5 job and that is the most interesting part

[@davidsimmons4731]

He wouldn't have seen them in thier prime. By the time the Roman's got to Egypt and saw the pyramids, theybwere as ancient to them as the Romans are to us.

[@averongodoffire7344]

As I said. True shame

[@egoponte]

Let's say hi to the future historians reading our comments for their study on: "21st century internet jokes on 'Herodotus on the Pyramids': they are as old to us as the pyramids were to them"

[@Andreazor]

KZbin won’t survive WW3 though. But in case it does, hello future people!

[@elliotteagle25]

Haha

[@Tickbeat]

Computers today are made of materials that won't survive 5,000 years. Not even modern buildings will survive. Or asphalt roads. Very little from today's time will survive that long due to erosion/corrosion, natural disasters, and theft. One day, only the things from today's time that are made of stone, or ancient Roman concrete, and other really long-lasting materials like that, will survive. They will therefore see very little of what our time actually looked like.

[@Jodonho]

I guess that Herodotus didn't talk to the Tourism industry.

[@bjrnjohanhumblen525]

Felitus pyramid. From the sheperd in the area. Maybe the pharaoh got bad karma for spending so much resources on the pyramid and drained the economy and the people never forgot. Also it must have been a bit greener there then because I don't think a sheperd would go there now

[@bethbartlett5692]

@Western Man We fail to capture the opportunity to understand and discover the truths, when we allow the Ego Mind to participate in the Assumptions and Ego Expression with regard personal identity, ie race subject. Egypt/Kemet is to Africa, as New York City is to North America ... Meaning, one can not be correct in assuming that because Mexico is inhabited by Native Americans and Spanish, that all of New York state and NY City are as well. New York's geographic location, it stands to reason that Peoples closest to the region will also inhabit the Region. It was the same for Egypt and its Mediterranean Highway. However, there became a melting pot in Egypt and even the Totality had chapters of African influence. Yet the Ancient DNA of even Tut indicates the primary lineage matches that of Ireland and England. Thus the Red Hair found in the Pharohs Mummies was not originally from Henna. There existed an Ancient lineage, to what we consider Ancient. When man sets aside his Ego Mind and applies the Higher Mind, we then can emerge to the facts.

[@appleman6341]

​@Western Man let me guess, the pyramids were built by greeks who migrated to egypt and got tan? as for sub saharan africa, i dont remember millions of people suffering for the chocolate, tobbaco, diamond, copper or oil industries before the colonials. Also whats better, a few thousand dead in tribal wars or millions enslaved and starving in a polluted wasteland. whats more important, the advancement of someone's "civilization" or life?

[@neildegrassetitan2465]

@Western Man You're pathetic. 😂

[@patg9754]

I don't think the story being told in this video sounds very plausible.

[@punman5392]

Herodotus set the stage for the entire field of historical study in western culture. His account of the pyramids sound remarkably similar to a modern historical account, even going so far as to emphasize points for which he does not have a clear source.

[@Alusnovalotus]

Matt Bowen I notice very little of it is actual fact but more storytelling

[@spiffygonzales5160]

@@Alusnovalotus A lot of it probably is fact, but some of it like the pharos daughter, is probably stories told to herodotus that he wrote down. He more or less just wrote down what people said occasionally putting in his own thoughts.

[@john-ic5pz]

You mean making things up that sound good to the culture from which they come? 😋

[@welcometothemonkeyapezone7797]

It's a little scary how we are hearing this book about ancient history written by somebody who is to us ancient history.

[@j74s98]

Really makes one feel how meaningful life is.

[@lukecarroll4052]

The epic of gilgamesh will really scare you... If the Egyptians are ancient, the sumerians were beyond ancient, and they too spoke of their "ancient" times.

[@j74s98]

@@lukecarroll4052 wonder how much history was just lost.

[@Zorro9129]

@@j74s98 Julius Evola does a good job writing about such ancient times and their beliefs.

[@snowfrosty1]

Trash your Fash and Bash Herodotus wasn't "ancient" in the laymen historical sense, more like 'classical' as in Classical Antiquity.

[@michaelhull1813]

Herodotus: "...and thats how the pyramids were built." Von Daniken: Hold my Beer!

[@heathenfire]

Eric bon daniken! My man!😄

[@varyolla435]

Actually von Däniken et al says = ching! ching! $$$$ lol! For many decades now Hollywood has flooded the broader culture with movies and then television which pushed the "aliens and mythical civilizations did........." shtick. Then comes along people such as von Däniken or Tsoukalos - or more recently others online such as Hancock or Foerster - who offer people fantastical narratives which "just happen" to dovetail into what Hollywood has pushed for years via the science fiction entertainment genre. Moral of the story: pseudo-science/history has long been an cottage industry. People such as Carl Sagan were writing about it as far back as the 1970's in an attempt to raise awareness about it's nonsense. So people like von Däniken are merely cashing in on all that free publicity - thanks to Hollywood - in order to make a buck off of those poor gullible moppets who have watched too much entertainment television and internet click-bait so that their imaginations are now overriding their logic. Have a nice day.

[@jauger99]

@@varyolla435 I can appreciate your perspective, and certainly I would likely Share it under any other circumstances, however there is one glaring issue with this perspective...The timeline of information. The Sumerian and Babylonian Cuneiform tablets that have been deciphered thus far tell a story that is too precise, too fantastic, too filled with facts later confirmed by science that these ancient people simply couldn't have known, for this to be a matter of false pseudo science or science fiction looking to scam people out of money. Hancock isn't a snake oil salesman. He's someone with the ability to see the larger picture. Someone not so rooted in the dogma of academia as to be incapable of adjustment, incapable of entertaining new theories, or new data. The story Hancock is hypothesizing is A) being confirmed by the discoveries of the day. Göbekli Tepe serves to support his hypothesis that civilized man dates much farther back than we believed possible. The crater discovered in Greenland serves to support his Theory on what the cataclysm was 12,500 years ago: a meteor. Which, btw, the Cataclysm was initially itself considered a wild hypothesis and generally dismissed when he wrote about it in '95. Now, as a result of all the data collected between 2008 and 2010, we no longer consider it a hypothesis. It is now widely accepted as fact. As you familiarize yourself with the writings of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the writings of Herodotus, the Emerald Tablets of Thoth, The Old and New Testament, The Kabbalah, Esoteric Teachings, you begin to discover that whoever is in charge of Hollywood is intentionally presenting what has been written long ago in both television and film, you're left with the understanding that those that run it know a great deal about the Esoteric, The occult, the ancient writings of the Babylonians and Sumerians, among many other things, and they present ideas which originate in those ancient tomes in stories, in picture, in living color. Then you're left wondering why? And the thing about these cultists, the ones behind the scenes pulling the strings, they like to rub our noses in what they're going to do first before they do it. It's sort of tied to the idea it fuels these events with more mystical power, or more importance. If they plan to run planes into the twin towers? They show us that same exact plan in plot form in the first episode of a popular television show first, and then days later actually do the real attack. So perhaps the idea here, in what Hollywood is showing us that seems directly ripped from these ancient writings, is that they're showing us what they expect to be true at some point.

[@varyolla435]

JT - paragraphs please as it tends to make things easier. Meanwhile if what someone claims to be originates - not from people with a background in what they discuss - but rather they tend to recurrently have a background which lends towards another paradigm = that is generally a red flag. 1 - if you are referencing Sitchin and the Sumerians/Babylonians = try again. He was allegedly "self-taught" as far as his understanding of the language and thus lacked a real background in what he purported to decipher. Accordingly his translations - upon which others build upon - were roundly derided as fanciful in nature by actual academics with a better grasp of the topic. He further worked as a journalist (like Hancock coincidentally) as well as worked as an executive for a shipping company - which ties into von Däniken. 2 - as noted Hancock also has no background in history to speak of. He rather also worked as a journalist. 3 - von Däniken was a hotelier. Accordingly like Sitchin = a person who works in the business world by extension must have a grasp of "marketing a brand" as their business must be able to attract customers. 4 - Tsoukalos has a degree in communications (as is Hancock's background) as well as marketing having worked in the field of sales. Moral of the story: there are of course others = but the pattern is always the same. We see people who lack any real background in what they claim. What they *DO* have a background in is how to "shape" information to make it appealing to some subset of people + and how to then market said information to profit off of it. Accordingly these people having recognized a large potential pool of customers thanks to decades of the entertainment genre pushing the "aliens and mythical civilizations did........" shtick = simply capitalized off of all that free publicity to sell books, get on television or radio shows, hold seminars, sell tours in the case of Foerster, and final inundate the internet with videos and click-bait about all this pseudo-scientific/historical nonsense. T This is not new. It rather has gone on for decades now. People like von Däniken or Sitchin or Berlitz were merely the first as others took their place over the years. You must look at the big picture here and forego all the imaginative nonsense. Have a nice day.

[@jauger99]

@@varyolla435 My apologies. I'll try and remember to stick to paragraphing from now on. Something I tend to disregard when writing KZbin comments, though I couldn't tell you why. I understand your suspicions regarding these people and I even think a healthy bit of skepticism is good to have. However, there are some discrepancies I see with the picture you paint. While I understand they may have a background in business, some of these men, that doesn't automatically make these men "adept" at building a brand or marketing. Nor does it guarantee their motives must obviously be selfish, or conniving. Regarding Sitchin, I understand that people find his presentation of the translations as wild and unbelievable, but despite that, I don't believe anyone has challenged his translations themselves. No one has claimed his translations were inaccurate or outright wrong. They just took issue with what the translations convey. In regards to von daniken, I don't know too much about him. He seems very enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about a great many things, dates, events, history. I have no idea if he's a con man or not. Haven't seen enough of him yet to tell. Regarding Hancock, and your claim that he was merely just another opportunist looking to capitalize on the poor saps desperate to believe in all this cockamamie bullshit. Well, you'd have had a point 20 years ago. Today, you don't. His theories have been largely supported by the new discoveries within academia itself the last several years. Were he as you say, just here to fenagle all the money out of our pockets, then certainly he could merely make something up. Anythjng. Becaus it wouldn't matter. But it does matter. Thats why he put that time and effort into the book. To convey what he believed to be truth about our past that he believed we were willfully ignoring. Were none of his theories to pan out Id have said you were right. But they did pan out. There is legitimate reason to question the mainstream narrative.

[@varyolla435]

Herodotus like all ancient historians related what was at the time considered to be known history. Accordingly some of what he relates has been supported by other historical references and archeological evidence = and some has not. It is true as the video alludes to that the Egyptians who related the information to Herodotus made Khufu out to be a bad guy. That may have been true........to a degree. Yet we must bear in mind that the Egyptians employed "damnatio memoriae" at times = especially during the New Kingdom. That means they would cast previous Kingdoms and their Pharaohs in a bad light if the current Pharaohs felt it to be so. Thus archeological evidence of the Giza necropolis does not support a large workforce of laborers who were badly treated as Herodotus writes. They rather appear to have been well fed compared to the average Egyptian and received medical care for their injuries etc.. So we must take the parts which appear to be corroborated and discard other things he wrote of which some is clearly mythological in appearance. On the whole however much of what Herodotus tells us appears to be at least mostly true. Unlike some ancient historians what Herodotus writes about he got directly from the Egyptians themselves rather than relating stories second or third hand.

[@aidanmagill6769]

Don't read Herodotus et al unless you're already familiar with a topic. Well, that's my stance.

[@benduvall6169]

Do not critize Herodotus, unless viewers here pretentiously think being born in 5th century BC they would written the Histories with more veracity. If views where born in Herodotus's time the statistical odds are that they would live lives as mere troglodytes, barbarians, slaves, serfs, etc completely ignorant, superstitious, & illerterate.

[@punman5392]

Aidan Magill well that’s a double edged sword because most of our knowledge of ancient history comes from ancient historians like Herodotus. Remember, the Pyramids would have been much younger in Herodotus’ day and I do not doubt that there would be more information regarding their construction existing in his day than exists nowadays.

[@varyolla435]

Basically true Matt. As noted what Herodotus relates for us = he acquired from the Egyptians themselves. As such we can view it as "first hand" knowledge since the Egyptians were the originators of the pyramids irrespective of the time which had passed between their construction and his acquisition of information relating to them. So while as I alluded to the Egyptians of Herodotus's time might have viewed the Old Kingdom Pharaohs in a negative light given the time which had passed since their existence = the construction techniques employed would not have suffered from such "political bias". A New Kingdom Pharaoh might apply damnatio memoriae to an Old or Middle Kingdom predecessor so as to take credit for something they did or to simply disabuse what they believed in. We see this very paradigm even today as an example whereby modern religions heap disdain upon older ones viewing them as pagans or idolaters. Egyptian construction techniques and knowledge however would still be passed on and even improved upon. As such what is therefore important is that Herodotus acts to validate other historical and archeological evidence which also points to the Old Kingdom Pharaohs as building the pyramids via the basic methods he noted of their creating a "causeway" - read ramp - as well as employing things like levers. That corroborates what we see on the ground. Have a nice day.

[@Shacktown110]

Vary Olla can you explain to me please how The pyramid being comprised of 2 million gigantic blocks was built in 20 years when that would mean each block had to be cut and quarried and polished and transported and then moved into place After being transported massive distances via the Nile, which they could have only transported the biggest of these blocks during the three months out of the year when the river was flooded and therefore able to support such an undertaking, as well as the blocks we know came from quarries far from the river and thus had to be transported over land And even a mountain range in some cases...Because this would mean that they would’ve had to have done all of this at a rate of one block every 4 and 1/2 minutes 24 hours a day seven days a week for 20 years straight. And that’s not taking into account all the logistical stuff that would go into planning such a massive structure, a work of genius that is hard to even comprehend the human effort that went into it...how would it have been possible to do this at a rate of one block every 4 1/2 minutes? Again I’m not talking about moving each block into place at that rate. I’m talking about doing the entire thing from planning to cutting to carving quarrying polishing transporting moving them in place and doing so in a manner that is so precise that each side of the pyramid is aligned with the cardinal directions so perfectly that we were not even able to measure the slight degree of error that it is off by until a few decades back. This was a structure that was the tallest structure on earth until basically the 1800s If youdon don’t count the Lincoln Cathedral which only lasted for a couple hundred years before it fell. I don’t know if you have ever visited the great pyramid in person but I was fortunate enough to do so once a few years back and the feeling of standing beneath it and looking up at that magnificent gigantic structure gives one a feeling of incomprehensible awe and leaves one with nothing but endless wonder. And admittedly I left wondering how this could have ever been achieved in the way we have been told it was built And I’m not sure how I feel about that but I am sure that there is no way it was built in 20 years using the methods they had to work with unless the methods they had at their disposal were far different than we think. Just from a mathematical perspective it would be impossible to put all of these blocks into place at that rate. We know roughly how many blocks there are so we can do the math and calculate this and know for sure that it would have had to of been done at that rate to have been done in 20 years. So again, I would like to ask for your take on this and to see what your theory is as to whether or not this was possible and if so how? I’m not interested in arguing I’m simply looking for an honest dialogue with someone who seems to actually know a lot about the history of Egypt and can probably carry on a decent intellectual discussion. If you’re not interested thanks anyway. I appreciate your thoughtful comment nonetheless.

[@punman5392]

This period of Egyptian history was marked by extremely centralized power in the Pharaoh. It’s why there were no more pyramids on the same scale as the great pyramids. There just never was another period of centralized power where the pharaoh had as much power as they did in the old kingdom

[@tommyodonovan3883]

It's said that Egypt decline was directly attributed to, coincided with the large scale domestication of the Camel in 1000bc. The Egyptian deserts, post 1000bc were no longer as much of a barrier from invasions/incursions and had, therefore, to be guarded. But it was too large and couldn't be defended, the Tax wasn't worth the squeeze, and the empire shrank, its ability to centrally control diminished into oblivion. From 700bc on Egypt was ruled by the Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Arabs, Turkey, England/France,....Today it is of no account....an International Bankers (IMF'ers/WB), Criminal's play thing.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

@....The poor little Jewish Boy only got half a knobben.

[@punman5392]

Scott Levy dude what’s with the hostility?

[@punman5392]

Sam A3 Not surprising though from a society that glorifies the largest and deadliest war in human history

[@snowfrosty1]

Matt Bowen WWII was simply one of many utterly destructive, Human extinguishing, ecologically damaging, physical resource draining, short-termed, etc.... wars/armed conflicts which occurred during the "modern period"(aka the past 500 years) of Quantifiable History. It was the most widespread internationally and regionally yes, yet subtracting certain phases of the Eastern front and the 2nd Sino-Japanese war, it was on par with the Taiping Rebellion. Still brutal and exceedingly consequential, yet don't exaggerate the war's scope and resonance in order to claim that every State-society, organization, race/ethnicity, and faction "suffered equally". Don't by into post-WWII 'Western' propaganda, it's subversive and even dangerous.

[@DonHavjuan]

He's not a primary source. He was repeating what he was purportedly told.

[@itumo2645]

- except there are also paintings showing them doing this.

[@viralghariwala2977]

Itumo where?

[@johnpepin5373]

In this passage Herodotus mentions he read some of this history from the pyramids themselves. In his time, the outside had not been dismantled by the Romans to make Alexandria, and so the writing was visible... and could be read at that time.

[@viralghariwala2977]

john pepin the writing? What writing

[@johnpepin5373]

@@viralghariwala2977 The writing he refers to in this passage. On the outside of the pyramids.

[@raystaar]

Herodotus didn't know how they were built any more than we do today. He lived 3000 years after the last pyramid was constructed, in other words, closer to our era than the era of monumental Egypt.

[@richtofenillingroth641]

I agree with you.

[@vladescu3g]

Well that statement make no sense whatsoever. He stil lived 2000years closer to the time when they were made. You know how much information can be lost in 2k years? I bet You dont know who your ancestors of 2000 years ago were

[@kenmasters2034]

Meanwhile in Greece they found a pyramid in Hellinikon area that is older than all Egyptian pyramids.Its not the same size but still...They say that was warriors tomb.They have found as far ruins of 16 pyramids in Greece.Hellinikon pyramid is the one that is still holding in good shape.

[@donaldbarnett8045]

This history of Herodotus has been around for a very long time, yet when I was in school in the 1950's . History texts treated the building of the pyramids as such a mystery was it that they did not believe this great ancient historian who was only reporting what he saw with is own eyes and heard from the ancient Egyptians alive at that time knew about it. This acount by Herodotus is accurate when compared with what we now know.

[@DennisMHenderson]

😂🐒😂

[@aaronkirk9511]

Except Herodotus was at least 2000 years late to the building of the pyramids. They were as ancient to him as Julius Caesar is to us. And he didn't have the benefit of archeology and extensive written records. This is heresay about something that happened 2000 years ago. I wouldn't take it as fact.

[@bethbartlett5692]

Priceless resource" having actual Historical Writings in Audio version. Priceless, and a Brilliant decision to dedicate a Channel to thus. Bravo! ❤ "Although for this subject, in History, they too were attempting to understand "How" and thus were inaccurately applying ideas that the building was directed and done by men with less intellect, fewer tool, and assumed enslaved builders. However, there are vast details that are worthy and ignored in modern Archaeology.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

I believe that there very likely were advanced humanoid societies 10's, 100's or even millions of yrs in the past. An extinction even occurred and these ancient civilizations were destroyed....But some of these ancient civilizations may have had the technology to go underground and survive as our own society could in theory do today, some would undoubtedly survive, only to emerge 1000's of yrs later as the Blues/Greys/Lizard people....It's just a theory.

[@bedstuyrover]

Herodotus also gives a description of the Egyptians and ,to him, their strange customs; it would have been refreshing to hear it.

[@Taharqo.saved.the.Hebrew]

He said they where black Africans at his time

[@holyfox94]

I wish I could see the pyramid through the ancients eyes. With the white, polished, marble shell. Although, they’re still magical. They somehow hypnotised me. I have to go there again. (Although modern Egypt is a nightmare.) Interesting that Herodotus hadn’t the slightest doubt that they were man made. Like some doubt nowadays. We shouldn’t underestimate the skill in craftsmanship of the ancients.

[@sniper6081]

3:06 Oh Herodotus. Iron in their time would've been a luxury good. You're so privileged you don't even realize it.

[@freikorps7799]

White privilege? Stfu liberal numb nutz

[@Wandrative]

It was the BRONZE AGE No iron to begin with wtf.

[@sniper6081]

@@Wandrative Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying.

[@Wandrative]

@@sniper6081 Ok I see, but you called it a luxury good. Cuz iron is common, people just didn't smelt it to make them into tools. I mean bronze is much more expensive even now. Copper is usually found in the ground with iron, and the Egyptians had to filter out the iron impurities for pure copper. So Herodotuses worries about the cost for iron should be multiplied as they used bronze.

[@sniper6081]

@@Wandrative Ok

[@reda-w4g]

As an Egyptian, I honestly wish if the ancients were stronger and smarter and capable of preserving their civilization as China or Japan did. I understand that most great ancient civilization have failed a way or another like The Roman, Osirian or Greek civilization. But I feel that Egypt fell a bit steeper down after Islam and the Turks (ottoman empire). Not to mention being invaded by all kinds of colonial forces from Arabs to Hyksos.

[@hawaiisidecar]

I agree.

[@viciouslady1340]

We all agree

[@ledeodorant3129]

They did for 2000-2500 years. No other civilization did that

[@zhbvenkhoReload]

Something to take into account is that the climate was different in Egypt at the time Cheops was alive and at the time that Herodotus was alive.

[@kentallard8852]

before the Aswan Dam was built the Nile Delta would be flooded for several months of the year and farmers would be unable to work - that aligns with what he says about people working on this for three months a year, they must have put people to work on this while the delta was flooded and they couldn't farm

[@scottbreseke716]

Easy to figure out how to lift big stones on top of each other. But if they're slightly misaligned, it's super hard to rotate them 2 degrees counterclockwise and 5 millimeters in the west direction to get them into perfect alignment. Levers are not good for this fine adjustment of stone position.

[@viralghariwala2977]

Scott Levy yes, but it couldn’t possibly be as perfect as this

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

@@viralghariwala2977 Actually, yeah, it could. Humans have always been resourceful. Here's a question; Have you tried? Have you spent your whole life perfecting the technique of moving and aligning large rocks? If not, why is it so hard to believe? You couldn't make a cellphone or build a house with your own hands without spending years learning how to, and yet you don't think aliens make those.

[@viralghariwala2977]

littlesnowflakepunk ok fine. Maybe it is. But my point still stands. With the ratios the pyramids give, you can calculate the size of the earth, the moon, the distance from the moon to earth, the distance from the earth to the sun, the volume of the earth, the circumference of the sun, the speed of light, and more. The Gipson based mortar that holds the stones together is stronger than the stones themselves, and scientists still cannot recreate it today, with modern tech. If we can’t do it today, and we’ve been trying to recreate the pyramid’s components for 50, how did they make the pyramids 4,500 years ago?

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

@@viralghariwala2977 Can you provide a source on any of that? I did a breif search for "Gypsum mortar" (nice typo by the way,) and it's specifically noted on the wikipedia page for "mortar" that the gypsum-based mortar used in the pyramids was quite soft. We still use it today, it's a mixture of plaster and gypsum. You can buy it on Amazon for $19.95.

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

@@viralghariwala2977 And dude, it's an isosceles triangle. The "ratios the pyramids give you" are basic geometric functions.

[@sargon4451]

Thank you Herodotus for this account. The Jewish/Christian Bible doesn't mention the pyramids of Egypt even once which suggests to me the author of the Bible was much less well travelled than was Herodotus.

[@AlexanderNixonArtHistory]

good point

[@VenturaIT]

Or the Bible was written before the pyramids, which is a more probable explanation.

[@sargon4451]

@@VenturaIT Highly unlikely seeing the Bible was written (compiled) between 400 BCE and 50 CE....

[@VenturaIT]

@@sargon4451 "The Christian Bible has two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible, the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, written at different times between about 1200 and 165 BC. The New Testament books were written by Christians in the first century AD." - BBC But many say that the Old Testament is just a copy of much older books from Sumeria that were written before the pyramids were built. It's all about what you want to believe since none of us were there.

[@sargon4451]

@@VenturaIT BBC is not an authority on theology let alone a reliable source to date the Old Testament.

[@UserOfTheZune]

I'll be honest here, for some reason I never imagined the ancient pyramids to be covered in carvings, despite how common this was in the uncovered ruins of ancient Egypt as a whole... I always imagined them smooth and capped in gold.

[@andyandreou]

When he says "bigness" he means grandeur. I know the word he tried to translate, it's "megalio" which is "bigness" but never used that way. Source: I'm Greek.

[@marcossealey8612]

And ur people wasn't around when the prymaids were built just(BLACK)people.

[@pillow7672]

@@marcossealey8612 wut?

[@lunchingtangpua2415]

@@marcossealey8612 myceanian were beta version of greek that exist along side with acient egypt get your facts right

[@marcossealey8612]

@@lunchingtangpua2415 Just BLACK

[@Pygmyz06]

@@marcossealey8612 lol ur wrong

[@gnevescoelho]

This video showed me that the "alien" explanations are even more stupid than I thought. Ancient people clearly knew, or tried to figure out, how the pyramids were built without any alien explanation. This makes them much smarter than the alien conspirationists who claim ancient people were not capable of doing such thing. Oh the irony...😂

[@rey_nemaattori]

Bear in mind, the difference in technology level between Herodotus and the ancient Egyptians who built them 2000 years prior, is much smaller than between Herodotus and us(or even medieval times), technology has been advancing exponentially for the last ten thousand years or so. The Greeks just started building the Acropolis around Herodotus' time, so it's much more relatable that these projects are doable and done for religious purposes, despite the required effort. The alien conspiracies are hard to get rid of because people just can't believe the sheer scale of these projects and the amount of money and effort poured in them just for it to be a tomb. It would be akin to building a colony on the moon in modern day...just to bury somebody in. To us, that's absolute madness...so people look for different explanations.

[@jrus690]

The better question is who taught the aliens how to build things, if that is how these ancient alien types explain everything to themselves. It does not take much to figure that every mass society at a certain early stage has a love for building large megalithic structures. These large structures are the easiest to build, the pyramids look impressive indeed, but the computer i am typing this on would have impossible for all but their extreme smartest minds to begin to comprehend even how to make the case (let alone what is inside) or the desk it sits on.

[@friedlemons5201]

Can't you see? Ayy lmaos actually came to earth and built the pyramids to fuck with future generations. One of them is also the CEO of facebook.

[@molybdaen11]

I think it's the extreme change in sozial structure. You see, when the pyramids were build, a ruler could afford to rule Supreme because of the strong hierarchy. Today even the most free despots needs to invest heavily in propaganda to stay the ruler.

[@rey_nemaattori]

@@jrus690 If aliens are capable of interplanetary(or interstellar) travel, then building pyramids is peanuts.

[@Kalleosini]

so this is a thing but people will still say "we have no idea how they made the pyramids"

[@varyolla435]

A person who advocates for what amounts to pseudo-scientific/historical claims such as have no real basis in history - but which typically reflect narratives commonly encountered on the internet and entertainment television thanks to Hollywood - must first convince people that known history is not actually known. Accordingly they will perpetuate the claim of "we don't know........" = in order to make the ill-informed and gullible amenable to their fantastical narratives. Have a nice day.

[@Kalleosini]

@@varyolla435 you have a nice day too

[@ozzell]

This isn't a first-person account of the building of the pyramids. It's written down thousands of years after the fact.

[@Kalleosini]

@@ozzell yeah and it gives us an IDEA of how they were built.

[@varyolla435]

Yet where did Herodotus obtain his information SternMann??? Answer: from the Egyptians themselves. So no he did not ask those Egyptians directly involved in their construction = he rather spoke to their predecessors who would still be knowledgeable about it as it was part of their history. Moral of the story: so what Herodotus tells us is mostly been corroborated. We know the Egyptians who lived after the fact held the Old Kingdom Pharaohs in disdain. We know they used levers and ramps. He tells us they transported stone down the Nile - also correct. He gives us a reference as to what Khufu spent on maintaining his workforce. Now one might quibble over amounts = but the fact remains that current archeological evidence supports the premise that the workforce was actually well kept and were not slaves. In other words much of what he stated does appear to be correct. Have a nice day.

[@LostArchivist]

Based on the comment section here. Merely putting the information out there is no substitute for proper academic formation. God have mercy upon us. We certainly have made a mess of things

[@snowfrosty1]

Jeff Sol 'Western' academia's "Social/Soft" Sciences, some of the Arts and the Humanities have definitely been compromised and even subverted, unfortunately. Still, there's some reason, proper logic, hope and good conscious with capable physical bodies backing the former left. Just need some more time, 'momentum' and support. I state this as a current 21 year old student myself.

[@quora_treasure_trove]

@@snowfrosty1 Western Academia was never honest from the beginning.

[@reeceengineering]

Amazing how much detail he gave us and how easily disregarded it seems to have been in explaining the pyrimads

[@trueblueclue]

440 BC: "1 stone=1 fuck donate to my pyramid" 2019: "Donate to my Patreon for 'exclusive' pictures" Some things never change.

[@paulbin]

This Cheops fella,..... I mean .... HE WAS A REAL JERK. Or so, the romans make us believe.....

[@Alaryk111]

*greeks(or egyptians)

[@johnmurdoch3083]

The real culprit..as we all know..is Frank stallone.

[@robertadams8094]

Stalin was just as bad .

[@snickle1980]

"...And you know who the Romans decided to go to war with? The WORLD. "

[@muesli_snipes]

The worst part was the hypocrisy.

[@siechamontillado]

"...But Cheops, who was the next king, brought the people to utter misery....what an asshole" is what Herodotus wrote in the first draft.

[@InfectedWaffle]

History Channel: "I think we've figured it out... the Pyramids of Giza where built by ALIENS!" Herodotus: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@richardsmith1284]

Since sheep can't graze on dirt, the land around the pyramids must have been covered in grass during the time of Chiops.

[@mwamburi]

Funny, thinking how long before Herodotus' time the Sphinx was neck-deep in the dirt.

[@pumashuman]

Did he even mention the Sphinx being nearby / you know in his time / wouldn’t he have noticed it ? Or was it completely buried then ? Wondering aloud - thanks

[@MarkProffitt]

Great question.

[@laloweed]

Probably buried. When were they rediscovered??

[@Brakvash]

If they were buried at all (I have no idea, didn't even know the Sphinx was ever buried or not) it would be before Napoleonic times. If I recall correctly some blemishes on the Sphinx is from target practice with cannons by Napoleons troops.

[@VengefulLeprechauns]

@Benjamin Antman That’s actually a myth the damage to the Sphinx was there before Napoleons invasion of Egypt.

[@bedstuyrover]

@@VengefulLeprechauns But there are drawings from the time of Napoleon's visit showing the complete face of the Sphinx . Some years ago, in the magazine " Antiques", there was an antique porcelain plate illustrated with the Sphinx, the nose was not yet broken.

[@sargondp69]

I AM NIBIRU! I am the alien who built the Pyramids of Giza, when I was playing D&D and had to roll 4D4 for a new character Kharisma stat: the result was 4+4+3+1: 12.

[@Fromard]

Cheops Daughter: "You like these boulders?"

[@thomasmayer9032]

They have not believed Herodot descriptions (no matter if he didn't believe it himself) and now more and more evidence shows that he was fully right.

[@thomasmayer9032]

The smartest man on earth was Socrates. -- Oracle of Delphi: "I know that I know nothing."

[@billtomson5791]

Are you sure?... Just kidding.

[@RallyGal94]

Even the Egyptians of his time shrugged their shoulders at exactly how it was done.

[@OrganDanai]

Can we also have a narration of Diodorus' history on Cheops? 😎

[@andres6868]

Herodotus, of course, wrote about 2,000 years after the pyramids were built, so we should take the information he got from his Egyptians informers with a pinch of salt

[@Ingenti314]

"...how much must needs have been expended on the iron with which they worked..." Does this mean that Herodotus and greeks at that time were not aware of bronze age? Was iron the gift from the gods like fire so was with humans forever? How old was the world according to them? Were they aware that humans lived without metal for so long as they did? Can someone elaborate on the subject?

[@benduvall6169]

". . . how much must needs have been expended on the iron with which they worked . . ." This in my interperative historical context is a reference to the highly labor intensive process of extracting iron ore from the stones around the dead sea region, which is also a very caustic process releasing arsenic & heavy toxins in the smelting fumes. They also had orichulicum in Herodotus' time that he discusses in Histories, has been recently discovered in an ancient Greek Mediterranean shipwreck. Also a unique Eqyptain ship never seen in moden history described by Herodotus has also been found in recent Egyptain archaeology. I could cite the articles if you want. So everyone calling Herodotus a liar may want to rethink those claims, because archeologist sure are after the recent finds in the last decade. Please share opinions on my theory about the wall of the crow, I posted a comment in the video.

[@jinjunliu2401]

@Joe Blow Mediterranean civilizations' iron age started at basically the same time though

[@jarlborg1531]

@@levitatingoctahedron922 I don't think they even had bronze in Egypt at that point, just copper with a high arsenic content that was slightly harder than pure copper. It is strange that Herodotus talks of iron tools when, like everyone else, he would have been familiar with Homer's Iliad and it's many descriptions of bronze weaponry.

[@benduvall6169]

@@jarlborg1531 According to the mainstream archeological narrative currently; the Bronze age was from 3,000 to 1,200 BC. The Iron age was from 1,200 to 600 BC, depending on the region. Humans smelted iron sporadically throughout the Bronze age, such as the Myceans & Greeks, yet saw the iron as inferior for tools & weaponry with their lack of knowledge how to strengthen the quality in comparison with the knowledge of smelting high quality bronze with superior durability at the time. Once iron was combined with carbon to make steel by the Hitties, bronze weaponry & tools slowly ebbed out of use. Btw the Scandinavian peoples got iron ore from bogs and had a different process to make higher quality iron than the Mediterranean people's sources of iron ore.

[@benduvall6169]

Meteoric iron is a nickle-alloy requiring no smellting of ores. The ancients Egyptains of Giza potentially had discovered this very rare iron source. The earliest known iron artifacts are 9 small beads found at burial in Gerzeh lower Egypt, date approx. 3,209 BC.

[@rachelthompson9324]

the description lacks details in key ways. Secondhand many times removed, but this account could well be applied to repairing and or installing casing stones only and not the actual building of the entire structure. That they worked from the top down indicated a casing stone process. As they were smooth, top down was the only way to do the job. The intact casing show no signs of mounting for levers. The digging out could be removing filled in preexisting underground tunnels. This account in my construction managers ear sounds like remolding.

[@JohnVance]

Never heard of the road he describes, is any of it still there?

[@punman5392]

Likely not. Most of the stones that once lined the pyramids’ exteriors have long since vanished, some likely stolen by the ancient equivalent of scrappers. Assuming the road was paved with the same stone I don’t doubt it befell the same fate. Also the winds do much to cover anything exposed with sand and a low road coming from the river to the construction site could very well have been buried in a sandstorm after a few hundred years of neglect

@@punman5392 The muslims were iconaclasts, when they wern't simply taking the masonry for their own use, they were demolishing statues and chipping out the eyes of bass-releif carvins and white washing fresco's....the term "islamic art" is an oxy moron.

[@thekernewekpenguin]

Scott Levy it’s hardly just the Muslims at fault for destroying historic monuments and art. Christians did very much the same thing throughout the world and especially in Europe and even in Rome. For example Roman iron support rods from various monuments and buildings were extracted and scavenged for the metal hence why many are struggling to stay standing to this day and why many others have since collapsed. England’s somewhat less impressive Stonehenge fell victim to these same actions, with people from all sorts of periods ‘stealing’ the stones for building materials or to put them on display. Humans will take anything from anywhere if they need it, regardless of how old, beautiful or important the original ‘thing’ may be. Religion and indeed race are immaterial.

[@cameronc727]

Russian Bot yo Jesus is made up man chill out

[@suavesoft]

@@cameronc727 You will stand before this "made up man" one day, my friend. I pray that you find Him as your personal Savior before it is too late. JESUS - Don't leave home without Him!

[@adoyle3804]

Loving the Channel! Keep up the awesome work!

[@sarah-jaynemcdonald2594]

Pastoring flocks suggests there was grass or something there at the time.

[@rey_nemaattori]

There was grass in ancient times in Egypt, most of the Sahara was once a lush savannah supporting elephants, giraffes, lions and nomad pre-historic humans. It all has to do with the angle the earth rotates, which wobbles a bit over the course of thousands of years. In a couple of millennia, the Sahara will be green again.

[@danimotherofchickens479]

Sarah-Jayne Mcdonald of course there was it was once green

[@sarah-jaynemcdonald2594]

@Juanito G do what about gobekli tepe?

[@zer0deaths862]

Ancient Egypt was as old to the Ancient Greeks as ancient Greece is to us

[@Add_Account485]

" *5 Furlongs long by 10 fathoms broad!* " Lol!

[@Snaakie83]

A furlong is 201 meters and a fathom is about 1,8 meters.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

What's a ruby....it's like a diamond....What's a diamond...It's like ruby...

[@3John-Bishop]

How many cubits is that?

[@chrisdaniels3929]

Isn't he describing the statue lined road way from the river uphill past the sphinx to the pyramids.

[@Add_Account485]

Chris Daniels .. Chris Daniels?.. I know a Chris Daniels.. I wonder if ur the same one? Probably not cause it probably a common name.. Yr not from Adelaide by any chance? :-)

[@Tickbeat]

How come nobody ever cited this text to me whenever I say things like "I doubt the pyramids were tombs" or "It is still a puzzle how the ancient Egyptians moved 2.3 million giant stones of that weight around?"

[@GordonGarvey]

I've always thought a lever moving blocks straight up made more sense than the ramp even spiralling around the pyramid.

[@varyolla435]

It is possible that the ramp did not spiral as some suggest. While we of course do not know for sure it's design - there is ample evidence of external ramps being employed in construction of which some remnants still remain today. Meanwhile such a ramp would have sat on the Great Pyramid's south side rather than be all-encircling. If you look at a topographical map of the Giza plateau you'll note the area to the east and north of the pyramid contains sharp drop-offs. While there is some room to the west which now contains cemeteries = only the south side - which is closest to the harbor which once sat near the Temple of Khafre and the Wall of the Crows - had sufficient area for an extended ramp as well as was adjacent to the limestone quarry which supplied the stone. Also look at the Queen's pyramids. In all royal pyramids the ancillary pyramids are always on the south side while the mortuary temple is always on the eastern face so as to face the rising Sun each morning per Egyptian religion. Yet on the Great Pyramid we see the ancillary structures all crowded together on it's eastern face along with the mortuary temple...........why??? The only plausible explanation is that something large must have been there which prevented the construction of other things = a ramp leading down to the quarry/harbor. Moral of the story" Herodotus wrote they first built a "stepped" pyramid ala Djoser and then filled in the sides. Meanwhile the largest blocks are found in the bottom third of the pyramid with those above being smaller as it rises in height so that the blocks at the top of the Great Pyramid are small enough to be slid into place by several men. As such a lever device which employed a fulcrum and counterweight could have sat upon the "steps" to raise those smaller blocks above the short distance from level to level - while the larger blocks such as are found on the bottom third of the pyramid could be raised via teams of men and oxen them pulling them on wooden sleds up the ramp which needed only go as high as the largest/heaviest blocks to be raised = King's Chamber. Have a nice day.

[@GordonGarvey]

@@varyolla435 an open area is not enough evidence for the existence of a ramp. The biggest problem with a ramp as you suggest is that it would take more materials to build itself than the pyramid it's supposed to be building.

[@varyolla435]

First understand that at the time of the construction of the Great Pyramid = nothing else was on the plateau near the structure save for perhaps the harbor as noted and a place for workers to live and raw materials to be quarried. Accordingly the ramp as noted would have been on the south side of the Great Pyramid likely curving along where the current road exists - which follows the natural grade of the ground by the way as well as goes along next to the quarry which sits between the harbor and Khafre's pyramid. This means that in order to save time as the Egyptians were constantly cutting corners = when it became time to build Khafre's pyramid they left the bulk of the road in place and simple diverted it's end from moving south to north to connect to the Great Pyramid's south side as noted = north to south to connect to the northern side of what would become Khafre's pyramid. Meanwhile as the video alludes to Herodotus wrote that he considered the road/ramp to be an equally daunting task which as noted took 10 years to create. It is likely that 10 period of course also included the construction of the harbor as well as surveying and laying the foundation of the pyramid itself along with creating ancillary structures such as worker housing etc. as all of this would have been done in tandem. Lastly the Egyptians built ramps either from mud bricks such as we see in Karnak - OR - from a mixture of sand/stone chips/tafla such as exists at Giza in a smaller form at some unfinished structures. There as it happens is the remains of a large tafla mining operation near the worker village to the southeast of the Pyramids. So as Egyptologist Mark Lehner who as studied the Giza necropolis for more than 40 years now has noted. When the limestone quarry sites which sit adjacent to the pyramids were excavated years ago they were found to have had a massive quantity of...........yup = sand/stone chips/tafla dumped into them - or exactly what they built ramps from. Moral of the story: so as Herodotus writes they encased the pyramid in white Tura limestone working from the top down. As such they would have systematically dug away the ramp as they worked = and dumped the residue into the now open limestone quarry pits to backfill the area. Have a nice day.

[@varyolla435]

Finally we must also consider another possibility. We know based upon the tunneled out chamber at the very bottom of the structure along with it's connecting tunnel - workman tunnel - plus the exposed western side of the Great Pyramid which clearly shows a type of solid foundation = that the Egyptians built upon what was a small hill. Now one might surmise they simply took it's top off so as to have a flat base upon which to build. Yet it is also possible that they employed that rise upon which to built the core of the internal structure of the Great Pyramid. Afterwards they might have simply covered that area over with crudely hewn chunks of limestone such as represent the inside of the pyramid with more carefully hewn blocks upon which the last course of white limestone sat. To prove this however would require dismantling the pyramid which of course would be counterproductive. That means they would have employed the natural rise of the hill to raise those very heavy blocks used to create the King/s Chamber and connecting Grand Gallery = eliminating the need for a large ramp at that point. Afterwards they simply as noted cut away the sections of the rise as were required to create a base upon which to add additional layers. So that would still necessitate a ramp as well = albeit a smaller one since as noted the largest blocks are found towards the bottom and not the top. The smaller blocks found in the upper portion of the pyramid could be raised via levers - or as Herodotus noted "a machine" which was likely a type of lever device - as well as those mud brick ramps as noted as the weight of the stone was not so great while mud bricks are quickly laid. We must however bear in mind that work progressed year round while the labor force may not have been in place similarly. Merer in his diary laments the Vizier taking his phyle of workers from their task on their barge to moving stone. That suggests that during those months of the annual Nile flood - when Egypt would be engaged in agriculture = there was less available manpower for the pyramid. So while the white limestone and granite was transported during the summer months = it would be placed during the rest of the year while other tasks such as quarrying blocks or making bricks or whatever could continue awaiting the return of the labor pool after the planting or harvesting of the crops to resume placing them. The craftsmen however would be working year round so that work was always in progress. Have a nice day.

[@varyolla435]

1 - feel free to Google photos of the relieving chambers above the King' Chamber of the Great Pyramid as but one example Zenme. Look closely at those blocks of granite and tell me what do you see??? I'll give you a hint. They are very roughly hewn blocks of granite = very rough...........why??? Answer: because no one was ever supposed to see them as they were - once placed - covered over with tons of other limestone = the Egyptians did not exert the effort to make them into "blocks" such as we see with those smaller granite blocks which form the walls of the chamber below. That is but one example in the pyramid of their only employing effort to make something "neat" where it counted = in other words where it would show. When no one was going to see it they cut corners to facilitate rapid construction since those areas would be covered over with more nicely hewn blocks of stone. I would not be surprised if the blocks which make up the walls of the King's Chamber were not polished on their backsides to save time. 2 - you can also Google close up photos of the exterior of the Great Pyramid as well as look closely at those. They are anything but nicely shaped blocks of limestone underneath the last few outer courses of stone. Instead we see a hodgepodge of crudely hewn chunks of limestone all over - demonstrating they did not waste time quarrying "blocks" - but rather were simply fracturing approximate sized chunks of limestone from the bedrock and carting them away for placement in the pyramid. Also you can see gaps all over with small chunks of stone and gypsum mortar jammed in the spaces as filler. 3 - lastly what is Earth but compacted soil = and the ground supports lots of weight. So they built earthen ramps from a *mixture* of sand/stone chips/tafla - a clay as already noted. We have evidence of this in the form of smaller ramps still in existence today = also as already noted. Meanwhile ramps were employed by others besides the Egyptians. So the ramps were not made of loose sand = try rereading my posts. They were created via a mixture which would become compacted as well as denser when wetted and dried much the same as we see all over whereby old river or lakebeds can be driven upon. So your incredulity is not a viable basis for rebuttal I'm afraid. Only the historical and archeological evidence matters = and it points to what I noted. Have a nice day.

[@rodrrico]

Interesting to hear of the road being lined with statues and goes for so many miles. I don't think any of this survives today.

[@MrBurns-tf4if]

But, muh History Channel toldeth unto me that aliens built the pyramids

[@spiritualarchitect4276]

Hero was lied to by people who were guessing about how they were really built.

[@gergoturan4033]

Wow I didn't expect this. I've been reading the Histories for the last week and today I took a day off (since it's the last day before school for me). I guess I got some Herodotus today after all. By the way I think when you transliterate ancient Greek into the Latin alphabet I think "ch" is actually pronounced as a "k". So the pharaohs are "Keops" and "Kephren".

[@manapo8205]

No "ch" in both ancient and modern greek is pronounced "h" like "hello"

[@gergoturan4033]

@@manapo8205 You know I tried to look it up but I am not familiar with sounds in the IPA. Here is the wiktionary article:en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%A7%CE%AD%CE%BF%CF%88#Ancient_Greek . I think it is pronounced with an "h" in Greek but when it made it's way to English the sound changed to a "k" at some point: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cheops . So I guess we may be both kinda right?

[@mmike3791]

H was " ' " a breathing sound absent from 24 char classic alphabet. X is chi. It is a K sound as in "chimera" a literal pronunciation of ancient Greek. There are more examples like this - relatively common - in English. The X from which Christ is phonically translated is chi. I cannot speak to modern but ancient Chi is undebatably, unvaryingly "k" as in "kick". UK school English - the r-less state English thought of as 'real' spoken English and wrongly assumed older than colonial forms - habitually mangles pronunciation. Probably as a way of asserting itself over existing forms ("schedule" gets a similar treatment and nothing to do with Greek). It is assumed correct by other English speakers because they assume the official English accent is the original authoritative spoken form. Cookie v Crisp v buscuit v french fry v potatoe chip etc likely originated w the "upper class" fake spoken English. Canada and the US have no reason to speak w similar accents UNLESS it is the original English accent. That is the case. Kappa, the ancient "k" is a k sound as well. Why both? Not sure. But both are "K".

[@manapo8205]

Guys kappa is the "k" sound , chi is a deep hhhhh sound (not like hello, its a stronger h, i can't find an example in English)

[@gergoturan4033]

@@manapo8205 Like at the end of "nach" in German, right?

[@emmaward8750]

the egyptians werent even proud, they were like- yo, tend your sheep here

[@kaltonian]

Wow, i mean can you imagine this colossal structure towering to the sky & covered in highly polished white limestone or marble reflecting brightly in the sunshine & at the top of it a gold cap stone reflecting the Egyptian sun for miles around, a structure that big and highly polished and as smooth as silk probably did conduct or absorb electricity, i wonder if struck by lighting did the hole thing light up and hold the charge for a bit and you could stand and watch as the bright electric threads raced around it, i know i know it's not conductive but ahy who knows on something of that scale, either way you would think that they were put there by the gods them self's

[@alperenbaser7952]

Watching these while you are the place that herodotus lived Aydın Turkey .

[@wallaroo1295]

@ 3:08 - specifically references *Iron* tools. Not bronze or copper, iron. Interesting, don't you think?

[@bobsmoot5106]

WALLAROO I think iron has been in common use since very shortly after the creation. Tradition has it that Cain killed Abel with an iron farming implement.

[@wallaroo1295]

@@bobsmoot5106 Um. No. To any of that.

[@Gabu_]

@@bobsmoot5106 Earth is 4.5 billion years old

[@GuyNamedSean]

We do know that there was some use of iron tools as far back as around 2500 BCE in Anatolia. It's definitely possible that they had some very early iron tools for some of the work. Egypt didn't have their own sources, though, but they could definitely have traded for iron tools for large projects like this while still primarily using bronze. I'd personally expect that it's a mistelling of the story. Maybe his interpreters knew the word for iron in Greek, but not the words for other metals as iron was by far the most common at that time. Maybe they just said metal in general and Herodotus assumed iron not realizing that Egypt didn't have iron as early as the Greeks did.

[@wallaroo1295]

@@GuyNamedSean And we do know there were some steel-like metals around during that time, though primitive in metallurgy. While highly unlikely they were using iron and other metals, it is fun to think about.

[@zachfoxtrot7083]

Herodotus was also a Greek talking about something that happened 2000 years before in Egypt...before Wikipedia.

[@angelonintendo]

Herodotus: it was a work of a autocrat that enslaved the whole population, while using very advanced but understandable technology . History channel: these are aliens, higher beings that are sending us a message of love

[@varyolla435]

lol! Actually Herodotus was more accurate of course - though not entirely correct. The ancient Egyptians followed _"damnatio memoriae"_ - especially the later New Kingdom ones. Thus the Egyptians of the period which Herodotus lived viewed the Old and Middle Kingdom dynasties as heretical and thus they told him about Khufu in a negative light. Think of it as equivalent to modern day "political spin" whereby one party casts their opponents in a negative manner. So despite their obvious disdain for Khufu the construction techniques would still be known by the Egyptians and thus those facets of what Herodotus relates can be deemed as accurate as they reflect what we see. The evidence however does not support the workers who built the pyramids as slaves as they were paid for their labors and well treated living a lifestyle - their hard work aside - which exceeded that of the average Egyptian. Also Egypt of the Old Kingdom was not as yet an expansionist military power and thus the use of military captives would be unlikely. You don't see until that centuries later during the New Kingdom which was Egypt at its height militarily as well as geographically. Have a nice day.

[@nickilecuyer7584]

Love your voice. You should be doing audio book readings from H.P. Lovecraft's works. xD

[@VoicesofthePast]

Check out sci fi hub, our sister channel, for literally exactly that!

[@richtofenillingroth641]

My voice is just as suave...if not MORE so Nicki

[@leifleoden5464]

Well, I just learned more about the pyramids in 5 minutes than I could have from an entire season of Ancient Aliens.

[@TheLostHistoryChannelTKTC]

Sounds like the stepped pyramid and the method of lifting described is Greek in origin, nice story though

[@varyolla435]

It sounds like the Stepped Pyramid - ala Djoser - because that is what it was. The Egyptians first would construct a stepped pyramid made from blocks of some matter to then encase that superstructure in polished blocks. We see the same thing in later pyramids. The Egyptian pyramids of the Middle Kingdom were constructed of mud bricks to form a basic pyramidal shape which they then covered with polished sandstone blocks to create the classic pyramid shape. The later Nubian pyramids were also a variation of this being little more than pyramidal mounds of earthen filler upon which cut and polished sandstone blocks were formed around to create a pyramid. So some Egyptologists hypothesize that the pyramids at Giza might also be a variation of this - rubble filler in areas which was encased in cut blocks to form the passages/chambers with the whole thing being covered over in cut blocks to create the pyramidal shape. That would speed up construction as well as deal with the quarrying rubble created from quarrying the outer blocks. Of course you would need to tear the pyramid apart to prove this - counterproductive - but given what we see elsewhere it is at least plausible. As to transportation of blocks we have other evidence. We see actual Egyptian wooden sleds which can be found in museums. We see the Egyptian shaduf which is a type of lever device which employs a fulcrum and counterweight. A variation of this could be the "machine" Herodotus describes. We see the remains of actual ramps in Egypt along with depictions of them constructing things using said ramps. As an example. The tomb of Rekhmire depicts a hypostyle temple being constructed using a mud brick ramp. The tomb of Djehutihotep shows the famous depiction of a large statue being pulled on wooden sleds by teams of men. The tomb of Hunefer shows another depiction - this time a large sarcophagus in a funeral procession which is also being pulled on a wooden sled except that time yoked oxen are pulling it. Coincidentally the worker village at Giza contained many tens of thousands of cattle bones which places cattle there during the period of the pyramid. So the largest/heaviest blocks in the pyramids are found in the bottom third of them. Those would be raised via wooden sleds to pull them up the ramp which need only go as high as the largest/heaviest blocks to be raised. So these blocks did not need to be "lifted" = merely pulled and levered into position. Above that level the smaller blocks - the blocks of the Great Pyramid get smaller as it rises in height - could be raised via the lever device which could have sat upon the "steps" to lift the blocks to the level above. The blocks at the top of the Great Pyramid coincidentally are small enough to have been slid into place by several men. So we actually see corresponding evidence tied to the Egyptians which would account for what Herodotus described. He was not employing "Hellenization" in what he wrote as far as the basic techniques employed. He may have however did so as far as things like dimensions or conversion of costs into silver rather than gold or other monetary mediums as silver in ancient Egypt was exceedingly rare and highly valued by the Pharaohs compared to other precious metals such as gold. Meanwhile the Greeks had access to silver mines making it a common currency for them. Have a nice day.

[@bobcamp2239]

Don’t forget where who taught the Greeks how to be civilized,and welcomed them to the universities in Timbuktu

[@oozrenn]

amazing channel!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks man! Lots more on the way

[@WarthunderVideos4U]

He said the other pyramids had a channel from the Nile that went under and into the other pyramids. Amazing implications if true.

[@bobsmoot5106]

Bad Buddah Some speculate that the great pyramid was never intended as a tomb; but rather, as a water pump.

[@Osvath97]

It is something strange to listen to an ancient recounting what is already to him antiquity, and then to realise that that in turn is but a fraction of human history, and become smaller still when you compare it to the history life and especially the Universe. Only realise that the current age of the Universe is but a near-insignificant drop in comparison to how old the Universe is presumed to be at its deathbed (depending greatly on what theory).

[@si4632]

Thats only if you believe in the big bang theory🤣

[@profdrenz]

Some 50 years ago I read Herodotus in translation. I clearly remember him stating that the Egyptians were the healthiest people he had ever encountered. Now in more than one video here on youtube I hear that he said that they were the happiest people he had ever seen. Graham Hancock, among others, gives this translation. Does anybody know the truth here?

[@VoicesofthePast]

They sound like they're having a pretty tough time here tbh

[@shaiaheyes2c41]

@profdrenz It says the "healthiest" in my copy of Herodotus The Histories aswell. Though he also speaks of the different ethnic groups or tribes e.g. the Egyptians who only ate fish, raw or dried fish, I cannot recall exactly, while others lived on corn.

[@profdrenz]

@@shaiaheyes2c41 Thank you so much for taking the trouble to answer my question.

[@shaiaheyes2c41]

@@profdrenz You're welcome :) Blessings to you.

[@unclemony5939]

I’m fascinated with there building practices, especially the manner in which they transported the stones from the quarry, via special roads and a workforce of gangs of (100000 laborers) the use of leavers.

[@varyolla435]

In the case of the Giza pyramids the limestone quarries sat a mere 100-200 meters away. So the blocks did not need to be moved very far really. There are however a few examples of the remains of ancient roads near quarry sites further south around Dahshur and Saqqara. They made roads/ramps from a mixture of sand/stone chips/tafla - a clay they mined. There is the remains of a massive tafla mining operation at Giza near the worker village. So what happens when you moisten clay?? Answer: it gets a bit slippery. So pouring water before heavily laden sleds on ramps partially made from tafla would allow the sled to slide a bit easier. They also likely laid wooden planks into the surface of the roads/ramps as well. Blocks dumped into a central area at Wadi al-Jarf where Merer's diary was discovered showed wooden planks laid into the surface of the ground leading to where the blocks were left. One must also not overlook draft animals of which the Egyptians like others employed. There are depictions of yoked oxen pulling things such as a large sarcophagus on a wooden sled in a funeral procession found in the tomb of Hunefer. The midden heaps at the worker village at Giza contained many tens of thousands of cattle bones. Accordingly it is not plausible they would consume cattle = but not use them for manual labor as well. Finally Herodotus wrote they first built a "stepped" pyramid ala Djoser to then fill in the sides and encase it in white limestone working from the top down. He also stated they used levers as well as "a machine" which was likely a version of the Egyptian shaduf which employed a fulcrum and counterweight. The blocks of the pyramids become smaller as they rise in height with the largest/heaviest ones found in the bottom third - closest to the ground. The the large blocks below could be raised via an earthen ramp while smaller ones found above could be raised via lever devices which sat upon the steps to lift blocks to the level above where they would be slid into place. As they encased the pyramids in white limestone they dug the ramps away as they worked and dumped the residue into the open quarry pits which when excavated were found to contain huge quantities of what they made ramps from. Finally the pyramids are slathered in gypsum mortar which is used as filler to bind small chunks of rubble to fill in gaps + and possibly to "grease the track" before large blocks. By coating the area before a block with mortar it might be slid into final place more easily. Something new to think about.

[@MiguelRamirez-kn5qe]

Never refers to the pyramids as great or grand, i think like most of the ancient world was jealous of ancient Egypt

[@Domispitaletti]

MEN BUILT IT, History Channel.

[@dylanchouinard6141]

Hot take: just because white people can’t do it doesn’t mean it was aliens!

[@orionroberts7971]

The credits given cheops and khufu of actually building the pyramids were of a remodeling or refurbishing of the great pyramids, not the original construction. This credit and explination was eritten by Herodotis in 440 BC.

[@LostArchivist]

Where did ypu hear this from?

[@benduvall6169]

Listen to 0:52-1:38, sounds like an exact description of the The Wall of the Crow, the ancient Egyptain path of the underworld. I think Herodotus described this 'road' due to it's unique archtiecture that would draw attention to a visitor. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4CQZKJ9apytfaM "Road 5 furlong long, 10 fathoms wide, raised 8 fathoms . . ." "Stone cut & polished with figureans . . ." "Underground chambers beneath road with underground channel from Nile . . ." I theorized Herodotus had the mistaken opinion, or later translators of his works, that the wall of the crow was built as utility for pyramid construction as well as it's own temple like causeway. Whereas all the construction roads where long buried in the sands of the Sahara by the time of Herodotus, but this temple to the underworld was maintained much like the pyraimds & sphinx due to their cultural & spiritual significance. This is how the wall of the crow is often overlooked or underrated being next to such monumentous structures that easily overshadow it. Anyone with more knowledge on the subject, you're welcome to add your opinions and enlighten or inspire me. Please do.

[@bradcupitt5314]

Khufu sealed the great pyramid, he did not build it, if the Egyptians getvtheir head out of their arses they would remove the stones in front of the original entrance so we could put this mystery to rest

[@bradcupitt5314]

Bringmea Bananaleaf sad but true

[@deanbuss1678]

Had no idea such writings existed ! Man, learning it fun !😁

[@Gorboduc]

The entire second book of Herodotus's Histories is about Egypt. It's a pretty cool read.

[@princelyknight5594]

The Precision of both the Blocks and the Placement of the Pyramid on the Planet is not explained by this account at all. It appears to me (as well as many others, obviously) that this was just made up by the Egyptians at the time of Herodotus, not necessarily to deceive, but rather it's the best explanation they could come up with based on their own understandings of how such a thing could be built - AKA they just throw around massive numbers .... hundreds of thousands of people working really hard for many years... lol ok.

[@varyolla435]

PK - as you have access to the internet I invite you to Google a topographical map of the Giza plateau. Now quite simply consider the relative locations of the pyramids + the adjacent tombs and cemeteries + the temples + the harbor + the worker village + and lastly the limestone quarry locations. Now recognize that the necropolis was completed over almost a century by successive generations of Pharaohs. Why is that important??? It is important for a few reasons. First of course is if the placement of the pyramids was a result of some grand plan to align them to the stars or some magical place on the planet = then all 3 Pharaohs would have to be in on the plan. If you understood Egyptian history however = that is highly unlikely. We see rather Pharaohs made a habit of immediately ceasing work when their predecessor died on whatever they were doing = so that their own projects could be done. They did that of course because the next one on the throne would do exactly the same. Accordingly Pharaohs were concentrated on completion in their own lifetimes and cared little for what those before them did let alone those who followed. So Khufu's father Sneferu and others basically depleted the limestone reserves at Saqqara building their own pyramids etc.. Also the area there lacked solid foundation = which is why the Bent Pyramid shows subsidence as well as massive internal cracks in the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser as the ground under them was not good bedrock. So Khufu relocated for his own pyramid to Giza which had ample limestone close by + was accessible via the Nile which when it would overflow it's banks each summer created a floodplain encroaching the site to within about ~400 meters or so + and had solid bedrock close to the surface upon which to build. Khufu built his Great Pyramid atop a limestone outcropping closest to the Nile at Giza given the resources at hand. His son Khafre likely followed suit because the infrastructure was already there and available limestone was at hand. Lastly his grandson Menkaure also built there - albeit smaller - because again the infrastructure to do so was already in place. By that time however the quarries were becoming depleted while time was likely a factor as he may have already been older upon gaining the throne given how long his father ruled. Most Pharaohs by the way did not rule for very long and certainly not long enough to construct pyramids. "Time" therefore was always of essence. Moral of the story: so the Pyramids are where they are based upon the topography of the plateau as they are sited upon the only available somewhat level ground which could accommodate a large pyramid and which was not already obstructed by something else such as quarries etc.. By the time Khafre built the necropolis was already being developed = forcing his pyramid to be pushed back. Meanwhile when Menkaure came around the area was littered with tombs and cemeteries = forcing him to move even further back from the harbor. Giza was chosen for it's location yes = but is had nothing to do with the stars or the planet. lol! Have a nice day.

[@Max42-42]

Herodotus was a 100% acurate to things he witnessed but he made it clear on ambigious things told by the natives

[@rebelac4926]

What is the Arabian mountains ⛰ ???

[@benduvall6169]

The mountains in Sinai peninsula & along the Red Sea in Saudia Arabia.

[@rebelac4926]

Ben DeVaul But that so far from the pyramids !!

[@varyolla435]

It is a historical reference which must be viewed within the context of the time when Herodotus lived. So "Libya" is in fact the Western desert of Egypt and accordingly the Egyptians et al viewed the peoples to the west as Libyans much the same as those to the south were Nubians. Meanwhile we know exactly were the stone used to build the pyramids came from as ancient Egyptian quarries have long been identified. So all of the limestone came from quarry sites not more than 100-200 meters from the pyramids themselves save for the white casing stones. Those came from the Tura quarries which sit on the eastern bank of the Nile near modern day Cairo = about 6-8 miles away. The granite of course came from upriver at Aswan. There is however small amounts of other stone as well such as were used to create the mortuary temples which came from other quarry sites. So bear in mind that Herodotus was a Greek and Egypt back then was controlled by the Persians who controlled it when the New Kingdom collapsed. So some of those Egyptian quarries are located on the eastern side of the Nile and thus he might have viewed that geographical region as "Arabia".

[@hix1013]

@@rebelac4926 That's what I was saying!! and he also mentioned stone from Ethiopia !

[@SmartassX1]

He was speculating, like many others have been. Really it has been proven by now that there is an internal spiral tunnel in each pyramid that has remained hidden until recent times when one small corner of one collapsed. The tunnels had flat smooth floors on which the blocks were pulled up. Also, the large tilted hall with stairs was used as a part of the system by which the blocks were pulled up. There rocks were never dragged directly on top of another rock, instead they used wooden sleds.

[@kentallard8852]

and canals were dug to get them to the site

[@jamesherrington5606]

I’m not believing this pyramid building method at all.

[@magicsinglez]

This is incredible

[@doctorpicardnononono7469]

Hee Baby you wanna a brick!

[@rogerwilson9892]

Wonder if anyone ask for their stone block back wow to put your daughter up to servicing persons what did that say about him guess he call her a stone block cow. Khufu said yeah was going to pimp out mom but the old heifer kick the bucket could have gotten a couple of stone blocks out of her.

[@richtofenillingroth641]

Lol ...ahh, Herodotus and his fantasies.

[@Devils-advocate78]

i wonder why heroditus says that the pyramids are both the same size and both built on the same ground. in the photos you see of the pyramids its khafres that is the taller even tho khufus is the biggest, because its built on higher ground. i never realised this til i went there. does khafres pyramid continue downward?

[@williamh.gatesiii8183]

Too bad this isn't true.

[@djinnjax3274]

What is the truth?

[@GianfrancoFronzi]

Well there you have it. Who but someone that was closer in time and able to talk to the people.

[@megaeazy3]

Closer in time! He was 2000 years late. His account was adulterated at that point

[@sav7568]

The Egyptians fed Herodotus a pile of rubbish. For starters iron had not been invented during the time of Khufu. Then, if the 20 year timeline is to be believed, the Egyptians laid a stone every 3 minutes. Really ? Then he believed that the Egyptians had preserved the workers' ration tallies for 2100 years. Oh please.

[@varyolla435]

They didn't need iron to create the pyramids making your point moot. Limestone can be cut and polished using bronze tools and abrasives. Meanwhile the granite employed in the Old Kingdom was used sparingly and then only in basic shapes like blocks or sarcophagi. We do not see intricately carved granite and other things until centuries later. So bronze saws and fire can be used along with dolerite pounders to cut through granite bedrock as well as limestone. Also when required employing an abrasive such as sand or corundum can facilitate cutting and polishing as well if used with a flat block and perhaps clay and water. As but one example there is an artifact which was unearthed at Armana which was created using a tubular drill. There is a residue in the drill holes which when analyzed showed copper and corundum. Emery corundum came from the Greek Island of Naxos near Turkey = making it easily obtainable for the Egyptian craftsmen. Your "X blocks per minute" blah, blah, blah = entertainment media nonsense. Blocks are not laid one at a time on large structures = rather multiple blocks are laid in tandem in multiple locations on the structure. So if a single team can move and place one block in say an hour = then 25 teams can place 25 blocks in about the same amount of time or 50 teams 50 blocks or whatever. So the Egyptians employed thousands of workers organized into specialized teams while the Great Pyramid is a large structure where hundreds can easily work simultaneously on it. So multiple blocks would have been in motion at any given time resulting in more blocks laid more quickly that your "1 at a time supposition". You must look at the totality of what happened. Have a nice day. p.s. - iron filings have been found mixed into the surrounding sand of partially finished objects in New Kingdom quarries which were abandoned in place. That shows the Egyptians had access to iron tools by the New Kingdom - albeit they were likely imported from where iron was being smelted and thus expensive and not commonly found save for the better craftsmen.

[@sav7568]

@@varyolla435 So much guesswork with so few facts ! For starters iron forging was not invented at the time of Khufu. That happened around 700 years later and even then iron could only be made from meteorites making it far too expensive for any tradesman. Iron was more expensive than gold. Iron smelting did not come to Egypt until around 800 BC. " We do not see intricately carved granite and other things until centuries later. " What rubbish ! If you are correct then where did all those diorite statues of Khafre come from ? Khafre was Khufu's son.

[@varyolla435]

@@sav7568 _"So much guesswork with so few facts !"_ As Willy Wonka would say: _"strike that - reverse it."_ It appears that you are the one here who is assuming much and tying into history little. Iron smelting was developed by the Mesopotamian and Indus Valley civilizations. Meanwhile Egypt traded with these civilizations. The earliest known smelted iron was found in Anatolia - Turkey - and dates to around ~2500 BC. Next is that gneiss rock is softer than granite. The contours of human form can more easily be developed than intricate lettering of a small size as we see later on in Egypt. The Egyptians used gneiss - not only to create objects - but for tools as well as copper tools for quarry work as it is found in abundance in Egypt and around their quarries. So as already indicated previously they were employing abrasives in part to cut and shape things of which one of those abrasives was corundum. Corundum residue along with copper residue has been found in the drill holes of objects created by the Egyptians using a tubular copper drill. Corundum rates 9 on the Mohs scale = even above granite or sandstone. Moral of the story: so I did not say the Egyptians were smelting iron = you assumed that. Next is that metal like copper and iron would indeed have been expensive - except that the craftsmen were not purchasing it = the Pharaoh was. Craftsmen tools were tightly controlled while metals like copper etc. were considered to be a strategic resource controlled by the government. There are accounts dating to Deir el-Medina - the worker village near the Valley of the Kings - which relate that the copper tools were weighed before and after work each day to prevent the workers from pilfering the shavings as copper was valuable. Iron tools would have been similarly valuable and likewise tightly controlled = but accessible. So the gold mask of Tutankhamen contains semi-precious stone which came from as far away as India and Afghanistan. That demonstrates the reach of the Pharaohs who could have similarly obtained iron in limited quantities for use in royal projects. Iron filings have been found mixed into the sand around partially completed objects abandoned in place in New Kingdom quarries. So it is possible that at least during the New Kingdom a limited amount of iron was obtainable and made its way to Egypt. The Egyptians themselves however did not begin to smelt iron until the time of the Persians which would make sense as it was the Persians as noted who lived in the region where iron smelting was developed. Have a nice day.

[@sav7568]

@@varyolla435 So Khufu supplied his workers with iron tools ? You are just making stuff up. What is your evidence ? No iron tools from that period have ever been discovered in Egypt.

[@varyolla435]

@@sav7568 You seem to suffer a great deal from a lack of ability for reading comprehension. I can not help you with this beyond recommending you take an ESL course so as to further your fluency capacity. Then perhaps you will acquire the skill to read what people *ACTUALLY* write = rather than what you clearly are only interpreting those writings as saying. Good luck with your homework. Let us know when you develop sufficient capacity for reading basis English and comprehending what is written as I for one try to be as concise in what is being said as I can while keeping it down to a level which "most" can understand. Enjoy your day.

[@Zandiv]

Cool narration, thank you.

[@laurentiumichaelgrigoroaia3286]

This story it is a big lie.

[@esathegreat]

how so?

[@martialharpistmatthew1837]

Cause you don’t like it?

[@hauntologicalwittgensteini2542]

Lmao ur just mad non whites achieve more than you

[@laurentiumichaelgrigoroaia3286]

@@hauntologicalwittgensteini2542... several hours ago Elon Musk came out and said the pyramids were built by aliens...huh?

[@hauntologicalwittgensteini2542]

@@laurentiumichaelgrigoroaia3286 ok and ? What are you a reddit muskcuck ?

[@MarvelDcImage]

Diodorus of Sicily argues that Herodotus "only tells fairy tales and entertaining fiction". Diodorus claims that the Egyptians of his lifetime were unable to tell him with certainty who actually built the pyramids. He also states that he didn't really trust the interpreters and that the true builder might have been someone different: the Khufu pyramid was -according to him- built by a king named Harmais, the Khafre pyramid was thought to be built by king Amasis II and the Menkaura pyramid was allegedly the work of king Inaros I

[@richtofenillingroth641]

Who are those kings, do you know?

[@-C.S.R]

😂you tell a good story! You don’t really believe this crap do you?

[@mantecafoo1]

hell no.

[@gabrmarquez1786]

I use this kind of video to study English and others subjects at the same time I use to know more interesting things about some ancients civilizations .

[@rocketpoolpki]

great upload...hmmmm Herodotus ....big liar.

[@gergoturan4033]

I mean... you are only a liar if we can show you knew what you were saying was wrong...

[@thebrocialist8300]

I’ll take Herodotus’ record over yours any day, loser.

[@benduvall6169]

I see much truth in Herodotus' Histories. The lies percieved are merely modern arrogance and lack of apperciation for the historical perspective of ancient texts.

[@jinjunliu2401]

He probably did a good job with the information available at his time, because the pyramids were built 2 millenia before him so of course it's not going to be without inaccuracies.

[@OuterHeaven210]

Funny how everyone thought it was a tomb. Herodotus was thousands of years removed from the actual construction

[@Razor-hh6ru]

"There is much to do, and many unknowns on the horizon"

[@gumpwynn3142]

It's a shame that Herodotus isn't exactly a Reliable Source. Alas, it's what we have

[@qetoun]

I love this channel. I wished I'd thought it up. Just read interesting bits of history.

[@VoicesofthePast]

Yup!

[@MirzaAhmed89]

Inspector Merer was clearly a very busy man.

[@varyolla435]

It probably helped that he had no distractions such as television or social media. lol!! Despite all our technology today it seems all man seems to focus on is an entertainment based culture. Too many today focus on their own amusements rather than knowledge acquisition. _C'est La Vie_ Have a nice day.

[@joelsmith3473]

3:09 - I can ease your mind there, Rodo. They spent nothing on iron.