"Let us now return to our map, which also incorporates a triangle representing
the Delta. Its other main components are the three parallel meridians. The
eastern meridian is at longitude 32o 38´ east - the official eastern
border of Ancient Egypt from the beginning of dynastic times. The western
meridian is at longitude 29o 50´ east, the official western
border of ancient Egypt. The central meridian is at longitude 31o 14´
east, exactly midway between the other two (1o 24´ away from each). What we now have is a representation of a strip on the surface of planet earth that is exactly 2o 48´ wide. How long is this strip? Ancient Egypt's 'official' northern and southern borders (which bore no more relationship to settlement patterns than the official eastern and western boundaries) are marked by the horizontal lines at the top and bottom [rather bottom and top, I think] of the map and are located respectively at 31o 06´ north and 24o 06´ north. The northern border, 31o 06´ north, joins the two outer ends of the estuary of the Nile. The southern border, 24o 06´ N, marks the precise latitude of the island of Elephantine at Aswan (Seyne) where an important astronomical and solar observatory was located throughout known Egyptian history. It seems, that this archaic land, sacred since time began - the creation and habitation of the gods - was originally conceived as a geometric construct exactly seven terrestrial degrees in length. Within this construct, the Great Pyramid appears to have been carefully sited as a geodetic marker for the apex of the Delta." (Hancock) |