Hall of Records
The Hall of Records is a (mythical) ancient library rumoured to be deposited at the time of King Imhotep at Giza in Egypt. One suggestion has been that it is under one of the paws of the Great Sphinx of Giza, which is in the Giza pyramid complex.[1] It has been said by dozens of academic researchers and historical commentators, such was Manetho and Plutarch, to house the knowledge of the Pre- Dynastic Founders and latter Egyptians on papyrus (sic) and allegedly several inscribed golden metal plate scrolls with a partial history of the lost civilisation of Atlantis, much as the Great Library of Alexandria housed Grecian knowledge.[citation needed] There is little evidence as yet to indicate that the Hall of Records actually exists; however, some scientists (such as Robert Schoch with Dr. Thomas L. Dobecki) have used ground-penetrating radar and it has shown there are in fact cavities underneath the Great Sphinx. [2] In 1998, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Chief Director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, undertook excavations beneath the main body of the Sphinx at Giza and re-discovered access tunnels to several large, apparently natural, caves directly under the Sphinx. No artefacts were found at that time and a survey was undertaken to assess any potential threats in the substrate that might affect the ancient monument above. There was evidence of earlier ancient excavations. Dr. Hawass commented, to the tv documentary crew that documented the 1998 excavations, that he suspected that there could be other cavities beneath the structure, based on the evidence of the small watercourse that had caused some minor structural damage to stonework on the flank of the Sphinx.
Description
The mythology of the Hall of Records is a popular one among those who hold alternative theories of Ancient Egypt. The phrase "Hall of Records" originated with Edgar Cayce although Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince suggest that the idea of the existence of lost Egyptian records "has a long pedigree".[3]
Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, in "Message of the Sphinx" stated that American archaeologists and the Egyptian government had blocked investigations around the Sphinx, including attempts to locate any underground cavities.[4] Bauval later wrote Secret Chamber in 1999. According to Bauval's research, Egyptian authorities granted an American team a license to search for the Hall of Records under the Sphinx. It has been postulated that there may be three passages around the Sphinx; two with unknown origin and one is supposedly a small dead-end shaft behind the head of nineteenth-century origins.
Various alternate theories on the origin of the Hall have been proposed, including that the Hall was not the work of Ancient Egyptians at all but another society (this has ranged from advanced prehistoric societies to a superior race of intelligent beings). Accordingly, this society sealed the Hall away with scrolls of their accumulated knowledge at about 10,500 BC—the last period of time when the constellation of Leo was located between the Sphinx's paws when it rose in the night sky.
H.Lewis Spence's Rosicrucian (AMORC) study tracts mention the connection and heritage of the Ancient Mystery Schools in Heliopolis situated at the now destroyed ON Temple (First Century BC) complex and the traditional GNOSTIC and Coptic traditional verbal historical mythologies going back to pre-dynastic origins also mentioned in TIMEAS and CRITEUS by Greek Writer Manetho.
'The Sleeping Prophet' Edgar Cayce also stated in 1939, that the Hall of Records had a twin counterpart library that was anciently deposited on the Yucatan Peninsula somewhere by the eastern coastal Temple complex sites. He mentioned that the Yucatan Depository was currently under water.
The study of and the search for the Hall is considered by many academics, to be pseudo-archaeology, who make clear distinctions between precise methodological scientific hypothesis and the rest of possible subsequent implications and speculations.
In fiction
The myth of the Hall of Records is featured in many creative works.
- Stel Pavlou places the Hall of Records under the Sphinx in the Atlantis adventure novel Decipher, 2001.
- In X-Men: Evolution television series, the Hall of Records is under the Great Sphinx and is actually a prison of the first mutant, Apocalypse.
- In Generator Rex television series, the Hall of Records is Van Kleiss' laboratory when he was sent back in time.
References
- ^ Is There a Chamber Beneath the Sphinx? catchpenny.org.
- ^ http://www.robertschoch.com/geodatasphinx.html
- ^ MacDonald, Sally; Michael Rice (2003). Consuming ancient Egypt. UCL Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-84472-003-3.
- ^ Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, The Message of the Sphinx. Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (May 27, 1997). page 59, 71. ISBN 0-517-88852-1
Further reading
- Zahi Hawass, H E Farouk Hosni, and Gaballa Ali Gaballa, "The Secrets of the Sphinx: الترميم بين الماضى والحاضر". American Univ in Cairo Press, 1998. ISBN 977-424-892-9
- Robert Bauval, Secret Chamber: The Quest for the Hall of Records. Arrow; New Ed edition (7 Sep 2000). 572 pages. ISBN 0-09-940528-8
- H. Spencer Lewis, "Symbolic Prophecy of the Great Pyramid", The Rosicrucian Press, San Jose, 1936. ISBN 0-912057-55-6
- Garrett G. Fagan, "Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public". Routledge (UK), 2006. 417 pages. ISBN 0-415-30592-6