Egypt Closes Great Pyramid to Prevent 11/11/11 Rituals
Weird. Has anyone been digging into this story? Reports the AP via MSNBC:
Egypt’s antiquities authority closed the largest of the Giza pyramids Friday following rumors that groups would try to hold spiritual ceremonies on the site at 11:11 on Nov. 11, 2011.
The authority’s head Mustafa Amin said in a statement Friday that the pyramid of Khufu, also known as Cheops or the Great Pyramid, would be closed to visitors until Saturday morning for “necessary maintenance.”
The closure follows a string of unconfirmed reports in local media that unidentified groups would try to hold “Jewish” or “Masonic” rites on the site to take advantage of mysterious powers coming from the pyramid on the rare date.
Amin called all reports of planned ceremonies at the site “completely lacking in truth.”
The director of the complex, Ali al-Asfar, said Friday that an Egyptian company requested permission last month to hold an event called “hug the pyramid,”…
Egypt’s Chief Archaeologist Says Pyramids Were Not Built by Slaves
Egypt’s irrepressible and media-hungry chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass has taken the rare step of changing the official version of who built the pyramids. The establishment Egyptologists may take years to recover … what’s next, Zahi endorsing Robert Bauval’s Star Correlation Theory?!? From ABC News/Reuters:
New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt’s chief archaeologist said on Sunday.
Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts.
“These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves,” Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement.
“If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king’s.”
He said the…
Egyptian Official at the Great Pyramid: Beyonce Is A “Stupid Person”
Bikya Masr reports on the rude behavior of Zahi Hawass, a man who has often tangled with anyone daring to challenge his “official” opinions on the Giza Pyramids or any other aspect of ancient Egypt:
CAIRO: In a shocking display of poor diplomacy, Egypt’s chief Egyptologist Zahi Hawass allegedly called American pop-star Beyonce a “stupid person” during her brief tour of the Giza pyramids earlier this week. Writing in al-Shorouk newspaper, Summer al-Gamal said that Hawass became fed up with the pop star’s attitude after she did not show the interest Hawass felt was deserved of the pyramids.
According to Gamal, during Hawass’ self-guided tour, he said “I showed her the Sphinx and I gave her a book on King Tutankhamen,” but then his anger and frustration made its way to the forefront.
“Then he stopped being diplomatic and said in anger, ’she’s a stupid person and she doesn’t understand a thing and she…
