There is one ragged coincidence on the Pyramid of Cheopsthe largest of the three pyramids of the necropolis of Giza in Egypt, which every now and then resurfaces and which suggests many people: the latitude of the top of the pyramid (29,9792458 ° n) would coincide with the speed of light in the void (299.792.458 m/s). Remarkable, right? Of course, countless interpretations related to a great classic of pseudoscience have opened on this coincidence: the alleged “alien” origin of the pyramids of Giza. In reality, it is enough to reflect even for a few minutes to understand that it can only be something more than a curious coincidence. Understanding this coincidence is useful not only to appease the pseudoscientific “boiling” related to ancient Egypt, but also to make a reflection on the meaning of the units of measurement used in the scientific field and also in the daily field.
First of all, we look at the numerical data for a moment. The exact latitude of the pyramid summit, written correctly or in the sexagesimal system, is 29 ° 58 ′ 45 “ (29 degrees, 58 first and 45 seconds). To get to the “suspect” figure, it must first transform it into an equivalent value expressed with the decimal system: we get 29,979175 °. This conversion is a little forced, since the corners are measured and expressed in the sessageSimale system. But let’s take it for good. The value we obtain on the basis 10 is not exactly identical to that of the speed of light, but it is still extremely close to the real one.
But there is a but. And to think about it is also simple: how could the ancient Egyptians know the value of the speed of light? With that precision, then. By what means or tools? We do not even have evidence that they considered the light as something that could have a speed. Even in European antiquity the question was far from obvious as it may seem now: the Greeks, for example, discussed if our vision depended on “rays” coming from the outside or emitted by our eyes. As far as we know, the first estimate of the speed of light dates back to 1676 (more than 4000 years after the construction of the pyramid) by the Danish astronomer Ole Rømer. And it was only an approximate estimate, which was around 225,000,000 meters per secondstill far from 299,792,458 meters per second recognized today. There is no evidence that the Egyptians knew more: let alone have such a precise value (recognized as an officer only in 1983), indeed precise per meter per second?
And speaking of meters per second, there is a slightly thinner question that concerns the units of measurement. When we talk about sizes such as speed or latitude we are using some unit of measurement that are substantially arbitrary: concepts such as “meters to the second” or “degree” are not written in the stone but derive from conventions that have affirmed themselves over time often with more or less tortuous processes.
To write the speed of light with the figures 299,792,458 we must in fact expressly use the meter as a unit of measurement of the distance and the second as a unit of measurement of the speed. But who tells us that the ancient Egyptians spoke of distances and times in terms of meters and seconds? Nobody. The concept of “metro”, for example, did not even exist at the time of ancient Egypt: it was defined rigorously only in 1791and adopted as an official unit of measurement in 1795 (from France). At the time of the construction of the pyramid, the cubitwhich corresponds to 0.525 meters. In cubits per second, the speed of light would be approximately 571.000.000a completely different value from that expressed in meters per second.
A similar speech is valid for the latitine. When we talk about latitude We mean the angular distance (therefore in degrees) of a point of the earth – in this case the summit of the Pyramid of Cheops – by the Equator. Is one of the two parameters chosen – together with the longitude – to identify the position of a point on the earth’s surface. The choices could be completely different: in this case the figure associated with the Pyramid of Cheops would have been completely different. But above all we have no evidence that the ancient Egyptians identified the position of a point on earth in terms of latitude: the first certain testimonies that we have in this sense date back to the time of the Phoeniciansmany centuries after the construction of the pyramid (approximately 2550 BC).
Then there is one last consideration that we can do, this time of a purely nature technological. Even not taking into account everything we have written above, positioning the top of the pyramid with so much accuracy – as someone wants to believe – would have requested geographical measures with one precision absolutely impossible for the time. Do you think that the degree of precision required to align so many decimal figures came only at the end of the twentieth century with the artificial terrestrial monitoring satellites and advanced computerized systems such as GIS.
In short, there is no doubt. The coincidence of the Coordinates of the Cheope pyramid is only this: one coincidence. But while we understand why we have in the meantime learned several interesting scientific curiosities!
