SEE THE GREAT PYRAMID AS ANTINOUS SAW IT

 

ANTINOUS and Hadrian visited the Great Pyramid at Giza in late September of the year 130 AD, as had Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Herodotus and other notables before them. Now you can strip away the centuries and see just what they saw, thanks to an online experience that brings Giza to you, transporting you across the world — and through time — to the land of the Pharaohs.

Dassault Systèmes created a 3-D model of the Giza Necropolis, a free application available to all Internet users, which was unveiled this week at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

In fact, this digital model is the only way we can see Giza in its ancient splendor, before  looting, erosion, urban sprawl and artifacts being sent across the world. Ironically, the virtual 3-D version may be more pristine and offer a closer look than any of those ancient travelers were able to see.

"You are visiting and discovering through a new kind of interactive story," says Mehdi Tayoubi, VP of design and experimental strategy at Dassault Systèmes. "Each time, you can take control of the 3D expereince as a time travel tourist."

Giza 3-D, which which is already being used in Harvard Egyptology classes, shows how technologies can be integral to historical and art preservation.

"We've equipped software for a new generation of classroom," Tayoubi told Mashable. "We have the teacher traveling through time, bringing students inside pyramids, temples and funeral ceremonies."

There are two ways you can explore Giza 3-D. You can take guided tours of certain monuments by Harvard's Peter Der Manuelian, the Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology, or you can wander through the ancient temples, restored tombs, burial chambers and pyramids.

Each site is annotated, so you can read archaeologists’ field journals and maps, view contemporary and ancient pictures and browse some 30 objects constructed in 3-D.

Giza 3-D integrates 100 years of research by the Giza Archives Project, and museums and universities from around the world, in an  effort lead by Professor Der Manuelian. Only 10% of Giza 3D is completed, currently including four temples and the Pyramids of Khufu and Menhaure.

The Pyramid of Khafre, the middle of the Necropolis’s three pyramids, and the Sphinx aren’t part of the experience yet.

"What is important for us is to create a community around this experience," Tayoubi says. "You can bring kids to this virtual environment and they will understand, but if you adapt what you say it will work for an entirely different audience."

ANTINOUS AT THE GREAT PYRAMID

 

ANTINOUS and Hadrian visited the Pyramids at Giza in late September in the year 130 AD, exactly one month before the tragic death of Antinous.

Flamen Antonius Subia explains the spiritual significance this way:

"The Entourage visited Giza and explored the ancient Pyramids, accompanied by the highest priests of Egypt who were aware of the deeper mysteries of the structures. Antinous was given a full explanation.

"The celestial configuration of the Pyramids and their geographical relationship to the Nile, corresponding to the belt of Orion and the Milky Way, is similar to the location of the City of Antinoopolis and the Nile, to the constellation Aquila along the shore of the Milky Way.

"The celestial-terrestrial alignment of Pyramids of Giza was a presage of the coming mystery of Antinous, and it is in this spirit that we consecrate this day, one month before the death of Antinous to our own alignment in the universe."

MYSTERIOUS CHAMBER AND CORRIDOR DETECTED DEEP IN THE GREAT PYRAMID

SCIENTISTS using an imaging method based on cosmic rays have detected a mysterious chamber and a hitherto unknown corridor in the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

The corridor ... on the northern side of the Pyramid of Khufu ... measures 9 meters (nearly 30 feet) in length and is 2 meters (over 6 feet) wide, perched above the main entrance of the pyramid.

Archaeologists do not know what the function was of the chamber, which is not accessible from the outside. In 2017, scientists announced the discovery of another sealed-off corridor, a 30-meter chamber ... or about 98 feet ... also inside the Pyramid of Khufu.

Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass and Egypt's Minister for Tourism Ahmed Eissa, announced the discovery at a news conference outside the pyramid. 

The Scan Pyramids project, an international program that uses scans to look at unexplored sections of the ancient structure, was credited for the find.

To peer inside the pyramid, the scientists used an imaging technique called muon tomography that tracks particles that bombard Earth at close to the speed of light and penetrate deeply into solid objects.

The findings come from a project called Scan Pyramids that relies on non-invasive scanning methods to probe the internal structure of the pyramids of ancient Egypt's glorious Old Kingdom period and understand how they were built.

"We are not doing this mission in order to find hidden cavities," Helal said.

Muon particles originate from interactions between cosmic rays from space and atoms of Earth's upper atmosphere. The particles can penetrate hundreds of yards (meters) into stone before being absorbed. Placing detectors inside a pyramid can discern cavities within a solid structure.

SEE THE GREAT PYRAMID AS ANTINOUS SAW IT

 

ANTINOUS and Hadrian visited the Great Pyramid at Giza in late September of the year 130 AD, as had Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Herodotus and other notables before them. Now you can strip away the centuries and see just what they saw, thanks to an online experience that brings Giza to you, transporting you across the world — and through time — to the land of the Pharaohs.

Dassault Systèmes created a 3-D model of the Giza Necropolis, a free application available to all Internet users, which was unveiled this week at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

In fact, this digital model is the only way we can see Giza in its ancient splendor, before  looting, erosion, urban sprawl and artifacts being sent across the world. Ironically, the virtual 3-D version may be more pristine and offer a closer look than any of those ancient travelers were able to see.

"You are visiting and discovering through a new kind of interactive story," says Mehdi Tayoubi, VP of design and experimental strategy at Dassault Systèmes. "Each time, you can take control of the 3D expereince as a time travel tourist."

Giza 3-D, which which is already being used in Harvard Egyptology classes, shows how technologies can be integral to historical and art preservation.

"We've equipped software for a new generation of classroom," Tayoubi told Mashable. "We have the teacher traveling through time, bringing students inside pyramids, temples and funeral ceremonies."

There are two ways you can explore Giza 3-D. You can take guided tours of certain monuments by Harvard's Peter Der Manuelian, the Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology, or you can wander through the ancient temples, restored tombs, burial chambers and pyramids.

Each site is annotated, so you can read archaeologists’ field journals and maps, view contemporary and ancient pictures and browse some 30 objects constructed in 3-D.

Giza 3-D integrates 100 years of research by the Giza Archives Project, and museums and universities from around the world, in an  effort lead by Professor Der Manuelian. Only 10% of Giza 3D is completed, currently including four temples and the Pyramids of Khufu and Menhaure.

The Pyramid of Khafre, the middle of the Necropolis’s three pyramids, and the Sphinx aren’t part of the experience yet.

"What is important for us is to create a community around this experience," Tayoubi says. "You can bring kids to this virtual environment and they will understand, but if you adapt what you say it will work for an entirely different audience."

TEENAGER CLIMBS THE GREAT PYRAMID IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ANTINOUS

NO doubt following in the footsteps of Antinous 1,900 years earlier, a teenager recently climbed the Great Pyramid at Giza.

We know that Antinous and Hadrian saw the Pyramids in 130 AD. While there is no record that he climbed them, we can scarcely believe that he was not tempted.

Similarly, a German teen broke decades-old laws and risked prison after he illegally scaled an Egyptian pyramid so that he could post the photos and videos of the risky adventure to his blog.

Andrej Cieselski, an 18-year-old from Munich, illegally climbed the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid in broad daylight earlier this month for the sake of the breathtaking photos and videos he took while on top.

Cieselski, who routinely pulls these climbing stunts called “roofing,” where he dangles off tall sculptures and documents the moment, wrote about the tomb climb on his website.

"Walking around in the complex I was waiting for the right moment to start climbing The Great Pyramid of Giza," Cieselski wrote.

The nearly 500-foot (146 meters) ascent of the tomb, which is the oldest and largest of three pyramids in Giza, took the teen eight minutes to pull off, he said.

"When I started climbing a street seller was standing behind me but I didn’t care about him I turned around, he laughed and I continued climbing," he said.

He flouted decades-old preservation laws to ascend one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Authorities noticed the daredevil teen halfway through his eight-minute ascent.

"At the half some people got attention on me and looked up to (me.) That’s how the police spotted me. They shouted something in Arabic I think but I didn’t care and kept going while listening to music," he posted.

The risky climb produced rare and spectacular views from the top.

Cieselski’s feet dangled over the edge of the top, which looks out onto a hazy view of a nearby pyramid and its desert surroundings.

"It was absolutely surreal standing on top of one of the wonders of the world and something that I will never forget. I wanted to experience Egyptian culture and I definitely managed that," Cieselski said.

Egyptian police waited for Cieselski at the bottom of the pyramid and briefly detained him and threatened to take him to the German embassy, but eventually let him go with a slap on the wrist.

"After a while I was released without anything further happening," he said.

This isn’t Cieselski’s first documented high-altitude ascent during his travels, photos show.

Cieselski sat atop some of world’s tallest skyscrapers in Hong Kong and Dubai and took photos of the stomach-churning views.

Click here for the full video of his breath-taking ascent: