Who Forced an Entry into the Pyramid?
What father would wish his son hard work? What father would not wish his son glory and honour?
But glory and honour are impossible without daily hard work for the good of one’s people.
A father must carefully select from among his many sons the most God-fearing, the most talented in scholarship, the most resourceful in life and the most persistent in achieving his intended goal. And declare him heir to the caliph’s throne. From early childhood, his preparation must be undertaken, he must be assigned the best teachers and given the opportunity to apply the knowledge he has acquired. A prepared caliph will find time for matters of state, for protecting his people from external and internal enemies, for his family and for raising his children.
Caliph al-Ma’mun was precisely such a person and his father, Harun al-Rashid, who recognised his talent as a manager and organiser, could be justifiably proud of him.
Al-Ma’mun received a broad education and became famous not only for his victory in the civil war but also for the first archaeological expedition in history. In 204 AH (the Muslim calendar), he organised an expedition and personally led the search for the entrance to the Great Pyramid in Egypt, which was under his control.
The entire educated world remembers that many ancient Greek philosophical, historical and geographical works have survived to this day thanks to Muslim scholars who translated these works into Arabic and preserved them in their libraries. Of course, future caliphs also became familiar with these translated works of the ancient Greeks. Therefore, it is not surprising that al-Ma’mun knew about the Great Pyramid from childhood, thanks to the stories of the Greek historian Herodotus and ancient Arab legends. He knew that the pyramid was erected in honour of a pharaoh named Cheops during his lifetime many millennia ago. Arab legends claimed that the pyramid contained countless treasures, but there was one problem: no one knew where the entrance was, and for many millennia it had not been found.
Caliph al-Ma’mun came to the conclusion that if it was known that the pyramid contained countless treasures, why not go and take them and use them for the needs of the state and the people? He believed that if no one had found the entrance before him, then he would surely find it.
Fully confident of his success, the Caliph organised an expedition to the Great Pyramid. Scholars with their books, masons with their tools and warriors as guards set out on the expedition.
In 204 AH (820 AD), the expedition set out for Egypt. The Caliph ordered a camp to be set up at the foot of the Great Pyramid, next to the head of the half-buried Sphinx, and everyone set out to search for the entrance. All written sources known at the time claimed that the entrance to the pyramid was located on its northern face. All expedition members thoroughly examined the entire pyramid from base to crown, but found no hint of a hidden entrance.
Failing to find an entrance through external inspection, the expedition launched a systematic exploration of every face, every ledge and every stone of the pyramid in search of a hidden entrance. They made extensive use of pre-prepared vinegar, which corroded the pyramid’s white limestone casing, exposing the stones it had concealed.
Failing to find a solution, the Caliph decided to create an entrance and personally directed the workers to the location where they should dig. Over the course of several months, using battering rams, fire and the same vinegar, they dug a tunnel and delved deeper into the pyramid. As it later turned out, the hidden ancient entrance was located seven metres to the east and ten metres above the newly opened one, between the pyramid’s stone blocks.
After some time, the workers discovered the edge of a granite plug blocking further progress. Al-Ma’mun personally inspected the obstacle and directed them to go around the granite plug on the right. The workers tore down the walls, revealing an entrance to an upward-facing corridor, but no one dared step into the dark unknown until the arrival of the Caliph. It was the Caliph, by torchlight, who first stepped into the newly revealed corridor, sealed by a granite plug thousands of years ago. Thus, the expedition discovered corridors, a large gallery and chambers within the pyramid. But there were no treasures in these corridors and chambers, just as there were no sarcophagi or mummies. The Caliph abandoned his expedition and returned to Baghdad.
Another millennium passed. The pyramid still stands today on the Giza Plateau, not far from Cairo. The passageway the workers dug into the pyramid is also still there. This passage remains the main route used by explorers and tourists to reach the Great Pyramid of Giza today.
But not everyone knows the history of this passage and that it was constructed under the orders of Caliph al-Ma’mun and with his personal participation.
