Washingtonople
In a (password protected) page entitled "Washingtonople- The Secret History of America's Capitol", it is suggested that Pierre L'Enfant's "original plan for the National Mall intended to do nothing less than recreate Egypt's Giza plateau in North America on the banks of the Potomac. And just as the three pyramids of Giza are aligned to the belt stars of Orion (?), so L'Enfant intended three monuments along the North-South axis of the Mall to do likewise, while a Sphinx-style structure (the Capitol) would anchor the Mall in the east." The contention here is that the three pyramids at Giza (see image below) were to be represented by edifices at the positons of the White House, the World War II Veteran's Memorial and the FDR Presidential Memorial, while the Capitol was to represent the Sphinx (circled in red below). Note the analogy; the DC monuments are to the pyramids as those are to the stars in Orion's Belt. He takes it as a given that the stars are analogous to the three pyramids. According to the website: "Washington thought L'Enfant's plan 'too obvious' and fired him partially into the construction of Washingtonople (L'Enfant's name for the city)." There's just one problem with that, the scale is all wrong; the Capitol doesn't fit as the sphinx. Orion's Belt Regarding the supposed correlation between the stars in the belt of Orion and the three pyramids at Giza, I welcome the interested reader and students to take a look at a somewhat rigorous article on the the subject written by Ed Krupp entitled "Astronomical Integrity at Giza", in which the author states: "Bauval and Gilbert mapped more than Orion's Belt onto the ground in northern Egypt. Other pyramids provided additional elements of the constellation we now know as Orion. The proportions of the figure imposed on the ground do not match well the proportions of the pattern of stars in the sky. As a drawing of Orion, the pyramids are not very good. Also, while Bauval and Gilbert represented the stars Saiph and Bellatrix with pyramids, the two brightest stars in Orion, Betelgeuse and Rigel (two of the brightest stars in the sky), do not have any corresponding monuments. This is odd." That is, just as with the DC example, the scale does not work well. Facing South "You can, then, match Orion to Giza by looking south, but you invert the cardinal directions of one map or the other to do it. In this kind of mapping (just face south), the angle of the "Belt" of pyramids is okay, but north in the sky is mapped to the south on the ground. This is equivalent to turning Egypt upside-down." What this says is that in order for the pyramids to represent the stars in Orion, you have to turn the map upside down; the stars DO NOT project onto the earth correctly. The image of the stars above is looking south in the sky at midnight, while the image of the three pyramids above is looking north. Continue

Washingtonople

In a (password protected) page entitled "Washingtonople- The Secret History of America's Capitol", it is suggested that Pierre L'Enfant's "original plan for the National Mall intended to do nothing less than recreate Egypt's Giza plateau in North America on the banks of the Potomac. And just as the three pyramids of Giza are aligned to the belt stars of Orion (?), so L'Enfant intended three monuments along the North-South axis of the Mall to do likewise, while a Sphinx-style structure (the Capitol) would anchor the Mall in the east."
The contention here is that the three pyramids at Giza (see image below) were to be represented by edifices at the positons of the White House, the World War II Veteran's Memorial and the FDR Presidential Memorial, while the Capitol was to represent the Sphinx (circled in red below). Note the analogy; the DC monuments are to the pyramids as those are to the stars in Orion's Belt. He takes it as a given that the stars are analogous to the three pyramids.

According to the website: "Washington thought L'Enfant's plan 'too obvious' and fired him partially into the construction of Washingtonople (L'Enfant's name for the city)."

There's just one problem with that, the scale is all wrong; the Capitol doesn't fit as the sphinx.

Orion's Belt
Regarding the supposed correlation between the stars in the belt of Orion and the three pyramids at Giza, I welcome the interested reader and students to take a look at a somewhat rigorous article on the the subject written by Ed Krupp entitled "Astronomical Integrity at Giza", in which the author states:
"Bauval and Gilbert mapped more than Orion's Belt onto the ground in northern Egypt. Other pyramids provided additional elements of the constellation we now know as Orion. The proportions of the figure imposed on the ground do not match well the proportions of the pattern of stars in the sky. As a drawing of Orion, the pyramids are not very good. Also, while Bauval and Gilbert represented the stars Saiph and Bellatrix with pyramids, the two brightest stars in Orion, Betelgeuse and Rigel (two of the brightest stars in the sky), do not have any corresponding monuments. This is odd."

That is, just as with the DC example, the scale does not work well.

Facing South
"You can, then, match Orion to Giza by looking south, but you invert the cardinal directions of one map or the other to do it. In this kind of mapping (just face south), the angle of the "Belt" of pyramids is okay, but north in the sky is mapped to the south on the ground. This is equivalent to turning Egypt upside-down."
What this says is that in order for the pyramids to represent the stars in Orion, you have to turn the map upside down; the stars DO NOT project onto the earth correctly. The image of the stars above is looking south in the sky at midnight, while the image of the three pyramids above is looking north.

Continue