Anthony Hodge: International Painting Series: Egypt

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Paintings: International Series

America Egypt France India Jamaica United Kingdom

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1970s 1980s 1990s 2000

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Egypt This painting is of the Sphinx of Giza in Egypt (see enlarged ). It is a combination of several photographs provided by a friend who vacationed there in 2003, and from additional sketches I did from those photographs. The three moons above the pyramids and Sphinx were meant to represent the constellation " Orion's Belt." The scary thing is, that I Googled the name of the constellation and started ready about it. I'm new to astronomy and had only recently been told by a friend the name of those three stars in the night sky that seemed to align perfectly. I've always felt an attraction to those starts, especially for some reason around the December and January time of the year. So what I found out was, that It has been suggested that the three Belt- stars influenced the placing of the Pyramids at Giza, and it is certainly true that there is a remarkable correspondence of position between the Pyramids and the stars . In the late1980's, Robert Bauval proposed a theory that the ancient Egyptians represented the distinctive pattern of the three stars of Orion's 'belt' by building a group of three pyramids at Giza that matched the pattern of the three 'Belt stars' in the Orion constellation. An observer north of Giza looking south, would see a similar arrangement on the ground as could be seen in the sky - two stars in line and one slightly offset corresponding to two pyramids in line and one slightly offset with similar relative distances between the three stars and between the three pyramids. Click here to see a series of in-process photographys of this painting. Click here to see of video of this painting in-process.

	The constellation of Orion In their book The Orion Mystery (1994), authors Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert made popular the idea that the pyramids of Giza, and other pyramids to the north and south, are laid out in a plan to reproduce the pattern of the stars in the constellation Orion. They propose that there existed a unified "master plan" that originated thousands of years before the pyramid age of the Fourth Dynasty (pp. 50-55; 193-196). The Giza layout is an expression of this plan, the authors assert. Read more on Widipedia about Robert Bauval and The Orion Mystery.

	Illustration of the Orion's Belt The plateau at Abu Rawash, where Djedefre built his pyramid, is the northernmost of all the Egyptian pyramids and was named: 'Djedfre's Starry Sky.' It is approximately eight kilometers from and 80 meters higher than the Giza plateau. It would have been an ideal location for viewing the sky. An observer standing at Djedefre's pyramid looking 52.2 degrees south of east over the Giza group would have seen Orion's belt in the sky - 37 degrees above the Giza Plateau. At this point, the angle of the 'belt' matched the layout of the three Giza Pyramids as they would appear to an observer viewing Giza from a position to the north.

	Illustration of Orion's Belt Are the three Giza pyramids situated to reproduce the pattern of the stars in Orion's belt? Although it is certainly possible, a "grand master plan" for all three pyramids would not have been necessary for the pattern to result. That the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre were near each other was enough of a start. The two pyramids, no matter how they were oriented with respect to one another, would form a straight line. Only the position of the third pyramid would be necessary to set the "Orion's belt" pattern.

	The Sphinx This is one of servarl drawings of mine prior to doing the painting.

	Ramses II

	The Sphinx This is a photo of my friend who took the other pictures from which I did the drawings and painting.

	The Sphinx

	Ramses II