"Robert Doherty - Area 51 - The Sphinx" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doherty Robert)

who studied and searched for a universal truth in connection with God.
He was the only non-Muslim to travel to both Mecca and Medina, disguising
himself as one of the faithful, his dark skin and language abilities allowing
him to pose as a Persian trader. He had seen the Ka'ab, the heart of Islam,
which none outside the faith were to see and be allowed to live.
From Arabia he went to Africa, hoping to start an expedition to discover
the mythical source of the Nile. Because of his proficiency in languages and his
willingness to go into the native areas and listen, he heard many whispers and
late-night stories told in a drunken stupor, finding it difficult to separate
fact from fiction. It was in Mecca that he had first read of ancient secrets
hidden on the Giza Plateau. Another man, said to be a Master Sufi also — Abdu
Al-Iblis —had found him—how, Burton knew not—and directed him onward to the
African continent and gave him the medallion telling him to use it to gain help
on his path. Al-Iblis's only request was that Burton return to Mecca and tell
him what he had discovered. Burton did not trust Al-Iblis—he sensed evil from
the man, and Kaji's reaction indicated his instincts were correct—but Burton had
long before realized that his path would often brush up against such people and
if he was to pursue his goal of the Truth he would have to use them also.
What had piqued Burton's interest were the stories of the mythical Hall
of Records, hidden somewhere in the ancient complex of structures built on the
Giza Plateau outside of Cairo. The Hall was said to contain the Truth, although
what exactly was meant by that, Burton had no idea. To some it meant religious
truth—which of the many gods man worshiped around the world was the one true
God—and to otters it was the truth of the Antedilu-

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vian World, the story of Atlantis and man's roots, of great civilizations before
recorded history. Regardless, Burton was determined to discover it.
After his camp near Berbera was attacked by Somali bandits and he
suffered his grievous wound from a spear thrust through his jaw, Burton was
forced to postpone his search for the source of the Nile. On his way back to
England to recuperate, he had stopped at Giza to explore this mystery before
boarding the steamer. His persistent questioning had led him to Kaji, an old
Egyptian he'd found huddled in a hut on the edge of the Plateau. As near as
Burton could determine, Kaji was some kind of caretaker for the monuments,
although the man seemed poor and had no affiliation with the local government.
He had badgered the old man every day for a week, before Kaji even assented to
talk to him. And then it had taken another week of pestering to get him to agree
to take him to the Plateau this evening.
Burton felt the familiar stir of excitement as they closed on the Great
Pyramid. He had read the report of the English mathematician John Greaves, who
had visited the Pyramid in 1638. Burton had also studied the more exacting
measurements of Frenchman Edme-Francois Jomard, who had been commissioned by
Napoleon to study the structure, Jomard had deduced the Pyramid of Khufu's
current height to be 481 feet, making it by far the tallest known man-made
building in the world. Even more fascinating, Jomard measured each side of the
base and discovered, they were all 755 feet long, give or take eight inches an
incredible feat of building by the ancients—accuracy within one-tenth of one
percent over such a vast scale. Just as amazing; the sides of the three major