Before the Pyramids: Cracking Archaeology's Greatest Mystery

by Christopher Knight

  Alan let out a long sigh. ‘They put a great deal of thought into this – whoever they were!’ he said. ‘No one can deny that the Pentagon was orientated towards the Capitol – 15 Megalithic Seconds away!’

  We continued to look at the distance relationships of the Pentagon and, almost unbelievably, we found that the distance from the centre of the Pentagon to the centre of the base of the Washington Monument is 9 × 366 MY.

  Quite clearly we are not surveyors, but it seems self-evident that to fix a location that has three such integer relationships with pre-existent structures must surely be a major challenge – no matter what the chosen units of measurement may be. This seemed to be an incredible achievement. But what troubled us was the secret intent that appeared to be present in the placing of the Pentagon.

  A line drawn from the centre of the Pentagon out through the centre of the Riverside entrance leads directly to the dome of the Capitol.

  Figure 18. The Pentagon, Washington DC

  We looked closer at this imposing building and found that it is nothing less than a perfect embodiment of a modern megalithic structure. And ‘perfect’ is the only word!

  Looking at an aerial plan of the Pentagon, the distance between the centre of the building and any one of its five corners is 241.6 m. This means that the circumference of the circle within which the Pentagon was planned is 1,518 m. When we turn this into Megalithic Yards the result is 1,829.6 MY, which is 5 × 366 MY to an accuracy of over 99.9 per cent.

  This five-sided, five-floor building is constructed within a circle that is exactly five Megalithic Seconds in circumference! That means that the arc between each of the points is precisely 366 MY long!

  Stunning.

  The circle within which the Pentagon was designed is a larger, and very accurate, scale model of Stonehenge and of course the all-important giant henges of North Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire in England. The Pentagon is exactly five times bigger than the henge at Stonehenge and two and a half times the size of the Thornborough henges as they appeared in 3500 BC!

  A Curious Conception

  It immediately became important to understand who had designed the Pentagon and then placed it in such a remarkably integrated position relative to the other hubs of Washington DC. What we discovered was very interesting.

  The Pentagon was supposedly the brainchild of Henry L Stimson, Secretary of War in 1941, at a time it appeared very likely that the United States would be drawn into the Second World War. The Department of Defense had operated from a number of different buildings in and around Washington DC but, with the rapid expansion of its military might, a new and much larger building was required to centralize defence efforts. On 17 July 1941 a congressional hearing was convened to deal with the issue and Brigadier General Eugene Reybold of the War Department was given the task of reporting back within five days with a plan to solve the problem.

  It was decided to place the new building across the Potomac River at a place called Arlington Farms, an agricultural research facility. The original design called for a simple rectangular footprint, but it was suggested that access roads required one corner of the rectangle to be clipped off, leaving an asymmetrical five-sided building.

  The notion that the design for a superb new structure such as the Pentagon became a reality simply because an old farm was served by awkward roads does not exactly have a ring of authenticity! But it is strange how a nonsensical idea can stick when repeated enough times. How full of odd buildings the world would be if architects were required to work within constraints such as the layout of a century-old farm.

  It is quite clear that none of the megalithic connections we had found would have existed if the Pentagon had actually been placed in its first suggested location at Arlington Farms. Experts are agreed that the eventual location of the Pentagon is just one factor in a curious saga. An author of a particularly thorough book on the Pentagon story1 has expressed his great surprise regarding the degree to which the then-president of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt, involved himself in the project. For example, says Steve Vogel, the President played the leading role in the selection of the site for the new building. The Army and the Department of War had opted for the original site, but Roosevelt became personally involved when ‘someone’ from the DC Commission of Fine Arts objected to the intended location at Arlington Farms, on the grounds that the building would block the main axis of L’Enfant’s original plan for the city of Washington DC.

  So, who was running the DC Fine Arts Commission, we wondered? It turns out it was chaired by President Roosevelt’s cousin, Frederick A Delano – a man Roosevelt had personally made Chairman of the National Resources Planning Commission several years earlier.

  The army officer in charge of the project, General Brehon B Somervell, insisted that the objection from Delano was not valid, but Roosevelt, who did not respond to Somervell’s case by reasoned argument, overrode him. He simply pulled rank, saying, ‘My dear general, I’m still commander-in-chief of the Army!’2

  Vogel reports how the Pentagon was built upon a foundation of lies and secrecy. He claims that when the gargantuan five-sided structure was being built with miraculous speed at the start of the Second World War, the officials responsible told a series of untruths about the project, its cost and even the number of floors it would have. Vogel also describes the Pentagon as ‘Roosevelt’s design’.3

  The President got his way, and at the eleventh hour the Pentagon was shifted south to its present position at a site that was a complete dump, appropriately called Hell’s Bottom. The ground was broken for the Pentagon on 11 September 1941.4 It was opened for business in January of 1943 and, considering its size, the structure was completed in an amazingly short time.

  It is reported that Roosevelt planned to move the military out of the Pentagon once the war with Japan and Germany was over, on the basis that it would be far too large for peacetime needs. It was his intention that the Pentagon would ultimately become the nation’s ‘hall of records’. Perhaps the development of the Cold War – and the fear of a Soviet attack – put an end to such thoughts.

  Circle diameter = 233 MR

  Circle circumference = 732 MR or 5 × 366 MY = 1830 MY

  MY = Megalithic Yard = 82.966 cm

  MR = Megalithic Rod = 207.415 cm

  Figure 19. Dimensions of the Pentagon, Washington DC

  The Pentagon of the 32nd Degree

  At the very heart of Freemasonry is the story of the building of a temple of knowledge at the heart of the city of God. The new initiate to the order first learns of the building of King Solomon’s Temple, which is taken today by most Freemasons as a simplistic analogy regarding their own lives – build square and true, on a firm foundation – a childishly naive analogy that perhaps ought to insult the intelligence of any modern adult as a basis for membership. The reason it seems to satisfy huge numbers of members of the Craft is that they tend to ignore contemplation of the simplistic ritual and focus on the social and charitable aspects of Freemasonry. The main reason for the apparent secrecy surrounding Freemasonry is that its members dare not tell of what they do at Freemasonic gatherings for fear of derision from their family, friends and peers. In fact, the parts of rituals that are actually designated as being secret are a few unimportant passwords and signs.

  However, it is important to remember that across history and certainly at the time of the Knights Templar (who began their order in the 11th century), for example, stories that transmitted important information always had two levels: an obvious one and a hidden one that was only to be understood by the ‘intended’ recipient.

  There are 33 degrees in the very influential Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and many of the rituals are kept surprisingly private – even from Masons who hold the degree concerned. It has become the norm to elevate Freemasons in chunks, leaping over several degrees at a time and awarding the missing ones in name alone. One Scottish Rite Freemason once told Chris that he asked for a c
opy of the ritual of one of the degrees he had just been awarded but had never experienced, and was coldly informed that he could not have it.

  We looked at the degrees of the Scottish Rite to see if there could be any significant connections with the imagery of a regular pentagon. And we soon found that the penultimate degree was amazingly relevant. The 32nd degree, known as the degree of ‘The Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret’, takes place figuratively in a military camp. The layout is said to be in the form of a series of geometric shapes. The outer form is a nine-sided figure, inside which is a seven-sided figure, then a five-sided figure or pentagon and inside this is a triangle. Finally inside the triangle is a circle, which represents infinity. However, most of the 32nd degree ceremony focuses on the military importance of a pentagon.

  The candidate for the degree is asked what it is that he requires, and he is instructed to answer that he wishes to be admitted as a fellow soldier and servant in the Grand Masonic Army of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. He goes on to suggest that he wishes to shield the oppressed, guard the weak, protect the innocent and combat the enemies of God and humanity.

  This all sounded remarkably relevant to the concept of a new headquarters for the US military at a time when the Nazis were smashing their way across Europe. And the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was only months away.

  Figure 20. The Scottish Rite Masonic camp with pentagon and triangle

  The following explanation is given in the ritual:

  The camp of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is a nonagon enclosing a heptagon, within whose lines is a pentagon which encloses a triangle in the centre of which is a circle. Thus do we find the mystic numbers, 3, 5, 7 and 9, all emanating from the circle of infinity. As these numbers symbolize Divine attributes and Masonic principles, so should Masonic labour emanate from Divine love, be directed by Divine wisdom, and be exercised in Divine power for the good of mankind and the glory of God.

  The second emanation from infinity is denoted by the pentagon, each angle of which represents a division of the Scottish Rite Army. Take heed while their attributes are now rehearsed.

  Practically the whole of the ceremonial part of the 32nd degree is taken up with the military explanations of the five corners of the pentagon after which the degree is conferred on those seeking it. Interestingly, the United States armed forces are made up of five components: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard and, since 1947, the Air Force.

  As the ritual of the 32nd degree develops, a rallying cry is made calling upon loyal men to fight the coming battles. There is a trumpet blast followed by a call to arms. The candidate hears cries of ‘the enemy’, ‘Save us’ and ‘To the Walls’. He realizes that they are under attack and that the lives of all the men, women and children within it are in peril.

  Can this strange ceremony have anything to do with Washington DC or, in particular, the creation of the Pentagon?

  The degree obviously long predates the decision to build a great building to orchestrate warfare, but the men who conceived it would have been pleased to have used the symbolism of their high-level Freemasonic ritual. Naturally they could not tell anyone but their own elite, but it would have made perfect sense to those who knew. The power of symbolism can never be underestimated – and for people whose lives centre around Free-masonry this would have been a wonderful idea. It is well attested that Franklin D Roosevelt was also fascinated by, and very knowledgeable about, architecture. He designed buildings for Warm Springs, a health spa in Georgia that he bought in 1926; houses and two post offices in Dutchess County, New York, where he lived; as well as his own presidential library. It is also known that he had a taste for the past, remodelling his own home in the Georgian style. Many of Washington DC’s buildings of that era, including the Jefferson Memorial, owe their neoclassical style directly to Roosevelt’s preference.

  Franklin D Roosevelt was also a Freemason. He was initiated at Holland Lodge No. 8, New York City on 11 October, 1911. And he was a 33rd-degree Scottish Rite Freemason. Could he have been influenced to move the Pentagon into its exact position? It seems likely that the idea of using the military symbolism of the pentagon form – as used in the ritual 32nd degree – as the inspiration for the new military HQ of the USA would have appealed to Roosevelt’s instincts.

  If anyone still doubts a connection between the Pentagon and the ritual of the 32nd degree of the Scottish Rite, there is one other very significant aspect of the architectural design to consider. The ritual states that there is a triangle inside the pentagon. If one draws an equilateral triangle inside the plan of the Pentagon it fits in an unexpectedly neat manner. Placing the tip of the triangle inside one of the points of the Pentagon (as shown in the diagram used in the ritual) the base of the triangle forms the line of the inner wall of the building. That inner wall could have been placed at any level but it has, unquestionably, been designed as the base of a triangle inside a pentagon.

  An equilateral triangle drawn from any one of the points of the Pentagon matches the building line of the inner pentagon.

  Figure 21. The Pentagon with an equilateral triangle

  The chances that the design of the Pentagon was not directly influenced by the rituals of the Scottish Rite appear to be extremely small. But we were to find yet more evidence that would persuade all but the most ostrich-like of individuals.

  We were not short of evidence to support our claim that Megalithic Seconds were used as integer units for the planning of Washington, but there were more to be found. There is an extremely accurate megalithic connection between the Ellipse centre and one of the most important memorials on the National Mall. This is the Second World War Memorial, which is situated nearly half a kilometre west of the Washington Monument. The distance between the centre of the Ellipse and the centre of another ellipse that forms the focal point of the Memorial is a very accurate 2 × 366 MY. This was an extremely surprising result because, of course, the Memorial could not have been completed until after 1946. In fact it is very much more recent than that. The site for the Memorial was dedicated by President Clinton on Veterans’ Day in 1995 and the Memorial was not finally opened to the public until 29 April 2004. We also found that the distance between the centre of the Memorial and the all-important location under the dome of the Capitol is a very accurate 9 × 366 MY, or 9 Megalithic Seconds of arc.

  Megalithic planning is very much alive and well in Washington DC.

  The Triangle of the 33rd Degree

  As we have seen, the penultimate degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry states that the shape inside the pentagon is a triangle – and this shape is at the heart of the final degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

  To recap, we had established that the distance from the centre of the Pentagon building, straight out through the front door, across the Potomac and to the Capitol, is a straight line exactly 15 Megalithic Seconds long. The distance from the Capitol to the centre of the Ellipse is 8 Megalithic Seconds, and back from the Ellipse to the Pentagon is 10 Megalithic Seconds. That creates a giant triangle across the face of Washington that has a length of 33 Megalithic Seconds (just over 6.22 miles and representing 33 × 366 MY).

  Needless to say, the idea of 33 units was already familiar.

  This is the journey a person could make from a humble Entered Apprentice Freemason right up to Sovereign Grand Inspector-General – if they are so chosen. In the United States of America in particular there are large numbers of 32nd-degree Freemasons – but few of them indeed ever get selected to make the final step to the 33rd degree itself.

  And the key symbol used for this degree – is the triangle. Whilst Freemasonry these days is generally very open about its activities and its structure, the 33rd degree remains somewhat shy about itself. All that is really said is that the 33rd degree is an honour that is granted solely at the discretion of the Supreme Council. We decided we should try and find out a little more about that happens at this elevated level of Freemasonry, so Chris contacte
d a friend who is a 33rd-degree member of the Scottish Rite – Southern Jurisdiction, which has its Supreme Council in Washington DC.

  Figure 22. Masonic symbol for the 33rd degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry

  The reply was astonishing:

  All 33rds receive the same ritual degree. However, only a maximum of 33 are ‘active’ 33rds at any given moment in time, in that they have the right to vote in the Supreme Council that controls Scottish Rite. The Active 33rds are called Sovereign Grand Inspectors General. They run the Craft throughout the state in which they live … The rest of us are 33 honorary with no say other than how early we get up in the morning …

  Scottish Rite is different from all other Masonic bodies in that it is a beneficent hierarchy. By that I mean that in all other Masonic bodies the membership elects the Grand Master, or whatever, and purports to control the organization. In Scottish Rite the Supreme Commander is a full-time paid employee that dictates all activity, most actions ratified, or at least not challenged by the Supreme Council. The vote of the Supreme Council is final and the membership only receives the effect of their activity, but has no say or right to challenge.

  It is a dictatorship, but the beneficent argument is to provide credibility by saying it is the most efficient Masonic organization and can respond to needs and change instantly, whereas the Masonic fraternity controlled by autonomous Grand Lodges in each state, without any collective national body speaking for the fraternity is terribly inefficient, and is becoming archaic.

  So the Scottish Rite does not even pretend to be democratic. There is one man who makes all the decisions and expects them to be ratified without question. Where does such a person come from? Whose will do they represent? If we are right in suspecting that even President F D Roosevelt was influenced by the desires of the Scottish Rite regarding the placing and dimensions of the Pentagon – what else could have been ‘guided’ during the 20th century?