THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 11 How the ancient Egyptians glorified the tiny block of granite that anchored the Taweret plug of the inclined well into Bes and Beset

The immobilization of the huge hippopotamus Taweret by the tiny little dwarf Bes. [Hatshepsut’s birth scene] from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari" (London, 1896). Image courtesy of the University Library Heidelberg: The Ebony shrine, northern half of the middle platform: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/naville1896bd2/0050

THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Study written by Bruno COURSOL (January 2021 to September 2025)

Section B • The inclined well of the Great Pyramid and the so-called ascending passage

It was because of the pressurization of the waters of the inclined well that the fog of microdroplets could be produced

Chapter 11 • The Bes and Beset anchor block that immobilized the Taweret plug of the Great Pyramid's inclined well

In summary: in this chapter we’ll see that the Taweret granite plug of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid was immobilized during the entire operating time of the Pyramid, by a very small granite block that has been glorified by ancient Egyptians into Bes and Beset, but the question is to know why didn’t they simply designed a simple well with a very solid and immobile sealing block at its bottom; and the answer is because the builders of the Pyramid wanted to get every piece of technology back after its operation was finished. Egyptians simply needed to use the structure of the inclined well to get everything out of the Pyramid, so they also needed to drain the water of the well and for that they’ve decided to imagine an extremely both simple and sophisticated plan: the use of a movable plug that could have been forced down the well, revealing a drain hole that would have been waiting all along. For that, Egyptians configured some kind of breaking mechanical fuse: the Bes and Beset granite block is that fuse, and it broke under a predetermined pressure, obtained by simply flooding part or the totality of the central wooden Djed caisson.

Today, only the bottom part of that Bes and Beset granite anchor block fuse still remains, embedded into the floor of the so-called ascending passage and hidden underneath the modern wooden ramp designed for tourists, while the most important part of that block has probably been destroyed after it had been broken off so that the draining of the inclined well could be possible. The methodology that has been used with Bes and Beset is the exact same one used in the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve: one deity has been created to glorify the active and mobile part of the block (that is Bes), and another one has been created to glorify the inactive and immobile part of the block (and that is Beset, the ‘female counterpart’ of Bes).

The amazing thing is that Egyptians probably have depicted the very design of that tiny little granite block on the feet of Tutankhamun’s bed: there really was a very large lower part to be set in the floor of the well, and a very thin protruding part that was in direct contact with the Taweret plug, designed to break under a predetermined pressure. In other words, the Bes and Beset granite block was both an anchor block for the Taweret plug of the well, but it also was some kind of trigger mechanism, a breaking mechanical fuse.

[illustration of Bes pointing to both himself and her female counterpart Beset] “A Bronze Statuette of the God Bes Playing the Kithara” at Alexander Ancient Art: https://www.alexanderancientart.com/1213.php

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the exact location where we can still find today the lower part of what was the tiny little Bes and Beset granite anchor block embedded into the floor of the so-called ascending passage which had the responsibility of maintaining the Taweret plug of the inclined well in position during the entire operating time of the Pyramid. That tiny little anchor granite block had been glorified by ancient Egyptians into the two dwarf deities Bes and Beset.

Diagram of the so-called ascending passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the little imprint at the very bottom of the passage where a piece of granite is still embedded in the floor today. That tiny little piece of granite embedded in the floor of the passage is Beset: what's left of the Bes and Beset wedging anchor block that maintained the Taweret plug in position when the Pyramid was on operation. [Original of the Diagram of the First Ascending Passage] by John and Morton Edgar, in "Great Pyramid Passages", 1910, plate CX, paragraph ref. 460, page 230: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n239/mode/2up

11.01  The 'bit of granite cemented to the floor' of the 'ascending passage' described by Petrie is Beset: the part of the anchor block that was embedded into the floor or the inclined well, in its dry section right underneath Taweret

The following excerpt is from "The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh", by W. M. Flinders Petrie, first published in 1883, page 21: talking about the Taweret granite block: "The present top one is not the original end ; it is roughly broken, and there is a bit of granite still cemented to the floor some way farther South of it." https://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/images/MFA-images/Giza/GizaImage/full/library/petrie_gizeh.pdf

Hatshepsut’s birth scene, from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari" (London, 1896), vol. 2, pl. 50. Image courtesy of the University Library Heidelberg: The Ebony shrine, northern half of the middle platform. https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/naville1896bd2/0050

11.02  When 'Lady of the Well' and 'the Large One' Taweret is immobilized by the tiny little dwarf Bes

To be honest, I really didn't expect to find any kind of proof that would validate the fact that the granite plug of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, the plug deified into hippopotamus goddess 'Lady of the Well' Taweret, was maintained in a temporary position for the time being of the operation of the Great Pyramid by some kind of wedging block, but the so-called 'Hatshepsut's birth scene' that is showing Taweret immobilized by Bes through some kind of block, precisely is that proof. You'll also note that the scene is located at the very end of the story. So, whatever the story is, the scene showing Taweret blocked by Bes is at the very end of it, and we can imagine two different approaches:

1 • Time related approach: the story ends up when it is time for Bes to break and stop immobilizing Taweret. It would be the end of the operating period of the Great Pyramid.

2 • Space related approach: this would be a plan of the entire inclined well that starts with the Grand Gallery and ends with the Taweret/Bes couple at the very bottom of the flooded part of the well.

On the left of the Taweret/Bes couple, there is a bizarre completely empty space, but again it can be interpreted with both approaches: time and space related.

11.03  It is like Bes' posture is saying: "I'm invincible. I'm unmovable. Nothing can pass through me"

Everybody knows that most of the time, ancient Egyptians are represented looking sideways in paintings and reliefs, but Bes is different: he is one of the extremely rare characters depicted facing forwards, and that is the main characteristic to understand about him. In the previous chapter about Taweret, we've already seen that the bottom of the inclined well was sealed by the granite block that is today known as the upper block of the 'granite plug of the ascending passage' and that this block was set just a little bit higher in the passage: the ascending passage was not completely flooded.

We've also already seen that the Taweret plug had to be forced into position by a wedging, or anchoring block that would have immobilized the plug for the entire time being of the operation of the Great Pyramid for flash-evaporative cold production, and what the above Hatshepsut relief is revealing is that it is Bes who was the glorification of that tiny wedging granite block. This Bes wedging block was designed to fight the pressure of the water of the well. It was designed to immobilize the Taweret plug, and this is why Bes is depicted facing forwards. It is almost like Bes is saying: I'm invincible, I'm unmovable. Nothing will pass through me.

On the Hatshepsut’s birth scene, the rectangular block that is immobilizing Taweret by blocking her knee, is both metaphorical and very real: Bes really is that block.

"Kapa o Pango" concludes with a gesture which, according to Lardelli, represents "drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs". The gesture has been interpreted as a "throat slitting" gesture that led to accusations that "Kapa o Pango" encourages violence, and sends the wrong message to All Blacks fans." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapa_o_Pango

Representation of Bes at the Brooklyn Museum, obviously very proud of his 'tail'. Photograph by Daderot

11.04  The only really important thing about Bes is his 'tail' or 'wand'

The representations of Bes in figurines where his tail is obviously over exaggerated in its size really are countless; but it’s not just about the size of the tail, it’s also about its shape: very often the tail is perfectly straight. What Egyptians wanted to represent with Bes, is precisely about its tail, and that is because Bes is nothing but the part of the granite wedging block that was protruding from its base and which would have looked like some kind of pole, or staff emerging from the floor of the inclined well so that the Taweret plug could rest on it.

Bes amulet at the National Museum in Warsaw: https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/504786

Operating diagram of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, showing the Bes wedging block maintaining the Taweret plug into position. In some ways, an anchoring block is nothing but a counterweight, and Bes a simple 'chair'.

11.05  The two complementary 'sides' of the Bes and Beset granite anchor and pressure sensitive mechanical fuse

The above artifact is the perfect illustration of the fact that both the upper part of the anchor block (the protruding part in direct contact with the Taweret plug), and the lower part of that block (the anchoring part embedded into the floor of the inclined well), had opposite functions but were complementary at the same time.

The upper part that was the pressure sensitive fuse and looked like some kind of pole, or mast has been glorified into Bes (left image), when the lower anchoring part of that block has been glorified into Bes' counterpart: Beset. In short, Bes and Beset are two different parts of the same block, the first one was the active one when the second one was inactive.

Faience amulet 74.51.4473 of Egyptian god Bes: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/243741

This is the glorifying representation of the operative Bes and Beset anchor block that maintained the Taweret plug of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid in position, until it was time to release Taweret and drain the well.

“Bes standing on a papyriform capital, Beset on opposite side”. Figure 58.106.6a at the Metropolitan Museum at New York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/552463

11.06  The arched legs of Bes are only to remind of Beset

I’ve always wondered why Bes always has his legs arched like that, but with the artifact MNB 98 below from the Louvre, we also have the answer now: it only is to suggest, or to remind of Beset. What Egyptians wanted to say is that after all, Bes wasn’t alone ever: he was always ‘on top’ of the anchoring part of the wedging block he was part of. By arching the legs, just like you do when you find yourself carried on the shoulders of another person, you remind everybody of that ‘carrier’ without even representing that carrier.

Figurine MNB 98 from the Louvre in the form of goddess Beset standing on a papyrus and carrying on her shoulders a figurine of her male counterpart Bes: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010120659

11.07  Finally: if Beset is carrying Bes on her shoulders, it only is because Beset is the lower part of the wedging block that was anchored into the floor of the inclined well

And there is with figurine MNB 98 from the Louvre, the most important artifact that allows us to finally understand how ancient Egyptians have glorified each one of the two parts of the wedging block that immobilized the Taweret plug at the bottom of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid. Don’t be mistaken here: that is really goddess Bastet that is carrying god Bes on her shoulders. It is almost shocking to imagine a goddess carrying her husband this way, but of course we know everything here is purely metaphorical: the real meaning of the figure is to illustrate that Bes, the One who immobilizes Taweret in the Hatshepsut’s birth scene, was himself anchored into the ground.

What it means, is that the rectangular block in which Bes is ‘standing’ into in the Hatshepsut’s birth scene, is nothing but Beset herself. And of course, now we have the complete deification of the wedging block:

• Bes is the One immobilizing Taweret, because Bes is nothing but the tiny little granite protruding part in direct contact with the huge granite Taweret plug

• Beset is the anchoring part of the wedging block, the One which carried Bes on her shoulders, the One deeply set into the floor of the inclined well, and the One that is still in place today in the Great Pyramid

11.08  The facetious and metaphoric use of the strength of the Bes 'magic wand'

One way of describing the thin upper part of the anchor block on which the Taweret plug was resting and that has been glorified into Bes, is a wand, some kind of ‘magic wand’; so it isn’t really surprising to see that ancient Egyptians tried to compare the strength of the Bes ‘magic wand’ with an erected penis, isn’t it?

This metaphor of the strongest erected penis, demonstrating its gigantic strength is even more interesting knowing that Bes and Taweret are both connected to sex because they’re both deities invoked by pregnant women about to give birth to their baby.

Representation of Bes, the Egyptian god of Childbirth and pregnant women, with an erected penis: https://www.world-in-words.com/news/lilla-del-deu-bes/

11.09  The original design of the Bes and Beset wedging block is revealed on the legs of Tutankhamun's bed

More than just being able to decipher the two deities of Taweret and Bes as the two blocks who were sealing the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, we can do even better and have a pretty good idea of the real design of the Bes wedging block itself, and that is thanks to the "Two Bes-shaped legs for a bed" from the tomb of Tutankhamun:

• the wedging block for Taweret would have had a very large base (A) to anchor the block into the floor of the well

• ant it would have had a very thin protruding upper part (B), that was in direct contact with and immobilizing the Taweret block, and designed to break on demand under a precise amount of pressure so that Egyptians would have only needed to flood the aerial part of the central wooden Djed caisson of the Grand Gallery to trigger the release mechanism that would have allowed Taweret to finally move down and reveal the drain hole.

“Two Bes-shaped legs for a bed”. Allard Pierson Museum. Photograph by Dosseman: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allard_Pierson_Museum_Bes_Legs_for_bed_7603.jpg

Operating diagram of the pressure sensitive mechanical granite fuse of the Great Pyramid's inclined well, for the release of the Taweret plug that triggered the draining of the well.

11.10  Very difficult to be more explicit than this: Bes pointing to himself and to Beset as well

Incredible figure, where both the Bes pressure sensitive fuse and the anchoring Beset are probably represented just the way they really were in real life. Even the use of strings as a metaphorical illustration of the Bes and Beset anchor block and fuse is brilliant because these strings are under tension in the instrument, and if you apply to much tension in these strings, you will break the Bes part, just like Taweret would break this part in her own way by applying not tension but pressure.

“A Bronze Statuette of the God Bes Playing the Kithara” at Alexander Ancient Art. “A wonderfully detailed bronze statuette showing the god Bes. He is depicted in a way typical for the god, as a bandy legged, deformed and nude dwarf with an ugly human face and wide eyes, round, lionine ears and animal hair or manes. In addition he has a long animal tail. He is wearing a crown, consisting of a cavetto cornice and five feathers or plumes, the ribs and veining of which are indicated. Although depictions of the god are much older, the headdress was first added as an element of the iconography of Bes in the 18th dynasty (Romano, p. 78-79 and 101). Bes is here shown playing the kithara, a stringed instrument that the god used to ward off evil. His right hand is clenched with just the index finger outstretched, to strum the instrument in his left hand”: https://www.alexanderancientart.com/1213.php

11.11  Bes playing with himself, so to speak... and with the proper inclination of the protruding part of the wedging block of the GP's inclined well

Here, this is the same thing than the previous figure, except Beset isn't part of the picture. Because I'm used to represent the operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid viewed from the Eastern side, I took the liberty to invert the above image representing Bes playing with some kind of 'harp'. But of course, there is no harp. The only meaning of that scene is simply to represent Bes playing with himself: the thin protruding part of the anchor block which kept the Taweret plug into position when the Pyramid was operated.

Often, I came to same conclusion: ancient Egyptians weren't only scientists, physicians, mathematicians or engineers, they were also very facetious and they really loved to make their point with elegance and panache. And this is exactly what we have here: they even represented the Bes protruding part of the wedging block in its true original inclination. I think it's brilliant!

“Temple of Isis (Philae Island), the temple of Hathor the Nubian god Bes”. October 1 2010. Photograph: Jose Antonio

Bes figurine 41.312 at the Walters Art Museum, showing the triangular 'tail' on the last image, that is the protruding part of the anchor block for Taweret: https://art.thewalters.org/object/41.312/

"Mucus plug and water breaking": https://www.invitra.com/en/amniotic-fluid-leakage/mucus-plug-and-water-breaking/

11.12  If Bes is just like Taweret the god of childbirth and pregnant women, the god protecting the baby it only is because it is him who is keeping in place the mucus plug in pregnant women

Like we’ve already seen in the previous chapter about hippopotamus goddess Taweret, ancient Egyptians used, and played with the idea of the pressure sensitive granite fuse of the Bes and Beset anchor block that immobilized the Taweret plug in order to reassure pregnant women during their pregnancy and childbirth. When it was time, it was either Bes, Beset or Taweret, or all together at the same time who were invoked to protect women during delivery.

“Bes, together with his feminine counterpart Beset, is an ancient Egyptian deity […] worshipped as a protector of households and, in particular, of mothers, children, and childbirth.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bes

11.13  The metaphorical use of the champion of the anchor block Bes on the bases of columns and the foundations of your house

There are many, or at least some representations of Bes on column parts all over Egypt, and for egyptologists if you find a part of a column with the representation of a deity, there is no doubt it has to be the top part of the column, its capital. So of course, they are saying that when Bes is represented onto a part of a column it is the capital of the column. But there is a problem: it looks like there isn’t any standing column with Bes represented on its capital.

Of course, egyptologists can’t imagine why Egyptians would have represented Bes not on the column’s capitals but on the bases of the columns instead; but now we can understand why Bes can be represented on the base of a column: because Bes is the glorification of the anchoring block of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, and because it was him who resisted to the fantastic pressure that reigned at the bottom of the inclined well, and him who also resisted to the weight of the Taweret plug, each time ancient Egyptians wanted to emphasize the extreme resistance of an anchoring block used in construction, they’ve used the Bes wedging block of the Great Pyramid. In short, Egyptians invoked the champion of the anchoring blocks: Bes, and they represented him on the base of the columns that needed the strongest anchoring system of all constructions.

Certainly Bes has never been represented onto any column’s capital as claimed by egyptologists, but surely it had onto many column’s bases instead, because dwarf god Bes is nothing but the glorification of the tiny little and thin protruding part of the granite anchor block that was embedded into the floor of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, therefore anchored into the ground.“ [above illustration] "Capital of Column to god Bes at Dendera”. Bes as depicted on a column capital from the Dendera Temple complex. Photograph by Olaf Tausch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bes#/media/File:Dendera_Bes_01.JPG

[anchor blocks] “How to Build a Treeless Tree House”, by Seamster: https://www.instructables.com/Backyard-Fort/  and https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/concrete-anchors-block-2851760086988.html

11.14  In one hand Beset didn't have any head or neck...

What we have here, is a representation of Beset, the ‘male counterpart of Bes’, and what is striking is how the artist has depicted the head of the goddess, because there is something that is literally missing and that is obvious on this particular figure: Beset doesn’t have any neck.

The intention was to show that Beset actually didn’t have any head at all, simply because she was entirely hidden inside the floor of the inclined well. In other words, what really was in contact with and blocking Taweret into position, wasn’t Beset at all but her male companion, counterpart and ‘husband’ Bes.

In short, it’s like Beset didn’t have any head at all above her shoulders, and that is exactly what is depicted on this figurine from the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

[illustration of goddess Beset] "Late middle Kingdom wood Beset statuette 5667", from the Pushkin Museum in Moscow: https://antlered.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/middle-kingdom-beset.png

Bes Mask from the Walters Art Museum: https://art.thewalters.org/detail/27895/bes-mask-2/

Amulet of the Head of Bes, 664–332 B.C, from the Metropolitan Museum, New-York. Accession Number: 10.130.2057: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/549188

Bes Head Amulet 51.2542 from Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest: https://www.mfab.hu/artworks/bes-head-amulet/

11.15  And in the other hand Bes would have looked like he did have a head but not the rest of the body

And again, it reminds me of the differentiation that ancient Egyptians have made between Bastet and Sekhmet when they had to glorify the check valve with counterweight: gentle and seated Bastet has been seen as the inactive, and immobile part of the valve; today we would use the term ‘body’ of the valve. The same way they’ve represented the active, and mobile part of the valve into ferocious Sekhmet; and today we would use the term ‘head’ about an endless moving part of a engine.

The body is still, when the head can move, or rotate. Egyptians did the exact same thing by associating the inactive and embedded in the floor Beset with the body of the wedging block and the active Bes with the head of that block.

This is why we have representations of Beset without a real head, and representations of Bes with only the head.

Gilded chair from the tomb of Yuya and Thuya, Egyptian Museum, al-Qāhirah: photograph by Warren LeMay

11.16  The perfect metaphor about the Bes wedging block: a simple chair with a very solid seat back

One way of seeing Taweret when the plug was still in place during the operating time of the Great Pyramid, was like she was comfortably set into some kind of chair; a chair with a very solid seat back.

11.17  Bes supporting Hathor 'Mistress of the counterweight' on the head: in some ways, an anchoring block is nothing but a counterweight

Excerpt where Hathor is described as 'Mistress of the counterweight': “This amulet represents a "menat," a counterweight often made of metal worn on the back to keep large necklaces in place. "Menats" were regarded not only as jewelry but also as ritual objects sacred to the goddess Hathor, who was called, among many other titles, "Mistress of the Counterweight." This small-scale "menat" amulet shows the lion-headed goddess Sakhmet - closely associated with Hathor - wearing the sun disk and a broad collar. Below appears an "udjat," the eye of Horus, between two rearing cobras. The disk at the bottom depicts another pair of snakes spreading large protective wings around a seated deity in the middle.” https://art.thewalters.org/object/48.1626/

[Standing Bes Figurine with Hathor Headdress] LACMA M.80.198.12: https://collections.lacma.org/node/244488

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Operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid

Timelines

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