The three largest pyramids in the famous Giza complex near Cairo are, from the rear, the Great Pyramid of Khufu (aka Cheops); the Pyramid of Khaphre (or Chephren), which still retains some of its original limestone exterior near its apex; and the significantly smaller Pyramid of Menkaure (aka Mycerinus or Mykerinos) in the front. (Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact \u2014 a fact that\u2019s obviously true, when you think about it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you realize,\u201d he suddenly said, \u201cthat Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the cell phone than to the construction of the pyramids?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s undeniably correct.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Motorola demonstrated the first handheld cellular mobile phone in 1973. \u00a0It weighed nearly 4.5 pounds. \u00a0The first commercial cellular network was launched in 1979, in Japan. \u00a0And the rest is (little-known) history.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cleopatra lived from 69 BC to 30 BC, which puts her about two thousand years from the mobile phone.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a long time. \u00a0And\u00a0Cleopatra VII Philopator\u00a0(\u039a\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03c0\u1fb0\u0301\u03c4\u03c1\u1fb1 \u03a6\u03b9\u03bb\u03bf\u03c0\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03c1), to give her her proper name and to distinguish her from all of the other Cleopatras, was a ruler of ancient Egypt. \u00a0How, then, can it possibly be the case that she\u2019s closer in time to iPhones than to the pyramids?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, the numbers don\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Great Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu at Giza was completed in roughly 2560 BC, after twenty years of intense labor. \u00a0That\u2019s almost precisely twenty-five centuries \u2014 two thousand five hundred years \u2014 before Cleopatra\u2019s birth. \u00a0And the first of the pyramids, Djoser\u2019s famous \u201cStep Pyramid\u201d at Saqqara, to the south of Giza, was built somewhat more than a century before the Great Pyramid.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
What this should bring home is the astonishing antiquity of the pyramids.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time of Moses, they were already a thousand years old.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
They go back further in time from Jesus than Jesus is from us<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Growing up in southern California, I saw the San Gabriel Mission \u2014 the\u00a0Misi\u00f3n de San Gabriel Arc\u00e1ngel\u00a0\u2014 nearly every day of my life. \u00a0It was founded in 1771. \u00a0In 1781, a group of settlers known as Los Pobladores<\/em>\u00a0gathered at the San Gabriel Mission and then went out to found\u00a0El Pueblo de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora la Reina de los \u00c1ngeles<\/span>, \u2018The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
That seemed really, really old to me when I was a young boy.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I served my mission in Switzerland, though \u2014 especially in places like the Berner Oberland \u2014 I often visited people who were living in chalets inscribed with dates from the 1600s and even, occasionally, from the 1500s.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But then I moved with my new wife to Egypt. \u00a0I saw the Great Pyramid of Giza almost every day. \u00a0And when I came back through Switzerland thereafter, AD 1500 didn\u2019t seem quite so old any more.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
To get much older than pyramids, you pretty much have to go geological or cosmological.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact \u2014 a fact that\u2019s obviously true, when you think about it. \u00a0 \u201cDid you realize,\u201d he suddenly said, \u201cthat Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the cell phone than to the construction of the pyramids?\u201d \u00a0 He\u2019s undeniably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
They're even older than I am.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact -- a fact that's obviously true, when you think about it. "Did\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"They're even older than I am.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact -- a fact that's obviously true, when you think about it. "Did\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-10T03:13:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/01\/All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html\",\"name\":\"They're even older than I am.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-10T03:13:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-10T03:13:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact -- a fact that's obviously true, when you think about it. \\\"Did\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"They’re even older than I am.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"They're even older than I am.","description":" A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact -- a fact that's obviously true, when you think about it. \"Did","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"They're even older than I am.","og_description":" A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact -- a fact that's obviously true, when you think about it. \"Did","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-04-10T03:13:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/01\/All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html","name":"They're even older than I am.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-04-10T03:13:42+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-10T03:13:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" A few days ago, one of my sons surprised me with an unexpected fact -- a fact that's obviously true, when you think about it. \"Did","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/theyre-even-older-than-i-am.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"They’re even older than I am."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Al-Ahramaat\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/01\/All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg\")
<\/a>