FRANCISCO DE PAULA MARTINEZ

El curioso lector tiene en sus manos un libro que no le dejará indiferente. Su autor, ingeniero dedicado a grandes construcciones como puentes, carreteras y moles edificatorias, es un enamorado de Egipto y de sus tumbas y mastabas y un estudioso de las mas antiguas y descomunales obras de ingenieria y arquitectura, cuales son las multiples piramides erigidas para conservar eternamente al correspondiente faraon. Obras que aun hoy en dia causan el asombro de ingenieros, arquitectos, tecnicos y arqueologos y que no se explican a traves de las diversas teorias que han circulado a lo largo del tiempo, aun hasta hoy. Francisco de Paula ha estado obsesionado con el problema de las construcciones piramidales hasta que ha desarrollado una teoria tan atractiva que probablemente sea la correcta, porque aunque su desarrollo tenga su parte tecnica que podria dar la sensacion de una lectura farragosa y dificil, muy al contrario nos guia, a medida que penetramos en ella, de una manera tan amena, sensata y logica que, al acabar el libro terminamos convencidos de la bondad de su teoria y prendados de aquellos arquitectos e ingenieros egipcios que hace 5.000 años supieron dejar para asombro del mundo de hoy esas maravillas, utilizando para su construccion, ademas de piedra, agua, troncos y cordajes, la fuerza humana y sobre todo, su inteligencia. El libro tiene un diseño muy atractivo, con mas de 217 fotografias y dibujos, amen de los suficientes y precisos calculos que acreditan sobradamente la solidez de esta teoria.

Francisco de Paula was obsessed with the pyramids' construction problem until he developed a theory so attractive it is probably the correct one. This is because although it includes a technical side that could give the impression of being involved and difficult to read, on the contrary it guides us as we look into it in such a pleasant, sensible and logical way that on finishing the book we are convinced of how good his theory is and captivated by those Egyptian architects and engineers who 4,500 years ago knew how to create such wonders for the astonishment of today's world, using for their construction in addition to stone, water, logs and ropes the human work-force and… mainly their intelligence and wisdom. The book is very attractively designed, with more than 200 photos and drawings, apart from the sufficient and precise calculations which amply prove the soundness of this theory. This experienced pyramidologist has followed Herodotus' story where, in his second book dedicated to Euterpe expressing his conversations with Egyptian priests, he writes: "The priests themselves were reading to me in a book the catalogue of the 300 Pharaohs subsequent to Menes." Also, talking about Khufu's pyramid and its construction, he wrote: "The pyramid was being built so that there were ledges or steps, which some ones call scales and other altars. Thus built, beginning from the bottom part, they raised the blocks, already carved, into place by means of machines made of short wooden planks. The first machine raised them from the ground to the top of the first tier. On this one there was another machine, which received the block upon its arrival and conveyed it to the second tier, whence a third machine advanced it still higher. Either they had as many machines as tiers in the pyramid, or possibly they had but a single machine which, being easily movable, was transferred from tier to tier as the block was unloaded, for it is good to give all kinds of diverse explanations". "Thus, the facade began to be polished from the top, lowering later onsecutively so that the lower part, which was based on the ground, was the last one to receive the treatment. Egyptian letters are written down in the pyramid telling how much was spent on radishes, on onions and garlic for the laborers and officials to consume; and I remember perfectly well that when reading it, the interpreter said to me that the account amounted to 1,600 talents of silver".

La construcción de las pirámides faraónicas ha venido siendo, desde que en el siglo XIX comenzó el estudio sistemático de la civilización egipcia, uno de los temas más controvertidos dentro de los muchos misterios que presentaba la investigacion de sus magnificos e impresionantes monumentos.El autor de este libro, con una experiencia de mas de treinta años como constructor de las mas variadas Obras Publicas, tales como presas, autopistas, puentes, tuneles, plantas industriales, etc., ha estudiado el problema como si se tratara de una obra mas de las muchas que en su vida profesional ha realizado.Este profundo estudio, tecnicamente impecable, ha hecho que llegara a la conclusion de que, tal como describio Herodoto en su libro II, Euterpe, el metodo de construccion solamente pudo ser el que el Padre de la Historia menciona en sus escritos.