by Tom Bane
“The problem is that we need to know the exact year in which a particular monument was built to work out exactly which stars it points to and therefore prove it is directly linked to precession. But Nabta and Stonehenge don’t come with a date stamp, and different artifacts found there have different dates. Also, they were probably both built over time so they can’t be dated exactly to one specific date anyway. And, of course,” he added, grinning at his young audience, “while an interesting astronomic curiosity, the wobbling earth does not yield much insight for you archaeological students. It does not tell us anything valuable about how the people lived or what they believed in, apart from the fact that they followed the stars in the heavens. Science will eventually lead to superior insights, where archaeology has failed”
Suzy gripped her pen. Kathy looked over and put a hand on her arm.
“You might have heard of recent studies at Stonehenge suggesting it could in fact have been a lunar cult, rather than the sun-based worship that everyone has assumed till now. Just in case there’s any mileage in this theory, I’m soon going back to Egypt to look for alignments between the ancient monuments and the moon.” Not soon enough, Suzy thought.
“Which leads me neatly to today’s main lecture topic: the Orion Correlation Theory of the Pyramids at Giza, a theory proposed by Robert Bauval in 1989. He is not an archaeologist or even an Egyptologist; in fact I think he’s a builder! What’s certain is that his theory belongs in the academic dustbin.”
Suzy made a small growling sound at the back of her throat. She couldn’t believe this high-handed dismissal of another man’s work. She happened to know that the eminent Dr. Iorwath Edward from the British Museum had expressed real interest in elements of Bauval’s theory. Also, as this was what had first sparked her own fascination with the pyramids, Tom’s remark felt uncomfortably personal. Her mother had videoed a documentary on the subject that the young Suzy had watched repeatedly.
“Professor Piper informs me that the three stars of Orion’s Belt have held significance to many religions in history. In India, they represent the hunter, in Japan, the three great winter preachers. And, in our own Christianity, they may represent the three wise men. The stars of Orion’s Belt point to Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, and they also follow it around, which no doubt gives us a variant of the popular Christmas carol:
We three kings of Orion are, bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star.
“The yonder star is, of course, Sirius. Professor Piper is more skeptical on whether or not Sirius is the Star of Bethlehem, although it does appear in the east in Israel at that time of year. But it was not a new star; it didn’t suddenly burst into light two thousand years ago, so I think more detective work is required.”
“Can I interrupt?” The professor was already on his feet, splashing coffee down his front in his enthusiasm. “The three wise men are also known as the ‘magi’ or the ‘magicians.’ And the art of magic was thought to have emanated from Egypt along with Alchemy, Numerology and other esoterica.” He couldn’t resist this opportunity to tease with a link between Christianity and Ancient Egypt.
“Yes, er, thank you, Professor.” Tom said hesitantly, momentarily thrown by Piper’s interjection. “The Orion Correlation theory, in its most basic form, proposes that the three main Giza Pyramids were laid out to reflect the three stars of the Orion star constellation, said to be in the belt of the great hunter Orion. It also purports to explain why the third-smallest pyramid is offset from the other two larger ones rather than being in a straight line. I know that it is a theory that has intrigued the archaeological community for many years. Well, I will now disprove this theory in three parts, as there are three crucial flaws.”
His audience sat silently, all eyes trained on Brooking.
“Firstly, the pyramids on the Giza Plateau are aligned perfectly with the cardinal points, north, south, east and west, demonstrating that the ancients aligned them, using the motion of the sun in the sky, with an uncanny degree of precision of 0.05 degrees. This degree of precision was not repeatable until modern engineering methods were finally able to match it over four thousand years later. The Orion Correlation theory has the three ‘belt stars’ in the heavens represented on the ground at Giza by the three pyramids, ‘On earth as it is in heaven,’ as Bauval put it, borrowing a phrase from The Lord’s Prayer.”
Tom then put up a fuzzy photo of the three stars of Orion, superimposed upon an outline of the pyramids.
“This image is taken from Bauval’s book. It seems like a good matchup, doesn’t it? The stars of Orion match to the outlines of the pyramids at first sight, and even the smallest pyramid, which is offset from the other two large pyramids, aligns with the third star. But,” Tom continued dramatically, “What Bauval omitted to tell his readers was that, in order to make the theory work, he had turned the stars upside down, making them appear to match the pyramids. If the Ancient Egyptians were so good at getting the alignment of eight million tons of rock to point perfectly north, why would they be a hundred percent off on the stars of Orion as laid out on the ground at Giza, represented by the pyramids? The pyramids point perfectly north but Orion ‘s Belt in the sky does not. Bauval’s theory begins to look wobbly.”
He paused to let his words sink in. Suzy was now listening intently, eyes narrowed.
“The second flaw in the theory is that the relative magnitude of the stars, measured by their respective brightness, and the size of the pyramids do not match. Arab astronomers named them thousands of years ago. The first star is very bright and is called Alnitak. Its relative brightness matches the largest pyramid at Giza, the Great Pyramid of the Pharaoh Khufu. The second star is called Alnilam. It is slightly less bright than the first star, but it again matches the size of the second Pyramid of the Pharaoh Khafre, and, finally, the third star Mintaka—look closely at the size of this third star. It is only a little less than the second star, but the Pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest pyramid by far. So, if you are using the brightness of the star in the sky as your guide, it should mean that the third pyramid is only slightly smaller than the second and first pyramids. But, as you can see, its relative brightness in the sky does not match the size of the third pyramid. It is different. There is an error, and the error is more than three percent. So, the Orion Correlation Theory now looks set to topple.”
“Could the stars have had a different brightness in the past?” a student behind Suzy asked. Brooking shook his head.
“No, not possible. Stars only change their brightness over millions of years, not thousands of years.”
“How did the Egyptians measure the brightness of the stars?” Kathy asked. “Surely that was subjective depending on how good your eyes were?”
“Well, they didn’t have telescopes, but they may have had instruments that have since been lost.” Kathy sank back in her seat, looking doubtful.
“OK. So what’s the third fallacy?” Suzy asked. Tom glanced toward Suzy and their eyes locked for a long moment. He blinked.
“You’ve probably noticed the third and final fallacy already. If you study the pyramids, you will know that the most sacred point was at the apex, where the treasured benben stone sat. It was pyramidal in shape and was originally covered in solid gold. This is the key to unlocking the Orion mystery, and disproving it.”
“May I interrupt again?” Piper was back on his feet. Tom stared back down at Suzy who merely frowned and averted her eyes back to her notepad, scribbling furiously.
“Imagine the scene,” the professor said, spreading his open palms as if drawing back a theatre curtain. “The mighty solid gold benben stone atop the glorious pyramid. It would have illuminated the desert landscape in the daytime as the sun’s rays reflected from its shining gold surface. Plus, the original pyramid was encased in smoothed white limestone. The reflected sunlight must have been dazzling! The benben stone and pyramid symbolized the rays of the sun as they appear shining thro
ugh a break in the clouds, like a triangular cloud ray. The pyramid thus signified the immaterial made material or light energy transformed into matter. The Pyramid Texts speak of the sun’s rays as a ramp on which the Pharaoh ‘ascends to the sun.’ To understand the benben stone, you must understand that the morning sun was Khepre, the scarab beetle, and the evening sun was represented by Ra-Atum, the oldest creator god depicted on Cleopatra’s Needle. Ra-Atum is said to have created the first life by masturbating and taking his semen into his mouth. When he masturbated, he created the earth and sky, hence the association of obelisks with the erect penis of the creator!”
“Is it any wonder Sigmund Freud collected Egyptian Art?” bellowed Piper. Brooking was now staring at Piper.
“The earth and sky then procreated and so was born Osiris and his sister and wife, Isis,” Piper crashed enthusiastically on, oblivious of everyone else in the theatre. “They created Horus who is the Lord of Kingship; hence Kingship goes back to creation. You see the benben stone derives from the root bn, which means to become erect and to reproduce. The concept of bn connotes the idea of swelling in general; the form of Ra-Atum was that he expanded as an erect mound in the abyssal waters of creation. And the pyramid is an image of this primeval mound, a place of creation and rebirth in the Abyss. The Phoenix bird, called Benu in Egyptian, appears in Egyptian myth by its similarity to benben and because it returns after long absences to its pyramidal nest as if reborn or arising from the ashes, so is the mystery of the Phoenix—”
“Thank you, Professor,” Tom cut in. “Indeed, all very interesting, but we must keep our focus on correlation, not reproduction.” There were a few muffled sniggers from the audience.
“The benben stone represents the pinnacle of the pyramids,” Tom picked his thread up again. “So you would expect the tops of the pyramids to align to the center of any star constellation like Orion, yes? Well, let’s take a closer look.”
He placed another transparency on the overhead projector, with finer detail of the stars of Orion superimposed upon the three pyramids of Giza. It showed the exact top of the pyramids almost aligned to the center of each of the stars in Orion—but not quite.
The audience could now see a startling discrepancy: the third Pyramid of Menkaure was off-center. Its apex and benben stone was not at the center of Mintaka; instead, it was at the edge of the pyramid.
“So you can see now,” Tom said, triumphantly, “the Orion Correlation Theory has collapsed. When you precisely analyze it, using a proper star atlas and authentic images of the pyramids and Orion, the theory is proved false. Firstly, the stars are the wrong way round; secondly, the brightness is out and, most important, the pyramids don’t actually align. The centers of the pyramids using the benben stone are out of sync. The photos of the stars used by Robert Bauval in his book were too diffuse to illustrate this.” Suzy was studying the picture intently, her head slightly cocked. “Any questions?”
“What about the Milky Way?” someone asked. “I read that the location of the winding Milky Way in the sky mirrors that of the River Nile’s twisting course in relation to the pyramids. Is that correct?”
“The Nile at Giza bears only a superficial resemblance to the Milky Way, and the distance of the Nile to the pyramids is not in exact alignment to the Milky Way. It is also the wrong way around. The Milky Way lies to the east of Orion, but the pyramids are on the West Bank of the Nile, so Bauval was incorrect. Again, he used a mirror image instead of a direct transposition.”
“But what is wrong with the pyramids being laterally inverted on the ground,” the questioner persevered, “that is to say, a mirror image?”
“Why do that?” Tom’s tone accused the questioner of naivety, leading to an uncomfortable silence punctuated by some mumbling at the back.
“Any other questions for Dr. Brooking?” Piper asked encouragingly.
Suzy raised her hand and Tom smiled in a way that made Kathy tut.
“Yes?” he said, moving to the edge of the stage.
“Dr. Brooking, I think there could be a different but equally valid way of looking at this,” she began tactfully. Brooking raised one eyebrow, saying nothing. “The Ancient Egyptians believed that the god Osiris was represented in the sky by Orion,” Suzy said. “So the Pharaohs were associated with the god Osiris in death. As Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of initiative magic. The pyramids were the way that the Pharaohs attained passage to the afterlife, where Osiris would be their guide in the Underworld, and their soul, the ka, would pass through the pyramid down to the gate of souls, and then be associated with Osiris at death. They would then become immortal Pharaohs. It was thought that they were reborn as stars in the night sky in the pyramid texts.”
“I am sorry, you’ll have to help me out here,” Tom crouched down, as if to have a more intimate conversation. “What does this have to do with what I just explained?”
“Let me assist,” Piper interrupted again. Tom reluctantly swung his gaze toward the professor. “Maybe the Pharaohs meant for the stars of Orion to match their transit of destination into the heavens, where they were to be reborn after getting through the Underworld. There was a clear distinction they made between the real world and the Underworld, and getting from one to the other required a very special point of transit. This point was seen symbolically and it was known as the akhet, an elusive part of the sky through which souls would pass on their journey from this world to the next.”
“Exactly,” said Suzy. She could see some of the other students nodding in agreement. Tom straightened up, frowning slightly. He was obviously not familiar with this abstruse concept of the akhet, Suzy thought.
“Such a point became manifest,” Piper continued, “with a physical representation, rather than a metaphysical akhet, which was floating around elusively in the sky. So they created the device of the false door through which the akhet was now a real portal. These false doors are in virtually every tomb in Egypt, rock-cut facades that have an outline of a doorway but with the door itself actually being a solid interface of rock. There are no hinges or moveable parts. They are all part of the whole carving. They were intended purely for the dead. It was through this door that the soul of the deceased, the Ka, made the very first step from this plane of reality into the great beyond.”
“And the portals or hidden doorways,” Suzy leaned forward, wanting Piper to argue his case more authoritatively, “could be one of the most holy of all things, because the entire ancient Egyptian religion rested on the transit of the soul through them. So, when you look to the mortuary temples outside of the pyramids, where these hidden doorways are located, it is no surprise to find them at the rear or deepest part of the temple. Only the most highly ordained priests were ever allowed to see this area of the temple. It was in effect the absolute sanctuary of the gods, where you could find the hidden doorway, the portal to the afterlife, the akhet.”
“Interesting,” Tom said, not looking at either of them, “but a little too esoteric for a rational and intellectual discipline like archaeo-astronomy. I’d rather stick to more mainstream topics backed up by solid scientific argument.”
“No, really, let me explain what I meant,” Suzy said earnestly, sensing his discomfort. “It is pretty mainstream, believe me.”
“No,” Tom cut her short, “believe me. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” Suzy’s jaw dropped and he flashed her a fixed smile, his eyes cool. “We need to move on. With the Orion Correlation Theory disproved, we can look at the alignment of the pyramids with the sun, which is incontrovertibly correct.”
Suzy stood, her face burning with fury, and walked up the side steps onto the stage. How dare he patronize her like that? Striding to the overhead projector, she slapped her hand onto the transparency and moved the overlay one centimeter to the left.
“See?” she said, gesturing angrily at the screen. Suddenly the picture acquired a new meaning and a gasp of astonishment wen
t round the theatre. “The pyramids now align perfectly with the centers of the stars of Orion. It’s not the top of the pyramids at the benben stone that align but the mortuary temples with their hidden doorways on the western side of the pyramids, where the soul passes into the Underworld, just as the pyramid texts explain, the akhet.”
Tom stared at the picture. The hidden doorways lined up perfectly.
“Even … even if that’s true,” he spluttered, “there is still the fact that the stars of Orion in the sky are reversed compared to the pyramids on the ground.”
“The heavens were intended to be represented on the ground like a picture,” Suzy barked. “At night the people stood at the bottom of the pyramids and looked up to admire their correlation with the three stars of Orion/Osiris. That explains your first critique, why they are a mirror image of the heavens, facing south rather than north.”
Tom stood dumbfounded. For six months he had sweated blood and tears to disprove this theory and now this student, this girl, had destroyed two key elements in one fell swoop. He looked to Professor Piper for help, but Piper was smiling and then started applauding, followed by the students.
