Do pyramids of Egypt symbolize the universe by representing Orion Nebula, the constellation of Leo, and the Milky Way?

The pyramids of Egypt have a long history of surprising the world with their utmost beauty and architectural excellence. Another thing that has the potential to shock everyone is the Giza-Orion Correlation Theory. According to Egyptologists, there is a correlation between the locations of Orion’s belt of the Orion Constellation and the largest three pyramids of the Giza Pyramid Complex. They also believe that the builders of the pyramids intentionally added that correlation as Orion’s belt was linked with the god of rebirth and afterlife in the ancient Egyptian culture. If we refer to a detailed version of the theory, the positioning of Egyptian pyramids with respect to the Nile River can recreate Orion’s orientation to the Milky Way.

Robert Bauval came up with this theory, for the first time, in 1983. He was camping with friends and family in the sand dunes of the Arabian Desert when one of his friends pointed out that Mintaka, the dimmest star of Orion’s belt, was slightly offset from the others. This triggered Bauval to make a connection between the three main pyramids and the three main stars of Orion’s belt. He published his idea in 1989 in the journal ‘Discussions in Egyptology’ and told the world that these pyramids are a perfect reproduction of Orion’s stars. He based his conclusion on the following similarities.

·         The three stars of Orion are not perfectly aligned just like the pyramids.

·         The orientation of the pyramids to the Nile is identical to Orion’s orientation to the Milky Way.

·         All of them are slanting in a Southwesterly direction.

Bauval didn’t stop there and studied various Pyramid Texts to extract as much information as he possibly can. He collaborated with Adrian Gilbert to uncover the key plan which initiated the construction of these pyramids. According to ancient beliefs, they were regarded as tombs of the kings. In ‘The Orion Mystery’, they revealed that the purpose of these pyramids is much more than just tombs as they were constructed to replicate Heaven on Earth.

Another similarity between the pyramids of Egypt and the universe is indicated by the presence of the Great Sphinx (a pyramid having a face of a man and body of a lion). This limestone structure is huge by any stretch of the imagination as it is 57 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 20 meters high. According to ‘Keeper of Genesis’ which was published by Bauval in collaboration with Graham Hancock in 1996, the lion-shaped pyramid is a reference to the constellation of Leo. Hancock explained how these findings map to the universe in the book ‘The Mars Mystery’ in 1998. He said,

“We have demonstrated with a substantial body of evidence that the pattern of stars that is ‘frozen’ on the ground at Giza in the form of the three pyramids and the Sphinx represents the disposition of the constellations of Orion and Leo as they looked at the moment of sunrise on the spring equinox during the astronomical ‘Age of Leo’.”  

A lot of scientists disagree with these ideas after studying the explanations given by Bauval, Hancock, and Gilbert. Tony Fairall, a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Cape Town, measured the angle between the alignment of Orion’s belt and the north by making use of the planetarium equipment. He found that there was no perfect match in the angles as planetarium measurements ranged from 47 to 50 degrees while the angle formed by the pyramids was 38^o.

Ed Krupp, an Astronomer at the Griffith Observatory, made independent calculations and got similar results. He also pointed out that the line formed by the three pyramids deviates towards the north whereas the slight kink in the line of Orion’s belt was in the direction of south. As a result, in order to match them, one of them will have to be turned upside down. Bauval and Gilbert actually did that in the book ‘The Orion Mystery’ without revealing about the inversion of the pyramids’ map. Another problem that both of these scientists found was the position of the Great Sphinx. For it to represent the constellation of Leo, it should have been on the opposite side of the Nile River from the pyramids but that’s not the case.