All language subtitles for The Universe s08e02 The Pyramids.eng

Male narrator: The ancient
pyramids of the pharaohs...

were they built as merely
colossal burial tombs?

The pyramids are an enormous
feat of engineering.

Narrator: Or was their real
purpose not of this Earth?

The pyramid is this cosmic
engine on the grandest scale.

Narrator: Were these mounds
of stone designed as transport

ships to carry a pharaoh's soul
and all his riches deep into the

- heavens?
- The pharaoh was thought to

- travel among those stars.
Narrator: - What might hold the

ultimate secrets about how and
why they were built?

Those kinds of shafts, with
specific stellar destinies, do

not exist anywhere else except
in the Great Pyramid.

Narrator: From the searing
sands of Egypt to the brilliant

beacons deep within our galaxy,
we embark on a journey to

finally unlock an age-old
mystery.

Are the ancient pyramids of Giza
connected to the universe?

Ancient mysteries shrouded in
the shadows of time.

Now, can they finally be solved
by looking to the heavens?

The truth is up there, hidden
among the stars...

in a place we call...
the universe.

Sync and corrections by n17t01
www.addic7ed.com

The ancient pyramids of Giza,
mystical stacks of stone that

loom above the desert sands of
Egypt.

These astonishing feats of
engineering continue to inspire

awe and wonder.
They also hold one of mankind's

oldest secrets.
Could they be cosmic links

between Earth and the unknown
universe above?

Basically what you're seeing
with the pyramids is this cosmic

engines on the grandest scale, so by getting
the king resurrected in this pyramid, in

this cosmic engine, you
basically ensure the survival

- into the netherworld.
Narrator: - All we know for

certain is that these elusive
monuments once entombed the

great pharaohs who reigned
during Egypt's fourth dynasty

4,500 years ago.

The Great Pyramid, the largest
of the three, is one of the

Seven Wonders of the ancient
world.

It's built for the pharaoh
Khufu, the most powerful ruler

of the old kingdom.
The second largest is made for

his son, Khafre, and the
smallest for his grandson,

Menkaure.
For 4,000 years, the great

pyramid is the tallest man-made
structure on Earth.

Built from over 2 million
blocks of stone, the iconic

structure covers an area of
seven city blocks.

The finished masterpiece is
originally coated with

glistening white limestone and
topped with a gold-covered

capstone.
What drove this ancient

civilization to create such
grand burial tombs?

Or were they burial tombs?
Is it possible that the pyramids

of Giza have a more profound
purpose?

The pyramids were first and
foremost a burial place because

they held the body of the
pharaoh in a sarcophagus, but

it's also a symbolic way to help
the soul of the pharaoh to get

- to his final destination.
Narrator: - Were the pyramids

built as cosmic engines to beam
the pharaohs to the hereafter,

and where in the universe did
the Egyptians believe this life

beyond the grave existed?

The burial remains and treasures
once sealed in these tombs are

plundered within years of their
completion, and no written

documents exist about their
construction.

No blueprints have survived.
To decode these mysteries,

egyptologists consult the sky
for answers.

To the Ancient Egyptians, the
sky was incredibly important.

Perhaps you can imagine in a
world without electricity, where

there's no light pollution at
night the stars are very clear.

You can see the milky way, so
it's like a world up there that

is very much present and very
much observed.

Narrator: Cryptic clues about
the pyramid's connection to the

sky can be found within the
pyramid texts, a series of

funeral rituals and spells
inscribed on the walls of a

later tomb from the fifth
dynasty.

The pyramid texts come about
in the late fifth dynasty,

perhaps 150, 200 years after the
fourth dynasty, but we can guess

that those texts reflect what
was important to their ancestors

- as well.
- These spiritual texts

describe the pharaoh going forth
into the northern sky and living

among the "Imperishable Ones."
These are the circumpolar stars

that never rise or set below the
horizon.

After death, a pharaoh's soul is
destined to live among these

eternal beacons that symbolize
immortal gods.

When the pharaoh died, he was
regarded as the emissary of the

gods, going to the sky, being
transformed into a celestial

being to participate in the same
activities of the cosmic order

that the sky was already
carrying forward.

Narrator: But how do the
pyramids enable the pharaohs and

their entombed treasures to
ascend deep into the universe?

- [Indistinct chatter]
- When archeologists begin

excavating on the Giza plateau
they make a startling discovery.

The sides of all three pyramids
face the four cardinal

directions, north-south and
east-west, with extreme

accuracy.
What's more, the entrance of

each pyramid faces due north
with masterful precision, within

1/10 of a degree.
Are these near-perfect

proportions a coincidence, or
calculated?

- And for what purpose?
- Here we are at the Giza

plateau, at least a model of it,
and you see the three Giza

pyramids.
Khufu's pyramid, the largest

one, Khafre's pyramid, slightly
smaller, and then Menkaure's

pyramid's the smallest one of
all.

The one thing they all have in
common is that they have their

- entrance on the north side.
Narrator: - The north-facing

door of each pyramid opens to a
long passageway that descends

down to a burial chamber where
the pharaoh was once entombed.

Each one resembles a giant
telescope pointed towards the

northern sky.
Are the northern doors and

passageways designed to be
cosmic portals to the stars?

It's often called the
descending passage, but from the

spirit's point of view, it's the
ascending passage.

Because it's pointing north, it
points to the circumpolar stars.

One of the analogies for the
afterlife is that the spirit

joins with the imperishable
stars.

What that means, of course, is
that the spirit, because it's no

longer physical, will not die
again.

It's imperishable, and we can
only speculate that this was

perhaps the original idea behind
the pyramids of the third and

- the fourth dynasty.
Narrator: - The Ancient

Egyptians don't have GPS or
even a compass.

So how do they astronomically
align the massive passageways

- due north with such precision?
- There are a couple of ways to

find true north. One is to watch the
stars at night and look at particular

those stars that never set but
just seem to circle one point in

the sky.
That point is directly over the

North Pole.
That's because the Earth spins

in its orbit and the North Pole
always points to a single spot.

The North Celestial Pole is
the point in the sky that all

the stars rotate around, so even
the ancient peoples, they had an

idea that there was a point in
the sky that was fixed, that

- everything moved around it.
- Ancient Egyptians could've

looked generally toward the
north and watched as stars

circle around, and by estimating
the center of the circular

motions they could've determined
where north is.

Narrator: Once pinpointing
the North Celestial Pole, the

Ancient Egyptians could have
constructed a descending

passageway towards that northern
direction in the sky and then

built the rest of the pyramid on
top of it.

The pole star method is a
good candidate for how the

Ancient Egyptians would have
aligned the descending

- passageway.
Narrator: - The passageways of

the pyramids were orientated
with sheer precision to the

north in the direction of the
imperishable, circumpolar stars.

But did these astronomical
alignments imbue them with the

power to propel the pharaohs'
soul to live among their stellar

gods of the universe?

Narrator: The pyramids of
Giza hold the secrets of an

ancient culture that thrived
over 4,500 years ago.

Are these colossal tombs
designed to transport the

pharaohs and all their worldly
riches to a new home deep in the

universe? And if so,
what powers these cosmic machines?

For the Egyptians, life after
death was crucial, and the

motion of the pharaoh into the
sky to take his rightful place

among the stars in the northern
part of the sky was part of

their religion and one of the
main functions of the pyramid.

Narrator: To understand how
the Ancient Egyptians could

conceive of such a journey we
look to the internal design of

the Great Pyramid.

It contains a system of hidden
corridors and rooms.

At the heart of the structure is
the king's chamber.

It contains an empty
sarcophagus, which once held the

- remains of the pharaoh Khufu.
- In this sarcophagus, the

pharaoh's body was put to rest,
right on the center axis of the

- pyramid that protected it.
Narrator: - The pharaoh's body

is also protected through
mummification, a process that

involves removing the internal
organs and then drying out the

corpse.
Once all the moisture is gone,

the body is wrapped in linens.
After the deceased decomposes,

the mummified skeleton acts as a
substitute corpse, symbolically

preserving the pharaoh's life
force, or Ka, so it can join

with the pharaoh's soul, or Ba.

This is important because if
the pyramid is a cosmic engine,

the mummy is kind of the core of
the battery.

By mummification you brought
back together, at the anchor of

- the mummy, the Ba and the Ka.
Narrator: - The unification of

the Ba and Ka in the mummified
corpse may be what the Ancient

Egyptians believed ignited the
cosmic fuel needed to beam a

pharaoh's soul to the afterlife
amongst the stars.

That makes sense of why it's
important to get the king not

only mummified but also ensuring
the deceased relative is set up

- in the afterlife.
Narrator: - But is the

descending passageway the
mystical vault to the stars?

Or does the Great Pyramid
possess other celestial portals?

And just where in the universe
might they transport the

pharaoh?
On the north and south walls of

the king's chamber are two
peculiar shafts.

They penetrate all the way
through the pyramid to the

outside.
At first, they are thought to be

some sort of ancient ventilation
system, or even an illumination

- feature.
- There were already

suggestions that they were meant
to light the burial chamber when

a certain star passed overhead
at a certain time of year.

Narrator: Astronomers begin
to study the direction of these

shafts more closely to see if
they're aimed at specific points

in the sky.
If the pyramids were

intentionally aligned with the
heavens, the north star would be

a likely target for the shafts.
But it turns out they don't line

up with the north star at all,
except that what we call the

North Star today, Polaris,
wasn't the North Star for the

Egyptians.
This is because stars move about

through time due to a phenomenon
called precession.

I can explain precession on
Earth with this toy top.

As we spin the top it's like the
Earth spinning on its axis.

You can see there is a slight
wobble, which is the same thing

as the precession that we see of
Earth's spin axis.

Earth's axis of rotation
slowly rotates.

It precesses with a period of
26,000 years.

So it points to different
locations in the sky at

different times over this
26,000-year cycle.

And we can essentially go back
in time and determine where in

the sky it was pointing at a
given time.

Narrator: 4,500 years ago,
when the pyramids were built,

the North Star was not Polaris
but Thuban, and the northern

shaft would have pointed right
at it.

The southern shaft pointed near
the brightest stars in the

constellation of Orion.
Could this mean that rather than

the pharaoh's pathway to the
stars these shafts were merely

designed to make the pyramid a
gigantic observatory?

There have been very romantic
notions about the Great Pyramid

being used as an observatory to
observe those stars from deep

inside the pyramid.
This is really kind of silly

when you think about it. You can just
as easily observe those stars outside.

You don't need to go into a
pyramid just to look at them.

Narrator: Upon closer
inspection, it's discovered that

the shafts slightly bend at
either end so no stars can be

seen directly through them.
Egyptologists then begin to

wonder whether the shafts were
built for a ritualistic rather

- than practical purpose.
- The shafts, as far as we can

tell, are conduits for the
king's vital force, for his

soul, his Ba, to go to those
places for resurrection.

They are magical shafts.
That's why it's so important to

connect them cosmically to the
circumpolar stars, to Orion, to

connect the pyramid to the
cardinal directions, because

they did think they are indeed
connecting to the cosmos.

Those kinds of shafts, with
specific stellar destinies, do

not exist anywhere else except
in the Great Pyramid.

That suggests, of course, that
somebody in designing and

building the Great Pyramid got
an idea that this would be a new

and perhaps particularly
effective embellishment for the

- pharaoh.
Narrator: - And the shafts

would transport more than just
the pharaoh's spirit to the

stars.
They'd also carry along all the

mortal comforts of Egyptian
royalty.

Within tombs have been found
the entire household possessions

of the pharaoh, not only
personal items, such as the

pharaoh's organs and grooming
necessities, but any number of

treasures that would help add
comfort and elegance to the

- pharaoh's afterlife.
Narrator: - An even bigger

mystery surrounds the shafts.
Why are they pointed to the

northern and southern skies?
The northern shaft was directed

towards the star Thuban, an
imperishable star, representing

eternal life, but the southern
shaft is equally significant.

It once pointed to three stars
in the Belt of Orion, a

constellation associated with
the god Osiris.

Osiris was the god of the
afterlife.

He presided over the seasons,
the cycle of life and death.

So he was one of the most
important figures in all of the

Egyptian pantheon.
The pyramid points toward the

culmination of that
constellation in the sky and

this connects the pyramid with
the sky in a very important way.

Narrator: Reliefs in later
Egyptian burial tombs depict a

pharaoh's soul being released to
Orion, where it becomes a living

star.
There, the pharaoh's spirit

joins Osiris, who symbolizes the cycle
of birth, life, death, and resurrection.

Osiris is the principle that
brings a plant to life from a

seed and, once the plant dies,
allows its seeds to produce new

life and so forth.
Does the same thing with

deceased people, whose spirits
enter the tomb at night, go into

the mummy, join with the power
of Osiris, and receive from that

power the ability to come to
life again in the morning.

Narrator: Another startling
discovery is made in the queen's

chamber.
The queen wasn't entombed there,

but it contains two unfinished
shafts.

Its southern shaft once pointed
towards the star Sirius, who

represents the goddess Isis, and
consort of Osiris.

Could there be a deeper
connection to Orion?

What secrets could this
constellation reveal about the

Great Pyramid and its connection
to the universe?

Narrator: The ancient
pyramids of Giza, mesmerizing

monuments built for ancient
kings.

Yet their true function is lost
to time.

Are they magical stairways to a
celestial hereafter, or is there

an even deeper meaning behind
their cosmically inspired

design?
Perhaps more proof can be found

by looking at the pyramids from
above.

Aerial images reveal that the
two larger pyramids form a

45-degree angle.
However, the smallest pyramid is

slightly offset from the other
two.

You see, the three Giza
pyramids seemed to be aligned.

But if you follow the line you
see that you sort of bump into

Menkaure's pyramid.
It's quite off the main line of

- the other two pyramids.
Narrator: - Why would the

ancient architects build the
pyramids in such a way when each

structure is accurately aligned
with only a tiny margin of

error?
Some believe the answers can be

found in the southern shaft of
the king's chamber, located in

the Great Pyramid.
It once pointed to the three

belt stars in the constellation
Orion.

The stars form a diagonal line,
with the smallest star slightly

offset.
They bear a striking resemblance

to the layout of the pyramids.
So were the pyramids of Giza

built to honor the three belt
stars of Orion?

The basic idea's that the
three pyramids are mapped on the

ground to represent the three
stars in the belt of Orion.

You can imagine yourself as up
above the sky looking down on

the Earth, as if you could get
outside the stars, as the

ancients imagined it, and
project those stars right down

- to the ground.
Narrator: - But there's a

serious problem with this
theory.

In the Belt of Orion, the
northernmost star is the

smallest one, whereas on the
Giza plateau, the northernmost

- pyramid is the largest one.
- Here's the problem.

To make it match the pyramids
you have to map the

constellation upside down, and
we have no reason to think that

the Egyptians, or anyone else
for that matter, would do such a

thing.
So we know that directions

mattered to the Egyptians, and
therefore making a

contradiction with the mapping
just doesn't make sense.

That's an interesting
hypothesis.

It sort of depends on how you
look at Orion.

The belt stars align if you look
at it one way and don't align if

you look at it another way, so
we don't really know whether

- it's correct.
Narrator: - And the

less-than-perfect diagonal
lineup of the pyramids may have

more to do with geography and
geology than cosmic inspiration.

You should keep in mind that
the Giza plateau doesn't really

look like this nice sandy
surface.

It actually had a lot of
quarries.

Those giant pyramids were
basically built from the

limestone of the plateau on
which they are standing, so it

might well be that there's also
very practical purposes why

Menkaure's pyramid is a little
bit off line.

Narrator: Still, the stars in
the night sky would certainly

have been important markers to
the Ancient Egyptians.

But the most important star is
the one they could only see

during the day--
the Sun.

Throughout Egyptian mythology
beliefs change over time and

gods fall in and out of favor.
By the fourth dynasty, the

Egyptians begin to exhibit a
strong religious devotion to the

Sun.
At the time, the Sun is viewed

as a powerful, mysterious ball
of light that arches across the

sky each day and disappears each
night.

They of course did not know
what the Sun was.

You can see it going across the
sky and setting in the west.

Where does it go?
They had no idea where it went

at night.
They could only speculate that

somehow it traveled beneath the
Earth, and when it set it died.

Narrator: The Ancient
Egyptians think their pharaohs

also experience death and
rebirth like the rising and

- setting Sun.
- The idea is that the spirit,

when the person has died, has
somehow gone to sleep and needs

to wake up again every morning.
And after this happens the

spirit makes its way through the
tomb, just as the Sun finally

- emerges at dawn.
Narrator: - Could the Ancient

Egyptians' belief in
resurrection explain why all

three pyramids are built on the
west bank of the Nile river?

These pyramids have a whole
system linked to that east-west

orientation.
The Sun comes up in the east.

That's the new life.
It then goes over and sets in

the west, and that's where the
pyramids are.

So the setting Sun represents
death.

Narrator: Perhaps the
pyramids transport the pharaohs

to the Sun rather than the
nighttime stars.

The geometric shape of a pyramid
is often viewed as a solar

symbol.
Its steeped-sloped sides are

compared to the Sun's rays,
which act as ramps to the

heavens.
Even its former white veneer is

interpreted as a mirror
reflecting sunlight.

One thing that is clear, they
chose white tura limestone to

clad these pyramids for a
reason.

This bright, white, gleaming
pyramid right up above you is

meant to be the Sun reflecting
down on you, like the king being

projected up by this machine.
So the symbolism was there.

Narrator: So is the Sun the
key to solving the ancient

mystery of the pyramids?
New evidence suggests they're

more than cosmically energized
tombs in a desert graveyard.

They might be part of a
mysterious solar cult.

Narrator: After 4,500 years,
the ancient pyramids of Giza

remain shrouded in mystery
and intrigue.

Were these massive mounds of
stone built to transport the

pharaohs to live among the
northern, circumpolar stars deep

in space, or was the real
destination closer to home...

The Sun?
The passageways leading from the

burial chambers of the pyramids
appear to have been deliberately

oriented in the direction of
the northern stars.

Yet the geometric shape
and geographic location

of these tombs
suggest a solar influence.

The Giza pyramids not only
have this northern direction,

which is really important
because that is where the soul

of the king leaves the pyramids
to join the circumpolar stars,

but they also have an east-west
orientation and that is related

to the solar circle.
So the Sun comes up in the

east, goes overhead, goes under
in the west, and in the west is

- where the pharaoh is buried.
Narrator: - Do the pyramids

possess a spiritual connection
to the nighttime stars or the

Sun?
The Giza plateau reveals some of

its coveted secrets when
observing it from above.

The southeast corners of the
three pyramids form a diagonal

line in the direction of the
sacred site of Heliopolis.

Today it's buried beneath the
bustling city of Cairo, but it

was once home to a solar cult
that worships the Sun god, Ra.

I think it would be a bit
radical to suggest that three

generations of pyramid builders
at Giza were following a master

plan.
But certainly Khafre could have

adjusted his pyramid to
Khufu's, and so Menkaure his

pyramid with respect to
Khafre's.

Narrator: The diagonal
direction of the pyramids

toward Heliopolis raises new
questions.

Were these sacred tombs devoted
to a cult of the Sun?

I think that the alignment on
the Giza plateau is related to

the Sun god Ra because there
seems to be a clear link to

Heliopolis.
So that really suggests a solar

link, rather than a celestial or
stellar link.

Narrator: Perhaps a more
convincing discovery is found at

the base of the pyramids.
The east-west sides of each

burial tomb are more precisely
aligned with the cardinal

directions than the
north-south sides.

This suggests that the Ancient
Egyptians might have used the

rising and setting positions of
the Sun, rather than the North

- Star, to align the pyramids.
- Ancient Egyptians could have

used the Sun to determine the
direction of north by looking at

a shadow, similar to the idea of
a sundial.

As the Sun is rising in the
east, a sundial casts a long

shadow pointing generally to the
west.

As the Sun rises and traverses
its journey across the sky, the

position of that shadow changes
and the shadow actually shortens

with time.
When the shadow is the shortest,

- it's pointing north.
Narrator: - Engineer Glen Fash

has built a solar "gnomon," a
vertical rod that acts like a

giant shaft on a sundial.
He wants to test how the Ancient

Egyptians might have used the
Sun's shadow to accurately align

the bases, or casings, of the
pyramids.

The solar gnomon method is
basically the same method that

we teach the Boys and Girl
Scouts.

It's as simple as could be.
You take a rod and you stick it

into the ground, and you watch
the shadow produced by the Sun

- over the course of the day.
Narrator: - The Sun's shadow is

projected from the gnomon, or
vertical rod onto a small wooden

block resting on a platform.
The experiment is performed near

the summer solstice when the Sun
achieves its maximum elevation

angle, and therefore casts a
sharp shadow.

We watch the shadow every
minute or so.

We center the shadow in the
crosshairs, it's on the angled

block, and we mark it on the
paper.

Once it's projected from the
block, at that particular moment

we get a line across the paper
that's called a "declination

line," and that's the pattern
that the Sun makes as it moves

across the sky over the course
of the day.

Here we go.
Let's see how we did.

At the end of the day you take a
piece of string, you draw a

circle around the rod, and that
circle is gonna intercept the

declination line at two points.
Those two points lie exactly

east-west, so you can draw an
east-west line.

Perpendicular to that is
north-south.

Narrator: The experiment
works.

Dash is able to find true north
within 1/20 of a degree using

- this primitive solar method.
- I think other people will

come to the conclusion fairly
quickly that the Sun played a

major role in pyramid
alignments and may have been

the method of choice for
aligning the casings of the

- pyramids.
Narrator: - But could there be

a deeper relationship between
these remarkably accurate solar

alignments and the fate of the
pharaohs buried in the pyramids?

Two ancient ships are excavated
from elongated pits discovered

around the Great Pyramid.
One is a 142-foot-long cedar

vessel with 12 oars.
The exact function of these

royal boats is unknown.
Are they funeral barges to

carry the mummified king along
the Nile river to the pyramids,

or might these boats serve
a symbolic purpose, a

transportation system to carry
the pharaoh to an afterlife in

- the distant universe?
- In Egypt, if you wanted to

get from one side of the river
to the other you needed a

ferryman, and they imagined the
same thing in the afterlife for

the spirit, to persuade the
ferrymen in the next world to

ferry the spirit to the other
side.

Narrator: The Ancient
Egyptians believe the dead

traverse through dangerous
waters to reach their eternal

destination in the sky.
At night, the deceased pharaoh

accompanies the Sun god Ra in
his boat through the perilous

underworld, between sunset and
sunrise.

Night in Ancient Egypt is a
very dangerous time, and they

can imagine the same thing for
the spirit proceeding through

the night of its death into the
morning of its afterlife.

Narrator: The royal boats as
well as the shape, location, and

alignment of the pyramids all
point to the influence of a Sun

cult on the Giza plateau.
But the pyramids' true

connection to the universe might
be found elsewhere on the Giza

plateau, behind the mysterious
face of the Great Sphinx.

Narrator: The ancient
pyramids of Giza.

Are they merely physical tombs,
or spiritual vehicles that

propel the pharaohs to an
afterlife in the distant sky?

The alignments of passageways
and shafts indicate a connection

to the nighttime stars, while
the shape and diagonal placement

of the pyramids, as well as the
excavation of solar boats, show

a devotion to the Sun.
Yet recent archeological

evidence indicates another
imposing feature of the Giza

plateau might hold the ultimate
secrets of these mysterious

monuments.
In front of the pyramids is the

Sphinx, a gigantic lion
sculpture bearing a human head.

Taller than a six-story
building, the half-human,

half-beast is one of the largest and
most famous statues in the world.

The Ancient Egyptians made
the Sphinx right out of the

natural rock by quarrying around
it and leaving a core from which

they carved the lion body and
the pharaoh's head.

Narrator: For thousands of
years, the crouching lion

baffles egyptologists.
No inscriptions are found on the

sculpture that reveal when it
was built or for what purpose.

But within ancient cultures, the
lion is a Sun symbol and a human

head on an animal often
signifies royal intelligence and power.

There is this idea of the
king on a lion's body

representing the power of
kingship in relation to both the

celestial and solar theology.
The Sphinx protects the cosmos.

The Sphinx protects the order of
the entire world.

Narrator: Unraveling the
meaning behind the Sphinx

requires examining its eroded
face.

Who is this human-headed lion?
The statue lies at the base of a

long causeway leading to the
second largest pyramid that

entombed the pharaoh Khafre.
But does the monumental

sculpture bear the likeness of
Khafre or his father Khufu?

I see some possibility that
the Sphinx actually could be a

kind of monumental gatepost at
the major entrance up to the

Giza plateau over three
generations.

Maybe it was begun in Khufu's
reign.

Narrator: During the spring
and fall equinox, a remarkable

solar phenomenon occurs on the
Giza plateau.

As the Sun passes over the top
of the Sphinx, it rests directly

between the pyramids of Khufu
and Khafre, creating an Akhet,

the Sun symbol of Ancient Egypt.
Perhaps the Sphinx is the

guardian of the horizon,
protecting the pharaohs as they

follow the path of the Sun over
the horizon and into the

afterlife amongst the northern
stars.

It seems more than
coincidence that they took the

Sphinx and its temple and they
moved them like that so you'd

get that alignment, that the Sun
sets midway between the Khufu

and the Khafre pyramids.
There's very good evidence that

the Sun cult, as we call it, was
becoming very important during

- this time.
Narrator: - So what can we

conclude about the real purpose
for the building of the ancient

pyramids?
With the information collected

to date, it is well within
reason to consider that the

iconic monuments are designed to
launch the pharaohs to the sky,

where they dwell among both the
Sun and northern stars.

The Egyptian idea of the
afterlife is really cool.

They imagined traveling in the
daylight with the Sun on his

boat across the sky, and at
night joining with the

- imperishable stars.
Narrator: - For the Ancient

Egyptians, the practice of
astronomy went beyond myth.

Both the stars and the Sun may
have even guided them in their

masterful creation of the
pyramids themselves.

They may have aligned the
pyramid itself and the tomb

chamber, using the Sun, for the
east-west orientation, where

the descending passageway
was specifically designed to get

the spirit of the king to the
imperishable ones, and that

would have required a celestial
alignment.

So it makes sense from a
spiritual point of view that

they would have aligned the
casings of the pyramid with the

Sun but the descending
passageway with the stars.

Narrator: By looking at how
astronomy is used to help build

these monuments, we are given a
rare glimpse into an ancient

culture that is highly
civilized, where astronomy,

architecture, and religion are
woven together a one,

a society that is keenly
aware of the universe

and its importance
to life on Earth,

and their belief
in the hereafter.

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