The three pyramids at Giza are the most visited attraction in the world. The Great Pyramid of the Fourth Dynasty king Khufu, the ultimate 'resurrection machine', is the biggest pyramid ever built. It stands with its neighbors, the pyramids of Khafra and Menkaura, as the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The immense size of these pyramids invites comparison with the most ambitious human projects of any age, and they have never ceased to fire people's imagination.

It was the hope of every Egyptian to be reborn after death, to attain an afterlife with the sun-god Ra and be resurrected with each sunrise, and to join with Osiris in the cyclical regeneration of nature and plant life with the receding of the annual Nile flood.

These are not opposing beliefs, but a complementary interweaving of the varying cycles of creation with which the Egyptians linked their own eternal rebirth. However, neither the annual rise of the life-giving waters of the Nile nor the re-emergence of the sun each morning was guaranteed. Eternal night and the cessation of plant life were constant threats which had to be averted so that creation could begin again. In the same way, formidable obstacles had to be overcome for resurrection to be achieved.

The journey to the next world was perilous: demons waited to sidetrack the unprepared, judgments were made. Most people had to depend on their family to provide the proper equipment and chant the appropriate spells to help them attain the afterlife. But the king could call upon the resources of the entire country in his bid for immortality. The greatest manifestation of this is seen in the pyramids of the Giza Plateau

The three pyramids at Giza are the most visited attraction in the world. The Great Pyramid of the Fourth Dynasty king Khufu, the ultimate 'resurrection machine', is the largest pyramid ever built.

It stands with its neighbors, the pyramids of Khafra and Menkaura, as the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The immense size of these pyramids invites comparison with the most ambitious human projects of any age, and they have never ceased to fire people's imagination.

Both Herodotus and Egyptian texts explicitly state that pyramids served as tombs, and the archaeological evidence confirms this beyond doubt. Nevertheless, from the nineteenth century onwards, bizarre theories about their function have proliferated, insisting that the Great Pyramid in particular served a hidden, more exalted purpose. Interpreted variously as an astronomical observatory, sundial, the embodiment of secret knowledge about the past and the future, the Great Pyramid has been held to be the perfect structure and the product of divine inspiration.

Such 'pyramidiocy' has sometimes been promoted for political reasons. For example, calculations (not necessarily accurate) revealed that the basic unit of measure used in the construction of the Great Pyramid was remarkably similar to the English inch. As the perfect unit in a divine creation, to abandon the inch for the metric system, as Parliament was considering in 1874, would be a blasphemous and pagan act; and indeed, partly for this reason among others, the move was rejected.

In more recent times, pyramidiocy has resurfaced in various updated forms. As our horizons have broadened, it is not just secret biblical knowledge that has been discerned encrypted in the form and dimensions of the Great Pyramid, but extra-terrestrial intelligence as well. Yet even the most bizarre theories concerning master races and alien origins for these supreme Egyptian creations in their way pay tribute to the Fourth Dynasty rulers, simply by expressing incredulity that they could organize and complete so colossal a task.

Pyramids, however, are not restricted to Giza, nor are they phenomena only of the Fourth Dynasty. The origins of the pyramid begin well before the 'Pyramid Age' of the Old Kingdom and end long after.

For over one thousand years Egyptian kings built tombs for themselves and their queens in the form of; pyramids. There are in fact over ninety 'royal' pyramids in Egypt, dotting the landscape from the apex of the Delta to the First Cataract of the Nile.

The Resurrection Machine

To understand the origins of the pyramids one must go back to the very beginning, the beginning of the world as the Egyptians saw it. For at this time there was only a watery void called Nun, which contained the essence of all creation. Out of this chaotic yet creative soup arose a mound, just as the mounds of fertile silt teeming with life emerged as the waters of the annual Nile flood receded. On that mound of creation appeared the sun god Ra-Atum, embodiment of life and goodness, the source of energy, light and warmth.

From him the rest of creation issued forth as he rose in the sky, only to plunge back into the chaotic void with every sunset to be recreated again. For the Egyptians, creation unfolded not once, but continuously. By linking up with this cosmic cycle, they too could emerge reborn.

The pyramid was essentially this mound of creation, a cocoon in which the king underwent the transformation or recreation into an eternal transfigured spirit called an akh. Journeying to the sky, he was united with the gods and resurrected each morning.

But the pyramid itself was only one part of the resurrection machine. Like all gods, the king was in permanent need of the sustenance and offerings which were provided to him on earth. Thus, the pyramid alone was not enough to ensure a good afterlife. In time elaborate complexes developed which incorporated the pyramid and offering places, ranging from small chapels to a vast series of interconnected temples and estates, to service the needs of the deceased pharaoh on earth. No pyramid or pyramid complex is exactly like another. Their continuous development can be understood not only in terms of technological innovation and evolving religious beliefs, but also of the desire to ensure the absolute and eternal power of the resurrection machine to do its job.