According to The Message of the Sphinx by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, the primary monuments on Egypt's Giza plateau mapped the celestial configuration of the vernal equinox sunrise in 10,500 B.C. Although this era is too early for construction at Giza, as far as Egyptologists are concerned, it positions the vernal-equinox Sun in Leo and places Orion on the meridian at sunrise. According to Hancock and Bauval, the Sphinx is Leo, the Nile is the Milky Way, and the three Giza pyramids are the Belt of Orion. If so, the Sphinx is on the wrong side of the river.
The monumental astronomy associated with the Sphinx is completely consistent with what we know about ancient Egyptian religion and Egypt's symbolism of power. Another astronomical dimension has been promoted, however, by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval. Both have written books containing free-wheeling interpretations of antiquity. Bauval is the coauthor of The Orion Mystery (1994), which matches the three main pyramids at Giza with the three stars in the Belt of Orion, the Hunter. I have already described a debilitating internal contradiction of this claim in this column (S&T: February 1997), in Skywatchers, Shamans, & Kings, in lectures, and on television. For the moment, however, we'll accept this flawed premise to examine the argument Hancock and Bauval more recently presented in The Message of the Sphinx (1996).
Hancock and Bauval insist the landscape of Giza replicates the sky. Equating the Sphinx with Leo, identifying the Nile River with the Milky Way, and committed to mapping Orion's Belt in pyramids on the ground, they claim the reflection of the Egyptian sky in terrestrial monuments doesn't make sense for 2500 B.C. Presuming the Sphinx was intended to face vernal-equinox sunrise, they argue that Leo and Orion are incorrectly placed for a recapitulation of what they believe were the celestial circumstances of the Creation time in Egyptian myth.
Because the equinox-aligned Sphinx is supposed to represent Leo, the vernal-equinox Sun should have been in the stars of Leo, but in 2500 B.C. it was in Taurus, the Bull. Also, because Orion's Belt was targeted by the south shaft from the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid when it was due south and crossing the meridian, and because the pyramids allegedly map Orion's Belt, they say Orion should have been on the meridian when the Sphinx primordially stared at equinox sunrise. However, Orion was still east of the meridian at equinox sunrise in 2500 B.C.
Hancock and Bauval insist the landscape of Giza replicates the sky. Equating the Sphinx with Leo, identifying the Nile River with the Milky Way, and committed to mapping Orion's Belt in pyramids on the ground, they claim the reflection of the Egyptian sky in terrestrial monuments doesn't make sense for 2500 B.C. Presuming the Sphinx was intended to face vernal-equinox sunrise, they argue that Leo and Orion are incorrectly placed for a recapitulation of what they believe were the celestial circumstances of the Creation time in Egyptian myth.
Because the equinox-aligned Sphinx is supposed to represent Leo, the vernal-equinox Sun should have been in the stars of Leo, but in 2500 B.C. it was in Taurus, the Bull. Also, because Orion's Belt was targeted by the south shaft from the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid when it was due south and crossing the meridian, and because the pyramids allegedly map Orion's Belt, they say Orion should have been on the meridian when the Sphinx primordially stared at equinox sunrise. However, Orion was still east of the meridian at equinox sunrise in 2500 B.C.
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