As we have seen, the Pyramid Texts speak very clearly of a connection of the Pharaoh with the Sun God Ra. In the present lesson we shall learn about the spectacular way in which this connection is still today visible, at Giza, once a year. Each of the pyramid complexes of Giza included two temples located on the east side of the pyramid, looking towards the Nile: a “valley” temple, downhill near the line of maximal flood of the river, and a “funerary” temple located uphill; the two were connected by a monumental causeway. The best preserved of such complexes is that of king Khafra, with two temples made of giant limestone blocks and cased in granite. In addition, the valley complex of Khafra contains the famous statue sculptured in a rock knoll and representing a Pharaoh with a lion body, the Sphinx. It is from the terrace in front of this astonishing ensemble of monuments, that one of the most spectacular hierophanies ever devised can still be seen. Let us imagine to watch sunset from here day after day: we are looking west and the Sun is seen to set behind the artificial horizon formed by the pyramids. At the winter solstice, the Sun sets slightly to the south of the Menkaura pyramid. Approaching the spring equinox, the Sun sets behind the corner of the pyramid of Khafra. As we approach the summer solstice, the setting Sun will move towards the first pyramid; then we can really use the artificial horizon formed by the two giant pyramid as a spectacular stage to watch the sunset. At the solstice, the Sun reaches the northernmost setting point. This point is located in the middle between the two giant monuments, so that our star is seen setting precisely between the two. At the very moments of sunset, the spectacle is really unforgettable. The Sun then, together with the two enormous artificial mountains of Giza, forms an image which happens to be a spectacular replica of a hieroglyph. This hieroglyph is called "akhet". Akhet represents the Sun setting (or rising) between paired, symbolic mountains, the latter being another hieroglyph sign which was called "djew". We are sure that this dramatic phenomenon is an intended hierophany, since the double mountains sign was associated with afterlife. This association had been made since the Pharaohs of the first dynasties, and the two giant pyramids of Khufu's father Snefru at Dahshur were probably conceived together to form a double mountain sign when viewed from the Saqqara Necropolis. The Sphinx will later be called “hor-em-Akhet”, Horus in the horizon, and indeed looking at the Sun setting behind the Sphinx in the days near the summer solstice, it is easy to understand why. So at Giza the Akhet symbol was connected with the Sun, creating a powerful image associated with rebirth. In the pyramid texts Akhet is the place where the dead are transformed, preparing themselves for the afterworld. As part of the sky, it was also the place in which the Sun, and hence the king, was destined to be reborn. Finally, the choice of the summer solstice for the date is clearly not coincidental, since it heralded the flooding of the Nile and was the main natural and calendrical event. It is likely that the king who devised and ordered the construction of such a majestic spectacle was Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid, and that Khafra only completed it. In fact, each royal pyramid complex had a name, and that of Khufu was: “The pyramid which is the Akhet of Khufu”. The name of the king is written in the oval “cartouche”. Therefore, the name passed down to us for the hugest architectural project of mankind is the same as that of the spectacular hierophany occurring at Giza at the summer solstice. As a further reference to the Sun God Ra, the two giant pyramids of Khufu and Khafra were aligned in such a way, that a line connecting their south-east corners points quite precisely to Heliopolis, on the other side of the Nile. Heliopolis is today a district of modern Cairo, and only a middle kingdom obelisk remains there, but at those times it was the place of the most important temple of the Sun God Ra. Since the Pharaohs claimed a direct descendance from the Sun God, they felt the need of aligning the two pyramids in such a way that their images are seen to merge when viewed by an observer from the direction of Heliopolis. Giza and Heliopolis are about 24 kilometres far, and - of course due to the Earth's curvature - this distance is greater than the visibility one by a standing person, which is about 5 kilometres. However, the surveyors in Giza and Heliopolis could easily communicate using wooden towers ten meters high or so. By the way, this procedure was needed only in the first stages of the construction of the pyramids, which were by themselves perfectly visible from tens of kilometers afar. When the third Giza pyramid, Menkaura, was designed, the architects had a lot of free space available to the east to build it. However they decided to build it almost lost into the desert. Why? Because of a topographical reason: they wanted to align its south east corner on the existing axis. In fact Giza was already a sacred space and the architects had to respect Maat, order, when they added the king's pyramid.
