The Great Pyramid of Giza may have served a purpose beyond being a monumental tomb, according to a new theory that proposes its builders could have incorporated mathematical and astronomical knowledge into the structure itself.
The idea comes from independent researcher Sefy Levy, whose paper, The Pyramid as Memory Hypothesis, was published in August. The paper has not been peer reviewed, meaning its conclusions have yet to undergo independent academic assessment.
Rather than viewing the pyramid’s measurements simply as features of its architecture, Levy believes some of them could have been deliberately selected to represent information about astronomical cycles and the ancient calendar.
His calculations examine different aspects of the structure, including its height, base and inclined sides. By applying fractions associated with ancient Egyptian mathematics, he obtains numerical values that he believes correspond with certain celestial cycles.
Among the figures he highlights is 27.5, which he compares with the Moon’s roughly 27.55-day orbital period around Earth. He also points to the number 70, which he associates with the period between particular appearances of Sirius in the ancient Egyptian sky.
Levy extends the argument to other celestial bodies, suggesting that some of the resulting numbers bear similarities to cycles connected with planets such as Venus and Jupiter.
The researcher also sees possible links between the pyramid’s geometry and mathematical concepts including pi and the golden ratio. Such similarities, however, do not by themselves demonstrate that the ancient Egyptians intentionally encoded those values into the monument.
The theory goes beyond mathematics and astronomy. Levy connects the pyramid’s form with Egyptian creation traditions, particularly the story of the benben, the sacred mound believed to have emerged from Nun, the primordial waters.
He suggests that the pyramid’s distinctive shape could have symbolised this first mound of creation.
Another possibility proposed by Levy is even more unusual. He argues that the shape could have been inspired by the Eye of the Sahara in modern-day Mauritania, an enormous geological formation he links to a possible ancestral homeland of early Egyptian communities.
Under this interpretation, the pyramids could have served partly as monuments to a distant past, preserving cultural memories after environmental changes drove communities away from the region towards the Nile Valley.
Levy’s proposal is only one interpretation of the Great Pyramid and remains unproven. Other recent studies have focused instead on the practical question of how ancient workers managed to construct the enormous monument, including theories involving complex ramp systems.
For now, the idea that the Great Pyramid deliberately encoded astronomical and mathematical information remains a hypothesis rather than an established explanation. Further research and independent academic review would be needed before Levy’s interpretations could be accepted as evidence of the intentions of the pyramid’s builders.
