Let's explore the hypothesis that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built upon the sacred mound Benben, the first land to emerge from the primordial waters according to the Heliopolitan cosmogony.
According to the creation myth of Heliopolis (Iunu), from the primordial waters of Nun emerged the primordial mound, the Benben: the mound upon which the creator god Atum settled, beginning the work of creation. In the Pyramid Texts, Atum is also referred to as “the Mound.”
The concept of a sacred mound or primordial hill is common in the ancient cultures of many parts of the world, where it recurs as a symbol of regeneration and connection with the divine.
Beyond Egypt, where the Benben represented the first landform to rise from the chaotic waters, this archetype—manifesting in concrete form through various structures worldwide—also appears in North America, where numerous pre-Columbian civilizations built monumental mounds for ritual, astronomical, and funerary purposes.
The Mississippi mounds, for instance—such as Cahokia in Illinois or Poverty Point in Louisiana—demonstrate a remarkable astronomical understanding.
Similarly, in South America, ancient Andean cultures constructed platform pyramids that evoke the symbolic form of the sacred hill. This is the case, for example, with the Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna, linked to the Moche culture, or the pyramids of the Caral and Nazca civilizations in Peru, laid out according to precise astronomical criteria.
In Europe as well, Neolithic and Bronze Age burial mounds—such as Newgrange in Ireland or Silbury Hill in England—appear to be connected to solar cults and the concept of a point of cosmic origin.
Throughout the world, then, the idea of a sacred hill recurs as a place of cosmic birth, a bridge between heaven and earth, a center of creation.
At the heart of the Temple of Ra’s Sun in Heliopolis (ancient Iunu), stood the Benben, an object of veneration and symbolic focal point of the Heliopolitan cosmogony. According to tradition, it represented the first point of land touched by the rays of the rising sun.
The Benben was a sacred stone, possibly a pyramidion or benbenet, placed at the top of the primordial mound. This stone deeply inspired Egyptian sacred architecture: from the pyramidion at the apex of pyramids, to obelisks, initially squat (5th Dynasty), then slender (Middle Kingdom).
Beyond its cosmogonic function, the Benben also symbolized eternal order and the stability of the cosmos. The phonetic connection between the terms weben (to rise), Benben, and Bennu (the mythical bird associated with the sun and rebirth) reinforces this solar association.
According to authors Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, the concept of Benben is not only symbolic, but also geographic and structural.
They hypothesize that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built upon the actual Benben mound, a preexisting sacred hill, physically real and ancient—possibly natural or artificial. In this view, the pyramid would not only represent the primordial mound, but literally embody that point of cosmic emergence, making Giza a new sacred center.
This interpretation would suggest a symbolic shift of the solar cult from Heliopolis to Giza, reinterpreting the plateau as a cosmic focal point.
Furthermore, Bauval links the alignment of the three pyramids of Giza to the Orion’s Belt, associated with Osiris. The entire complex would thus be the earthly projection of a sacred celestial geography, consistent with the Hermetic principle “as above, so below”. The Benben would thus become the cosmic point of origin around which unfolds a sacred celestial and terrestrial design.
The academic world believes that the Benben was originally located in the Temple of the Sun of Ra at Heliopolis, the ancient Iunu. This position symbolized the point of cosmic origin, the place where the god Atum began the process of creation.