The Orion correlation theory is a less widely accepted idea in Egyptology that tries to explain how the Giza pyramid complex is arranged. It suggests that the positions of the three largest pyramids at Giza match the stars in Orion's Belt, part of the constellation Orion. This connection is believed by some to have been planned by the original builders of the pyramids. In ancient Egypt, the stars of Orion were linked to Osiris, a god connected to rebirth and the afterlife. Some versions of the theory include more pyramids to fully represent the Orion constellation and show the Nile River as a representation of the Milky Way. The idea was first written about in 1989 in a publication called Discussions in Egyptology, volume 13. It was later discussed in a book titled The Orion Mystery (1994) and a BBC documentary called The Great Pyramid: Gateway to the Stars (February 1994). The theory is also mentioned in some New Age books.
History
The Orion correlation theory was suggested by Robert Bauval. He noted that Mintaka, the faintest and westernmost star in Orion's Belt, was slightly off from the other two stars. Bauval connected the arrangement of the three main stars in Orion's Belt to the arrangement of the three main pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex. He shared this idea in 1989 in the journal Discussions in Egyptology, volume 13. Bauval later expanded this theory with Adrian Gilbert and Graham Hancock in their books The Orion Mystery (1994) and Keeper of Genesis (1996), as well as in their individual works. The theory suggests that the positions of the three main pyramids on the Giza plateau were intentionally designed to match the positions of the three stars in Orion's Belt as they appeared around 10,000 BC.
Bauval and others claimed that the Giza pyramids were a map of the stars in Orion's Belt. This idea was later combined with theories about the Great Sphinx, which they argued was built around 10,500 BC (Upper Paleolithic period). They also suggested the Sphinx's lion shape was linked to the constellation Leo. The arrangement of the Sphinx, the Giza pyramids, and the Nile River was said to represent the constellations Leo, Orion (specifically Orion's Belt), and the Milky Way. In The Mars Mystery (1998), Bauval and Hancock wrote that the layout of the pyramids and Sphinx at Giza reflects the positions of Orion and Leo as they appeared during the "Age of Leo," a 2,160-year period between approximately 10,970 and 8,810 BC.
These claims about events 12,500 years ago are important to Hancock, who believes a highly advanced ancient civilization existed and influenced early human societies. However, Egyptology and archaeology argue that the Giza pyramids were built during the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (around the 3rd millennium BC), and the exact time the Great Sphinx was built remains uncertain.
Critique
Arguments made by Hancock, Bauval, Anthony West, and others about the importance of the proposed connections between ancient structures and celestial patterns have been called a type of unscientific archaeology.
Two astronomers, Ed Krupp of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and Tony Fairall of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, have criticized these ideas. Using planetarium equipment, Krupp and Fairall studied the angle between the alignment of Orion's Belt and north during the time Hancock, Bauval, and others claimed. This angle is different from what we see today or during the third millennium BC because of the precession of the equinoxes. Their measurements showed an angle of 47–50 degrees, compared to the 38-degree angle formed by the pyramids.
Krupp noted that the three pyramids form a slightly bent line that points toward the north, while the slight "kink" in Orion's Belt points toward the south. To match them, one of the two would need to be flipped upside down. In their original book, The Orion Mystery, Bauval and Gilbert compared images of the pyramids and Orion without showing that the pyramids' image was flipped. Krupp and Fairall also found other problems, such as the idea that the Sphinx represents the constellation Leo. If this were true, the Sphinx should be on the opposite side of the Nile (the "Milky Way") from the pyramids ("Orion"). Additionally, the vernal equinox around 10,500 BC occurred in the constellation Virgo, not Leo. The constellations of the Zodiac originated in Mesopotamia and were unknown in Egypt until much later, during the Graeco-Roman era. Ed Krupp mentioned the "upside down" issue in the BBC documentary Atlantis Reborn (1999).
BBC documentary
On November 4, 1999, the BBC aired a documentary called Atlantis Reborn, which examined the theories of Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock. Bauval and Hancock later told the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) that they felt the documentary was unfair to them.
A hearing was held, and in November 2000, the BSC decided that the documentary makers were correct in most of the ten main complaints made by Bauval and Hancock. However, the BSC agreed with one complaint, which was about the documentary not including Bauval and Hancock’s response to a specific argument against the Orion Correlation Theory. For the other nine complaints, the BSC ruled that Bauval and Hancock had not been treated unfairly in the documentary’s criticism of their theories about carbon dating, the Great Sphinx of Egypt, Cambodia’s Angkor temples, Japan’s Yonaguni formation, and the mythical land of Atlantis.
The BBC agreed to show a revised version of the documentary, which Bauval and Hancock accepted. The updated version, titled Atlantis Reborn Again, was broadcast on December 14, 2000. The revised documentary still included serious questions about Bauval and Hancock’s ideas, as raised by experts such as astronomer Anthony Fairall, Ed Krupp of the Griffith Observatory, Egyptologist Kate Spence of Cambridge University, and Eleanor Mannikka of the University of Michigan.
Leo and the Sphinx
The Great Sphinx of Giza is widely believed by Egyptologists to resemble King Khafre, who is often thought to have built it. This would place its construction between 2520 BC and 2494 BC. However, the evidence linking Khafre to the Sphinx is unclear, so the identity of the builder and the exact time of construction remain debated.
Bauval and Hancock argue that the Sphinx was built around 10,500 BC. They suggest the Sphinx’s lion shape represents the constellation Leo. They also claim the layout and orientation of the Sphinx, the Giza pyramids, and the Nile River mirror the constellations Leo, Orion (specifically Orion’s Belt), and the Milky Way. They state that 10,500 BC is the only time in the precession of the equinoxes when the constellation Leo was in the astrological age, and when Leo rose directly east of the Sphinx during the vernal equinox. They also note that the angles between Orion’s Belt stars and the horizon match the angles between the three Giza pyramids. These ideas support the belief in a highly advanced, ancient civilization that may have existed long ago.
Geologists do not support the claim that the Sphinx was built in 10,500 BC. Robert M. Schoch proposed the Sphinx was carved earlier, between 7000–5000 BC, based on water erosion. However, this idea is not widely accepted by scientists. Colin Reader suggested the Sphinx was built only a few hundred years before the commonly accepted date. Most Egyptologists and geologists, including experts like James Harrell, Lal Gauri, John J. Sinai, and Jayanta K. Bandyopadhyay, reject these alternative dates. They explain the Sphinx’s wear as caused by modern pollution, differences in limestone layers, wind-blown sand, or temperature changes that caused cracks in the stone.