The Pyramids of Giza – what is there in common between Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica?

And there it is, another bucket list item ticked off. Just like that, first the Dead Sea, then Petra and finally the pyramids! Those incredible works that no one seems to know exactly how were built, how they’ve endured for over 4,000 years… another great mystery of our civilization, one of those likely never to be solved, only to be the target of hundreds of theories and the source of so much debate and theoretical thinking, which always leads to imagination running free. After all, how many movies and how many books have been produced about Ancient Egypt? Definitely an intriguing and fascinating civilization.

When visiting the pyramids, all I could remember was this quote from the parody documentary (mockumentary) “Cunk on Earth” when the character Philomena Cunk states “The Egyptians believed the most significant thing you could do in your life was die“. While of course, this is not to be seen at face value, the character does have a point – bearing in mind these great structures were built with the only purpose of being the final resting place of the pharaohs and their family. It was a symbol of power and status, but also of the great desire to achieve immortality, to be transcendent, and to touch the Sun, the ultimate God for the ancient Egyptians. To make it all even more impressive, the pyramids were also built to be in alignment with the stars and cardinal points, reflecting a deep knowledge of astronomy and mostly a belief in its power.

Perhaps it was the scorching sun that was making me think random nonsense but there was something incredibly familiar to those pyramids I had seen in Mexico, the Mayan structures in the jungle of Palenque and even those in Teotihuacán. They both served purposes related to death. They are both pyramid-shaped. I understand the pyramid shape is perfect to achieve the closest point to the Sun, which was considered by so many ancient civilizations as a God, and for good reason – after all, it is undeniable that the Sun is essential for life on Earth. Once again I kept thinking about how countries so far apart managed to have so many similarities in the faith they practiced. But of course, I could not think about this only – I had to do some research, and found some interesting stuff!

Of course, I have not been the only one finding these similarities. Apparently, ignorant me, Ancient Egypt is often compared to Mesoamerica, and it does baffle scholars how civilizations who have grown so independently came to share so much – much more than I ever knew. The Recognition of the value of gold is a big one. Most of these civilizations were polytheistic, meaning adored multiple gods. Both Mayan and Egyptians had created calendars and Books of the Death (once again almost recognising death as being more important than life itself). Calendars were created using advanced knowledge of astronomy, on which both the Mayans and Egyptians were masters of. Pyramid-shaped buildings were used as tombs – it is true that the Mayans also used them as temples, but more evidence is being found of these being the ultimate resting place for royals. Additionally, the Egyptians and the Aztecs developed writing systems – hieroglyphic texts, a result of artistic expression which I believe is the ultimate differentiator between humans and other animals. Almost a need to communicate, to leave your mark, for future generations.

I find this fascinating, especially bearing in mind how far apart in both time and geography these civilizations lived. It is almost as if intuition and instinct led them to build the foundations for an organised civilization, for what now is recognised as societies. They sought meaning not only for life in general, but also for the day-to-day, and somehow managed to get it right – because thousand and thousand years after, here we are – so many different societies on this planet, with so many different cultures – but we all use calendars, we all rely on so much on them, as well as in writing. What would we be without a writing system? Regardless of the language you speak, how else we would be able to share learnings, knowledge, and stories, how else would we communicate between generations of people. And so many of our societies have religion as a base, and all of those religions have dedicated spaces for prayer and reflection. Life conditions have been improved, and thankfully in most countries, it’s all a bit more democratic… but it all started there! How fascinating… somehow magical. No wonder so many prefer to believe some sort of aliens visited our planet, sharing similar if not the same knowledge in multiple geographies.

After my reverie, I was trying to focus on the facts our guide was giving us… and it was hard. It was hot, and honestly, I was way over my head with what I was seeing in front of me. It was almost hard to concentrate because of two massive distractions – one of them being the sellers, who kept bothering us to buy souvenirs from them, and the other one was the noise produced by the parachuters floating over the pyramids… surely it must be nice to see these huge structures from above, but the noise was distracting and to be honest, it kind messed up my photos.

The biggest Pyramid in Giza is named after the pharaoh it was built for – Khufu. It is estimated the pyramid took 27 years to be completed. 2.3 million blocks of stone were used, weighing about 6 million tonnes in total. The pyramid was originally 146 meters tall, but due to the removal of its limestone casing, it is now 138.9 meters. These are numbers that can only be lived in person – it didn’t matter how many pictures I was showing of the pyramids or how many times I read the numbers accounting for its physical greatness, I could never really feel it as I could when seeing it in person. And yes, now I can say with all certainty, that it is bloody impressive.

You can go inside of the pyramid, a feat that I skipped. First, you have to pay extra and secondly, it is…hard. You have to go on your fours, and it’s extremely hot. And when you get there there isn’t anything to see – only empty chambers. Some people on our tour went for it and came back drenched in sweat. It sounded like that had paid for a physical challenge rather than a cultural sighting! Still, it is cool to be able to say you’ve been inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. Something I certainly won’t be able to say myself. And it’s okay 🙂 I had already had the experience of going inside a pyramid in Saqqara, which was more decorated than the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The structure I was really looking forward to seeing was the Sphynx – a name that was given to the mythological creature much later by the Greeks, who had a similar one in their own mythology. With the head of a human, the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle, the Sphinx had the role of guarding a sacred place. It could grant you access, as long as you could decipher one of its riddles. If not, you’d be devoured by it – to pass through it’s only through them you have to pass, deciphering some difficult riddles. The one in Giza is one of the largest and oldest monuments in the entire world, dating back to 2500 BCE.

Visting the Pyramids was definitely an experience I am glad to have taken off my list – even a few weeks later I am still thinking about this trip!

Love, Nic