Orion Correlation Theory

WIP

By Brian Kufel

The Pyramids of Giza at Sunset

The Orion Correlation Theory is the pseudoarchaeological idea that The Great Pyramid of Giza were intentionally connected to the three stars of the Orion's belt constellation. It makes the claim that the positioning of the pyramids from a bird's eye view matches the layout of the constellation, the relative heights of the pyramids match the relative apparent brightnesses of the stars they correlate with, and most importantly, these correlations prove a concerted effort by the Egyptians to match their pyramids to Orion for spiritual purposes. In order for the astronomical calculations to match, the theory also set the date of construction of the pyramids at around 10,500 BCE, nearly 8,000 years before the broadly accepted archaeological dating. Many proponents also posit that the Sphinx represents the constellation Leo and the Nile represents the Milky Way, making much of Giza an astronomical map. This idea was first opined by Robert Bauval in Discussions in Egyptology Volume Thirteen, but it gained more popular interest with the publishing of Bauval's book, The Orion Mystery in 1994. Despite the public appeal, The Orion Correlation Theory is not accepted by academia broadly due to flawed astronomy and archaeology on the part of the theory's claimants.

History

The Orion Correlation Theory draws its origins from the thoughts and writings of Robert Bauval . It has been said that he came up with this idea while working in Saudi Arabia with a petroleum company<ref1>. A friend pointed out that Orion's belt is slightly offset from a straight line. Bauval then connected this observation to the layout of the three major Giza pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.

From the connection that he had made, Bauval published an article in volume thirteen of Discussions in Egyptology detailing his evidence for an inexplicable connection between the pyramids of Giza and the Orion constellation. Bauval's claims did not reach large audiences until his co-authoring of The Orion Mystery with Adrian Gilbert. Although this book inspired many new pseudoscientific writers to create their own books detailing many different perspectives on the correlation, it is still accepted as a powerful work to this day and is responsible for the popular appeal of the concept.

The next book that majorly boosted the popularity of the Orion Correlation Theory was again written by Bauval, but co-authored by Graham Hancock, a best-selling author, and purveyor of fake archaeological claims. The book Keeper of Genesis made new claims about the Sphinx and its connection to the constellation Leo. Having a relatively famous co-author helped boost the spread of the Orion Correlation Theory to more readers and Hancock has since spoken favorably on the theory in other interviews.

Major Proponents

Although many esoteric writers have written on The Orion Correlation Theory with many different viewpoints, these two authors have been most influential in shaping the overall narrative of the idea through popularization and the addition of new elements to the theory.