NOVA Online | Secrets of Lost Empires | Pharaoh's Obelisk

Converging Pyramids

The Pyramids were not laid out willy-nilly on the Giza Plateau. Each side of each of the three Pyramids lines up precisely east-west or north-south. It's a bit of a mystery how the ancients achieved such a perfect alignment, considering they did not have the magnetic compass at their disposal. The Pyramids' proportions are just as exacting. For example, the difference between the Great Pyramid's longest and shortest sides, which average 755.5 feet along the base, is but seven inches.

Each of the Pyramids is perfectly proportioned. This is the Khafre Pyramid from its southwest corner.

As you scroll along this image, which was shot from the desert a few miles south of the Pyramids, notice how the three structures—those of Menkaure, his father Khafre, and his grandfather Khufu—line up perfectly along their righthand edges.

Camel and driver pose far out in the desert.