The magic of ancient Egypt, with its megalithic monuments and the mysteries they symbolize, still mesmerizes millions of people 2,500 years after its decline as an ancient cradle of civilization. Egyptologists today reckon that approximately 70 percent of the remains of this ancient culture are still buried under the sands of time and the Sahara desert. Today iconic architectural and engineering representations of ancient Egypt are the Great Pyramid; the guardian of the Giza Plateau, the Sphinx; the temples and the obelisks.
Even after centuries of archaeological exploration and research many questions remain regarding their dating, construction, purpose and possible undiscovered chambers along with unexamined known chambers and voids in the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx and the temples. Obelisks, on the other hand, have been comparatively neglected, which is quite remarkable since the engineering and architecture behind the design of these obelisks is a feat that, in many ways, is as extraordinary as the Great Pyramid.
The Great Sphinx or Hu (Image: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
Engineering the Sphinx and Great Pyramid
The Sphinx is considered to be a monolithic monument carved from the Giza Plateau bedrock in situ and repaired over millennia with limestone blocks. ‘The Sphinx’, the Greek name of this monument is not its original name, nor is ‘Hor-em-akhet’ (Horus in the horizon), a name given to it by Thutmose IV during the New Kingdom Dynasty when it was honored as a solar deity. According to the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts its name was “Hu” (transliteration: ?w) the deification or the personification of the first word, the word of creation, possibly representing the creator itself.
The Great Pyramid, transliterated as Mer in the hieroglyphs, both in engineering and architectural design is considered the most advanced of all the pyramids. Originally it was 481 feet (146.6 meters) in height and 756 feet (230.4 meters) to each of its four sides, and covered with polished white Tura limestone. There is less than a two-inch difference to the length of each of its sides, it is aligned to the four cardinal points and to this day, even with its 13 acres footprint, is less than an inch of being perfectly level. It is estimated that it consists of approximately 2,300,000 blocks with an average weight of two and a-half tons, with the largest blocks weighing up to 80 tons. Modern engineers debate whether it could be recreated to its level of sophistication today, even with all of modern technology available.
The Great Pyramid or Mer (Image: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
Perhaps because the Great Pyramid is such a massive engineering and architectural feat with internal shafts and chambers that are still being explored, it eclipses the accomplishment of the creation of obelisks. The Great Pyramid seems almost designed to set minds on flights on imagination regarding its function. Theories vary from possibly being a tomb, a place of initiation, an electrical power plant, or a device created by extraterrestrials. Comparatively obelisks seem to have a straightforward function. However, there is evidence, hidden in plain sight, that Egyptian obelisks played a very significant role in Egyptian spirituality, not only in symbolism but in functional purpose, commensurate to the purpose of the Great Pyramid.
Karnak Obelisk or Tekhen (Image: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
Massive Obelisks
Egyptian obelisks deserve similar awe and consideration in their construction and architectural design that the Great Pyramid elicits. Egyptologists date obelisks back to the Old Kingdom to around the same period as the Great Pyramid, though some researchers theorize they go back to pre-dynastic times. It has been considered that the first center for obelisks was Heliopolis also known in ancient times as ‘On’ or Iunu; Iunu , translated as ‘Pillar City’. Ancient records document dozens of erect obelisks in Heliopolis though today only one obelisk remains standing as the rest were either destroyed by earthquakes, invaders or taken as trophies by foreign conquerors.
Obelisks, primarily, were created out a single piece of red granite, predominately from a quarry located near Aswan, Egypt. They were not created in sections, or blocks, but as a single monolithic piece of granite. In general, they range from a height of approximately ten feet (three meters) to over 130 feet (46 meters). In weight, this gives a range of approximately 30 tons to almost 1,200 tons (the unfinished obelisk still in the quarry near Aswan). To reiterate, for comparison, the Great Pyramid’s largest single blocks are estimated at just 80 tons versus an obelisk being a single piece of carved granite that is almost 15 times that weight (1,200 tons). That should give one pause for consideration in the creation, transportation and erection of these monolithic monuments. To this day how this was accomplished is debated with no firm answer of such great feats.
The unfinished obelisk at Aswan (Diego Delso/ CC BY-SA 4.0)
Some examples of these engineering miracles still standing or re-erected include the only standing obelisk left at Heliopolis erected by Sensuret I, which is considered the oldest temple obelisk still upright at its original site. It is 68 feet tall (21 meters) and weighs 130 tons. The obelisk of Thutmose I located at Karnak stands at a height of 71 feet (22 meters) having a weight of over 140 tons and Queen Hatshepsut’s Obelisk, also at Karnak, is 97 feet tall (30 meters) and a weighs 320 tons. The obelisk of Ramses II at Luxor Temple stands at a height of 75 feet (23 meters) and weighs an estimated 250 tons. The Egyptian obelisk now in Saint Peters Square, in front of the Vatican, is 82 feet tall (25 meters) and weighs 365 tons. Finally, the tallest and largest of standing Egyptian obelisks is the Lateran Obelisk located at the Lateran Basilica in Rome with a height of over 105 feet (32 meters) and a weight of over 500 tons.
The Vatican Obelisk at the Piazza San Pietro (jeffwarder/ CC BY-SA 3.0)
This partial list of obelisks originally created in ancient Egypt, that are still standing today, gives testimony of the highly advanced skills of their engineers and architects. Though these are noted as standing, the unfinished obelisk still in the Aswan quarry should be distinguished with a height of more than 135 feet (41 meters) and a weight estimated of almost 1,200 tons. It was not completed apparently due to fissures that occurred in it, ruining its ability to be a pure monolith. What has to be considered is that, if the fissures had not occurred, the builders had every intent to move and erect this massive obelisk along with the means to do it. Other obelisks from this quarry had already been created, transported anywhere from 100 miles (160 kilometers) to over 400 miles (644 kilometers), then erected at sacred sites and often erected in pairs in front of the entrances to temples.
Scant Research on Obelisks
In researching the original purpose of obelisks and why the builders went to such great efforts in all the aspects of these massive monoliths, one finds that information is scant. There are probably less than a dozen books on obelisks covering mainly the transportation of these monoliths by the Roman Empire, their resurrection by the Popes in Rome; and their 19th-century transportation to and re-erecting in foreign cities such as New York, London and Paris. These books go into great detail about the engineering challenges and costs to accomplish all this, ad infinitum, but little is written or known about the obelisks’ original purpose. They have been basically considered as symbols of the sun cult of the Egyptian deity Ra, monuments to pharaohs, or possibly gnomons marking seasons or time of day and funerary memorials. Even with what is known there are ongoing discussions of their age, possibly being pre-dynastic, to the hieroglyphs carved on their sides being added later and not an aspect of their original creation.
Benben capstone on the obelisk at Karnak (Sailingstone Travel/ Adobe Stock)
To address this dearth of knowledge of Egyptian obelisks it is important to begin with their original name, rather than the Greek term ‘obelisk’ as they are known today. The Greek term, ‘obelisk’, means ‘roasting spit’. The ancient Egyptians called them Tekhen or Tekhenu translated as ‘to pierce the sky’ or heavens; to rise up in brilliance. The Tekhen (obelisk) shaft represented a frozen ray of light from the sun and its pyramidion capstone (Benben stone) represented the Bennu bird, the Egyptian symbol of spiritual rebirth and resurrection - where the Greeks found the genesis of their Phoenix - a much different meaning than the Greek ‘roasting spit’.
Hieroglyphs of BA at Abydos (Image: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
Akhuu Radiant Being of Light
This ancient Egyptian symbolism of their Tekhen is similar to the symbolic representation of their pyramids. The pyramids also symbolized frozen light with the same Benben capstone at the top. Pyramids were considered stairways or ramps of light, a place where heaven and earth came together; a site of glorification (the horizon) where the Ka and Ba, aspects of the soul, could be united creating an Akh or Akhuu; a radiant being of light. The Egyptian Ka represented their eternal connection to their god that had to be reawakened for spiritual rebirth and resurrection, to unite with their god. The Ba was the individual’s own unique persona of the soul manifested in physical existence. The Akh (Akhuu) can be considered as the reuniting of god consciousness with the individual’s consciousness, representing such unified spiritual enlightenment. This was the aspiration of all Egyptians, not just the pharaohs.
Representation of KA (Image: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
Pyramids (Mer), the Sphinx (Hu), and obelisks (Tekhenu) also represent the significance the Egyptians attached to light and sound in their spiritual philosophy and cosmology. The Sphinx, as noted earlier was the material manifestation of the sound of creation and later, in the New kingdom, was considered a solar (light) deity guarding the Giza plateau. In The Complete Pyramids (2008) Mark Lehner gives a description of a pyramid: “…the original appearance of the pyramid when most of its surface was newly covered with smoothed white limestone. The reflected light must have been so brilliant as to be almost blinding. …In one sense the pyramid may have been a giant reflector, a stone simulacrum of sunlight and a window to the sky…”. The symbolic representation continues; “(Pyramids)…many indications they were symbols of the sun.”
Obelisks had a similar symbolic representation, though rather than a figurative image of a star or sun to facilitate one becoming a radiant being of light, they depicted one single ray of light, sharing the same Benben capstone of spiritual rebirth and enlightenment; to pierce the heavens and rise up in brilliance, whereas the pyramid was light that was a window to the sky.
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Sound appears to have been incorporated into the design of the Great Pyramid itself. Though there have been no definitive scientific acoustic studies done in the interior of architectural chambers on sound projection and resonance, many who have been inside the Great Pyramid note its ability to project and amplify sound. This author can also personally speak of how sound travels inside the Great Pyramid and of a very significant resonance while in the Great Pyramid coffer and sounding a note, with three witnesses present. Dr. Robert Schoch in his book Pyramid Quest (2005) writes that he and researcher John Anthony West did their own sound experiment with Mr. West chanting in the King’s Chamber while Dr. Schoch was in the subterranean chamber. Dr. Schoch writes that even with poor hearing he could hear Mr. West chanting.
The horizontal obelisk of Pharaoh Hatshepsut (Image: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
Do Obelisks Resonate?
These examples of ancient Egyptians’ incorporation of light and sound in their philosophy and monuments, begs the question if it applied to obelisks? Their physical representation of a frozen ray of light with the Bennu bird of spiritual rebirth and resurrection at its apex is accepted; but what of sound? That is their functional aspect that has been hidden in plain sight. At the Karnak site the top portion of an obelisk, approximately 36 feet (11 meters) in length and estimated to weigh almost 100 tons, is attributed to the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut. This section was mounted horizontally on stands. Though not well-known, this obelisk section could create a sound when struck. This researcher personally experienced this phenomenon several times during several visits to Karnak. By putting one’s ear at the pyramidion point, while another would go to the other end and simply slapped the far end of the obelisk with their hand, a tone could be heard - a tone that travelled 36 feet (11 meters) through 100 tons of granite! Fortunately, besides this researcher’s personal experience a 1993-television documentary; The Mystery of the Sphinx, narrated by Charlton Heston, records this exact tone creation of this obelisk. Unfortunately, though well-meaningly, in April 2022 this obelisk portion was re-erected by engineers and architects at Karnak, so this phenomenon can no longer be experienced.
The erected obelisk at Karnak (Image: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
This documented occurrence of a tone being created through an obelisk by striking it, provides the evidence of sound creation and its concurrent symbolism in the construction and design of obelisks. It also provides the evidentiary clues to the original purpose of obelisks and why they were erected in front of the entrances to temples. The Egyptian civilization brought acoustics to their sacred sites.
Binaural Beat of Obelisks
Pairs of obelisks erected in front of Egyptian temples often did not have quite the same height or dimensions. In such a case it could be expected then that the pair of obelisks would not have the same tone when struck and it is through this aspect that the incredible advancement in design and engineering of these ancient Egyptian obelisks comes to light. Having the paired temple entrance obelisks emitting two close but distinct tones when struck, is the key to their purpose.
Imagine a pharaoh, priest or initiate coming to the entrance of a sacred temple and standing in contemplation between the paired obelisks before entering. Then the two obelisks were struck with an instrument such as a leather bag filled with sand causing each obelisk to emit a tone. The individual between the two obelisks would hear one tone in the right ear and a slightly different tone in the left ear. Today, modern science shows that such an experience creates what is call a binaural beat. A binaural beat is created by the brain processing the two slightly different and separate tones, one in each ear, and interpreting the difference between the frequencies of the two tones as a third tone. This occurs in the area of brain called the super olivary complex. In the internal creation by the brain of a third tone, a chord is formed; in musical theory three notes comprise a chord.
According to neural scientist Dr. Dan Brennan: “Located in the brain stem, the superior olivary complex is the first part of the brain that processes sound input from both ears. The superior olivary complex synchronizes various activities of the many neurons in the brain. This complex responds when it hears two close frequencies and creates a binaural beat, which changes the brain waves. The synchronization of the neural activities across the brain is called entrainment.”
As an example, if the human brain is receiving a tone (frequency) of 440hz, the musical note A over middle C in one ear and a tone (frequency) of 432hz in the other ear, the brain processing creates an internal third tone of the difference of the two external tones; in this case a tone of 8hz that effects the brain neural activities and is evidenced by an EEG. In this example the two external tones creating an internal third tone in the brain of 8Hz, borders on putting the individual between a Theta (4 – 8Hz) and Alpha (8 – 13Hz) brain wave state of meditation, what some would allude to as higher consciousness.
Hieroglyphs of Tekhen to beat a drum
Hieroglyphs of Tekhen meaning obselisk (Images: Courtesy Donald B Carroll)
This scientific background provides what would possibly transpire when paired obelisks are actually being struck. Egyptian hieroglyphs also provide further evidence that the obelisks’ purpose was to be struck to create such tones. It was noted earlier that an obelisk was named a Tekhen. The identical word, Tekhen, was also used to mean ‘to strike or beat as a drum’. The only differences in the hieroglyphs were instead of a depiction of an ‘obelisk’ a depiction of an ‘arm’ was used. The hieroglyphs essentially seem to be providing instructions on the use and purpose of an obelisk; to beat or strike them to create a tone.
The evidence that an obelisk produces a tone when struck, that they were erected in pairs in front of temples, that the hieroglyphs use the same word, Tekhen, with a small change in its determinative to translate as ‘to strike or beat like a drum’ and that slightly different tones being received through each ear create a binaural beat and can put an individual into a meditative state, provides compelling indications that this was all designed purposefully to create a “higher consciousness” state prior to entering a sacred temple.
Avenue of the sphinxes ( Anton / Adobe Stock)
Preparing the Pharaoh
It is not difficult to picture a pharaoh proceeding down the avenue of sphinxes from Karnak to the Temple at Luxor and standing between its two original obelisks at its entrance as they were struck to prepare the pharaoh, through brain entrainment, to enter the temple in a meditative state for a prepared ritual culminating in advancing to its “holy of holies”. This preparation would be particularly apt for Luxor Temple, a temple that was not dedicated to a specific deity or pharaoh.
Egyptologist R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz in his exhaustive work; The Temple of Man and an abridge work; The Temple in Man, discusses the esoteric meanings and purpose of Luxor Temple, considering it a temple for the birth of the divine human. This purpose is ideally fitting in that the spiritual aspiration of ancient Egyptians was to unite their Ka and Ba and in so doing become an Akh (Akhuu), a radiant being of light. What an enhanced way to begin such a ritual journey than having the brain entrained into a meditative state by binaural beats created by standing between the entrance obelisks while they were being struck, to reach a spiritual higher consciousness and enlightenment.
This postulation of the purpose of obelisk is not unprecedented at ancient sacred sites and has been studied as archaeoacoustics. Dr Rupert Till and Dr Bruno Fazenda in their paper The Sounds of Stonehenge came to the conclusion that the acoustic design at Stonehenge, in its configuration at approximately 2200 BC, (the same era of the construction of the Great Pyramid) would induce participants within the stone circles into meditative states. Their study found that chanting or drum beating, as examples, could create a resonance inside the stone circles and depending on the participants’ position, could induce Theta or Alpha increased brainwave states.
Druid at Stonehenge (heywoody / Adobe Stock)
A Royal College of Art research team led by Dr. Paul Devereux and Jon Wozencroft investigated the possibility if stones at different Neolithic sites were chosen and dressed with acoustical qualities in mind, with a musical (tonal) function producing sounds when struck, similar to drums, bells, and gongs, possibly with a hammer. In 2013, their team was able to test the theory at Stonehenge and they confirmed the stones’ acoustic qualities.
The Egyptians, in creating obelisks and placing them in pairs at the entrance to their sacred temples in the same period as the builders of Stonehenge, understood the acoustics of stones and their consciousness altering effects.
Further studies to pursue this hypothesis of acoustical brain entrainment through binaural beats created by tones of paired obelisks, may have to rely on computer recreation or dimensional modeling as no originally paired obelisks exist anymore.
The curious poem by the 19th-century British Victorian poet; Adelaide Anne Procter, titled The Lost Chord, tells of an organist who inadvertently struck the third chord. It makes one pause, whether through science, ancient sacred sites or poetry that such a spiritual experience can be induced through sound and brings an elegant synthesis to human consciousness. A lost Chord by Adelaide Anne Procter:
SEATED one day at the organ, I was weary and ill at ease, And my fingers wandered idly, Over the noisy keys. I do not know what I was playing, Or what I was dreaming then, But I struck one chord of music, Like the sound of a great Amen. It flooded the crimson twilight, Like the close of an angel’s psalm, And it lay on my fevered spirit, With a touch of infinite calm. It quieted pain and sorrow, Like love overcoming strife; It seemed the harmonious echo, From our discordant life. It linked all perplexed meanings, Into one perfect peace, And trembled away into silence, As if it were loath to cease. I have sought, but I seek it vainly, That one lost chord divine, That came from the soul of the organ, And entered into mine. It may be that Death’s bright angel, Will speak in that chord again; It may be that only in heaven, I shall hear that grand Amen.
Donald B. Carroll a former Fire & Rescue district chief, pursues the meaning of life through extended study into scientific, spiritual, and philosophical materials. He is a regular speaker and writer on metaphysical topics, ancient culture symbolism, and a tour leader to many of the ancient sites. He is the author of Sacred Geometry and Spiritual Symbolism: The Blueprint for Creation and The Spirit of Light Cubit: The Measure of Humanity and Spirit
Top Image: Photoshopped image of what twin obelisks at the entrance to the Luxor Temple would have looked like. (Image © Donald B Carroll)
By: Donald B Carroll
References
Brennan, D. 2021. What are binaural beats? WebMD Editorial Contributors; Available at: https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-are-binaural-beats
Lehner, M 2008. The Complete Pyramids Solving the Ancient Mysteries. Thames and Hudson
Till, R. and Fazenda, B. The Sounds of Stonehenge. Bradshaw Foundation. Available at: https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/stonehenge/stonehenge_sounds/index.php
