Text-Simulated Paths in the Pyramid of Unas Are Topographically Analogous to the Positions of the Upper and Lower Chamber Shaft Inlets in the Great Pyramid

The original purpose of the four known shafts that uniquely emit from the Upper and Lower Chambers inside the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt, remains unknown despite several models that have been proposed to explain it. The principal problem with proving the intent behind their incorporation into only this pyramid’s design is that all models thus far rely on circumstantial evidence. No written records of architectural design have been discovered that could unequivocally prove what was intended. Here, I highlight two known Pyramid Texts passages speaking of paths for the soul to rise to the northern and southern sky. They were placed on the north and south walls of the antechamber inside the pyramid of Fifth Dynasty King Unas in such a manner that their distances from the eastern seam of a large lintel stone above the entry into this chamber, and the chamber’s east wall, respectively, are analogous to the distances of the shaft openings from the east walls of the Upper and Lower Chambers of the Great Pyramid. This topographically analogous placement of two textual invocations of a ritual path into the afterlife supports the model previously proposed by Alexander Badawy and others before him that the purpose of the small shafts in the Great Pyramid was of a religious nature, arguing against a purely logistical purpose.