Religion and the Pyramids of Giza: Were the Pyramids Religious Monuments?

The mainstream view is that the Giza pyramids were royal tombs at the centre of religious complexes, built for the Fourth Dynasty kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, and designed to secure the king’s eternal life and union with the sun god. That view rests on substantial evidence, but some questions remain open, including why no burials were found inside, and alternative theories propose other purposes or older origins.

By Jossef Salman · Last reviewed October 2026

How to read this page

Established: observed, measured, excavated or written in a source from the time. The only things we present as fact.
Mainstream theory: what most specialists currently conclude. Reported accurately, not endorsed.
Alternative theory: proposals outside or at the edge of mainstream scholarship. Contested, reported so you can see the debate.
The book’s view: the argument of Echoes of History, always labelled as the author’s own.

Giza at a glance

Monument	Conventional attribution	Key measurements
Great Pyramid	Khufu, c. 2560 BCE	Originally about 146.6 m high (now about 138.5 m); base about 230 m per side
Second Pyramid	Khafre	Originally about 143.5 m; built on higher ground, so it looks taller
Third Pyramid	Menkaure	Originally about 65 m
Great Sphinx	Khafre (mainstream); disputed	About 73 m long and 20 m high, carved from bedrock

The pyramid as part of a religious complex

Each Giza pyramid was the centrepiece of a complex: a valley temple near the edge of the Nile floodplain, a causeway climbing the plateau, a mortuary temple against the pyramid’s east face for offerings, smaller queens’ pyramids and boat pits. One pit beside the Great Pyramid held a dismantled cedar boat over 40 m long, now displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum. These features are established by excavation. Their mainstream interpretation is that they served the cult of the dead king, who was believed to become one with the sun god and with Osiris.

The evidence for the mainstream (tomb) view

A fair page must show why most Egyptologists hold the tomb view. The main evidence is strong:

The Wadi al-Jarf papyri. Found in 2013 at a Red Sea harbour, these are the oldest inscribed papyri known. The diary of an official named Merer records his team shipping limestone from the Tura quarries to “Akhet-Khufu”, the name of Khufu’s pyramid, in about the 27th year of Khufu’s reign.
Work gangs’ graffiti. Painted marks naming Khufu’s work gangs survive in the relieving chambers above the King’s Chamber, found by Howard Vyse in 1837.
The workers’ town and cemeteries. Excavations by Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass at Heit el-Ghurab revealed bakeries, storehouses and the tombs of workers and overseers.
The architectural sequence. The pyramids of Djoser, Meidum, Dahshur and Giza form a development from step to true pyramid, many with burial chambers and sarcophagi.
Later pyramids with texts. From Unas onward, pyramids contain Pyramid Texts that are explicitly funerary.

The open questions

No body was found. When the Great Pyramid was entered in the 9th century CE, its granite sarcophagus was reportedly empty and lidless. The mainstream explanation is robbery in antiquity; others see a problem for the tomb theory.
No inscriptions inside the Giza chambers. Unlike later pyramids, the Giza chambers carry no religious texts.
Unexplained internal features. The narrow “air shafts”, and the large void detected in 2017 by the ScanPyramids project using cosmic-ray (muon) imaging, whose purpose is unknown. A corridor behind the north face was confirmed in 2023.
How it was built. Ramps, levers and logistics are debated in detail, even among mainstream scholars.

Alternative theories

Theory	Main claim	Status
Orion correlation (Robert Bauval)	The three pyramids mirror the stars of Orion’s Belt	ALTERNATIVE THEORY – contested
Older civilization (West, Hancock)	Giza reflects a lost culture far older than the Fourth Dynasty	ALTERNATIVE THEORY – contested
Machine or power-plant theories	The Great Pyramid had a technical function	ALTERNATIVE THEORY – rejected by archaeologists
Vyse forged the Khufu marks	The relieving-chamber graffiti are fakes	ALTERNATIVE CLAIM – the evidence, including marks in hidden joints, argues against it

What is fact and what is theory

Claim	Status	Basis
The Giza pyramids are built of limestone and granite with internal chambers	ESTABLISHED	Measured and surveyed
Papyri record shipping stone to Khufu’s pyramid during his reign	ESTABLISHED	Wadi al-Jarf papyri (Merer’s diary)
Graffiti naming Khufu’s gangs exist in the relieving chambers	ESTABLISHED	Documented since 1837
The Great Pyramid was built as Khufu’s tomb	MAINSTREAM THEORY	Strongly argued; no body found
The pyramids were religious monuments for the king’s afterlife	MAINSTREAM THEORY	Based on the complexes and later texts
The pyramids map Orion’s Belt	ALTERNATIVE THEORY	Contested
The Great Pyramid is not adequately explained as a tomb	THE BOOK’S VIEW	Argued in Echoes of History
The builder of the Great Pyramid was the prophet Enoch (Idris)	THE BOOK’S VIEW – BELIEF	The author labels this as belief that cannot be proved

What the book argues · the author’s view

Echoes of History argues that the Great Pyramid is not adequately explained as a tomb, pointing to the empty sarcophagus, the absence of inscriptions and its unusual internal design, and discusses Herodotus, Vyse’s discoveries and the ScanPyramids results. It does not propose a lost civilization. As a matter of belief, which the author labels as such, it attributes the Great Pyramid to the prophet Enoch, known in Islamic tradition as Idris.

Cover of Echoes of History by Jossef Salman

From the author of this guide

Explore this question in Echoes of History

The chapter “The Pyramids of Giza” in Echoes of History sets out the tomb theory, the evidence and the author’s own view.

Explore the book

Read a free sample

Frequently asked questions

Were the pyramids tombs?

That is the mainstream view, supported by inscriptions, papyri and the design of pyramid complexes. No intact royal burial has been found inside a Giza pyramid, which is why some researchers question it.

Were the pyramids religious monuments?

Yes, in the sense that they stood within temple complexes built for the cult of the king, who was believed to join the gods. Their exact religious meaning is interpreted from later texts.

Who built the Great Pyramid?

Mainstream Egyptology attributes it to King Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty, built by organised Egyptian labour, not slaves. The Wadi al-Jarf papyri document work on it in his reign.

Was anything found inside the Great Pyramid?

An empty granite sarcophagus in the King’s Chamber. Its contents, if any, were gone before modern explorers arrived.

What did ScanPyramids find?

Using muon imaging, it detected a large void above the Grand Gallery (2017) and a corridor behind the north face, later confirmed by camera (2023).