Macaulay, Pyramid, pp. 22-23



Before the building process could begin, the location of true north had to be determined, so that the pyramid could be accurately oriented. A circular wall was built approximately in the center of the site. It was built high enough to block a view of the surrounding hills and the top was made level. This created a perfect horizon line.

In the evening a priest stood in the center of the circle and watched for the appearance of a star in the east. Its position was marked as it rose above the wall and a line was drawn from that point on the wall to the center of the circle.

He watched the star as it moved in an arc through the sky and finally set in the west. As it dropped behind the wall its position was marked again and another line was drawn to the center of the circle.

Because stars appear to rotate around the north pole, the priests knew that a third line drawn from the center of the circle through the center of the space between the first two lines would point directly north.
Revised 14 April 1996.