Some of Egypt's most magnificent pyramids were deliberately designed to follow a pattern of invisible diagonal lines, an Italian study has concluded. According to Giulio Magli, professor of archaeoastronomy at Milan's Polytechnic University, these invisible lines would connect most of the funerary complexes raised by the kings of the Old Kingdom between 2630 and 2323 B.C.

"Following these diagonals, it appears clear that the arrangement of the monuments was carefully chosen in order to satisfy a number of criteria, which include dynastic lineage, religion and astronomical alignments," Magli told Discovery News.

Published on the Cornell University physics Web site arXiv.org, the study examined the chronology and geographical location of all the pyramids of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties, from the Step Pyramid of Djoser (2630-2611 B.C.) to the now-collapsed pyramid of Unas (2356-2323 B.C.), both in Saqqara.

"Our starting point was the so-called 'Giza diagonal,' an ideal line which connects the southeast corners of the three main pyramids and points to Heliopolis. This was an important religious center sacred to the sun god," Magli said.

While the pyramids of Khufu, the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, and his son Khafre were easily aligned along the diagonal, the pyramid of Menkaure, Khufu's grandson, had to be built very far into the desert to sit on the line of sight toward Heliopolis.

"But there is more. As a consequence of this intentional alignment, the second smaller pyramid becomes invisible from Heliopolis, its mass being covered by Khufu's larger pyramid," Magli said.

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