The fourth offering asks why would the ancients sculpt for themselves these great works in such a monumental and iconic form? From the axis point of the entire world, the pyramids were built by teams of skilled workmen who were hired, accommodated and paid for work that was otherwise thought to be achieved through the conditions of slavery given the projection of Northern Cradle values into the history of the South. Nonetheless, the polymath architects like the kings who commissioned these projects would be deified and worshipped in later generations. In order for these stories to be transmitted there was the need for the djeli, the griot, the keeper of histories in the same manner that the ‘Guardian of the Royal Archives of Mehit’ performed his duties and was usually found in close confidence of the king.

Here, technical genius met practical skill such that the workmanship and architectural excellence associated with these structures remained unparalleled for millennia after its initial construction. As a multidimensional/multimodal/poly-rhythmic structure, it had multiple functions one of which was primarily to mark the constellations at particular periods according to modern astrologers, mathematicians, engineers and archeologists. Thus each pyramid and even temple sites dating back from the Old Kingdom right down to the decline of pyramid building and its emergence and reemergence in ancient Sudan, were all structures built in astronomical alignment.

Thus the argument that these massive stone structures are given a nonhuman or alien providence is shown to be erroneous by the simple fact of the development of the pyramid structure which began with the tumuli found everywhere from the modern states of Chad to Somalia, from modern Ethiopia to Sudan, and all the way up to the Northernmost Nile valley where royal families with Sudanic and Nehusu (Southerner) origins would continue this tradition. It would then be formalised into a mudbrick, or limestone structure which consisted of a one story building with a flat base and rectangular structure known as a mastaba. From the mastaba, which developed into an intricate labyrinth as seen in the tomb of one of the first recorded queens in the world Neithhotep, the visor of Djoser Neterkhet named Imhotep who would later be deified developed the step pyramid. From the step pyramid, the intentional design of the bent pyramid was developed by king Sneferu until the form of the true pyramid was finally realised by Sneferu and perfected by his descendants in the Giza Plateau.

Each site where a pyramid was founded was accorded a different name by the ancients which assumes some kind of functional use at one period of time, and each of these pyramids were known to the ancients by various synonyms in the metaphorical language of the mdu ntr. Thus, we have for Khnum-Khufu of the 4th dynasty, his pyramid known as ‘Khufu’s Horizon’ while for Amenemhat III of the 12th or 13th dynasty we have his pyramid remembered as, ‘Amenemhat is Beautiful’. These names varied from age to age. Beginning in the Old Kingdom, we apparently know of 118 pyramids fashioned by the master builders of Kmt, of which 80 were located in Ancient Kush to the South and North of the borderlands of the semi-autonomous region of Ta-Seti or Ta-Khentit, alternatively. This ‘pyramid field’ stretched from Giza, although the sites of Abu Roash are slightly North of Giza from Dahshur where Sneferu’s Red Pyramid stands.

Indeed this cycle of rebirths would be seen in the Kushite pyramids centred on the sites of Nuri, Npt and ancient Medewi or Meroë where the Kushites revived the tradition of pyramid building, and established several sites with pyramid structures varying from those in the old style to the smaller and more narrow angular trapezoidal pyramids, eventually outnumbering their neighbours to the North.

Although the historical record suggests that the Kushites began the practice of building their horizon or mound of recreation in the early to late 1st millennium BCE, we again are unable to piece together the full picture due to missing places and missing names.

We thus move between the realms of definite and poetic meaning seeking to overstand what these structures actually tell us. To do so, however, we must return to the source. We find then that practices of the Nuer and Luo people of upper Kush, where those autochthonous Sudanese known as the Dinka, gathered together to construct huge mounds under the guide of a prophet/polymath. One such yik or mound of the Luo people was in existence in the earliest 20th century and given the similarities to features found in predynastic tombs such as elephant tusks placed around the mound while artefacts of power were placed on top and within, give us good reason to hold that such practices were indigenous and prehistoric to all, if not most, of the original Nile Valley inhabitants.

We thus pass by these wonders and give thanks to the genius of the ancients as we return to the horizons where the stones of these structures were quarried right from the heartland, the beloved land, which many sought to claim but could never conquer. We give thanks to the journey to the temple of a million years beside the imperishable stars, giving offerings and observing the blessings in Waset at the chapel of Senurset at Ipet Isut which recalls our kindred in the future celebrating at the Fasilides Bath during the Timket festival or the pilgrims arriving at Lalibela where they must bow before the Meskel, as the ancients bowed before the Ankh, kissed it, and gave thanks for life, forever.