Why were the Pyramids were built?

Many theories exist as to the why the pyramids were built. It has been claimed that they served as power plants, water pumps, astronomical observatories, sources of ill-defined "pyramid power" energy vortices, guidance beacons for alien spacecraft, and sites of mystery initiation ceremonies.

While it is generally agreed that pyramids were burial monuments, there is continued disagreement on the particular theological principles that might have given rise to them.

One theory that has gained a degree of acceptance is that they were designed as a type of "resurrection machine". The ancient Egyptians believed the dark area of the night sky around which the stars appear to revolve was the physical gateway into the heavens, and co-incidentally, one of the narrow shafts that extends from the main burial chamber through the entire body of the Great Pyramid points directly towards the centre of this part of the sky. This suggests the pyramid may have been designed to serve as a means to magically launch the deceased pharaoh's soul directly into the abode of the gods.

Most Egyptian pyramids were built (with the exception of the small step pyramid at Zawiyet el-Meiyitin, near Al Minya) on the west bank of the Nile, which as the site of the setting sun was associated with the realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.

Although believed to have been built as tombs for the pharaoh, much has been made of the fact that of all the pyramids of Egypt that have ever been explored, never once has the mummy of a pharaoh been found within! Mummy parts have been found in pyramids, such as a mummified foot in the pyramid of Djoser, an arm and a shoulder in the pyramid of Teti, but never has a mummy or any parts of a mummy been identified with certainty as those of a king.