In the far west of Egypt, thousands of people, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, gathered at the border town of Salloum to witness the full solar eclipse. Knowing the prominence of the sun in ancient Egyptian religion, researchers visiting the site said it was exciting to witness the eclipse there. Archaeologists reportedly didn't know what to expect, considering the complexity of the structures, their link to the cosmos and their religious significance.
"You never know, maybe the pyramids will open up and aliens will come out of them," Blair Wilkins, a British researcher of ancient myths and legends said with a smile.
No aliens did emerge and the event passed quietly. As Reuters put it: "At the pyramids, outside the track of the total eclipse, the light dimmed and the air cooled as the moon passed in front of the sun without hiding it completely from view." However, for many there, it was an incredibly spiritual experience.
"The eclipse is a special moment in time and the shape of the pyramids attracts a universal energy spiral," an unnamed Dutchman who visited Cairo for the event told Reuters.
"We are all made of light. Light is what binds us all and makes all us humans one, so this is a very important time to be here," he said, while standing barefoot in a circle of people meant to symbolize the sun.
"There is a lot of mystery about the pyramids. There are things about the pyramids that the scientists don't recognize," the Dutchman told Reuters while sitting next to the 4,500-year-old Cheops Pyramid.
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