Ruins and obelisk at the Great Temple of Amun

Some scholars believe the conical Benben stone represented the very first mound of earth and marked the point where the first rays of sunlight fell from Re. The conical shape marked the Pharoah’s way to heaven by ascending the rays of the sun.

Others believe the stone was actually an iron-rich meteorite and represented the seed of the earlier god, Atum, who created the earth through masturbation: the word ‘benben’ means ‘to copulate’. The pyramid-shaped cap on an obelisk is called a Benbenet and, combined with the shaft, obelisks could represent Atum’s divine phallus and his seed.