It has been suggested that the temples of prehistoric Egypt were located according to geodetic principles. As these include some of the greatest structures ever built, and with such precision and purpose, it is worth investigating this suggestion seriously.
Although Piazzi Smyth may not have been the first European to suggest that the Giza complex had been built for a particular reason, he was the first person to bring the idea to the scientific forum. He concluded that Giza was deliberately placed both on the 30th parallel and at the centre of the old-world continents as a geodetic marker for the ancient world-meridian.