© Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Courtesy of Livius

Compared to the real Egyptian pyramids the Pyramid of Cestius is too pointed. This explains why in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, pictures of ancient Egypt also contained too pointed monuments: the only place where European artists could see a pyramid, was at Rome. The picture below shows a mosaic from the San Marco in Venice with a scene from the Biblical story of Joseph in Egypt. The artist has tried to make it look really Egyptian, but his pyramids are clearly based on the Pyramid of Cestius. - Source

Editors note: At this time there has been little actual archeology done at the site to reach any conclusions either way... We will be atching this location.

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Copyright © 2006 Bert Bos

"Nice has a pyramid. Few people know it, but it absolutely exists, near Falicon, to the north of Nice. Speleologues know it as the pyramid that marks the entrance of the Ratapignata cave. Mystics think it is mystic, but it is above all enigmatic." ~ Bert Bos

Excert One:

The Falicon Pyramid is an ancient monument located at a rural site near the town of Falicon, on the French Riviera, near Nice.It is constructed above a karstic cave known as the Cave of the Bats (Occitan: Bauma des Ratapignata) and is one of the few pyramids in Europe.

The pyramid is constructed of small irregularly-shaped stones, possesses a fairly acute angle of inclination, and is in a partly ruined condition. While most of its upper section is missing, the lower section is reasonably well-preserved.
 

The pyramid's purpose and origins are unknown, although it has been suggested that it may have been constructed by Roman legionaries involved in Egyptian cult practices.

The number of stairs leading into the cave below the pyramid also supposedly corresponds to the 7-level initiation rituals of the cult of Mithras - an eastern religion that was popular with members of the Roman Army during the later Empire. - Source

Excerpt

The Temple of Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent God (also known as Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs) is the largest and most important ceremonial structure at Chichen Itza. This ninety-foot tall pyramid was built during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries directly upon the multiple foundations of previous temples. The architecture of the pyramid encodes precise information regarding the Mayan calendar. Each face of the four-sided structure has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365, the number of days in a year. These stairways also divide the nine terraces of each side of the pyramid into eighteen segments, representing the eighteen months of the Mayan calendar. The pyramid is also directionally oriented to mark the solstices and equinoxes. The axes that run through the northwest and southwest corners of the pyramid are oriented toward the rising point of the sun at the summer solstice and its setting point at the winter solstice. The northern stairway was the principal sacred path leading to the summit. At sunset on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, an interplay between the sun's light and the edges of the stepped terraces on the pyramid creates a fascinating - and very brief - shadow display upon the sides of the northern stairway. A serrated line of seven interlocking triangles gives the impression of a long tail leading downward to the stone head of the serpent Kukulkan, at the base of the stairway. Adjacent to the head of Kukulkan, a doorway leads to an interior staircase ending at a small and very mysterious shrine.

According to Maya scholars Linda Schele and David Friedel, the massive pyramidal temples found at Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Palenque and many other major Maya sites were symbolic sacred mountains.

Source and Further Reading of  a very interesting Article

Exerpt One:

The three pyramids located in the Peloponnesus have recently been the center of a great deal of attention. This sudden interest is being shown not only by archaeologists and historians, but by the general public as well, both Greek and foreign. This is entirely justified because they concern the distant past of humanity as a whole. The astonishment one naturally experiences when seeing the pyramids of Egypt for the first time, is akin to the reaction of those who are told that their prototypes are most likely to be found in an obscure village near Argos in the Peloponnesus. This assertion -- which contradicts the misguided belief held by many that  civilization proceeded from the East -- is bolstered by the concurrence that exists between the chronological assessment of these pyramids made by the prestigious Athens Academy, the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the historical information available to us from ancient sources: All of which have to do with when these structures were constructed, whether this architectural know-how was transferred to Egypt from Greece, and, if so, how. - Source
 

Exerpt Two:

 That's right. Greek pyramids! On Greek soil, at Hellenikon and Ligourio west of Athens in the Argolid region, are two limestone pyramids that are stylistically very much like those at Giza near Cairo. The big difference is size; the Greek pyramids are only the size of a large room compared to the Great Pyramid's height (with capstone) of almost 500 feet.

When excavations were made around the Greek pyramids in the early 1900s, pottery fragments from the Fourth Century B.C. were found, and it was presumed that the pyramids were also constructed then; that is, about the time of Alexander the Great. Recent dating of crystals from internal surfaces of the limestone blocks using thermoluminescence puts the construction times back two millennia. The Hellenikon pyramid dates to 2730 B.C.; the Ligourio, to 2260 B.C. This means that the Greek pyramids were built in roughly the same time frame as the Egyptian pyramids.

Why would the ancient Greeks want to build miniature pyramids? The classical scholar Pausanias wrote in the Second Century A.D. that the Hellenikon pyramid was a cenotaph for the dead fallen in a fratricidal battle 4,000 years ago. Nobody believed his story until now. - Source

More Reading:

"There are more than 16 pyramids spread all over the Greece. The oldest one is the pyramid of Hellinikon... "- Source
 

These rock structures are still subject of cotroversy, as to whether they are manmade or natural occurences. Some researchers are convinced that this structure, found on one of the peaks of mount Taygetus, was carved by the hand of man, in remote antiquity, to form this pyramid shape. Others however believe that this is nothing but an natural rock formation. .

Visitors to this area, however, are surprised by the abrupt change in the texture of the rock surface near the base of the "pyramid". It is very striking the smooth texture of the rock surface above the base level of the "pyramid" when compared to the surrounding ground below. No erosion mechanism has been suggested (to date) which could create this shape naturally. Particularly curious are the strange shadows cast at dawn and sunset. - Source and Pictures

Editors Note: The above picture is the only know image and is "cloned" all over the internet. Until better photos are found no conclusion is possible and this remains unconfirmed.

However there is another one that looks similar and it is in the same position related to the big moumtain to its left. This one is on Mount Khailash in Tibet. It is a very strange coincidence that bouth mountains have such a formation beside them. This one though is well documented in many large photos. It is also interesting to note that Mt Kailash is considered by many Tibetans to represent Mt Meru

Mount Kailash, Northern Tibet Click for larger view

Mount Kailash 

Mount Kailash stands prominently in a remote south-west corner of Tibet, an amazingly symmetrical 22,028 foot striated pyramid with a diagonal gash on one of its faces. It has been described as 'a compelling, dome-shaped peak, rising above a desolately beautiful 13,000 ft plateau of rainbow-coloured rocks'.

Mt. Kailash is also called Kang Rinpoche, or the Precious Mountain, in Tibetan. It is believed that the eleventh century poet-yogi, Milarepa was the only person to have set foot on its peak, and he accomplished the feat by flying there...

The Bön, an aboriginal religious sect of the Tibetan pre-Buddhist era call it Yung-drung Gu-tzeg, or "9-storey Swastika" because on the south face of Kailash can be seen a swastika. The 6,714 metre peak is believed to be the actual home of Lord Shiva, and also the sacred seat of Adinath, the first of the Jains. 

This peak is the earthly manifestation of Mount Sumeru, or Meru as it is also known. Sumeru is believed to be the axis of the universe. The point about which the entire cosmos spins is Mount Meru. 

The journey to Mt. Kailash is an important pilgrimage for millions of Buddhists and Hindus, in addition to Jains and also to Bonpos. It is believed that one circuit of the sacred Mt. Kailash(54 km/32 miles) is sufficient to wipe out all the sins of your lifetime. Wiping out the sins of all your lifetimes is a much bigger task; that major sin clean-up requires 108 revolutions. Or bathing in the icy sapphire waters of Lake Manasarovar at the mountain's base is also said to remove the sins of innumerable lifetimes.

Since Mt. Kailash is the home of Lord Shiva, for Hindu people it is also the highest blessing to take darshan of the mountain - to be in its presence; to see it and to be seen by it.

Tibetan poet and seer of the 11th century Milarepa's comment on Mt. Kailash is worth quoting: "There is no place more powerful for practice, more blessed, or more marvelous than this. May all pilgrims and practitioners be welcome!" 

Source