Facts about Ben-ben Stone
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A word derived from 'ben-ben' is the root of the name Benben, which Egyptologists associate with the verb meaning 'to shine' or 'to radiate.
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Obelisks in Egyptian religious tradition are thought to have derived their form symbolically from the ben-ben stone, representing a ray of sunlight frozen in stone.
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In Egyptian religious architecture, the innermost sanctuary of the sun temple at Heliopolis housed the ben-ben stone as its central cult object.
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Pyramid capstones, known as pyramidions, are believed to have represented the ben-ben stone and were sometimes sheathed in electrum to reflect sunlight.
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Ancient Egyptians believed the benben stone was connected to the Bennu bird, the mythological heron associated with the sun god Ra and the soul of Osiris.
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The ben-ben stone was a sacred conical or pyramidal stone worshipped at Heliopolis as the primordial mound upon which the sun god Atum first stood at creation.