Egypt invited Elon Musk to see the pyramids for himself after he claimed they were built by aliens

• A top government official from Egypt invited Elon Musk to see the ancient pyramids for himself after he claimed they were built by aliens.
• On Friday, the Tesla CEO tweeted, "Aliens built the pyramids obv," repeating an unfounded "ancient-astronauts theory" that claims extraterrestrial beings once visited Earth and built the world's historic landmarks.
• Egypt's minister of international cooperation responded to Musk on Twitter, writing: "I invite you & Space X to explore the writings about how the pyramids were built and also to check out the tombs of the pyramid builders."

One of Egypt's top government officials has invited Elon Musk to see the ancient pyramids for himself after the Tesla CEO claimed the historical landmarks were built by aliens.

On Friday, Musk tweeted: "Aliens built the pyramids obv." His tweet got more than 500,000 likes.

—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2020

This prompted Egypt's minister of international cooperation, Rania al-Mashat, to personally invite the Tesla CEO to the country to see the pyramids for himself and learn about their history.

"I follow your work with a lot of admiration," Al-Mashat tweeted on Saturday. "I invite you & Space X to explore the writings about how the pyramids were built and also to check out the tombs of the pyramid builders."

"Mr. Musk, we are waiting for you," she added.

—Rania A. Al Mashat (@RaniaAlMashat) August 1, 2020

The Tesla CEO did later follow up his tweet with a link to a BBC article that detailed the lives of the people who built the pyramids, saying: "This BBC article provides a sensible summary for how it was done."

But his previous tweet prompted more than one public figure to speak out in Egypt.

Zahi Hawass, the Egyptian archaeologist who discovered tombs of the pyramid builders at Giza, said Musk's argument was a "complete hallucination," according to the BBC.

"I found the tombs of the pyramid builders that tell everyone that the builders of the pyramids are Egyptians and they were not slaves," Hawass said, according to EgyptToday.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Standing at more than 450 feet, or 137 meters tall, it still remains largely intact.

The idea that aliens built the pyramids is part of the unfounded "ancient-astronauts theory," which claims intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth in prehistoric times and built historic landmarks.

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