At its most basic the primeval mound was nothing more than a pile of sand. At Heliopolis, however, it was a rock venerated as the benben, thought to be the petrified semen of the god Atum. The benben was the stone upon which the first rays of sunlight fell. The Egyptians' esteem for the mound found its fullest expression in the construction of the pyramids inside which the pharoah was buried. The pyramid was a representation of the primeval mound from which the dead monarch could launch himself, like the original sun god, into the afterlife.
The cap of each pyramid (the benbennet) was often gilded, and viewed as an extension of the original benben. Hills could also harbour divine power. Atop a high mountain (called "The Peak of The West"), which overlooked the Valley of the Kings, the goddess Meretseger guarded the dead of Thebes. The dialy passage of the sun was also framed by mountains: it rose above an eastern mountain called Bakhu, and, as it approached the Duat at the end of the day, it set behind a western mountain called Manu.
