Entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has a habit of making outlandish comments both in person and on social media, has been invited to pay a visit to Egypt after he tweeted that the pyramids were built by aliens.
Was the 49-year-old boss off SpaceX and Tesla being serious when he tweeted that the structures, which experts say were build by humans 4,000 years ago, were constructed by aliens, “obv”?
Who knows.
Either way, the tweet, which was retweeted more than 80,000 times, was enough for him to receive an upbraiding by experts who suggested he ought not be making such claims or conspiracy theories.
It also earned him an invitation from Egypt’s Minister of International Co-operation, Rania al-Mashat, to learn more for himself, perhaps in person.
“I follow your work with a lot of admiration,”she tweeted.
“I invite you & SpaceX 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
The BBC said archaeologist and Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass posted a video in response to Mr Musk’s claim, saying the argument was a “complete hallucination”.
“I found the tombs of the pyramids’ builders, that tell everyone that the builders of the pyramids are Egyptians and they were not slaves,” Mr Hawass said in a video on his Facebook page.
“The pyramids were a national project of the whole nation. Ramsees II was an Egyptian from Sharqia.”
Mr Musk later appeared to acknowledge that the pyramids may not have been built by aliens, when he tweeted another a link to article about the pyramid builders, saying: “This BBC article provides a sensible summary for how it was done.”