Origyptian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who developed that symbolic
> interpretation?

Egyptologists invented it from interpreting the little known about the culture in terms of the book of the dead.

> Have the AE attested that
> symbolism in any of their texts?

No! Absolutely not. The literal meaning of the most ancient writing is not consistent with their interpretations. These writing are internally inconsistent so nothing can be determined by a literal reading.

> (How old are
> those texts?)

The oldest surviving texts date to many about 2400 BC (350 years after G1) but are generally agreed to have been very ancient.

> How can we account for a symbolic
> interpretation of some but not all design
> features?

Well... ...now days they're even saying that the pyramids are symbolic tombs sitting on the symbolic land of the dead from whence the dearly departed can journey (by boat mind you) to the symbolic afterlife. Given sufficient time Egyptology will "solve" all the symbolism.

> ...but
> where is the evidence of what the builders
> actually intended it all to be?

G1? More and more lately I've been coming back to "the Mafdet Lynx lives in the House of Life". I'm beginning to believe this is the prime function of the pyramids; a time capsule. At least it's the primary function of G1.

They left a roadmap of their civilization and of human progress. This map has a giant X right at the Great Pyramid.