In medieval India, when people saw the Ashoka Pillar, they did not know it was Ashoka’s pillar. They identified it as Bhima’s staff or Bhim-ki-lathi. In other words, a historical object became a mythological object. Quite in the same way, pyramids of Egypt, tombs for pharaohs built 4,500 years ago, were identified as the mythological granaries of Joseph by Christian pilgrims a thousand years ago. 

Joseph is a character from the Old Testament or the Jewish Bible, who helped the Egyptian pharaoh to collect grain during years of harvest, which could be used during years of famine. This feat earned him a respected place in Egyptian society, and enabled his Hebrew relatives to migrate to Egypt, where they were unfortunately enslaved a few generations later.