One of the world
most amazing, breathtaking and ranked by many many people as Number One Wonder of the World are Pyramids made by ancient egyptians in the plateau of Giza. The
Pyramids of Egypt
are so massive they confound the imagination. They are even more
amazing when we consider that they were built nearly 4600 years ago.
There are no more famous ancient sites within Egypt, or for that matter
elsewhere in the world, than the Great Pyramids at Giza. They are,
without question, the icon most associated with the Egypt.
The
Giza Necropolis ( Google Earth Placemark – Pyramids of Egypt travel wonder at Giza
) stands on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This
complex of ancient monuments is located some eight km inland into the
desert from the old town of Giza on the Nile, some 20 km southwest of
Cairo city centre. This Ancient Egyptian necropolis consists of
pyramids. Pyramid of Khufu (also known as the Great Pyramid and the
Pyramid of Cheops), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or
Chephren), and the relatively modest-size Pyramid of Menkaure (or
Mykerinus), along with a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as
“queens” pyramids, causeways and valley pyramids, and most noticeably
the Great Sphinx. Associated with these royal monuments are the tombs of
high officials and much later burials and monuments (from the New
Kingdom onwards) associated with the reverence to those buried in the
necropolis.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only remaining of the
Seven Wonders of the World.
Most Egyptologists agree the pyramid was constructed over a 20 year
period concluding around 2560 BC. It is generally believed the Great
Pyramid was built as the tomb of
Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (Cheops), after whom it is sometimes called Khufu’s Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu.
The Great Pyramid is the oldest and largest of the
three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now Cairo, Egypt
in Africa. It is the main part of a complex setting of buildings that
included two mortuary temples in honor of Khufu (one close to the
pyramid and one near the Nile), three smaller pyramids for Khufu’s
wives, an even smaller “satellite” pyramid, a raised causeway connecting
the two temples, and small mastaba tombs surrounding the pyramid for
nobles. One of the small pyramids contains the tomb of queen Hetepheres
(discovered in 1925), sister and wife of Sneferu and the mother of
Khufu. There was a town for the workers, including a cemetery, bakeries,
a beer factory and a copper smelting complex. More buildings and
complexes are being discovered by The Giza Mapping Project.
Khafre’s Pyramid, is the second largest of the ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza and the tomb of the
fourth-dynasty pharaoh Khafre (Chephren).
The pyramid is believed to have been completed around
2532 BC,
at the end of Khafre’s reign. It lies a few hundred meters southwest of
its larger neighbor, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, in the Giza necropolis
outside of Cairo.
Khafre’s Pyramid had an original height of 143.87 m
(275 royal cubits or 471 ft). It now stands at 136 m (446 ft) tall with a
base of 215.29 m (410 royal cubits or 704 ft), covering a total area of
about 11 acres (45,000 square m). Its angle of incline measures 53 10′
at the top, which is steeper than the Great Pyramid, but at the bottom
the angle is lower. The reason for this is that at the base cracks began
to form, so the Egyptians decided to lower the entire height of the
pyramid. This, and its slightly more elevated location often make
Khafre’s Pyramid appear larger than the Great Pyramid. It is, in fact,
smaller in both height and volume.
Menkaure’s Pyramid, located on the Giza Plateau on
the southwestern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, is the smallest of the three
Pyramids of Giza. It was built to serve as the tomb of the
fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Menkaure.
had an original height of 65.5 meters (215 feet). It now stands at 62
m (203 ft) tall with a base of 105 m (344 ft). Its angle of incline is
approximately 51 20″25′. It was constructed of
limestone and granite.
The pyramid’s date of construction is unknown, because Menkaure’s
reign has not been accurately defined, but it was probably completed
sometime during the
26th century BC. It lies a few
hundred meters southwest of its larger neighbors, the Pyramid of Khafre
and the Great Pyramid of Khufu in the Giza necropolis.
Of the three, only
Khafre’s pyramid retains part of
its original polished limestone casing, towards its apex. It is
interesting to note that this pyramid appears larger than the adjacent
Khufu pyramid by virtue of its more elevated location, and the steeper
angle of inclination of its construction – it is, in fact, smaller in
both height and volume. The most active phase of construction here was
in the 25th century BC.
The ancient remains of the Giza necropolis have attracted visitors
and tourists since classical antiquity, when these Old Kingdom monuments
were already over 2,000 years old. It was popularised in Hellenistic
times when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of
the Seven Wonders of the World. Today it is the only one of the ancient
Wonders still in existence.
Due largely to nineteenth-century images, the pyramids of Giza are
generally thought of by foreigners as lying in a remote, desert
location, even though they are located in what is now part of the most
populated city in Africa. Consequently, urban development reaches right
up to the perimeter of the antiquities site, to the extent that in the
1990s a Pizza Hut and KFC restaurant opened across the road.
The ancient sites in the
Memphis area, including those at Giza, together with those at
Saqqara, Dahshur, Abu Ruwaysh, and Abusir, were collectively declared a World Heritage site in 1979.
Interesting tidbits about the Pyramids of Egypt at Giza:
* Many theories exist on how the Pyramids of Egypt were constructed.
Most Egyptologists now believe that a large temporary earth ramp with a
gentle incline was built. The giant stone blocks were then dragged up
the slope with a combination of pulleys, levers and raw manpower.
* Over the course of several centuries, the construction design
evolved from the modestly high step pyramid style to the skyscraping,
smooth-sided pyramids of Khufu and Chephren at Giza.
* Then, starting with Menkure’s pyramid (the nearest one in the
picture), size and structural strength gradually began to decline. The
primary reasons were weakening economies and fading pharaonic powers.
* The three great Pyramids of Egypt have a north-south alignment because the polar stars were considered sacred.
* The number of large stone blocks used to build the Pyramids of
Egypt is often overstated. For example, it is commonly written that
2,300,000 million were used for Khufu’s structure. The actual figure is
many times smaller when you divide the cubic size of the pyramid by the
average cubic size of the stone blocks.
* Some archeologists speculate that the tomb robbers were
unsuccessful in finding the true burial chambers in the Pyramids of
Egypt because the tomb builders were cleverer than the thieves. If so,
the pharaonic mummies and treasures are still concealed somewhere within
their respective pyramids, waiting to be detected by future technology.
