The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.
Based on a mark in an interior chamber naming the work gang and a reference to fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu,[1][2] Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb over a 10 to 20-year period concluding around 2560 BC. Initially at 146.5 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years. Originally, the Great Pyramid was covered by casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying core structure. Some of the casing stones that once covered the structure can still be seen around the base. There have been varying scientific and alternative theories about the Great Pyramid's construction techniques. Most accepted construction hypotheses are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place.
There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest
chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was
unfinished. The so-called[3]
Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid
structure. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only pyramid in Egypt known
to contain both ascending and descending passages. The main part of the
Giza complex is a setting of buildings that included two mortuary temples
in honour 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.History and description
It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (often Hellenicised as "Cheops") and was constructed over a 20-year period. Khufu's vizier, Hemon, or Hemiunu, is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid.[4] It is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall, 146.5 metres (480.6 ft) but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). Each base side was 440 cubits, 230.4 metres (755.9 ft) long. The mass of the pyramid is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes. The volume, including an internal hillock, is roughly 2,500,000 cubic metres (88,000,000 cu ft).[5]
Based on these estimates, building this in 20 years would involve
installing approximately 800 tonnes of stone every day. Similarly, since
it consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks, completing the building
in 20 years would involve moving an average of more than 12 of the
blocks into place each hour, day and night. The first precision
measurements of the pyramid were made by Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1880–82 and published as The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh.[6]
Almost all reports are based on his measurements. Many of the casing
stones and inner chamber blocks of the Great Pyramid fit together with
extremely high precision. Based on measurements taken on the north
eastern casing stones, the mean opening of the joints is only 0.5
millimetres wide (1/50th of an inch).[7]The pyramid remained the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years,[8] unsurpassed until the 160-metre-tall (520 ft) spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed c. 1300. The accuracy of the pyramid's workmanship is such that the four sides of the base have an average error of only 58 millimetres in length.[9] The base is horizontal and flat to within ±15 mm (0.6 in).[10] The sides of the square base are closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within four minutes of arc)[11] based on true north, not magnetic north,[12] and the finished base was squared to a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc.[13] The completed design dimensions, as suggested by Petrie's survey and subsequent studies, are estimated to have originally been 280 Royal cubits high by 440 Royal cubits long at each of the four sides of its base. The ratio of the perimeter to height of 1760/280 Royal cubits equates to 2π to an accuracy of better than 0.05% (corresponding to the well-known approximation of π as 22/7). Some Egyptologists consider this to have been the result of deliberate design proportion. Verner wrote, "We can conclude that although the ancient Egyptians could not precisely define the value of π, in practice they used it".[14] Petrie, author of Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh concluded: "but these relations of areas and of circular ratio are so systematic that we should grant that they were in the builder's design".[15] Others have argued that the Ancient Egyptians had no concept of pi and would not have thought to encode it in their monuments. They believe that the observed pyramid slope may be based on a simple seked slope choice alone, with no regard to the overall size and proportions of the finished building.[16]
Materials
The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks which most believe to have been transported from nearby quarries. The Tura limestone used for the casing was quarried across the river. The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the "King's" chamber, weigh 25 to 80 tonnes and were transported from Aswan, more than 800 km (500 mi) away. Traditionally, ancient Egyptians cut stone blocks by hammering wooden wedges into the stone which were then soaked with water. As the water was absorbed, the wedges expanded, causing the rock to crack. Once they were cut, they were carried by boat either up or down the Nile River to the pyramid.[17] It is estimated that 5.5 million tonnes of limestone, 8,000 tonnes of granite (imported from Aswan), and 500,000 tonnes of mortar were used in the construction of the Great Pyramid.[18]Casing stones
At completion, the Great Pyramid was surfaced by white "casing
stones" – slant-faced, but flat-topped, blocks of highly polished white limestone. These were carefully cut to what is approximately a face slope with a seked
of 5½ palms to give the required dimensions. Visibly, all that remains
is the underlying stepped core structure seen today. In AD 1303, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which were then carted away by Bahri Sultan An-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din al-Hasan in 1356 to build mosques and fortresses in nearby Cairo.
Many more casing stones were removed from the great pyramids by
Muhammed Ali Pasha in the early 19th century to build the upper portion
of his Alabaster Mosque
in Cairo not far from Giza. These limestone casings can still be seen
as parts of these structures. Later explorers reported massive piles of
rubble at the base of the pyramids left over from the continuing
collapse of the casing stones, which were subsequently cleared away
during continuing excavations of the site. Nevertheless, a few of the
casing stones from the lowest course can be seen to this day in situ around the base of the Great Pyramid, and display the same workmanship and precision that has been reported for centuries. Petrie
also found a different orientation in the core and in the casing
measuring 193 centimetres ± 25 centimetres. He suggested a
redetermination of north was made after the construction of the core,
but a mistake was made, and the casing was built with a different
orientation.[20]
Petrie related the precision of the casing stones as to being "equal to
opticians' work of the present day, but on a scale of acres" and "to
place such stones in exact contact would be careful work; but to do so
with cement in the joints seems almost impossible".[21]
It has been suggested it was the mortar (Petrie's "cement") that made
this seemingly impossible task possible, providing a level bed which
enabled the masons to set the stones exactly.[22][23]Grand Gallery
The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Giza
At the upper end of the Gallery on the right-hand side there is a hole near the roof which opens into a short tunnel by which access can be gained to the lowest of the Relieving Chambers. The other Relieving Chambers were discovered in 1837/8 by Colonel Howard Vyse and J. S. Perring, who dug tunnels upwards using blasting powder.
The floor of the Grand Gallery consists of a shelf or step on either
side, 51 centimetres (20 in) wide, leaving a lower ramp 1.04 metres
(3.4 ft) wide between them. In the shelves there are 54 slots, 27 on
each side matched by vertical and horizontal slots in the walls of the
Gallery. These form a cross shape that rises out of the slot in the
shelf. The purpose of these slots is not known, but the central gutter
in the floor of the Gallery, which is the same width as the Ascending
Passage, has led to speculation that the blocking stones were stored in
the Grand Gallery and the slots held wooden beams to restrain them from
sliding down the passage.[35]
This, in turn, has led to the proposal that originally many more than 3
blocking stones were intended, to completely fill the Ascending
Passage.[citation needed]At the top of the Grand Gallery there is a step giving onto a horizontal passage some meters long and approximately 1.02 metres (3.3 ft) in height and width, in which can be detected four slots, three of which were probably intended to hold granite portcullises. Fragments of granite found by Petrie in the Descending Passage may have come from these
King's Chamber
Sarcophagus in the King's chamber
The King's Chamber is entirely faced with granite. Above the roof,
which is formed of nine slabs of stone weighing in total about 400 tons,
are five compartments known as Relieving Chambers. The first four, like
the King's Chamber, have flat roofs formed by the floor of the chamber
above, but the final chamber has a pointed roof. Vyse suspected the
presence of upper chambers when he found that he could push a long reed
through a crack in the ceiling of the first chamber. From lower to
upper, the chambers are known as "Davison's Chamber", "Wellington's Chamber", "Nelson's Chamber", "Lady Arbuthnot's Chamber", and "Campbell's
Chamber". It is believed that the compartments were intended to
safeguard the King's Chamber from the possibility of a roof collapsing
under the weight of stone above the Chamber. As the chambers were not
intended to be seen, they were not finished in any way and a few of the
stones still retain masons' marks painted on them. One of the stones in
Campbell's Chamber bears a mark, apparently the name of a work gang,
which incorporates the only reference in the pyramid to Pharaoh Khufu.[1][2]
The entrance of the Pyramid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Visitor’s Tip’s for the Great Pyramid of Giza
Are you the one who would like to visit the oldest tourist attraction in the world? If so plan a visit to the land of pharaohs and experience by yourself Egypt’s top tourist attractions. The Great Pyramid of Giza belongs to the surviving member of the Seven Wonders of the World. There are 3 main pyramids in Giza: the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Kafhre and the Pyramid of Menkaura. Each pyramid is a tomb of the Kings of Egypt. In front of the pyramids there lies the cat-like sculpture, the Sphinx, which attracts millions of tourists annually. In the following let’s see some visitor’s tips for the Great Pyramid of Giza, hoping that you will find this article useful for setting your itinerary on the land of the
