Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid of
Giza
The Great Pyramid have amazed people throughout the centuries. Who built
the Great Pyramid? Why was it built? How was it built?
What was the purpose of the Great Pyramid of Giza? What was inside the
Great Pyramid of Giza? These are just some of the many questions which
surround the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The Location of the Great Pyramid
of Giza
The
Great Pyramid is located on the Giza Plateau, bordering the Sahara
Desert, on the west bank of the Nile River, near modern-day Cairo. The
Great pyramid was originally 481 feet high and 755 feet wide, dimensions
which the damage of time have reduced to 454 feet and 750 feet
respectively.
History -
When was the Great Pyramid built? Who built the Great Pyramid at Giza?
Khufu
The history of the pyramid and its
construction was intermittent. The Golden Age
of the Pyramids only lasted for about 100 years. The Golden Age of the
Pyramids was when the great Great Pyramid at Giza was constructed. It
was built during the
historical period of the Old Kingdom (2686 BC - 2181 BC) and is
attributed to the Pharaoh Khufu (Greek Cheops) 2589 - 2566
as the king who erected the Great
Pyramid of Giza.
There are hieroglyphics inside the Great Pyramid that claim the pyramid
was built by work gangs for the pharaoh Khufu. The Great Pyramid is
accompanied by two other pyramids on the Giza Plateau in Egypt. They
were built for three
consecutive monarchs: Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure of the Fourth Egyptian
Dynasty:
-
Khufu (Greek Cheops) 2589 - 2566
who erected the Great
Pyramid of Giza
-
Khafre aka Khafra,
Shafra, Rakhaef,
Chephren - 2558 - 2532
-
Menkaure aka Mycerinus,
Mykerinos - 2532 - 2504
History - Why was Great Pyramid built?
The Importance of the Sun
The true history of the pyramids have been lost over time. It is not certain
exactly why the Great Pyramid was built but many Egyptologists believe
that the reason for its construction was linked the religion and beliefs of
the Ancient Egyptians. The early
Egyptian priests evolved a creation myth, called the Cosmogony, to explain how
some of their Gods came into being.
The Sun God Ra (as Atum) was believed to have risen from the
primeval ocean to a conical-shaped mound of earth and then
created the world. The Ancient Egyptians therefore revered the mound as
an image of creation. The first rays of the sun fell on Sun God Ra (as
Atum) marking the way to heaven by ascending the rays of the sun. The
Great Pyramid consisting of mounds of masonry
was a material representation of the rays of the sun. It is easy to
imagine how Ancient Egyptian priests would see the association of the pyramid
and the sun and how the structure could be a means whereby a dead king,
such as the Pharaoh Khufu,
could ascend to heaven.
The Great Pyramid
and the Importance of the Stars - The Indestructibles
The sun lead the way to the heavens
but where was the final destination? The most important group of
stars to the Ancient Egyptians were called the 'Indestructibles' (in the
bowl of Ursa Minor & Ursa Major). The Indestructibles were the two
bright stars that always could be seen circling the North Pole. These
stars circled an unmoveable area which the Ancient Egyptians believed
was heaven. The positioning of the Great Pyramid was of great importance
as it was built to align north with a single, perfectly aligned vent, or
shaft which was built into the internal structure of the Great Pyramid
pointing directly to the area the Ancient Egyptians believed was heaven.
The shaft led, at an angle, from the burial chamber to the outside. The
soul of the Pharaoh Khufu was thus able to travel from the burial
chamber in the Great Pyramid, up the shaft, on the path to heaven. The
Pyramids were therefore believed to be Resurrection machines - a 'Stargate'
leading to heaven and eternal life.
The Great Pyramid - Seven Wonders of
the World
The "Great Pyramid" was one of the
Seven Wonders of the World - and it is the only one that still exists.
We will put all those out of their misery who are trying to
remember the other Seven Wonders of the World! List of Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World is as follows:
•
Great Pyramid of Giza
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Temple of Diana at Ephesus
• Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Construction of the
Great Pyramid
Of the Seven Wonders of the World
the Great Pyramid of Giza is possibly the greatest of them all. It
presents many other marvels besides its longevity and size. First, there
is the massiveness of the stone blocks of which it is composed. The
basement stones are in many cases 30 long by 5 feet high, and 4 or 5
wide: they must contain from 600 - 750 cubic feet each, and weigh from
46 to 57 tons. The granite blocks which roof over the upper sepulchral
chamber are nearly 19 feet long, by two broad and from 3 to 4 deep. The
relieving stones above the same chamber, and those of the entrance
passage, are almost equally massive. Generally the external blocks are
of a size with which modern builders scarcely ever venture to deal,
though the massiveness diminishes as the pyramid is ascended. The bulk
of the interior is, however, of comparatively small stones but even
these are carefully hewn and squared, so as to fit together perfectly.
Building the
Great Pyramid of Giza
Building the Ancient Egyptian
Great Pyramid was a complicated and time consuming task and took over 20
years to build. Various stages had
to be completed:
-
Marking out was
stage 1 of building
the Great Pyramid of Giza - Marking out the ground involved complex
mathematics. Precise calculations was required to set out
the corner blocks, the angle of the sloping sides, the
height and the dead center of the Great Pyramid
-
Selecting and
locating the stones was
stage 2 of building the Great Pyramid of Giza
-
Transporting
the stones was stage 3 of building
the Great Pyramid of Giza - Transport to Giza was by ships or barges
-
Specially constructed man-made canals and landing stages
was used for transporting the materials and was finally
delivered to the building site at Giza by sledge.
Archaeologists have found evidence of such a canal at Giza
-
Cutting the
stones was stage 4 of building
the Great Pyramid of Giza - The Ancient Egyptians used bronze and
copper tools to hand cut the stones. Another method was to
make small holes in a block of wood, along the line of stone
to be cut. Wooden wedges was forced into the holes and
water was then poured over the dry wood which then
expanded and cracked the stone along the line. Pounding
stones of dolerite was also used
-
Construction
was stage 5 of building
Great Pyramid of Giza:
-
Stones was
placed over the base
-
Side blocks was
laid meeting each of the corner stones
-
The next course
was then placed on the first - with up to 200 courses
-
A single capping
stone was placed on the top
The Surface Area of
the Great Pyramid
The surface area of the Great Pyramid
ensured that this massive monuments was truly awe-inspiring. The
Surface Work was stage 6 of building
the Great Pyramid of Giza:
-
Massive triangular
shaped facing blocks of polished limestone were cut
-
The gleaming white
facing blocks was added to each course
-
The fitting was dead
accurate as no cement was used to fix the facing blocks
-
A magnificent capping stone
was placed on the top of the Great Pyramid of
Giza which was coated with gold
Building Techniques
and Methods
No one is certain of the exact building techniques used by the Ancient
Egyptians to build the Great Pyramid of Giza. How did they move and lay
the great monoliths, some of
which weighed nearly 3 tons? The
massive stones, or monoliths, were transported by ships along the Nile
and then via the man made canals to the building site of the Great
Pyramid at Giza. The following are theories regarding the
building techniques which might have been used in the construction of
the Great Pyramid:
-
A mud ramp was built and stones
was dragged
up it
-
A series of ramps
was built from step to step
-
Teams of workers levered the stones up the
courses
-
It has also been
suggested that the Ancient Egyptians might have moved the
stones with wind power, relying on kites and pulleys rather
than huge numbers of people
What is inside the Great Pyramid?
What is inside the Great Pyramid of
Giza? The purpose of the Great Pyramid was to create a monumental tomb for
the Pharaoh Khufu (Greek Cheops). Inside the
Great pyramid was tomb chambers, ante-rooms and
chambers, ventilation shafts and access tunnels. The "Great Pyramid"
guards three chambers:
-
One lies deep in the
rock, about 120 feet beneath the natural surface of the ground, and
is placed almost directly below the apex of the structure. It
measures 46 feet by 27, and is 11 feet high. The access to it is by
a long and narrow passage which commences in the north side of the
pyramid, about 70 feet above the original base, and descends for 40
yards through the masonry, and then for 70 more in the same line
through the solid rock, when it changes its direction, becoming
horizontal for 9 yards, and so entering the chamber itself.
-
The two other chambers
are reached by an ascending passage, which branches off from the
descending one at the distance of about 30 yards from the entrance,
and mounts up through the heart of the pyramid for rather more than
40 yards, when it divides into two
-
A low horizontal
gallery, 110 feet long, leads to a chamber which has been called,
for no good reason, "the Queen's Chamber" - a room about nineteen
feet long by seventeen broad, roofed in with sloping blocks, and
having a height of twenty feet in the centre
-
Another longer and much
loftier gallery continues on for 150 feet in the line of the
ascending passage, and is then connected by a short horizontal
passage with the upper-most or "King's Chamber." Here was found a
sarcophagus believed to be that of Pharaoh Khufu, since the name of
Khufu was scrawled in more than one place on the chamber walls
Inside
the Great Pyramid of Giza - The King's Chamber
The construction of th King's
Chamber, the very kernel of the whole building, is quite remarkable. It
is a room of 34 feet in length, with a width of 17 feet, and a height of
19, composed wholly of granite blocks of great size, beautifully
polished, and fitted together with great care. The construction of the
roof is particularly admirable. First, the chamber is covered in with
nine huge blocks, each nearly nineteen feet long and four feet wide,
which are laid side by side upon the walls so as to form a complete
ceiling. Then above these blocks is a low chamber similarly covered in,
and this is repeated four times; after which there is a fifth opening,
triangular, and roofed in by a set of huge sloping blocks, which meet at
the apex and support each other. The object is to relieve the chamber
from any weight, and prevent it from being crushed in by the mass of
material above it. The entire chamber, with its elaborate roof, remains
intact, without crack or settlement of any kind.
Great Pyramid
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