Egyptian pyramids

Seven thousand years civilization of Egypt

The Pyramids at Giza

Built during a time when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world, the pyramids - especially the Great Pyramids of Giza - are some of the most magnificent man-made structures in history. Their massive scale reflects the unique role that the pharaoh, or king, played in ancient Egyptian society. Though pyramids were built from the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the close of the Ptolemaic period in the fourth century A.D., the peak of pyramid building began with the late third dynasty and continued until roughly the sixth (c. 2325 B.C.). More than 4,000 years later, the Egyptian pyramids still retain much of their majesty, providing a glimpse into the country’s rich and glorious past.

The Giza pyramid complex consists of the Great Pyramid (also known as the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu and constructed c. 2580 – c. 2560 BC), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) a few hundred metres to the south-west, and the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinos) a few hundred metres farther south-west. The Great Sphinx lies on the east side of the complex. Current consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx is that of Khafre. Along with these major monuments are a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as "queens" pyramids, causeways and valley pyramids.[4]

Most construction theories are based on the idea that the pyramids were built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place. Disagreements arise over the feasibility of the different proposed methods by which the stones were conveyed and placed.

In building the pyramids, the architects might have developed their techniques over time. They would select a site on a relatively flat area of bedrock—not sand—which provided a stable foundation. After carefully surveying the site and laying down the first level of stones, they constructed the pyramids in horizontal levels, one on top of the other.

For the Great Pyramid, most of the stone for the interior seems to have been quarried immediately to the south of the construction site. The smooth exterior of the pyramid was made of a fine grade of white limestone that was quarried across the Nile. These exterior blocks had to be carefully cut, transported by river barge to Giza, and dragged up ramps to the construction site. Only a few exterior blocks remain in place at the bottom of the Great Pyramid. During the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century), people may have taken the rest away for building projects in the city of Cairo.

To ensure that the pyramid remained symmetrical, the exterior casing stones all had to be equal in height and width. Workers might have marked all the blocks to indicate the angle of the pyramid wall and trimmed the surfaces carefully so that the blocks fit together. During construction, the outer surface of the stone was smooth limestone; excess stone has eroded as time has passed.[4]

Most construction theories are based on the idea that the pyramids were built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place. Disagreements arise over the feasibility of the different proposed methods by which the stones were conveyed and placed.

In building the pyramids, the architects might have developed their techniques over time. They would select a site on a relatively flat area of bedrock—not sand—which provided a stable foundation. After carefully surveying the site and laying down the first level of stones, they constructed the pyramids in horizontal levels, one on top of the other.

The Three Pyramid Kings

King Khufu
The Great Pyramid

King Khufu

King Khafra

King Khafra

King Menkaure

King Menkaure and his wife

pyramids during excavations

Astronomy

The Giza pyramid complex at night

The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids were astronomically oriented to the north–south and east–west within a small fraction of a degree. Among recent attempts to explain such a clearly deliberate pattern are those of S. Haack, O. Neugebauer, K. Spence, D. Rawlins, K. Pickering, and J. Belmon

The Great Sphinx of Giza:

With a body of a lion and a head of a human, statues like the great Sphinx appeared for the first time ever in Egypt as a kind of representation of a two sided story behind each structure of a statue during the beginning of the dynastic period. The first representation of a king in the form of the statue of the great sphinx was in the Middle of the 4th dynasty.

King Djetef Ra was the first king to have a Sphinx statue, as he was the successor of King Cheops, and that was considered as the first royal representation of its kind in the form of a Sphinx. The statue was discovered nearby the pyramid at Abu-Rawash in Giza and it is now displayed in Louvre Museum.

So, what is the meaning of the “Sphinx”?

The word “Sphinx” is originally a Greek word of the Ancient Egyptian name “Ssp Ankh” which means the living image or representation of something. The Sphinx statue mainly represents the king and his living image and it also represents the combination between the mental power and the Physical power. The mental power ofhe king is represented in the human head of the statue, while the physical power is represented in the body of a lion. Egyptology scientists believe that if the sphinx was a representation of an ancient Egyptian God, so it is said that they managed to tame the ild nature of the lion wih the human intelligence and turning it into a divine peaceful character.

The Great Sphinx of Giza:

So, what is the meaning of the “Sphinx”?

The work of quarrying, moving, setting, and sculpting the huge amount of stone used to build the pyramids might have been accomplished by several thousand skilled workers, unskilled laborers and supporting workers. Bakers, carpenters, water carriers, and others were also needed for the project. Along with the methods utilized to construct the pyramids, there is also wide speculation regarding the exact number of workers needed for a building project of this magnitude. When Greek historian Herodotus visited Giza in 450 BC, he was told by Egyptian priests that "the Great Pyramid had taken 400,000 men 20 years to build, working in three-month shifts 100,000 men at a time." Evidence from the tombs indicates that a workforce of 10,000 laborers working in three-month shifts took around 30 years to build a pyramid.

The Giza pyramid complex is surrounded by a large stone wall, outside which Mark Lehner and his team discovered a town where the pyramid workers were housed. The village is located to the southeast of the Khafre and Menkaure complexes. Among the discoveries at the workers' village are communal sleeping quarters, bakeries, breweries, and kitchens (with evidence showing that bread, beef, and fish were staples of the diet), a hospital and a cemetery (where some of the skeletons were found with signs of trauma associated with accidents on a building site).[16] The workers' town appears to date from the middle 4th Dynasty (2520–2472 BC), after the accepted time of Khufu and completion of the Great Pyramid. According to Lehner and the AERA team

Cemeteries

As the pyramids were constructed, the mastabas for lesser royals were constructed around them. Near the pyramid of Khufu, the main cemetery is G 7000, which lies in the East Field located to the east of the main pyramid and next to the Queen's pyramids. These cemeteries around the pyramids were arranged along streets and avenues.[19] Cemetery G 7000 was one of the earliest and contained tombs of wives, sons and daughters of these 4th Dynasty rulers. On the other side of the pyramid in the West Field, the royals sons Wepemnofret and Hemiunu were buried in Cemetery G 1200 and Cemetery G 4000 respectively. These cemeteries were further expanded during the 5th and 6th Dynasties.[7]

The South Field includes mastabas dating from the 1st Dynasty to 3rd Dynasty as well as later burials.[20] Of the more significant of these early dynastic tombs are one referred to as "Covington's tomb", otherwise known as Mastaba T, and the large Mastaba V which contained artifacts naming the 1st Dynasty pharaoh Djet.[21][20] Other tombs date from the late Old Kingdom (5th and 6th Dynasty). The south section of the field contains several tombs dating from the Saite period and later.

Tombs of the pyramid builders

In 1990, tombs belonging to the pyramid workers were discovered alongside the pyramids, with an additional burial site found nearby in 2009. Although not mummified, they had been buried in mudbrick tombs with beer and bread to support them in the afterlife. The tombs' proximity to the pyramids and the manner of burial supports the theory that they were paid laborers who took great pride in their work and were not slaves, as was previously thought. Evidence from the tombs indicates that a workforce of 10,000 laborers working in three-month shifts took around 30 years to build a pyramid. Most of the workers appear to have come from poor families. Specialists such as architects, masons, metalworkers and carpenters, were permanently employed by the king to fill positions that required the most skill.

There are multiple burial-shafts and various unfinished shafts and tunnels located in the Giza complex discovered and mentioned prominently by Selim Hassan in his Excavations at Giza 1933-1934 report.[26] "Very few of the Saitic [referring to the Saitic Period.[26][27]] shafts have been thoroughly

Examined, for the reason that most of them are flooded

Main article: Giza East Field

The East Field is located to the east of Khufu's pyramid and contains cemetery G 7000. This cemetery was a burial place for some of the family members of Khufu. The cemetery also includes mastabas from tenants and priests of the pyramids dated to the 5th Dynasty and 6th Dynasty.

examined, for the reason that most of them are flooded

There is a subsidiary chamber, equal in length to the King's Chamber in Khufu's pyramid that opens to the west of the lower passage, the purpose of which is uncertain. It may be used to store offerings, store burial equipment, or it may be a serdab chamber. The upper descending passage is clad in granite and descends to join with the horizontal passage to the burial chamber.

The burial chamber was carved out of a pit in the bedrock. The roof is constructed of gabled limestone beams. The chamber is rectangular, 14.15 by 5 m (46.4 by 16.4 ft), and is oriented east-west. Khafre's sarcophagus was carved out of a solid block of granite and sunk partially in the floor, in it, Belzoni found bones of an animal, possibly a bull. Another pit in the floor likely contained the canopic chest, its lid would have been one of the pavement slabs

A causeway runs 494.6 metres (541 yd) to the valley temple, which is very similar to the mortuary temple. It is built of megalithic blocks sheathed in red granite. The square pillars of the T-shaped hallway were made of solid granite, and the floor was paved in alabaster. The exterior was built of huge blocks, some weighing over 100 tonnes

Though devoid of any internal decoration, this temple would have been filled with symbolism: two doors open into a vestibule and a large pillared hall, in which there were sockets in the floor that would have fixed 23 statues of Khafre. These columns have since been plundered. The interior, made of granite of the Valley Temple, is remarkably well preserved. The exterior made of limestone is much more weathered

Osiris Shaft

The Osiris Shaft is a narrow burial-shaft leading to three levels for a tomb and below it a flooded area. It was first mentioned by Selim Hassan.A thorough excavation was conducted by a team led by Hawass in 1999 It was opened to tourists in November

New Kingdom and Late Period

Pharaoh Tutankhamun had a structure built, which is now referred to as the king's resthouse. During the 19th Dynasty, Seti I added to the temple of Hauron-Haremakhet, and his son Ramesses II erected a stela in the chapel before the Sphinx and usurped the resthouse of Tutankhamun. During the Dynasty, the Temple of Isis Mistress-of-the-Pyramids was reconstructed. During the Dynasty, a stela made in this time mentions Khufu and his Queen Henutsen.

Egypt's Minister of Tourism unveiled plans for a €17,000,000 revamp of the complex by the end of 2021, in order to boost tourism in Egypt as well as make the site more accessible and tourist-friendly. According to Lonely Planet, the refurbishment includes a new visitors' centre, an environmentally-friendly electric bus, a restaurant – the 9 Pyramids Lounge,as well as a cinema, public toilets, site-wide signage, food trucks, photo booths, and freeThe new facility is part of a wider plan to renovate the 4,500 year old

One theory as to why there are two entrances is that the pyramid's northern base was intended to be shifted 30 m (98 ft) further to the north which would make Khafre's pyramid much larger than his father's. This would place the entrance to the lower descending passage within the masonry of the pyramid. While the bedrock is cut away farther from the pyramid on the north side than on the west side, it is not clear that there is enough room on the plateau for the enclosure wall and pyramid terrace. An alternative theory is that, as with many earlier pyramids, plans were changed and the entrance was moved midway through construction.

History

The pyramid was likely opened and robbed during the First Intermediate Period. During the Nineteenth Dynasty, the overseer of temple construction took casing stones to build a temple in Heliopolis on Ramesses II's orders.[citation needed]

Arab historian Ibn Abd al-Salam recorded that the pyramid was opened in 1372 AD.[6] On the wall of the burial chamber, there is an Arabic graffito that probably dates from the same time.[7]

It is not known when the rest of the casing stones were robbed; they were presumably still in place by 1646, when John Greaves, professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford in his Pyramidographia, wrote that, while its stones were not as large or as regularly laid as in Khufu's, the surface was smooth and even free of breaches or inequalities, except on the south

The pyramid was first explored in modern times by Giovanni Belzoni on March 2, 1818, when the

original entrance was found on the north side. Belzoni had hopes of finding an intact burial but the chamber was empty except for an open sarcophagus and its broken lid on the floor.[7]

The first complete exploration was conducted by John Perring in 1837. In 1853, Auguste Mariette partially excavated Khafre's valley temple, and, in 1858, while completing its clearance, he managed to discover a diorite statue of Khafre.[9]

The pyramid is built of horizontal courses. The stones used at the bottom are very large, but as the pyramid rises, the stones become smaller, becoming only 50 cm (20 in) thick at the apex. The courses are rough and irregular for the first half of its height but a narrow band of regular masonry is clear in the midsection of the pyramid. At the northwest corner of the pyramid, the bedrock was fashioned into steps.[10] Casing stones cover the top third of the pyramid, but the pyramidion and part of the apex are missing

The Dream Stele between the Sphinx's front legs

During the New Kingdom Giza was still an active site. A brick-built chapel was constructed near the Sphinx during the early 18th Dynasty, probably by King Thutmose I. Amenhotep II built a temple dedicated to Hauron-Haremakhet near the Sphinx. As a prince, the future pharaoh Thutmose IV visited the pyramids and the Sphinx; he reported being told, in a dream, that if he cleared the sand that had built up around the Sphinx, he would be rewarded with kingship. This event is recorded in the Dream Stele, which he had installed between the Sphinx's front legs. During the early years of his reign, Thutmose IV, together with his wife Queen Nefertari, had stelae erected at Giza

Egypt's Minister of Tourism unveiled plans for a €17,000,000 revamp of the complex by the end of 2021, in order to boost tourism in Egypt as well as make the site more accessible and tourist-friendly. According to Lonely Planet, the refurbishment includes a new visitors' centre, an environmentally-friendly electric bus, a restaurant – the 9 Pyramids Lounge,[34] as well as a cinema, public toilets, site-wide signage, food trucks, photo booths, and free The new facility is part of a wider plan to renovate the 4,500 year old site

There are two small rectangular holes in the walls of the burial chamber facing each other, greatly

resembling the openings of the 'air shafts' found in the Great pyramid burial chambers.

Pyramid complex

Satellite pyramid

Main article: Pyramid G2-a

Along the centerline of the pyramid on the south side was a satellite pyramid, but almost nothing remains other than some core blocks and the outline of the foundation. It contains two descending passages, one of them ending in a dead end with a niche which contained pieces of ritualistic furniture

Modern usage

In 1978, the Grateful Dead played a series of concerts later released as Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978. In 2007, Colombian singer Shakira performed at the complex to a crowd of approximately 100,000 people.[31] The complex was used for the final draw of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship

The Pyramids Of Egypt & Sphinx

The first step in building a pyramid was to choose a suitable site. This had to be on the west side of the Nile because the west was where the sun set and where the dead were thought to enter the underworld. The pyramids also needed to be situated on the high ground, away from the danger of flooding at the time of the Nile’s inundation.

However, it could not be too far away from the bank because the river would be used to transport blocks of fine quality limestone for the outer casing from Tura, on the other side of the Nile. The site chosen would be at a point on the desert plateau that would prove a firm rock base capable of supporting the great weigh of the pyramid without any risk of cracking. It would also need to be within easy reach of the capital, so that the king could go to inspect the building work whenever he wished.

Some of the oldest structures in Cairo date back to almost two centuries BC during the Greco-Roman period; however, the Giza Pyramids are considered as the most famous and the oldest structures among all other pyramids in Egypt. Despite being close to Cairo city, the gap in the date between building the pyramids and the city itself proves that they have distinct histories.

Before Cairo city ever existed, the pyramids at Giza were part of an older city legacy and civilization. The ancient city of Memphis was the source of authority of the Old Kingdom (2686—2181 BC) of Ancient Egypt, and it was the hometown of Egyptians who built the pyramids.

One of the interesting Egypt pyramids facts is that, during that period, Memphis was the most powerful and well known city not only in Egypt, but also in the whole world. What made it really famous was that, during that time, almost 100 pyramids were built near Cairo alone.

Cairo’s location, being near to Memphis city, proves how important was Memphis throughout the ancient Egyptian history. Moreover, both Cairo and Memphis were and still located at the top part of the Nile Delta.

Khafre's temples

The temples of Khafre's complex survive in much better condition than Khufu's, this being especially true to the Valley Temple, which is substantially preserved.[15] To the east of the Pyramid sits the mortuary temple. Though it is now largely in ruins, enough of it survives to understand the plan. It is larger than previous temples and is the first to include all five standard elements of later mortuary temples: an entrance hall, a columned court, five niches for statues of the pharaoh, five storage chambers, and an inner sanctuary. There were over 50 life size statues of Khafre, but these were removed and recycled, possibly by Ramses II. The temple was built of megalithic blocks (the largest is an estimated 400 tonnes[16]).

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the great pyramids of Giza are perhaps the most famous and discussed structures in history. These massive monuments were unsurpassed in height for thousands of years after their construction and continue to amaze and enthrall us with their overwhelming mass and seemingly impossible perfection. Their exacting orientation and mind-boggling construction has elicited many theories about their origins, including unsupported suggestions that they had extra-terrestrial impetus. However, by examining the several hundred years prior to their emergence on the Giza plateau, it becomes clear that these incredible structures

The Giza pyramids are located on the Giza Plateau in the Giza Governorate on the West Bank of the Nile River in Egypt. Built about 25 centuries BC, between 2480 and 2550 BC it includes three pyramids: And the pyramids are the tombs of each one of them bearing the name of the king he built and buried in

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Egyptian pyramids