There are three main Pyramids here, which were built in the fourth dynasty (about 2550 BC). The pyramids of ancient Egypt were built as tombs for the kings (and queens), and it was a privilege to have a Pyramid tomb. However, this tradition only applied in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Today there are more than 93 pyramids of Egypt; the most famous are those of Giza.
The Great Pyramid of Cheops:
Great Pyramid of Cheops Great Pyramid KhufuThe is by far the most famous Pyramid in Egypt, the biggest, the tallest, and most intact. After its construction, has become one of the "seven wonders of the world", and today is the only one that remains. Over a period of 4300 years, the Pyramid was also the tallest building in earth, until the French built the Eiffel Tower in 1889 to make that distinction.
The Pyramid of Cheops is built entirely of limestone, and is considered an architectural masterpiece. It contains around 1,300,000 blocks ranging in weight from 2.5 tons to 15 tons and is built on a square base measuring about 230m (755ft), covering 13 acres! Its four sides face the four cardinal points precisely and it has an angle of 52 degrees. The original height of the Pyramid was 146.5m (488ft), but today is only 137m (455ft) high, 9 meters (33 ft) that is missing is due to the theft of the fine quality limestone covering stones, or the housing , by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century AD, to build houses and mosques of Cairo.
You will find the entrance to the pyramid is on the north side, as well as almost all Pyramid in Egypt. On this side there are actually two entrances, one is the original, and is 17 meters (55 feet) above ground level, and the other is a man forced entry through below. Founded in the ninth century by the Caliph Al-Mamun, who was seeking the treasures that he thought were within the pyramid. He sent stonemasons to open a ticket, and got halfway, passing through the center of the north coast. Their tunnel goes almost 35m into the Pyramid, and was crudely cut, and eventually connects with the original inner corridors of the Pyramid. Nothing was found inside, as it was plundered in antiquity. Today visitors to the site, use Mamoun's entrance to access the pyramid, as it is considered really a shortcut.
Note: If you try to go inside the pyramid, you have to look all the way up to the burial chamber!
From the main entrance of the pyramid, there is a long, narrow corridor with a low ceiling that drops more than 100 meters (330 feet), which leads him to a room, located about 24m (79ft) below ground level, what is an unfinished burial chamber with very little in the fresh air, and is currently inaccessible.
Almost 20 meters (66 feet) in the corridor there is another corridor connected to it, which takes you to the heart of the pyramid. This ascending corridor ends in much of the Great Pyramid, the "Grand Gallery"! It is a big moment, living room, rectangular, which is 49m (161ft) long and 15 meters (49 feet) high, with a long tunnel at the bottom, which takes you to the second room, which is well known for be the "Queens Chamber". It has, in fact, nothing to do with a queen, and was given this name in the early Arabs, who were inside the pyramids and gave his name. It is commonly believed that served as a magazine or a storeroom, inside the Pyramid.
When mounting the "Grand Gallery" you will find at its end, an entry to the third bedroom, which was the royal burial chamber of King Khufu, and this is where the stone sarcophagus, which was made from a block of granite is located. You will find that this place was really amazing, it is rectangular in shape, has a flat roof, and is built of granite that was brought from the city of Aswan, which is located 1000 km (625 mi). The roof consists of 9 blocks of granite; Each estimated that about 50 tons of weight! Above the roof of the burial chamber, the ancient Egyptians built 5 small discharge chambers to enormous pressure, over weight, is not cause the burial chamber to collapse. These five rooms are granite, and are about 1 m (3 ft) above the other. The vertices of the first 4 are flat, the fifth with a pointed to divert the enormous pressure of weight away from the burial chamber lid.
Both the north and south walls of the burial chamber two small tunnels with rectangular entrances. They are small, and once thought to go all the way through the outer sides of the pyramid, but there were no exterior openings and are considered "stars" of trees that have served a purpose in ancient cult connecting king with the stars.
For more information on these small tunnels, and their relationship to the stars, it's a long story! Guess you'll have to come to one of my lectures !!!
One last thing! The Great Pyramid is the Pyramid of the great Egyptian King Khufu. The name "Cheops" is also associated with this King and his Pyramid, the name given by the Greeks. Although both names are generally accepted, Khufu was used in this description, as it was his birth name! The same goes for Khafre (Chephren in Greek) and Menkaure (Mycerinus), and pyramids are described below.
Khafre's pyramid: The pyramid of Khafre
The Pyramid of Khafre, or the second pyramid, is easily recognizable by the layers of the original stones are always near the top layer and this with the fact that he is a top of the tray, gives the impression that is larger than the Great Pyramid. An optical illusion, as it is only 136 m (446 ft) high, with sides of 214.5m (704ft), an area of 11 hectares and an angle of 53 degrees. He also lost some of its original height through the years, once being 143.5m (471ft) high.
The only similarity to the pyramid entrance to his father in the same north side location,. No hallways leading to the heart of the pyramid, the burial chamber are buried, and down a long corridor to be negotiated to reach it. This entry is 50 feet (15 m) above ground level, which leads to the narrow path that descends at an angle of 25 degrees in the large burial chamber, measuring 14.2 m by 5 m by 6.9 (46.5 16.5ft by 22.5ft by ft). To support the weight of the pyramid, the top of the camera is set at the same angle as the face of the pyramid. A huge black sarcophagus is in this room.
A lower corridor is directly under the upper corridor, and once contained a portcullis could be reduced to prevent entry and an unfinished burial chamber, which was cut into the rock, it is believed, unused. Since the upper corridor, this has a slope of 25 degrees, then was in levels, rises slightly, and eventually the two of them together. The united passageway leads to the burial chamber.
The pyramid of Menkaure:
Khafre's son, Menkaure, the smallest of the three main pyramids on the Giza plateau built. It was just a 65.5m (215ft) high, currently 62m (203ft), with sides of only 105m (344ft) and an angle of 51.3 degrees. It is believed that this pyramid was modified during construction, and did much more than originally planned. The original, smaller Pyramid had a simple descending corridor burial chamber, but when expanded, a new corridor was built with 3 tiers and a small paneled room. Later, another burial chamber, with a storeroom were added at a lower level. This pyramid, like its neighbors, has an entrance facing north.
Apart from the size of the pyramid Mykerinos differs from the other two in the choice of coating pebbles. While the pyramids of his father and grandfather were completely cased in fine white limestone from Tura, the pyramid of Menkaure was only partially coated Turah limestone, about 15 m up! The first 15 meters were cased in pink granite, which had come from Aswan, the last of which was taken by Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-1848), who use them to build your arsenal of Alexandria.
The Great Sphinx:
The Great Sphinx, or as the ancients knew, "Shesib Ankh" or "the living image", has to be one of the most recognizable buildings in history. Think of the Sphinx and automatically think of Egypt and the Giza Plateau. The Great Sphinx
Carved into the soft sandstone, many believe it would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried in the sand for so many moments of his life. The body is 60 meters (200 feet) long and 20 m (65 ft) tall. His face is 4 m (13 ft) wide with eyes measuring 2 m (6 ft) high. It faces the rising sun, and was revered both by the ancients built a temple in front of it.
The 18th dynasty king Thutmose IV installed a stele between its front paws, describing how, when Thutmose was a young Prince, who was hunting and fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx's head. Thutmose had a dream where Ra Hor-Akhty the sun God, talking through the Sphinx, spoke to him, telling the young Prince to remove sand because the Sphinx was choking him. Sphinx told him that if he did, he would have become king of Egypt.
Thutmose cleared all the sand and s after 2 years, the god fulfilled his promise and the price was made king of Egypt
Today, part of the "uraeus" (the sacred cobra on the forehead) and nose are missing (not shot off by Napoleon's men as many believe, but were destroyed by Al Sa'im Dahr, a fanatic Sufi Khanqah of Sa'id Al-Su'ada.
In 1378, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im Al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose!). There are small parts of the beard in the Cairo Museum and the grand British Museum in London, belonging to the famous Sphinx, but many Egyptologists deny, as the style of beard found, does not address the "Nemes" that door Sphinx - different dynasties!
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