The largest Egyptian pyramid is Cheops. Giza pyramid complex
Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu(Cheops is the Greek version of this Egyptian name) is the most famous and most famous Egyptian pyramid.
First of all, because she - tallest pyramid ever built in the world. Secondly, she became for other pharaohs Ancient Egypt a kind of standard and model for the construction of their own tombs.
Of course, tombs are a rather arbitrary term, since there is no evidence that they directly served as graves for the mummies of pharaohs, but at the same time, there is every reason to consider them part of funerary-ritual complexes.
Where is the Cheops pyramid located?
It was erected on a stone plateau near the village of Giza, which has now become a suburb of the capital of modern Egypt - Cairo. It is this building that first comes to mind when we hear the words: “Egyptian pyramids”, “pyramids of Egypt”, “great pyramids”, “wonder of the world”.
Many people who have never been to Egypt before believe that the great pyramids of Giza (Cheops, Khafre and Mikerin) are located somewhere far away in the desert, and therefore, when heading west along the Sharia al-Ahram road (“Avenue of the Pyramids”) for the first time, they are surprised to see giant figures towering against the backdrop of distant buildings.
The ancient monuments are now actually located within Greater Cairo. On the recommendation of scientists, certain measures are being taken to stop further expansion of the city in this direction in order to preserve the famous pyramid complex.
When was the Cheops pyramid built?
The question is when was this great pyramid of giza built, has been one of the widely discussed issues for a long time - from the very beginning of the birth of Egyptology as a science.
At first, Egyptologists - historians and archaeologists - had serious differences of opinion about her age. However, as scientific knowledge accumulates as a result archaeological excavations, analysis of found artifacts, study of the entire complex of documents in professional Egyptology, the following point of view began to prevail. This amazing architectural object - the tallest pyramid in the world - was built during the reign of Pharaoh Cheops of the 4th dynasty (c. 2585-2566 BC).
Some scientific schools believe that the reign of Cheops falls on the 27th century BC. Despite certain discrepancies in the matter of dating, it can be stated that, according to historical science, it was built in the 27th or 26th centuries BC. That is, the age of the Cheops pyramid is about 4600 years.
It would be strange if such an opinion prevailed among the general public, which became keenly interested in Egyptian antiquities, starting with the first publications of Egyptologists of the 19th century. This interest continues even after 200 years.
Among fans of the history of Ancient Egypt, two large groups can be distinguished - those who rely on the conclusions of professional Egyptologists, and those who focus on more “exotic theories” of the origin of these structures, including the Cheops pyramid. The second group of views is based not on a comprehensive and systematic analysis of all the vast material accumulated by Egyptology as a science (this requires a lot of time and preparation), but on the inherent thirst for miracles in human nature.
The pyramids themselves, especially Cheops, are perceived by them as a miracle without any quotation marks. The arguments of scientists seem to them, on the one hand, too complex, on the other, too “down-to-earth”, and therefore not convincing. They think much cooler are the theories of the creation of ancient megastructures by aliens or, for example, some mysterious civilization, who lived long before the times of the Egyptian pharaohs, possessed technical capabilities that were incomprehensible to the mind.
The paradox of the human psyche lies in the fact that it is much easier to believe in a miracle than to admit things that are more or less ordinary. But that's a separate conversation. It only remains to note that there are many non-scientific theories regarding the history and monuments of Ancient Egypt. They call the age of the Cheops pyramid from many tens of thousands of years to 6-7 thousand years, that is, according to these theories, this structure was built much earlier than traditional Egyptology believes.
Despite all the attractiveness and, of course, interestingness, all these concepts have one global drawback - they are based on some assumptions, which, in turn, are not supported by anything. That is, they are suitable for fantasy novels, but not for more or less serious consideration.
Pyramid dimensions
What are dimensions of the Cheops pyramid? It would seem that the answer to this is very easy to get, you just need to take a longer ruler and just try everything on. However, in reality it is not so simple.
Over the almost five thousand years that have passed since its construction, the structure has suffered greatly both from natural disasters and from the barbaric actions of the people themselves. The top of this architectural and construction miracle was originally crowned with a pyramidion - a stone also of a pyramidal shape, presumably carved from red granite. It is gone now, just as the overwhelming number of facing slabs that covered its walls are gone. These polished slabs gave the highest pyramid, according to Herodotus, gray-yellow color and shine.
Measurements made using modern equipment showed that its height after completion was 146.5 meters, but even having lost 9 meters in height, it remains the tallest stone structure on earth.
The main dimensions of the Cheops pyramid and its parts:
Height: 146.5 m (currently 137 m)
Side length: 230.38 m (originally 232.5 m).
Side tilt: 51° 50"
Big Gallery:
Height: 8.48 to 8.74 m
Length 47.85 m
Tilt: 26°16" 40"
Queen's Chamber:
Height: 6.26 m
Length: 5.76 m
Width: 5.23 m
King's Chamber:
Height: 5.84 m
Length: 10.49 m
Width: 5.42 m
Road:
Length: 825 m
Boat pits (on the northeast and southeast corners of the pyramid):
Depth: 8 m
Length 52 m
Width: 7.5 m
Inside the pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops
The tomb of Cheops, like everyone else pyramids III and IV dynasties, is an almost solid monolith made of stone blocks. The interior of the pyramid occupies a completely insignificant volume compared to the volume of the pyramid itself. Nevertheless, internal structure of the Cheops pyramid also surprises with its engineering solutions and craftsmanship. It is more complex than the internal structure of the pyramids of Egypt, which were built after it.
Inside the structure there are 4 main rooms, which received the following names in Egyptological literature: the chamber of the king (king), the chamber of the queen (queen), the underground chamber (unfinished) and the Great Gallery.
The entrance is located on its northern side, at a height of 16 meters above the ground. When the first Egyptian antiquity researchers - the French - measured the height, they came up with 12 meters - the base of the pyramid was heavily covered with sand at the end of the 19th century. The original entrance is located above the entrance that tourists now use (it was broken through by the Mamluks of Caliph Al-Mamun in the 9th century AD, because for a long time they could not find the entrance, then hidden under the existing facing slabs).
Boat of Cheops
The tomb of Cheops, like all the pyramid complexes of Ancient Egypt, was surrounded by a wall, of which only ruins now remain. IN south direction, not far from the wall, in 1954, two large pits lined with stone were found, in which wooden boats - sacred Solar boats pharaoh.
The pits with boats were closed with huge stone blocks of limestone weighing up to 16 tons. One of the boats was restored (it took 16 years of painstaking work) and put on display in a pavilion specially built for this purpose next to the ancient object.
The boat is made mainly from Lebanese cedar with the use of selected local wood species. Its length is 43.5 meters and its width is 9 meters. The second boat was left in its place, preserved from further destruction. Later, three empty docks were also found, repeating the shape of a boat.
Construction of the pyramid complex
With the exception of a few internal chambers and corridors, the tomb of Cheops is built entirely of dense stone, mainly limestone. Its construction is a unique phenomenon in the history of human civilization.
It is precisely oriented to the cardinal points. The deviation is only 3"43"! And modern builders could be proud of such precision.
Now the creation of Cheops contains 201 rows of stone blocks, but once there were from 215 to 220 rows. The height of the very first row is the largest - it is 1.5 meters, the second row is already smaller in height - 1.25 m, the third - 1.2 m, the fourth - 1.1 m. Further, the height of the rows is even less, as a rule, from 65 to 90 cm. Closer to the top the height of the blocks is reduced to 55 cm.
According to modern estimates (and the first person to do such calculations was Napoleon), about 2,300,000 (2 million 300 thousand) stone blocks and slabs were used for the great construction. The stone blocks necessary for construction were cut down both near the construction site and in the limestone cliffs rising on the eastern (opposite) bank of the Nile.
To clad the main object of the Cheops memorial, sandstone slabs were used, which were mined in quarries, also relatively close to limestone mining. The length of the cladding slabs in the lower rows reached 1.5 m and decreased to 75 cm in subsequent rows. According to estimates, about 115,500 slabs were required for the cladding.
Sand and limestone blocks were transported across the Nile on transport ships, and overland they were dragged on large wooden sleds and moved on stone rollers and balls. Granite, used in the construction and decoration of internal corridors and chambers, was also delivered along the Nile, but from afar - from the south, from the outskirts of present-day Aswan, located at a distance of about one thousand kilometers from the construction site.
To build such a colossus, ancient builders had to move and raise to a height a volume of stones that weighs approximately 6 (six) million tons. To transport such cargo today railway it would take 100 thousand railway platforms (such as a 4-axle platform for heavy-duty containers, model 13-470, with a lifting capacity of 60 tons), loaded to the maximum.
And yet, the most difficult and difficult work was not the delivery and transportation of stone blocks to the construction site, but their direct extraction in quarries by cutting down and further polishing to exact dimensions. At that time, they had not yet learned how to make iron and steel tools - the Iron Age was ahead. Egyptians in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. they didn’t even know bronze. They made their tools from almost pure copper, so the tools quickly became dull and became unusable. And, of course, copper was expensive. Judging by archaeological finds Therefore, stone tools made of flint were widely used: knife blades, drills, saw teeth, etc. That is, the stone was processed with stone, although it was harder than the one being processed.
The average volume of the blocks from which the tomb of Cheops is made is approximately equal to one cubic meter, weight - about 2.5 tons. But there were, as an exception, some blocks weighing 50 tons. For comparison, this is the weight of the modern T-90 Vladimir tank. It is impossible to lift and drag even the smallest of these blocks with your bare hands: this requires so many people that they simply cannot all fit together. Certain technical means were needed to lift and carry these blocks: all kinds of levers and rollers, goats and sleds, strong ropes and, of course, a huge number of people who had to pull these ropes, straining all their strength. But the unlimited power of Pharaoh Cheops, the resources that the ruler of Egypt had at his disposal - human and material - allowed him to attract tens of thousands of people to the construction of his own tomb at the same time.
How many years did it take to build the tomb of Cheops?
According to Herodotus, it took about twenty years to build. Modern research and calculations show that the ancient Greek thinker and historian named a very real figure for the duration of construction of the tallest stone structure in the world.
Who built it
We will leave fantastic hypotheses about mythical giants, aliens from outer space and even about the inhabitants of the mysterious Atlantis alone. Who built the pyramid of Cheops according to historical science? Somehow it happened that there is a fairly widespread opinion that it was built by slaves (this opinion usually extends to other pyramids in Egypt).
However, scientific data allows us to say quite confidently that these objects are largely the result of the labor of Egyptians, who were not slaves. Of course, they also cannot be called free in the full sense of the word - they were forced people, under the authority of dignitaries, priests and, of course, the pharaoh.
During the construction process there were cyclical periods associated with the annual flood of the Nile. At this time, thousands and thousands of peasants were involved in the construction, who performed unskilled work dragging and moving stone blocks.
Craftsmen who worked in quarries, stone carvers and polishers worked constantly, all year round. This was the work that they knew how to do, for which they received food, shelter, clothing, etc. Construction experience, skills and work techniques were passed on from generation to generation.
The total number of builders of such an important object for Cheops during the Nile flood period reached 100 thousand people. This figure was first cited by Herodotus, but modern calculations and archaeological finds show that it is quite plausible.
But in whose head was the architectural design of such a grandiose structure born? Who was able to organize the work of thousands and thousands of people over several decades? From the depths of centuries the name of this great man has reached us. His name was Hemiun. He was a dignitary and vizier under Pharaoh Cheops.
His tomb is located near the western side of the tomb of Cheops himself. A statue of this architect has reached us, which was found in his tomb. It is interesting that both Hemiun and the other pyramid builders were, so to speak, part-time architects. Along with construction management, they performed a host of other duties. The profession of an architect in Ancient Egypt never acquired the status of an independent activity.
An example of construction excellence and creative genius
The ancient builders of both this and other pyramids took care of everything. For example, crypts located deep in masonry or underground had ventilation ducts. The interior of the pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops was supplied with air through two small sections of the channel, which passed through the entire thickness of the structure, and went outside on the eighty-fifth layer of masonry on the southern and northern sides of this wonder of the world.
Although the first Europeans who explored the pyramids were faced with the fact that underground passages in the tomb of Cheops it was difficult to breathe due to the stale and suffocating air; this happened not because there was no ventilation, but because over the past almost five thousand years the ventilation passages became clogged with dust and waste from bats and other living organisms - insects, bacteria who have found suitable conditions for themselves here. One of the still unsolved mysteries of the Cheops pyramid is that similar channels go from the queen’s chamber, but... they do not go outside (see diagram of the interior above).
Protection from water was also carefully thought out. For facing masonry, the blocks were selected especially carefully. If necessary, the stone was additionally cut on site and then polished. Therefore, the stones were adjacent to each other so tightly that water simply could not get between them. All the water running down the lining was collected in the ditches below. The ditches are made with a slope towards the deeper ditches with which the ditches are connected. In this way, water was diverted away from the tombs and their foundations. Only about three of the most great pyramids About 300 such ditches and ditches for receiving rainwater were discovered in Giza.
For many centuries, the pyramid complexes of Giza have stood with damaged cladding due primarily to human vandalism rather than natural disasters. And one can only be amazed at the margin of safety that the ancient builders put into their creations.
The ritual-funeral memorial of Cheops has remained, in many ways, an unsurpassed example of “pyramid architecture” for the entire era of the construction of such objects.
In a word, it was not without reason that the Great Pyramid of Giza was recognized as one of the main wonders of the world back in ancient times. Without any technical supervision, the ancient Egyptians built their amazing creations in such a way that they still stand today, which cannot be said about many, many relatively modern structures, whose construction and engineering miscalculations and shortcomings led to death and destruction.
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus says that Cheops forced the entire Egyptian people to work on the construction of the pyramid, dividing them into two parts. He ordered those who were included in the first group to start delivering blocks from quarries in the Arabian mountains to the banks of the Nile. The rest were required to transport the blocks to the foot of the Libyan mountains. 100,000 people were constantly working. Over ten years of hard work, a road was built along which the blocks were delivered to the river. Herodotus believes that building the road was no less difficult a task than building the pyramid itself. And we believe him. This road was paved with polished stone slabs decorated with carvings. It took another twenty years to build the pyramid with all the underground structures and chambers. Imagine, even with modern machines and mechanisms, building such a huge structure would not be easy. Therefore, construction took away the strength of the entire people. But the ancient Egyptians, mind you, considered this a very honorable, sacred and godly thing for themselves. In addition, for four months a year, during the Nile flood, from mid-July to mid-November, all men could work at the construction site while their fields and gardens were flooded with water. When the river returned to its course in early November and sowing time arrived, the peasants went home. Of course, the hardest work was performed by slaves, who were captured and turned into draft animals. How more pharaoh fought, the more prisoners there were. And four thousand specialists were constantly working at the construction site: architects, engineers, artists, stonemasons. It was they who designed the temples, secret passages in the pyramid, and painted the walls. How did they manage to perform such miracles?
I'll try to answer you.
The pyramids were built using muscle power. The builders' tools were made of stone and copper. At that time people did not yet know steel and iron. But they knew how to perfectly process stones and make tools from them. For example, knives of that time were as sharp as razors today. The hammers were heavy, like sledgehammers, and small, for light, precise blows. An adze, a chisel, a chisel, a dolerite ball, a saw, a drill, a whetstone, a trowel, a plumb line, a square-level, and a cross-level were also used by Egyptian builders.
A rock was chosen for the base of the pyramid. A layer of sand was removed and underground structures were built. The site on which the pyramid would stand was surrounded by a rampart of sand and stones. A dense network of small channels was punched through the rocky ground and filled with water. The water level was marked on the walls of the canals, then the water was drained, irregularities were removed and the canals were filled up. A strictly horizontal surface remained. Amazingly accurate method. The southeastern corner of the Cheops pyramid is only 2 cm higher than the northwestern one.
Difficult work fell to experienced stonemasons. They were the ones who cut blocks out of the rock. The boundaries of the future block were first marked in the rock, and then a deep ditch was hollowed out along them, and wedges of dry wood were driven into it and doused with water. The tree swelled, increased in volume, the crack expanded and, in the end, the monolith separated from the rock. There was another way. A fire was lit along a line drawn in the rock. When the stone became hot, the flame was quickly poured with water, and thus the same result was obtained. In addition, they used balls made of dolerite, a hard green stone. They beat them along the intended dividing line until the block was separated. The stone block was then worked on site with tools made of stone, copper and wood. The processed block weighed on average 2.5 tons, and the heaviest was 15 tons! Scientists have calculated that total weight pyramids - 5.7 million tons.
The hardest work went to those who moved the stone blocks. These people worked in teams of 8-10 people. Workers hoisted the block onto a sled-like stand, tied it with thick ropes made of papyrus, and dragged it to the construction site. Behind them, the next brigade approached the rock. The stonemasons rolled off one block after another and the traffic on the road never stopped.
The quality of work of ancient builders is simply amazing! Imagine that the discrepancies between the horizontal and vertical lines of the pyramid do not exceed the width of your thumb. The stones were fitted so tightly to each other that you couldn’t even put a needle between them.
How do you think they lowered the stone sarcophagus? In the burial chamber, a place for it was fenced off with a stone wall and filled to the top with sand. Then they placed the sarcophagus on the sand, dismantled the wall, and raked out the sand.
Initially, the Cheops pyramid had a height of 147 meters. Now its height is 137 meters. Previously, it had an eight-meter top covered with gold, and now there is a platform on its top. During the Second World War, it housed a British air defense post. And the golden top? Where is she? Whether it collapsed or was stolen, no one knows. The mirror cladding was removed by medieval vandals. True, they believed that it was much more important to use it to build new palaces!
Each side of the square base of the pyramid is 233 meters, the area is more than 50,000 square meters. meters. The pyramid consists of 2,300,000 cubic blocks.
The Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, or St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg could easily fit inside the Cheops pyramid. Less of it and Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and Escorial in Spain, and Buckingham Palace in London.
Do you want to know what is inside the Cheops pyramid? Who was the first to look into it, after centuries and centuries? To be continued.
photo taken from the Internet
The Pyramid of Cheops was built around 2600 BC.
The pyramids are shrouded in mystery to this day. Many scientists have devoted their entire lives to unraveling the great construction and purpose of these majestic buildings. However, several thousand years, from the first research of Herodotus to the present day, have not brought the expected success. The main questions remained unanswered: who? When? For what? We will tell you about the most reliable assumptions and versions collected by the best scientists over several centuries and related to the history of the Egyptian pyramids.
Already in ancient times, the pyramids were considered one of the main wonders of the world! Their number was about 100, located along the banks of the Nile River. If you look at all the pyramids from above, their location is similar to a star map. The largest, main pyramids are located in Giza. The world-famous sphinxes, as well as temples and tombs of the pharaohs, are also located here. A very important factor of the pyramids is that all their faces are clearly located along the magnetic poles of the Earth! You probably already know the name of the three main pyramids? If not, then be sure to remember - the pyramid of Cheops, Mikerin and Khafre.
The largest pyramid, Cheops, was erected by Khufu, who at that time was a pharaoh. The estimated, most accurate date of construction is 2590 BC. The height of the pyramid is more than 146 meters, the length of each side is more than 241 m. The faces are located in the cardinal directions with amazing accuracy, the angle of inclination is 52 degrees. The Pyramid of Cheops covers an area of 5.4 hectares, the base is aligned relative to the horizon with an accuracy of 3 centimeters. The pyramid consists of more than 2,350,000 stone blocks, each weighing about two and a half tons! The pyramid was originally covered with a white sandstone casing to give it an accurate shape and long-lasting durability. Unfortunately, the cladding has not survived to this day.
The entrance to the pyramid is at an altitude of 14 meters. There are no decorations, inscriptions or drawings inside. Therefore, there are three chambers, the lower of which is located at a depth of 30 meters relative to the ground. The room is hewn out of the rock, in order to get to it you need to overcome 120 meters of a narrow corridor (1.1x1.0) at an angle of 27 degrees. After this, the remaining 9 meters, the angle changes to zero relative to the horizon. The tunnel ends with a burial chamber measuring (8.0 x 14.0 x 3.0).
Now the passage to the lower tier is closed, but you can go along the stairs, and then along the 40-meter corridor that leads to the queen’s chamber. The room with dimensions (5.5x5.2x6.3) is located clearly in the middle, at a height of 20 meters from the ground. There are two ventilation shafts in the walls, directed exactly north and south, but not facing the street.
Even higher is the “Grand Gallery” - a corridor more than 48 meters long, with a ceiling height of 8.4 m and an inclination angle of 26 degrees. The walls are lined with polished lime slabs in eight layers. At the end of the corridor there is the main room - the tomb of the pharaoh with dimensions (10.5x5.3x5.8). The chamber is lined with black Aswan granite, each block of which weighs at least thirty tons! Moreover, all the blocks are so well polished and adjusted that even the thinnest knife blade cannot pass between them. The ceiling consists of 9 monoliths, each weighing more than 400 tons. Above them are unloading chambers 17 meters high, designed to preserve the peace of the pharaoh. A gable roof was built above them, made of huge blocks that bear the weight of more than a million tons! We also note that the pharaoh’s sarcophagus is much wider than the entrance to the chamber, and most likely it was hewn right here, from a large block of granite.
There are also ventilation chambers (0.2x0.2) with the exact north-south direction, but unlike the queen’s chamber, here they go outside. In 817, Caliph Mamun was able to enter the tomb of the pharaoh, but found only an empty sarcophagus there; the remains of Cheops were never discovered.
The finds near the pyramid are also interesting. For example, in 1953, during excavations, the oldest ship in the world was discovered - a wooden boat, about 44 meters long, built without nails from cedar. Traces of silt were found on the wooden elements of which, which means that at one time the boat was used for its intended purpose. Ancient writings claim that the pyramid was surrounded by a stone wall, the height of which was 10 meters and the width of 3 meters. There were two temples located nearby - the upper and the lower. The upper one was east of the pyramid, built from Turkish limestone and contained about 40 granite pillars. The lower temple was used for the first part of the funeral ceremony.
The essence of the entire system of buildings was most likely this - initially the remains of the pharaoh were delivered along the Nile to the lower temple, where, after the necessary preparations, they were sent to the upper temple along a long connecting corridor. In the upper temple, among many columns, funeral services and prayers for the repose of the pharaoh took place. After this, the body was taken to the lower chamber of the pyramid, where the pharaoh was carefully walled up. On the four sides of the pyramid, walled up in the rocks, there were four boats intended for travel in the afterlife. The main pyramid was accompanied by three small satellite pyramids (base length 49 m), located in the same way as the upper temple, in the east. Moreover, each subsequent one (from north to south) is smaller than the previous one. It is believed that the companion pyramids were intended for the wives of the pharaoh.
There are other theories about the purpose of the pyramids. In those distant times, the pharaohs were ruled by a group of priests who possessed unearthly knowledge. This was a separate caste of people who called themselves the chosen ones. They knew mathematics, medicine, astronomy and other sciences very well. The level of education of the priests was many times higher than our understanding of the world. This knowledge was inaccessible to the common man. The priests chose their students themselves, initiating and teaching them in underground rooms located under the pyramids. The teachings assumed a connection with the universe and awareness of the essence of earthly existence. After this, the student was tested in the labyrinths of the pyramids, then in a secret sanctuary, under pain of death, they sought complete obedience and an oath of non-disclosure of secrets. The priests could predict the future thanks to their connection with the higher powers of the universe. Let’s make a reservation right away: later the chosen ones disappeared due to the so-called loss of communication.
Modern scientists have found many confirmations of this - the 33-year duration of Christ, the date of the beginning of the Second World War. Back in 1964, Charles Smith suggested that the pyramids store information for understanding prophecies from the Bible from the beginning of time until the second coming of God.
In 1994, using computer modeling, a discovery was made that explained the location of the three main pyramids, which exactly corresponded to the position of the three stars of Orion's belt, which at that time just crossed the Giza meridian. If this assumption is correct, then the age of the pyramids can be increased to 10,400 BC! The same Sphinx is a confirmation of this theory, because its gaze is directed precisely to the point where this constellation was located.
With the help of modern equipment, hidden tunnels were discovered under the sphinx itself, which, according to legend, should have led to a chamber containing a capsule with a message for all humanity. Indeed, the chamber was found; it contained a sarcophagus made of black granite; unfortunately, it turned out to be empty. Therefore, on the walls of the tunnel leading to the chamber, drawings were discovered that represent predictions of the future of humanity. From there it became known that our civilization would face a series of cosmic cataclysms that would terrorize the “Earth” for several millennia. However, the priests will appear on our planet again and will find a way to salvation by mastering space and restoring a civilization based on the laws of existence.
Cheops pyramid. Device. Puzzles. Pyramids on the map. Dimensions. Photo
During the construction of the most grandiose monument of antiquity, the Pyramid of Cheops, more than one year was spent and a huge number of slaves were involved, many of whom died at the construction site. This was the opinion of the ancient Greeks, among them Herodotus, one of the first historians who described this grandiose structure in detail.
But modern scientists do not agree with this opinion and argue: many free Egyptians wanted to work on construction sites - when agricultural work ended, it was an excellent opportunity to earn extra money (here they provided food, clothing and housing).
For any Egyptian, participating in the construction of a tomb for their ruler was a duty and a matter of honor, since each of them hoped that he would also be touched by a piece of pharaonic immortality: it was believed that the Egyptian ruler had the right not only to life after death, but could also take with him their loved ones (usually they were buried in tombs adjacent to the pyramid).
Ordinary people, however, get into afterworld it was not destined to happen - the only exceptions were slaves and servants, who were buried along with the ruler. But everyone had the right to hope - and therefore, when housework was finished, for many years the Egyptians rushed to Cairo, to the rocky plateau.
The Pyramid of Cheops (or as it was also called, Khufu) is located near Cairo, on the Giza plateau, on the left side of the Nile, and is the largest tomb located there. This tomb is the tallest pyramid on our planet; it took many years to build and has a non-standard layout. A rather interesting fact is that during the autopsy, the ruler’s body was not found in it.
For many years now, it has been exciting the minds of researchers and admirers of Egyptian culture, who ask themselves the question: were ancient people able to build such a structure and is the pyramid not the work of representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations who erected it for only one clear purpose?
The fact that this tomb of stunning size almost immediately entered the list of the ancient seven wonders of the world does not surprise anyone: the size of the Cheops pyramid is amazing, and this, despite the fact that over the past millennia it has become smaller, and scientists cannot determine the exact proportions of the Cheops pyramid condition, since its edges and surfaces were dismantled for their needs by more than one generation of Egyptians:
- The height of the pyramid is about 138 m (interestingly, in the year it was built, it was eleven meters higher);
- The foundation has a square shape, the length of each side is about 230 meters;
- The foundation area is about 5.4 hectares (thus, the five largest cathedrals of our planet will fit on it);
- The length of the foundation along the perimeter is 922 m.
Construction of the pyramid
If earlier scientists believed that the construction of the Cheops pyramid took the Egyptians about twenty years, in our time, Egyptologists, having studied the records of the priests in more detail, and, taking into account the parameters of the pyramid, as well as the fact that Cheops ruled for about fifty years, refuted this fact and came to I conclude that it took at least thirty, and maybe even forty, years to build it.
Despite the fact that the exact date of construction of this grandiose tomb unknown, it is believed that it was built by order of Pharaoh Cheops, who allegedly reigned from 2589 to 2566 BC. e., and his nephew and vizier Hemion was responsible for the construction work, using the latest technologies of his time, the solution of which many scientific minds have been struggling for many centuries. He approached the matter with all care and meticulousness.
Preparation for construction
More than 4 thousand workers were involved in the preliminary work, which took about ten years. It was necessary to find a place for construction, the soil of which would be strong enough to support a structure of this scale - so the decision was made to stop on a rocky site near Cairo.
To level the site, the Egyptians, using stones and sand, built a waterproof square shaft. They cut out channels intersecting at right angles in the shaft, and the construction site began to resemble a large chessboard.
After that, water was released into the trenches, with the help of which the builders determined the height of the water level and made the necessary notches on the side walls of the channels, after which the water was released. The workers cut down all the stones that were above the water level, after which the trenches were filled with stones, thus creating the foundation of the tomb.
Works with stone
The building material for the tomb was obtained from a quarry located on the other side of the Nile. To obtain a block of the required size, the stone was cut down from the rock and hewn to the required size - from 0.8 to 1.5 m. Although on average one stone block weighed about 2.5 tons, the Egyptians also made heavier specimens, for example, the heaviest the block that was installed above the entrance to the “Pharaoh’s Room” weighed 35 tons.
Using thick ropes and levers, the builders secured the block on wooden runners and dragged it along a deck of logs to the Nile, loaded it onto a boat and transported it across the river. And then they again dragged it along the logs to the construction site, after which the most difficult stage began: the huge block had to be pulled to the very top platform of the tomb. How exactly they did this and what technologies they used is one of the mysteries of the Cheops pyramid.
One of the versions proposed by scientists implies the following option. Along a 20 m wide brick rise located at an angle, the block lying on skids was pulled upward with the help of ropes and levers, where it was placed in a clearly designated place. The higher the Cheops pyramid became, the longer and steeper the climb became, and the upper platform became smaller - so it became more and more difficult and dangerous to lift the boulders.
The workers had the hardest time when it was necessary to install the “pyramidon” - the topmost block 9 meters high (not preserved to this day). Since the huge boulder had to be lifted almost vertically, the work turned out to be deadly, and many people died at this stage of the work. As a result, the Cheops pyramid, after construction was completed, had more than 200 steps leading up and looked like a huge stepped mountain.
In total, it took the ancient Egyptians at least twenty years to build the body of the pyramid. The work on the “box” was not finished yet - they still had to lay them with stones and make sure that the outer parts of the blocks became more or less smooth. And at the final stage, the Egyptians completely lined the pyramid from the outside with slabs of white limestone polished to a shine - and it sparkled in the sun like a huge shiny crystal.
The slabs have not survived to this day on the pyramid: the inhabitants of Cairo, after the Arabs plundered their capital (1168), used them in the construction of new houses and temples (some of them can be seen on mosques today).
Drawings on the pyramid
Interesting fact: the outer side of the pyramid body is covered with curvilinear grooves of different sizes. If you look at them from a certain angle, you can see the image of a man 150 m high (possibly a portrait of one of the ancient gods). This drawing is not alone: on the northern wall of the tomb one can also distinguish a man and a woman with their heads bowed to each other.
Scientists claim that these Egyptians made the grooves several years before they finished building the pyramid body and installed the top stone. True, the question remains open: why did they do this, because the slabs with which the pyramid was subsequently decorated hid these portraits.
What the Great Pyramid looked like from the inside
A detailed study of the Cheops Pyramid showed that, contrary to popular belief, there are practically no inscriptions or any other decorations inside the tomb, except for a small portrait in the corridor leading to the Queen's Room.
The entrance to the tomb is located on the north side at a height exceeding fifteen meters. After burial, it was closed with a granite plug, so tourists get inside through a gap located about ten meters below - it was cut down by the Caliph of Baghdad Abdullah al-Mamun (820 AD) - the man who first entered the tomb with the aim of robbing it. The attempt failed because he found nothing here except a thick layer of dust.
The Cheops Pyramid is the only pyramid where there are corridors leading both down and up. The main corridor first goes down, then branches into two tunnels - one leads down to the unfinished funeral chamber, the second leads up, first to the Great Gallery, from which you can get to the Queen's Room and the main tomb.
From the central entrance, through a tunnel leading down (its length is 105 meters), you can get into a burial pit located below ground level, the height of which is 14 m, width - 8.1 m, height - 3.5 m. Inside the room, near Egyptologists discovered a well on the southern wall, the depth of which is about three meters (a narrow tunnel stretches from it to the south, leading to a dead end).
Researchers believe that this particular room was originally intended for the crypt of Cheops, but then the pharaoh changed his mind and decided to build a tomb higher for himself, so this room remained unfinished.
You can also get to the unfinished funeral room from the Great Gallery - at its very entrance a narrow, almost vertical shaft 60 meters high begins. Interestingly, in the middle of this tunnel there is a small grotto (most likely of natural origin, since it is located at the point of contact between the stonework of the pyramid and a small hump of limestone), which could accommodate several people.
According to one hypothesis, the architects took this grotto into account when designing the pyramid and initially intended it to evacuate builders or priests who were completing the “sealing” ceremony of the central passage leading to the tomb of the pharaoh.
The Pyramid of Cheops has another mysterious room with an unclear purpose - the “Queen's Chamber” (like the lowest room, this room is not completed, as evidenced by the floor on which they began to lay tiles, but did not complete the work).
This room can be reached by first going down the corridor 18 meters from the main entrance, and then going up a long tunnel (40 m). This room is the smallest of all, located in the very center of the pyramid, has an almost square shape (5.73 x 5.23 m, height - 6.22 m), and a niche is built into one of its walls.
Despite the fact that the second burial pit is called the “queen’s room,” the name is a misnomer, since the wives of Egyptian rulers were always buried in separate small pyramids (there are three such tombs near the tomb of the pharaoh).
Previously, it was not easy to get into the “Queen’s Chamber”, because at the very beginning of the corridor that led to the Great Gallery, three granite blocks were installed, disguised with limestone - so it was previously believed that this room did not exist. Al-Mamunu guessed about its presence and, being unable to remove the blocks, hollowed out a passage in the softer limestone (this passage is still in use today).
It is not known exactly at what stage of construction the plugs were installed, and therefore there are several hypotheses. According to one of them, they were installed even before the funeral, during construction work. Another claims that they were not there at all in this place before, and they appeared here after the earthquake, rolling down from the Great Gallery, where they were installed after the funeral of the ruler.
Another secret of the Cheops pyramid is that exactly where the plugs are located, there are not two, as in other pyramids, but three tunnels - the third is a vertical hole (though no one knows where it leads, since granite blocks with no one has moved the seats yet).
You can get to the tomb of the pharaoh through the Great Gallery, which is almost 50 meters long. It is a continuation of the upward corridor from the main entrance. Its height is 8.5 meters, with the walls narrowing slightly at the top. In front of the tomb of the Egyptian ruler there is a “hallway” - the so-called Antechamber.
From the Antechamber, a hole leads to the “Pharaoh's Chamber,” built from monolithic polished granite blocks, in which there is an empty sarcophagus made from a red piece of Aswan granite. (interesting fact: scientists have not yet found any traces or evidence that there was a burial here).
Apparently, the sarcophagus was brought here even before construction began, since its dimensions did not allow it to be placed here after the completion of construction work. The length of the tomb is 10.5 m, width – 5.4 m, height – 5.8 m.
The biggest mystery of the Cheops pyramid (as well as its feature) is its 20 cm wide shafts, which scientists call ventilation ducts. They start inside the two upper rooms, first go horizontally, and then go out at an angle.
While these channels in the Pharaoh’s room are through, in the “Queen’s Chambers” they begin only at a distance of 13 cm from the wall and do not reach the surface at the same distance (at the same time, at the top they are closed with stones with copper handles, the so-called “Ganterbrink doors”). .
Despite the fact that some researchers suggest that these were ventilation ducts (for example, they were intended to prevent workers from suffocating during work due to the lack of oxygen), most Egyptologists are still inclined to think that these narrow channels had religious significance and were able to prove that they were built taking into account the location of astronomical bodies. The presence of canals may well be related to the Egyptian belief about the gods and souls of the dead who live in the starry sky.
At the foot Great Pyramid there are several underground structures - in one of them archaeologists (1954) found the most old ship of our planet: a wooden boat made of cedar, disassembled into 1224 parts, the total length of which when assembled was 43.6 meters (apparently, it was on it that the pharaoh was supposed to go to the Kingdom of the Dead).
Is this tomb Cheops?
Over the past few years, Egyptologists have increasingly questioned the fact that this pyramid was actually intended for Cheops. This is evidenced by the fact that there is absolutely no decoration in the burial chamber.
The pharaoh's mummy was not found in the tomb, and the sarcophagus itself, in which it was supposed to be located, was not completely finished by the builders: it was hewn rather roughly, and the lid was missing altogether. These Interesting Facts make it possible for fans of theories of the alien origin of this grandiose structure to claim that the pyramid was built by representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations, using technologies unknown to science and for a purpose incomprehensible to us.
Tourists arriving on holiday in Egypt are usually interested in pyramids much more than other local attractions. Against the backdrop of all the existing ancient buildings, the Pyramid of Cheops is of particular interest.
Find out why it is remarkable and what you need to remember when going on this kind of excursion.
During this excursion you will see three adjacent pyramids of Ancient Egypt, namely:
- Cheops;
- Mekerina;
- Khafre.
Among them, the Cheops pyramid is the tallest.
A monument to ancient Egyptian civilization is located near the city, in the suburbs of Cairo. Install exact time The construction of a pyramid is extremely difficult: the data from numerous studies differ greatly from each other. The Egyptians themselves believe that construction work began in 2480 BC. and this event is celebrated annually on August 23.
According to historians, about 100 thousand workers were simultaneously engaged in the construction of the pyramid. During the first decade of convict labor, a road was made to transport stone blocks and the underground structures were completed. The monument itself was erected over another 20 years.
The height and overall size of the monument are truly impressive. Initially, the pyramid rose to about 147 m, but time has not been kind to the monument: as a result of the loss of cladding and being covered with sand, the previously given figure decreased to 137 m.
At the base of the pyramid is a square with a side of 230 m. According to average data, the construction of the monument took more than 2.3 million blocks, each of which weighs an average of 2500 kg.
The price of a trip to the pyramids depends on where you live and how you will get to the excursion. Those living in Cairo or Giza will not have any problems with the trip - the distance is short, you can also get there by bus. As for popular Egyptian resorts, the fastest way to get to the pyramids is from Hurghada - the distance is about 457 km. Taba is a little further - about 495 km. The longest road will be for residents of Sharm el-Sheikh - about 576 km.
Far? Naturally! And it’s good that you found out about this before the trip, and not after arriving in Egypt. In general, you will have to spend about a day traveling to the pyramids and back.
As for the tour, in specialized agencies it is most often called “excursion to Cairo”, and in addition famous pyramids includes visits to local museums and a variety of retail stores, mostly sponsored.
The cost of the excursion also depends on how exactly you are going to get to the Cheops Pyramid. So, tourists are usually taken from Hurghada by bus. Guests of Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba have access to flights. Average prices are as follows:
- bus tour from Hurghada – $50-70 per adult and $40-50 per child ticket;
- by bus from Sharm el-Sheikh - $50-60, by plane - $170-190;
- by bus from Taba - $50-70, by plane - $250-270.
Helpful advice! Don’t immediately discount the possibility of flying. First, familiarize yourself with the features of the road to the pyramids and back. It is possible that after studying the information presented you will change your mind.
There are no questions about the flight - you board the plane, wait a little, and now you are already at your destination. For tourists who choose Bus tours, you need to know the following:
- firstly, it is hot in Egypt at any time of the year. To prevent travelers from getting sick during a bus trip, travel agencies provide transfers mainly at night;
- secondly, count on a trip in comfortable modern bus with a powerful air conditioner it’s practically not necessary. Of course, in similar vehicles There are air conditioners, but they rarely “cope” with the local climate. During the trip, do not hesitate to ask the driver to increase the air conditioning power.
You will arrive in the suburbs of Cairo around 7-8 am. Here you will be asked to join the caravan and calmly, accompanied by local guards, proceed to your destination. You will reach approximately 10-11 o'clock in the morning.
After listening to the guide's stories, seeing the areas open to tourists, taking the desired number of pictures, you will go back to the hotel and get to your room late at night.
Description of the pyramid
The external design of the monument is very interesting and unusual. On the walls you can see many grooves of various sizes. When viewed from the right angle, the individual lines form an incredibly tall portrait of a man believed to be one of the deities of ancient Egyptian civilization. Around the main image there are several pictures and other design elements of a more modest size, namely:
- bird-plane;
- interior plans;
- trident;
- texts with beautiful signs, etc.
On the northern part of the monument you can see a beautiful image of a woman and a man with bowed heads. The painting was painted shortly before the installation of the last stone.
The pyramid in question is not a simple stone monument, but a well-thought-out structure with an extensive system of corridors. The first of them has a length of about 47 meters - this is the so-called. "big gallery" From here you can get to the Cheops chamber, which has a height of about 6 m and dimensions of 10.5 x 5.3 m. The room is lined with granite. There are no ornaments.
Here tourists are invited to look at the empty sarcophagus. It was brought here during the construction of the pyramid, because... the dimensions of the product would not allow carrying the product later. There is a similar chamber in almost every pyramid. It was in such premises that the rulers found last refuge.
Of the decorations and inscriptions inside the pyramid, the only thing worth noting is the portrait in the corridor through which you can get to the Queen’s chamber. Externally, the portrait looks like a photograph taken in stone.
In general, there are 3 chambers in the pyramid. The first burial chamber was cut out of the rock foundation, but was never completed. A narrow corridor about 120 m long leads to the unfinished cell. To connect the 1st and 2nd cells, a low (about 175 cm) 35-meter corridor was made. The next burial chamber of the Cheops pyramid is traditionally called the “queen’s chamber,” although according to ancient Egyptian custom, the wives of rulers found their final refuge in their own pyramids of more modest size.
The history of the “Queen’s Chamber” is very interesting. According to legend, in ancient times the pyramid was the main temple of the so-called. Supreme Deity. Special religious ceremonies were held here, shrouded in darkness and mystery. According to legend, inside the pyramid lived unknown creature, having the body of a man and the face of a lion. And the keys of Eternity were constantly in the hands of this creature. Only people who had undergone a series of purification procedures could see the “lion-faced” one. Only they received the magical Divine Name from the High Priest. And the person who learned the secret of the name was endowed with great magical power, not inferior to the power of the pyramid itself.
The main ceremony was carried out in the royal chamber. The initiate was tied to a ritual cross and placed in a large sarcophagus. While staying in it, the candidate found himself in the space between the material and divine worlds, where knowledge came to him that was inaccessible to mere mortals.
Inside the Cheops pyramid there is a vault above the pharaoh's chamber)
Another one branches off from the previously mentioned corridor, leading directly to the pharaoh’s chamber.
Pyramid of Cheops - tomb of the pharaoh
The internal structure of the pyramid is not limited to chambers and corridors alone. There are ventilation shafts and additional rooms. For example, in one of these rooms there is a table, and on it there is a book telling about the development of events in the country and the main achievements of civilization during the construction of the monument. The purpose of many other rooms and passages still remains unknown.
The purpose of the underground structures located at the foot of the building has not been fully determined. Some of them were opened at different periods of time. So, for example, archaeologists who studied the pyramid in 1954 found a wooden boat in one of the underground chambers - this is the oldest known ship created by man. No nails were used to build the boat. Traces of silt found on the ship led to the conclusion that before the death of the pharaoh, the ship managed to sail along the Nile.
When planning an excursion to the Cheops Pyramid, remember: this is a very exhausting journey. It is recommended to go on such a tour only during relatively cool periods of the year: from October to April. If possible, do not take children. It is unlikely that little tourists will be interested in when the pharaoh ruled and what he became famous for. There is no entertainment waiting for them inside the pyramid either.
If possible, avoid cooperation with local excursion companies: reviews from travelers indicate the extreme irresponsibility of such organizations. It is better to pay for the excursion at your travel agency. This way, you will overpay a little, but you can be sure that if necessary, you will have someone to file a claim with.
Try to find out as much information as possible about the tour guide. The best informants are hotel employees and guests. The qualifications of the guide on such trips are very important. With an inexperienced guide who barely speaks Russian, you will simply not be interested.
And one last word of advice: don’t expect anything extraordinary from your trip to the Cheops pyramid. Treat the excursion as one of the points on your route. Listen to the guide's stories, examine parts of the building open to travelers, and do a few beautiful photos and add a visit to the Cheops Pyramid to your personal travel bucket list.
Have a nice holiday!
Table – Transfer cost to Giza (Cairo)
Video – Cheops Pyramid Egypt
