The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza
is the largest single building ever constructed. Originally 479 ft (146 m) in
height, it still stands at an awe-inspiring 449 ft (137 m). Most of its height
loss is due to the stripping of its original smooth limestone casing.
When the Greek historian Herodotus visited Giza in about 450 BC, he was told by Egyptian
priests that the Great Pyramid had been built for the pharaoh Khufu (Cheops to
the Greeks), who was the second king of the Fourth Dynasty (c.2575–c. 2465 BC).
The priests told Herodotus that the Great Pyramid had taken 400,000 men 20
years to build, working in three-month shifts of 100,000 men at a time. This is
not implausible, but archaeologists now tend to believe a more limited workforce
may have occupied the site without the need for shifts. Perhaps as few as 20,000
workers, with an accompanying support staff (bakers, physicians, priests, etc.),
would have been adequate to the task.
The Great Pyramid was made of 2.3 million stone blocks, weighing from 2 to
15 tons each. When completed, the Great Pyramid of Khufu weighed 6 million tons,
the weight of all Europe's cathedrals put
together! The pyramid was also the tallest structure in the world for thousands
of years, until it was surpassed by the spires of England's Lincoln Cathedral around 1300
AD.
The second-largest pyramid of Giza
was built for Khufu's son Khafre (Chephren), who became the fourth king of the
Fourth Dynasty after the death of his short-lived elder brother and died c.2532
BC. Although many of his relatives were hastily buried in cheap tombs, the
Pyramid of Khafre is almost as vast as the Great Pyramid of his father.
Khafre's pyramid actually looks taller than the Great Pyramid of Khufu
because it stands on a slightly higher part of the plateau, it has a steeper
angle, and it is the only one with a smooth limestone cap. Khafre's pyramid
measures 707 ft (216 m) on each side and was originally 471 ft (143 m) high; its
limestone and granite blocks weigh about 2.5 tons each.
Like the Great Pyramid, Khafre's Pyramid included five boat pits (with
no boats), together with mortuary and valley temples and a connecting causeway
some 430 yards long carved out of the living rock. The burial chamber, which is
underground, contains a red granite sarcophagus with its lid. Next to this is a
square cavity that presumably once held the chest containing the pharaoh's
insides. The Great Sphinx, near Khafre's pyramid, is believed to be a royal
portrait of Khafre.
The southernmost and last of the pyramids to be built was the Pyramid of
Menkaure (Mycerinus), son of Khafre and the fifth king of the Fourth Dynasty. Each
side measures 356 ft (109 m), and the structure's completed height was 218 ft (66
m).
In addition to these three monuments, small pyramids were built for
three of Khufu's wives and a series of flat-topped pyramids for the remains of
his favorite children. At the end of a long causeway lined with minor tombs of
court officials, a mortuary temple was built just to mummify the pharoah's body.
Like all pharonic tombs, the burial chambers of the pyramids were packed
with all the necessities for the next life: furniture, statues of servants (to
be enlivened by an incantation when needed), and boats.
The question of how the pyramids were built has not yet found a
definitive answer. Herodotus reported that the base was laid, then the great
blocks (each weighing about seven tons) were levered into place, a step at a
time up all 203 steps. But this cannot be done, as demonstrated by a Japanese
attempt at a duplicate in the 1980s. The most plausible explanation is that the
Egyptians employed a sloping and encircling embankment of brick, earth, and
sand, which was increased in height and in length as the pyramid rose; stone
blocks were hauled up the ramp by means of sledges, rollers, and levers.
The pyramids have impressively withstood the ravages of time, but not of
grave robbers. They emptied the pyramids of their valuables in ancient times. In
1818 an Italian entered the burial chamber of Khafre with a hydraulic ram, but
the gold and other treasures were long gone.