Though there are many outstanding ancient monuments in Egypt that survive to
this day, one in particular is best known and the most closely associated by the
general public with ancient Egypt. It is, of
course, the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), the largest in Egypt, located on
the Giza Plateau just outside Cairo. Its
name was "Khufu's Horizon" In fact, even if people have very little knowledge of
Egypt, they will frequently not only know of this monument, but will also have
any number of opinions about how and when it was built, as well as its function.
Arguably, it is the best known manmade structure in the world, and for good
reason.
Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Khufu's Pyramid is the first, and only
survivor. It is indeed impressive, originally standing some 146.59 (481 feet)
high and covering about thirteen acres of land , though in the last hundred or
so years, modern marvels (the Empire State Building, built in 1930, is over
three times as tall though situated on only two acres of land) probably make it
seem less impressive to visitors than to those who, for thousands of years, came
to visit the pyramid prior to our modern
era. In reality, modern scholars for the most part probably find this pyramid
less interesting than many other ancient structures in Egypt, mostly because it
is not decorated with reliefs and inscriptions (though parts of its subsidiary
structures were), and is otherwise, except for some parts of its internal
structure, a fairly typical pyramid complex. Other pyramids are almost as large,
and many pyramids are really more enigmatic. Khufu's pyramid was not the first,
nor was it even the first true pyramid.
Other pharaohs, such as Sneferu, Khufu's father, had moved probably as much
stone, building three different pyramids himself.
Yet, Khufu's pyramid was, in a line of astonishing architectural leaps
forward, a significant link in Pyramid building's evolution. In terms of its
size, the technical accomplishments of its construction, the great concern for
cardinality and the organization required for its construction, this pyramid
represents a phenomenal effort. Like later pyramids, it encompasses all of the
standard elements of the pyramid complex, though most have since disappeared.
The finished pyramid, which included a superstructure and substructure, was
surrounded by an enclosure wall of fine Turah limestone, which enclosed a court
paved in limestone. There was a valley temple, a causeway from it leading to a
mortuary Temple that was itself situated against the pyramid. There was also a
cult pyramid, as well as three pyramids for the burial of queens, a number of
boat pit and other structures.
Though we really do not know with absolute certainty, the pyramid complex of
Khufu probably remained mostly intact for almost 4,000 years. During that period
of time, most visitors to it must have been amazed by its enormity, and probably
by the ancient Egyptian's reverence toward the structure.
In the end, the deterioration of this pyramid, like its conception, can be
attributed at least partially to religion. It was created to bury the king in a
complex that would conform to the ancient Egyptian religion. It probably
survived in relatively good shape until that religion was replaced by another,
and then another. By the time the Arabs invaded Egypt during the seventh
century, there was little or no religious reverence afforded the structure, so
casing stones and other building material from the complex were reused for new
building projects in the area of Cairo. This process was not exclusive to
Khufu's pyramid and in fact, the reuse of material from older structures was not
even uncommon during the age of the pharaohs. However, even this did not happen
to the Great Pyramids until, in the Middle
Ages, a series of earthquakes loosened the casing stones and allowed them to be
harvested for other projects.
Most people with a limited knowledge of Egypt believe that the Great Pyramids of Giza lie out in the desert,
and are therefore rather surprised when, traveling down Pyramid road to the
east, they see them rise up, seemingly among the distant buildings. They
in fact sit on the city limits of Greater
Cairo, and are threatened by man's expansion, though scholars are very aware
of this today, and work to prevent damage to the structure.
For awhile, mankind treated the Great
Pyramid with more curiosity than reverence. It was tunneled through,
climbed, and generally abused, right up to our modern era. In her book, The Mena House Oberoi, Nina Nelson tells us that,
"Climbing Cheop's Great Pyramid continues
all and every day. It is a labourious task yet everyone who does it enjoys
it. The blocks of stone measure from two to five feet high and certainly one3
should have a guide to help pull one along the difficult places." At one time,
various people even attempted to set records for scaling the monument.
During World War II, there were even gun emplacements built on its apex. The
Egyptological community, and particularly Zahi Hawass can be credited for
bringing that to a halt. No longer are people allowed to climb it (unless very
special permission is granted), and its investigation today is always
non-intrusive. Planes are not allowed to fly above it and in general, it
receives the national protection it deserves.
Nevertheless, it has been and continues to be a place of considerable
activity. Races were often held at the pyramids, and in recent years, it has
served as a backdrop for artistic displays and musical performances. With Zahi
Hawass as Chairman of the SCA, it is doubtful that we will see many more
performances by artists such as Sting and the Grateful Dead, but it remains the
primary venue for Verdi's Aida opera.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Khufu's pyramid complex is the
amazing amount of investigation it has received, and the astonishing degree of
controversy that it has inspired. The research of the complex continues even
today, and new discoveries, sometimes major ones, have been made even in recent
years. For example, only very recently, the estimated number of blocks used to
build the pyramid itself has been cut almost in half, while as I write this
article, a new robot is being prepared to further investigate the pyramid's
internal structure.
The history of man's thoughts about this structure is by far more complex,
and often more interesting than the pyramid itself. Even in recent years,
speculation that the pyramid was constructed by aliens or perhaps Atlantians
continues. Countless books have been written about this Pyramid, many scholarly, but others not.
Take, for example, the matter of the metric system. Used by most countries as
the official standard of measure, and by the scientific community worldwide,
there has been a reluctance on the part of Americans and the British to
incorporate the system. Much of this may be a reluctance on the part of their
respective populations to change from the system familiar to them.
However, the Great Pyramid of Khufu
certainly played a part in all of this.
John Taylor was an eccentric British publisher who, in 1859, produced a work
entitled The Great Pyramid: Why Was it
Built? And Who Built It? Borrowing from the work of Tompkins, he thought that
the Pyramid was actually built by Noah of biblical fame. He thought that the Great Pyramid's dimensions were very
purposeful, which they probably were, but he saw in them relationships to many
physical measurements, such as the number of days in the year and the radius of
the earth. Part of his calculations involved a unit of measure he called the Pyramid Inch which he believed the Egyptians
used in building the pyramid, which only differed from the British inch very
slightly. He is essentially credited with being one of the founders of modern
Pyramidology, but his ideas would probably not have caught on were it not for
the work of Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, a British Israelite and the
Astronomer-Royal of Scotland. Smyth built on Taylor's ideas. Though Taylor had
not traveled to Egypt, Smyth did, and set about measuring every minute detail of
Khufu's monument.
Smyth attempted to connect the measurements he made of the pyramid to many
different natural aspects of the world and our universe, to the point were even
many of his contemporaries thought him ludicrous. A Christian man, Smyth
nevertheless though that the number relationships he derived from the pyramid
were a record of "perfect" standards of measurement that God intended man to
use. In reality, many of Smyth's calculations seem artificial and arbitrary to
us today. Smyth was hardly a dispassionate, objective scientist when dealing
with the pyramid. His writings shows that he certainly had a deep emotional
commitment to demonstrating "scientifically" that the Christian religion is
true, and that he saw his work with the pyramid as a means by which he could do
so.
In his work, he pointed out that the meter was devised by man, whereas he
believed the Pyramid Inch, and thus the
British Inch, were a measurement provided by god. And while scientists seem to
have in general rejected the work of Taylor and Smyth, a number of Christian
religious leaders accepted their theories and made them an article of faith,
particularly in England and the US, but also even in France.
Many of Smyth's contemporaries and disciples were as hostile to the metric
system as was he. With some amusement Martin Gardner recounts the fact that in
the United States the pyramidologist Ohio Auxiliary Society, of which President
James A. Garfield was a supporter, published a journal entitled The
International Standard to defend the "true inch" and other measurements against
the metric system. Thus, the Great Pyramid
of Khufu became a star in the arsenal of 19th century Christianity, and at least
for a time, helped arrest the expansion of the metric system of
measurement. But perhaps more importantly, Taylor and Smyth helped create a
mystic association with the Pyramid Khufu that spawned imaginative ideas that
continue to this day.
When one visits the Pyramid of Khufu, one
is actually walking in the footsteps of the famous, both of the modern and
ancient world. Alexandria the Great stood before it, just as modern visitors,
and swore to build for his father, the Macedonian king Philip II, a funerary
monument as large as the Great Pyramid,
though death took him before he was able to do so. Herodotus, Strabo and Pliny
certainly all made visits to the pyramid. Doubtless, every famous traveler in
antiquity must have visited Khufu's complex. Many later individuals came to see
this wonder of the ancient world, and they continue to come today. For
years, it was popular for them to climb the pyramid, though this is no longer
allowed, but atop it one can see the names etched in stone of those who did.
Though most of the early visitors to the Great Pyramid were non-intrusive, by the time
of the Arab Invasion of Egypt, the ancient
Egyptian religion was gone and so too was apparently the Egyptian's
understanding of the monument. Fables arose of fabulous treasures and immense
knowledge contained within the structure, long before Taylor and Smyth's work.
Finally, Caliph al-Ma'moun (831-832 AD) is believed to have acted upon this
information. Though the pyramid, or at least the substructure had been breached
by unknown robbers during antiquity, al-Ma'moun was apparently the first known
individual to do so. After having at least looked for the original entrance, but
unable to find it, al-Ma'moun instructed his men to tunnel into the pyramid from
a point at the center of its north face, seven courses up. Apparently, the
pyramid still held at least some of its casing stones, for they had to light
fires to heat the blocks before cooling them rapidly with vinegar to induce
fractures. Once past the outer core, they dug for about 100 feet, finding
nothing in the process. However, one of the workmen heard a muffled thud of
something heavy falling within the pyramid, not too far away, and they altered
course and eventually broke through into what is now known as the "Descending
Passage". While al-Ma'moun's men explored a considerable part of the pyramid's
interior structure, they apparently found nothing except an empty coffin, though
rumors, legends and fables, also grew from their exploration.
Even though al-Ma'moun apparently found no riches or hidden knowledge within
the Great Pyramid, it continued to retain
its mysterious, hidden meaning for most travelers. All of the European
scientific travelers and pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land seem to have
visited it. They are too numerous to mention here. However, the first attempt at
an Egyptological study, it seems, was conducted by John Greaves, and English
scholar from whom Tomkins would later draw some of more fanciful ideas. he
climbed to the top, measured the pyramid's blocks and also made his way inside
the pyramid. His sectional drawing of the structure is remarkably accurate for
its time.
However, only at the turn of the nineteenth century did true archaeological
work begin using scientific methods. Nathaniel
Davison discovered a lower relieve chamber as well as a tunnel connecting it
with the Great Gallery during the 1760s. The scholars with Napoleon's expedition
also measured and described the Great Pyramid again, and made exploratory
soundings in and around it. Early in the nineteenth century, Giovanni Battista
Caviglia cleaned out many spaces inside the pyramid and in 1937, both Vyse and
Perring investigated the structure. Their books, Operations Carried Out on the
Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837 (3 vols.) and The
Pyramids of Gizeh (3 vols.), respectively,
are still valuable sources.
Between 1843 and 1844, Lepsius focused his attention primarily on the
structure of the Great Pyramid, expressing
his view that the core consisted of inclined accretion layers. For the birthday
of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, the archaeologists honored their
prince and patron by scaling the pyramid and flying a flat from its top. Petrie,
who carefully examined the Pyramid between
1881 and 1882 did not agree with Lepsius' accretion theory. Petrie, who seems to
have always been more interested in his Egyptological studies than comfort, set
up his headquarters in one of the nearby rock-cut tombs, and slept on a layer of
sand, using a kerosene stove for cooking. The account of his investigations, The
Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, remains even today one of the
most important studies on the pyramids.
Borchardt also worked on the famous monument. He first concentrated on
explaining the method originally used to measure and orient the ground plan, and
on reconstructing the stages in which the pyramid was built.
In 1954, The Egyptian archaeologists Kamal
Mallakh and Zaki Iskander and their
colleagues discovered on the south side of the Great Pyramid, two pits that contained intact
burial boats. Later, in the second half of the 1980s, the French architects,
Jean-Ptrice Dormion and Gilles Goidin made precise geophysical measurements of
its inner core, which was later confirmed by a Japanese team.
Finally, Zahi Hawass, a longtime investigator at Giza and now the Chairman of
the SCA (Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities), focused on the grounds of the
presumed valley temple, the causeway and the mortuary temple. It was he who, not
so long ago, discovered the cult pyramid as well as its pyramidion. Though he
has now moved on to head Egypt's antiquity community, work nevertheless
continues.
Today, the Pyramid of Khufu, though
lacking its original luster, remains perhaps the most visited site in Egypt. It
is said that "Man fears Time, yet Time fears the Pyramids" Hence, the Pyramid of Khufu, though not the oldest in
Egypt, nevertheless has become a symbol of long lasting durability, and it is
probably for this reason more than any other, that one can still find it
pictured on the reverse of the US Dollar Bill.
Technical
The Pyramid
Height: 146.5m
Base: 230.38m
Slope: 51o 50'
Great Gallery
Height: 8.48 to 8.74m
Length 47.85m
Slope: 26o 16' 40"
Queens Chamber
Height 6.26m
Length 5.76m
Width 5.23m
King's Chamber
Height: 5.84m
Length: 10.49m
Width: 5.42m
Causeway
Length: 825m
Boat Pits (On Northeast and Southeast Corners of Pyramid
Depth: 8m
Length 52m
Width: 7.5m
