1. THE PYRAMIDS

2. Pyramid Background Giza (near Cairo) tombs for eternity
over 80 still stand
There are about eighty pyramids known today from ancient Egypt. The three largest and best-preserved of these were built at Giza at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. The most well-known of these pyramids was built for the pharaoh Khufu. It is known as the 'Great Pyramid'.
The building of pyramids would not have been possible without a flourishing economy and a strong central government. Royal estates throughout the country centralised and provided the necessary resources that were needed in the construction of pyramid complexes. This required a powerful administration, both on a local and on a central level, to successfully manage the resources and ensure the flow of supplies, materials and riches to the central government.
Artists and craftsmen became increasingly skilled as state-sponsored ateliers produced the most exquisite objects of art for the royal family and the members of the ruling elite. The high-quality decoration of the private tombs that were grouped next to the royal pyramids, not only hint at the wealth and status of the tomb-owner, but are also a rich source of information about daily life in the age of the pyramids.
While the unification of Egypt in the Archaic period was the single most important event in Egyptian history, it was a long and drawn-out affair. Although Narmer is credited with unifying the country, all the kings of the first two dynasties had to fight constant wars against considerable opponents all along the Nile. But the third dynasty of Egyptian kings began powerfully; the second king of that dynasty, a man named Netcheriche or Djoser (or Zoser) became powerful enough to control the whole of the country. Egypt had, meanwhile, prospered and grown beyond everyone's wildest dreams. Agricultural production had been revolutionized by the building of massive irrigation projects; trade had ballooned to super-human proportions; the population had swelled exponentially. Suddenly Egypt found itself wealthy; the country literally exploded with creativity for the next several generations. This period,from , the Old Kingdom, was the richest and most creative period in Egyptian history. All the pyramids were built at this time; the growth in population and wealth allowed the kings to apportion vast amounts of labor and materials to these monuments to themselves And the first to build one was Djoser himself. Pyramid-building is mathematically not a complex affair, but the Egyptians learned the art slowly. Djoser's pyramid, called the Step Pyramid, is not a smooth pyramid, but a series of six bases built one on top of another. A later king, Snofru, would build a pyramid closer to the classic design, but it was his son, Cheops, who built the largest of them all, the Great Pyramid of Giza. All of the enormous pyramids were built in the lifetimes of only four kings: Snofru, Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus, but they remain an icon of the richest and most powerfully creative period of Egyptian culture.
What do they represent? What did an Egyptian of the Fourth Dynasty see when those massive man-made mountains of stone loomed on the horizon? They represented the institution of the monarchy itself. The king was a living god. As a god he was above every other human being; his power was not given to him, it was an aspect of his divine nature. As a god, he brought life, fertility, order, stability, and rationality to the Egyptian state just as the gods brought life, fertility, order, stability,and rationality to the universe as a whole. He stood aloof and distant from the rest of humanity, and only the king had the right or the ability to join the gods after he died. The Egyptian in the street did not expect an afterlife of bliss or rebirth during the Old Kingdom; it was only in later Egyptian history that rebirth was seen as common to all humans. The pyramids represent all of these things. As monuments, they represent the inherent power of the king. As geometry, they represent the order, balance, and rationality of the universe and its incarnation in the king himself. As tombs, they represent the life after death available to the king as living god There's no question that the first pyramids were almost entirely political in nature. All the pyramids were built during the lifetime of the king who would occupy it; if the king died, the pyramid would be abandoned. The very first pyramid, Djoser's Step Pyramid, has a Sed ("slaughter") court where the king would perform the Sed celebrations reconfirming his position as king.

3. Step Pyramid “Stairway to Heaven” (Amon-Ra) 200 feet high
1st pyramid -- Built for King Zoser (2630 B.C.)
“Stairway to Heaven” (Amon-Ra)
200 feet high
several phases
The age of the first ancient wonders of the world began with the pyramids of Sneferu(Other pharaohs, such as Sneferu, Khufu's father, had moved probably as much stone, building three different pyramids himself.) , he built three pyramids and may have had a hand in others. His pyramid at Medum began as a step pyramid and was then modified to form the first true pyramid. He built two pyramids at Dahshur one called the Bent Pyramid because its upper part has a shallower angle of inclination than the lower part.
Seneferu's Bent pyramid at Dahshur was originally planned as a true pyramid, but its geometry was altered at a point just above half it's height. The angle of incline was decreased from 54º 31' 13'' to 43º 21'.
King Djoser's step pyramid. The diagram shows the three design changes made during construction. 1st the mastaba, the traditional tomb of the pharaohs. 2nd the four step pyramid. 3rd enlarged to make a six step pyramid.
Saqqara has the distinction of being the site of the first large stone structure built in the world. The place where humans began to strive for the impossible, where the imagination gained the power to transform reality. The first tombs of the pharaohs were large, unimpressive, bunker affairs called mastabas. They were made from sun dried mud brick and most have long since crumbled to dust. This all changed around 2630 BC with the erection of the step pyramid. It was made for the pharaoh, Djoser and began as a normal mastaba, but was subsequently enlarged by adding one mastaba on top of another until it consisted of six terraces some 200ft (60 meters) high. The surface was originally encased in smooth white limestone which must have caught the sun light and reflected its rays.
The chap responsible for the step pyramid was Imhotep, Djoser's vizier. He is credited as being the inventor of building in stone and was a man of many talents - Architect, physician, master sculpture, scribe, and astronomer. He must be the first true genius in recorded history and his impression on the Egyptians was profound because later generations revered him as a god of wisdom.

4. The Bent Pyramid owes its modern-day name to the fact that the upper half of this pyramid was built with a smaller angle than the lower part, giving it a very characteristic bend. The Ancient Egyptian name for this pyramid was xa rsj, The Southern Shining One, a reference to the fact that it was built at the Southern edge of Dashur.
It is also the first pyramid that was built by Snofru at Dashur, after he probably had built the Step Pyramid at Meidum. The fact that he abandonned Meidum and its Step Pyramid to try out a new design at Dashur may probably reflect a change in ideology, whereby the tomb of the king was no longer considered as a staircase to the stars, but rather as a symbol of the solar cult and of the primeval mound from which all life had sprung.
There is evidence within the core of the Bent Pyramid that it was begun as a much smaller pyramid, with a slope of some 60°. Structural problems, caused mainly by the unstable sandy underground, forced the builders to encase this central pyramid in a girdle with a slope of 54°27'44". This was the slope for the lower part of the pyramid as it stands today.
Unfortunately, the building technique that was used -a technique going back to the Step Pyramids which consisted of using inward leaning courses- did not help to stabilise this monument. Fearing that the pyramid would collapse under its own weight, its slope was lowered to 43°22' somewhere halfway up the building. It is possible that the upper part of the Bent Pyramid was continued only after finishing the Red Pyramid, which was built a couple of kilometres to the North of the Bent Pyramid. In any case, the Red Pyramid has exactly the same slope of 43°22' as the upper part of the Bent Pyramid. In its finished state, this pyramid has a base length of 188 metres and is 105 metres high.
The internal structure of the Bent Pyramid is as innovative as the pyramid itself. Unlike any other pyramid, there are two internal structures: with entrances in the North and West sides.
From the north, a passage descends down to an antechamber. In order to deal with the downward pressur of the pyramid on this chamber, its roof was made of different courses, with each course projecting more inwards than the course below. This technique, known as corbelling, was also used for the pyramid at Meidum. The burial chamber, also with a corbelled roof, is located above the antechamber.
The second entrance, in the West face of the pyramid, lead down via a descending passage to a horizontal corridor which was intended to be blocked by some portcullis slabs. The second burial chamber, behind these portcullises, also has a corbelled roof. It is at a higher level than the first burial chamber. Scaffoldings of cedar beams were intended to give the room some additional support.
After they were completed, the two burial chambers were connected by a passage that was cut out through the existing masonry. It is not known why Snofru wanted to have two burial chambers in this pyramid, but perhaps this too can be explained by the clear experimental nature of this monument. Probably at around the same time as when the slope of the main pyramid was decreased, work started to the South to build a smaller satellite pyramid. This pyramid, with a base length of 53 metres and a height of 32.5 metres, was probably an adaptation of the concept of the South Tomb found in the complex of Netjerikhet at Saqqara. Its internal structure is a precursor for the pyramid of Kheops at Giza. It has a descending and then an ascending passage, with a smaller version of Kheops' Grand Gallery. The actual burial chamber is far too small for a human burial and may probably have been intended to house the Ka statue of the king.
Between the satellite and the main pyramid, there was a small offering place. Two funerary stelae, bearing the titulary of Snofru, were erected along the east face of the satellite pyramid.
A small offering chapel, also with two funerary stelae, was built against the east face of the main pyramid. Like the eastern chapel of the pyramid of Meidum, this chapel is too small to be an actual mortuary temple.
An enclosure wall surrounded both the main and satellite pyramids, with a causeway leading from its Northeast towards a small rectangular structure in the East, about halfway down to the valley. This structure shares features of both Valley Temples and Morturay Temples in later pyramid complexes. It has the courtyard, pillars and statues that would become traditional in later mortuary temples, but it was built at some distance of the pyramid, which is typical for the Valley Temple.
Eventhough this pyramid was finally completed, including additional constructions such as the satellite pyramid and the Mortuary Temple, Snofru was buried in his third pyramid: the Red Pyramid, built a couple of kilometres North of the Bent Pyramid.
Bent Pyramid

5. The Great Pyramid Built for King Khufu in 2528 B.C.
1 of 7 wonders of Ancient World (only one still standing)
Built for King Khufu in 2528 B.C.
485 feet high, 13 acres at base
The Pyramids of Giza
When Khufu, also known as Cheops, became pharaoh one of his first acts was to curtail the growing power of the priesthood. He "shut up all the temples and forbade sacrifices". As a priest’s living came from performing these rituals it is not surprising that Khufu was unpopular with the religious orders.
Khufu's pyramid at Giza showing the plan of passages and burial chamber.
Some believe that his pyramid at Giza was built by slaves but this is not true. One hundred thousand people worked on it for three months of each year. This was the time of the Nile's annual flood which made it impossible to farm the land and most of the population was unemployed. He provided good food and clothing for his workers and was kindly remembered in folk tales for many centuries. There are three pyramids at Giza, each of which once had an adjoining mortuary temple. Attached to this temple would have been a covered causeway descending down to a valley temple, near the Nile. The 'great' pyramid itself is truly an astonishing work of engineering skill - for over four thousands years, until the modern era, it was the tallest building in the world. The sides are oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass and the length of each side at the base is 755 feet (230.4 m). They rise at an angle of 51 52' to a height , originally, of 481 feet (147 m) but nowadays 451 feet (138 m). It was constructed using around 2,300,000 limestone blocks, weighing, on average, 2.5 tons each. Although some weigh as much as 16 tons. Until recently, relatively speaking, it was cased in smooth limestone but this was plundered to build Cairo.
Is it conceivable that by bringing together so many people and giving them a common goal, that of making a mountain, a national identity is forged in their hearts. From Upper and Lower Egypt communities would have got to know each other and a common bond would have been manifest in the object of the pyramid. If this is true it is unique because all other forms of nationalism have grown out of war. For example England and France in the Hundred years war and the USA through the revolutionary, civil and Indian wars.
During the construction of the Gizeh pyramids, a canal was excavated leading to a depression near the pyramids, which could be used as a port for unloading the granite blocks shipped downriver. The water level in all these canals fluctuated greatly being dependent on the level of the Nile. They therefore did not construct quais but beached the boats on the gentle slope of the basin in order to discharge their cargoes.
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.
level to less than 1 inch
2,521,000 cu. m. volume
2.3 million blocks

6. KHUFU EXTERIOR TO SPHINX Casing as white as newly polished stone
used for mosques in cairo

7. MASTABAS * Egyptian Tombs
An ancient Egyptian tomb with a rectangular base, sloping sides, and a flat roof.
mastaba top: exterior viewbottom: cross section revealing the shaft (A) and the burial chamber (B)
high rank
chapel for offerings
burial decorated and includes needs in afterlife
false entrance
stone / mud later (cheaper)
development led to rock cut tombs ala tut

8. BOAT PITS funeral afterlife found in 1200 parts
Although three empty boat pits had been discovered, a fourth pit was found in Under limestone blocks and plaster, a dismantled boat was located, with both the wood preserved and ropes for rigging and matting. The reassembly took more than 10 years and the funerary boat is exhibited in its entirety near the pyramid of Cheops (Khufu). In 1987 drill holes in a fifth boat pit revealed, through a video camera lowered into the space, that another boat was preserved under thick limestone slabs. This boat resembles paintings and models of boats that have survived since the Fourth Dynasty. The papyriform boat shape is linked with the "wia" or the boat of the sun-god. The voyage of the sun-god through creation was usually portrayed as a boat journey--as if air were the Nile river. In the sunrise, ancient Egyptians saw their own resurrection after death. It is not certain, however, that this boat was actually used in funerary rites to convey the dead pharaoh through various rituals in the stages of embalment and purification-- or if it is thus accurate to refer to it as a "solar boat." The evidence suggests that this boat was actually used in the water; and since the boat had to be dismantled to fit in the boat pit, one can assume the pit was not built for this specific boat. Christine Hobson says that "the boat had been functional, but its unwieldiness suggests it was not for travelling long distances. It may have been used as a state boat during the king's lifetime and perhaps it even carried Cheop's body to the plateau of Giza prior to its embalming and burial in the pyramid" (77). The boat is 143 feet long and 19 1/2 feet wide with an estimated displacement of more than 45 tons. Hundreds of pieces of shaped wood comprise the hull which was held together with rope. Since wet wood swells and rope shrinks, the boat would become water tight in water, making caulking unnecessary. The boat had six pairs of long oars, one pair by the stern post serving as rudder oars. The closed cabin is paneled and has palm-form capitals. The open canopy (supported by 12 poles) in front of the cabin might have been hung with cloth or mats. The small cabin at the front was probably for the captain and/or pilot's use. The boat is sometimes said to be constructed of imported cedar from Lebanon; other scholars say it was made of a wood, maybe pine, native to Egypt. 5 pits 2 had boats

9. QUEENS’ PYRAMIDS tombs of Khufu’s queens
In dimensions, design and construction methods, these pyramids are very similar to one another, except that the lowest of them, G 1c, had to have a special foundation surface due to the sloping ground. They seem to have a slope of about 52 degrees, and rise to a height of about one-fifth that of Khufu's pyramid. In contrast to the leveled foundation of the main pyramid, these smaller pyramids accommodate the slope of the ground, so that their bases
They appear to be more conventional than the main pyramid, having only substructures, but they also contain other elements, including mortuary temples and boat pits.
G 1a is the northernmost of the small pyramids, lying about 61 meters from the base of Khufu's pyramid. It was, for many years, attributed to Queen Meretites, who was probably one of Khufu's older wives. She may have made the transition from Snefru's harem to Khufu's and is thought to be the mother of Prince Kauab. She was given the title of King's Mother, so she must have been the mother of one of Khufu's successors though we are not completely sure of which one. Some scholars think it may have been Djedefre. The small pyramid was thought to be hers because of the proximity of G 1a to that of her son's.
Like many other aspects of the Great Pyramid Complex of Khufu, much remains a matter of speculation, including who exactly was buried in each of the tombs. These are issues that more investigation may, or unfortunately may never reveal.

10. MORTUARY TEMPLE offerings rituals
Next to the great pyramid there was a mortuary temple. Some Egyptologists believe that this temple was where offerings were left, and daily rituals were carried out for the king.
The only part of this temple that survives today is the floor. Archaeologists have made educated guesses about what the temple might have looked like from studying the floor, and looking at other ancient Egyptian mortuary temples.
This lintel is from the tomb of a priest who worked in one of the temples in Khufu's pyramid complex.
Unfortunately, these primary elements, valley temple, causeway, enclosure wall, mortuary temple and cult pyramid, are mostly, if not entirely in ruin.
Little of the mortuary temple remains. It originally stood somewhat to the side of the foot of the east wall of the pyramid. All that remains amounts to no more than a few bits of reliefs, some black paving basalt pavement, sockets for the granite pillars of the surrounding colonnade and western recessed bay, and the bedrock cuttings for the outer walls. So little of it is left because
its destruction began as early as the Old Kingdom, and therefore it is very difficult to reconstruct its original architecture today. Very few fragments of the mortuary temple's ornamentation have ever been found. However, Hassan's expedition discovered a few of them, and other fragments were reused in building the step-wall of the medieval tower, Bab el-Futuh in Cairo. What they reveal are scenes of the sed festival, of the white hippopotamus festival, and other motifs. It is though that some blocks used as building material in Amenemhet I's pyramid complex in Lisht might have been part of the original decoration of Khufu's mortuary temple in Giza. However, the head of the archaeological team of the New York Metropolitan Museum working in Lisht, Arnold, thinks that the material may have come from another of Khufu's temples that stood near Lisht. If so, the temple would have already fallen into ruins at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom.

11. CAUSEWAY walled covered / painted
Unfortunately, these primary elements, valley temple, causeway, enclosure wall, mortuary temple and cult pyramid, are mostly, if not entirely in ruin.
The causeway was a long walkway that joined the valley temple and the mortuary temple.
Although most of Khufu's causeway is now gone, some of the blocks that made up the causeway can still be seen today. The causeway would have had walls decorated with painted reliefs and perhaps a ceiling with painted stars.

12. SATELLITE PYRAMID Ka (eternal spirit)
Another very recent (1991) and important find by Dr. Hawass was the cult pyramid, discovered under a mound of sand during cleanup work and now designated G 1d. This is a tiny structure about 25.5 meters southeast of the corner of Khufu's pyramid, covering an area of approximately 24 square meters. The remains include fine, Tura quality limestone blocks from the pyramids outer casing and perimeter foundation, some of which remain in situ, large blocks of cruder limestone and debris that filled the core of the pyramid, and a T shaped substructure. The original baseline, marking the foot of the lowest course of casing blocks, is preserved on five foundation slabs on the east side and seven on the south side. No remains of the original baseline was found on the north side, where most of the foundation slaps were missing. On the west side, there is only one foundation block in situ that carried the baseline. However, an estimate was made of the base length of a site at meters. The average slope of the preserved
His discovery put an end both to doubts that such a cult pyramid existed in the Khufu complex, and to speculations about its identification with the so-called test passageway. The "test passageways" were corridors cut into the underlying rock that imitated on a smaller scale (about 1:5) part of the Great Pyramid's substructure, consisting of the descending and ascending corridors, the lower part of the Great Gallery, and even by implication the horizontal passageway that leads to the Queen's Chamber. Scholars suggested that this was a model used by the builders of the Great Pyramid to test their methods of blocking passageways but some had associated it with a cult structure.

13. PERIMETER WALL 8 meters high limestone
A huge perimeter wall, about eight meters high (three high by some other estimates), and made of Turah limestone, completely surrounded the pyramid. It was situated only ten meters (10.2) from the pyramid, so that the courtyard between them, which was paved in limestone, was fairly small. We believe that access to the court could only be gained by way of the valley temple, through the causeway and then the mortuary temple. During the reign of Djedefre, it was probably extended. Originally, it would seem that much of the pyramid complex lay outside of the enclosure wall.
Unfortunately, these primary elements, valley temple, causeway, enclosure wall, mortuary temple and cult pyramid, are mostly, if not entirely in ruin.

14. CASING STONES fine white limestone 2 - 15 tons
The casing blocks from the Great Pyramid were all removed in the 14th and 15th centuries A.D. and used to build the city of Cairo. Some casing blocks still remain on the top of the pyramid next to Khufu's (belonging to Khafra).
The casing which made the outer surface of the pyramid smooth was made of large blocks of fine white limestone, traditionally thought to have been harvested from the Muqattam range on the east bank of the Nile. Some, but very little of it is still in place, mostly at the base. These stones may weigh as much as fifteen tons. Recently, some scholars have conjectured that these stones could have come from the closer and more accessible quarries west of Djedefre's pyramid in Abu Rawash, where valuable, high-quality, brilliantly white limestone is also found.

15. CAPSTONE (pyramidion) Gold / Electrum Covering
At the very top of the pyramid there would have been a block of stone in the shape of a pyramid. This block was probably covered with a thin sheet of either gold, electrum, or some other metal that would reflect the rays of the sun.
Originally, the pyramid was capped by a pyramid shaped stone referred to as a pyramidion. Khufu's Pyramidion may have been covered in electrum, a shiny metal of gold and silver. However, this pyramidion is now lost, and may never be recovered, although not so long ago Dr. Hawass did find the pyramidion of the nearby cult pyramid. .

16. KHUFU INTERIOR STONE PLUGS 40 ton beams in chamber
graffiti by construction workers naming cheops (khufu)
mock corridors lead up for direct route to heaven by soul originally sealed not ventilation
The King's Chamber has 2, about 5 inches in diameter which connect to the exterior.
The Queen's Chamber has 2 which stopped just short of the walls of the chamber and which do not penetrate completely to the exterior.
STONE PLUGS

17. ENTRANCEWAY original entrance forced entrance
Today, the pyramid is entered through an opening that tradition tells us was cut through the masonry in the ninth century by Caliph al-Ma'mun. Arab historians report that he managed to get in, and at the end of the tunnel found a large key together with some gold coins. The sum was exactly enough to pay for the cost of the operation. Most think that he found nothing, but may have placed enough gold in the tunnel to pay his workmen.
The original descending entrance corridor, surmounted by a double vault and offset by 7.29 meters (24 feet) east from the center axis about meters (55 feet) high on the level of the thirteenth pier, first passes through the core masonry and then through the rock underlying it. The descending corridor is about 345 feet in length and slopes downward at an angle of 36o 31' 23'. The corridor, which is about 1.2 meters high, at a distance of about 18 meters splits into two parts. One corridor descends while the other ascends. The ascending passage, the first seen in a major pyramid, is accessed through a hole in the ceiling of the descending passage.
The original entrance to the pyramid is located on the north face of the pyramid. However, after the pharaoh was put to rest in the pyramid, that entrance was blocked with huge slabs of stone.

18. GRAND GALLERY ascends to tomb 47 meters long and 8.5 meters high
From the descending entrance corridor, the ascending passage mentioned above, originally sealed with three, seven ton blocks of pink granite which are still in place, branches off. It runs for a length of 129 feet, rising at a gradient of 26°2’30”. Ma'mun's tunnel originally skirted this passageway. Currently, one enters the ascending passageway through a hole that was hewn around these slabs from Ma'mun's tunnel. The ascending passageway leads to the Grand Gallery. One unique and ingenious feature of this passage is that it is supported by a series of four single stones which were hollowed out. Through these the corridor was laid. They have become known as the “girdle stones”. There are also 3 “half girdles” which are actually two stones combined for the same purpose.
There is a seamless transition from this passage to the Great or Grand Gallery, an architectonic masterpiece.
Its ceiling consists of a corbel vault built of seven layers of enormous limestone blocks, each of which projects about seven and a half centimeters. The chamber is 47 meters long and 8.48 meters high. Low ramps run along both sides of the gallery. On their surfaces, twenty-seven large and small square openings alternate at regular intervals, corresponding to the right-angled niches in the side walls. Their significance has been a matter of debate for some time, yet none of the explanations seem completely satisfactory. Perhaps the most widely accepted is Borchardt's. He believed that a structure of wooden beams and planks was anchored in these openings. Could it have been used to transport building materials or perhaps support blocks while building the corbel vault? So far scholars have been unable to find a reliable answer to such questions, though Mark Lehner seems to believe that these were actually holes for large beams which held blocks that roofed the horizontal passage into the Queen's Chamber, and provided a continuous floor for the Grand Gallery to the Ascending passage.

19. GIZA COMPLEX (MASTABAS) ships WESTERN CEMETARY
Technical
The Pyramid
Height: 146.5m
Base: m
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
three east pyramids= mother and two main queens
east of those = sons and daughters get huge double mastabas
west cemetary = high court officials, architects, building manager

20. KINGS CHAMBER 40 ton ceiling blocks
Within the short passageway between the upper end of the Great Gallery and the Queen's Chamber, there is the last plugging block preventing access to the pharaoh's burial chamber. It consists of three pink granite monoliths that were originally held vertical by means of ropes and a pulley and then lowered to form a barrier Beyond it, in the King's Chamber in the 50th course of masonry, Khufu was probably buried, This chamber, which measures meters long, 5.20 meters wide and 5.80 meters high, is truly a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian architecture, made entirely of pink granite. It had to be built to resist an enormous amount of pressure. Its flat ceiling is composed of nine huge blocks with a combined weight of over four hundred tons. Above it are no less than five, carefully designed relief chambers which, in modern times, were discovered by the crude act of using dynamite to create an intrusive passageway. So well designed is this structure that, over the past four and a half millennia, there has only been one small crack develop in the ceiling slabs near the south wall.
The relief chambers are low, each only a few feet high, and their flat upper covering consists of huge, roughly cut blocks of pink granite. Only the highest of the chambers have saddle ceilings. Their side walls are made of limestone and granite. Here, on the walls of these chambers, many builders marks were preserved, along with the graffiti of modern visitors. Petrie claims to have found a cattle census of the seventeenth year, which would have, if proven, be the latest dating of Khufu's reign. It should be noted that the markings in the relief chambers, which were never meant to be entered, provide us with the most compelling evidence of the ownership of the pyramid.

21. QUEENS CHAMBER

22. SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBER “bottomless” pit
This room under the great pyramid is a mystery. Some people believe that this room was left unfinished for religious reasons. Others believe that it was originally meant to be the burial chamber of Khufu, but that the architects changed their minds. Finally, some people believe that this room was built to fool tomb robbers and lead them away from the real burial chamber.

23. THE SPHINX Carved from Giza bedrock Body of lion, head of Khafre
Guardian of the Pyramids
Carved from Giza bedrock
Body of lion, head of Khafre
The most enigmatic of sculptures, the Sphinx was carved from a single block of limestone left over in the quarry used to build the Pyramids. Scholars believe it was sculpted about 4,600 years ago by the pharaoh Khafre, whose Pyramid rises directly behind it and whose face may be that represented on the Sphinx.
Half human, half lion, the Sphinx is 240 feet long and 66 feet high. Badly eroded, it has undergone numerous restorations over the millennia, beginning with one conducted about 1400 B.C. by the pharaoh Tuthmosis IV, who dreamt that the Sphinx asked him to clear the sand around it in return for the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Sphinx has recently undergone a major modern restoration.
The Great Sphinx is to the northeast of Khafre's (Chephren) Valley Temple. Where it sits was once a quarry. We believe that Khafre's workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their king's face over 4,500 years ago. Khafre's name was also mentioned on the Dream Stele, which sits between the paws of the great beast. However, no one is completely certain that it is in fact the face of Khafre, though indeed that is the preponderance of thought.

24. SPHINX UNCOVERED
Between 1925 and 1936, French engineer Emile Baraize excavated the Sphinx on behalf of the Antiquities Service, and apparently for the first time since antiquity, the great beast once again became exposed to the elements.

25. THE STELA LEGEND
It was King Thutmose IV ( BC) who placed a stela between the front paws of the figure. On it, Thutmose describes an event, while he was still a prince, when he had gone hunting and fell asleep in the shade of the sphinx. During a dream, the sphinx spoke to Thutmose and told him to clear away the sand. The sphinx told him that if he did this, he would be rewarded with the kingship of Egypt. Thutmose carried out this request and the sphinx held up his end of the bargain. Of course, over time, the great statue, the only single instance of a colossal sculpture carved in the round directly out of the natural rock, once again found itself buried beneath the sand.

26. * Erosion What’s missing??? Who “nose”???
There remains the possibility that the head has been remodeled at some time and thereby reduced in size, but on stylistic grounds alone this is not likely to have been done after the Old Kingdom times in ancient Egypt.
There is a hole in the top of the head, now filled in, that once provided support for additional head decoration. Depictions of the Sphinx from the latter days of ancient Egypt show a crown or plumes on the top of the head, but these were not necessarily part of the original design. The top of the head is flatter, however, than later Egyptian sphinxes.
The body is meters in length and meters tall. The face of the sphinx is four meters wide and its eyes are two meters high. The mouth is about two meters wide, while the nose would have been more than 1.5 meters long. The ears are well over one meter high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose, the lower ear and the ritual beard are now missing, while the eyes have been pecked out. The beard from the sphinx is on displayed in the British Museum.

27. RESTORE? REPAIR? CONSERVE?
What to do with the Sphinx?

28. SPHINX RECREATED

29. GIZA RECREATED
On the right you can see the pyramid of Khufu with the three subsidiary 'Queens pyramids' and Mastabas tombs. To the left is the pyramid of Khafra. In the foreground you can see the Sphinx temple (right) and the valley temple of Khafra. (left)