"Visiting card" of Egypt is the pyramids. There are about hundreds of them - large and small, with smooth and stepped sides that have survived virtually unchanged and more look like a shapeless heap of stones. They are located along the left, West Bank of the Nile in small groups near the place, where in the era of the old Kingdom was the capital of the country - Memphis. The most famous of the pyramids are on the outskirts of Cairo, on the edge of the desert plateau of Giza, looming over the green valley of the Nile. Here at Giza, there are three great pyramids - Cheops, Chephren and Menkaure.
In ancient times, the pyramids of Giza were considered one of the seven "wonders of the world" (Levy 6). But today, they are still able to impress anyone. The largest of them - the pyramid of Cheops, built in honor to the second Pharaoh of the fourth dynasty. This pyramid still remains the greatest architectural work of human hands. At the base it is a square with a side of 227,5 meters. During construction, height was 146,6 meters, and now the pyramid is 9 meters below - the upper stones fell during the earthquake (Trumpp 65). For the construction of a pyramid (and it was completed around 2590 BC ) 2.3 million stone blocks weighing two and a half tons each were used. The total volume of the pyramid is 2,34 million cubic meters. Sides of the pyramid are oriented to the cardinal points, and the angle to the base equals 51o52'. The entrance is on the North side. The individual blocks, according to the Arab historian Abdul Latif (XII century), is so exactly fitted to each other that a knife blade can not be stick between them (Dunn, 108).
The construction of the pyramid was carried out under the guidance of renowned architect of Chefren for 20 years. According to ancient sources, the peasants, free from field work time during the flooding of the Nile, were involved in its construction only three months out of the year (Rodriguez 530). But this does not preclude the work of a small number of professionals who prepared the scope of work for thousands of seasonal builders-farmers.
The great Pyramid was built of granite covered with limestone. The outer surface was smooth and non-separable, which gave the pyramid type of structure like it was lowered from heaven. But the white facing stones were looted, and now to the apex, which is missing the center stone, can be reached by climbing up through the layers of rocks like steps.
First who told the world about the pyramids, was the "father of history" - Herodotus. He visited Egypt, 2,000 years after the alleged construction of the pyramids, in the fifth century before Christ (Wheeler 385).
Inside of the great pyramid, there are no inscriptions or decorations. There are three burial chambers. The burial chamber of the Pharaoh is a room with a length of about 11 meters, a width of five meters and a height of almost six meters. The walls of the tomb are finished in granite slabs. The sarcophagus of red granite, is empty. Neither the mummy nor funerary utensils were found. It is assume that the pyramid was plundered in ancient times.
On the South side of the pyramid there is the building shaped like a ship. This is so-called Solar boat - one of five on which Cheops had to go to the underworld. In 1954, a 43,6 m boat dismantled into 1224 pieces, was found during excavations. It is built from cedar wood without a single nail and, as evidenced by preserved the traces of silt, before the death of Cheops it still floated on the Nile.
The second largest pyramid in Giza belongs to Pharaoh Chephren. It was built 40 years later than the first. Sometimes it seems that the pyramid is even bigger than the Cheops. Actually it's a little smaller. Side of the square base of the pyramid of Chefren is 215 meters. Height - 136 meters. However, in ancient times, like the pyramid of Cheops, it was 9 meters higher. The tilt angle is sharper than the first pyramid: 53o8' (Bunson 322).
Before the temple, there was a pier where boats floating on the canal from the Nile moored. Two entrances to the temple were guarded, obviously, four Sphinxes, carved out of granite. In the middle of the temple there probably was the statue of the Pharaoh. From both entrances, there were the narrow corridors that led to riposte with sixteen monolithic columns of granite. In this room, having the shape of an inverted letter T, twenty-three seated statues of the Pharaoh, made of alabaster, slate and diorite are standing. There is the color game of polished red granite, contrasting with the alabaster slabs of the floor, as well as the effects of light and shade in hypostyle. This room, now devoid of overlap, was covered originally with a small hole in the ceiling through which light incident separately on each statue.
Completes the ensemble of the great pyramids of Giza the pyramid of Menkaure. Its construction was completed in 2505 BC. This pyramid is significantly smaller than its predecessors. The side of the base is 108 meters, the initial height of 66.5 m (today - 62 m), the angle is 51o . Interestingly, the largest size blocks were used for the construction of this smallest of the three pyramids. The lower part of the tomb was lined with granite, in most cases not polished, and its top is a white limestone from Tura. In 1837, British explorers Perring and Visa found the magnificent Royal sarcophagus of basalt in the burial chamber of the pyramid, the walls of which were treated like facade of the Palace. This sarcophagus was drowned during its transportation to England; preserved, however, its picture. Mikerin was not only the smallest pyramid, but also the least monumental funerary complex in comparison with ensembles of his predecessors.
No doubt that during the life of this Pharaoh it was not yet built. It was completed by his successor Shepseskaf, using worse quality building material. Walls were built with limestone blocks that were lined with brick-and covered with a white vinegar solution (Rigano 188). On the south of the third pyramid, there are three associated with it small pyramids, surrounded by a common wall. The footprint of each of them is equal to 1/3 the area of the base of the pyramid of Menkaure. It is considered that these pyramids were for the wifes of Pharaoh. In one of the premises associated with the pyramid of Menkaure, during excavations the American archaeologist Reisner discovered four sculptural groups from oil shale, now called the triad of Menkaure. Three of them are now in Cairo, one in Boston (Michałowski 71).
The pyramid of Menkaure emphasizes the greatness of the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren. Last is easy to distinguish from others: the pyramid of Khafre near the top of the partially preserved white basalt veneer.
After years of research, scientists have shown how pyramids were created. The stone blocks were cut down in the mountain of Mokattam on the other side of the Nile. Ancient quarries are clearly visible even now. Then, they were taken to the courts in Giza, specially dug for this channel. Recently, archaeologists have found berth near the pyramids. The blocks were dragged to the pyramid by a sloping earthen mounds.
The great pyramids are part of the vast necropolis of Giza. Beside them, there are several small pyramids, where the wives of pharaohs are buried, the tombs of the priests and government officials. At the foot of the Giza plateau, there are funerary temples and the Great Sphinx.
Each of the great pyramids had a triune complex: the lower funerary temple - road - top funerary temple. But still this complex is in a more or less complete form only at the pyramid of Chephren. The cobbled road from the lower Church, where the embalming was carried out, to the top, where the burial was facing the Pharaoh, stretches over half a kilometer. Near the bottom of the granite temple, deprived of the roof, lie the ruins of the temple of the Sphinx. And behind them if to look at the East , there is the ancient guardian of the pyramids - the Great Sphinx. The Sphinx is resting lion with a human head (Mamluk soldiers blew his nose), is the largest monolithic sculpture. Its length is 73 meters, height - 20 meters. It is believed that the Sphinx was carved during the construction of the pyramid of Khafre, and his face bears the features of this Pharaoh.
Every night, at the foot of the pyramid, a colorful light and music show is hosted. Enjoying magnificent spectacle, viewers hear the fascinating story of Ancient Egypt, the history of the construction of the pyramids.
Saqqara and Memphis
30 kilometers South of Giza, there is another famous necropolis, Saqqara. There are dozens of relatively small tombs, pyramids, and temples. But this place is famous because of pyramid of Djoser. A six-step tomb of Djoser is the oldest Egyptian pyramid. This was not a classic pyramid, in essence, it was a combination of several tombs-mastabas. Mastaba - a rectangular structure with sloping walls and a flat top. It resembles the shape of a bench, in Arabic - "mastaba", which now can be found in the peasant dwellings. Djoser, the first Pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty, who lived 4700 years ago, commissioned the construction of a pyramid to architect Imhotep, who created the amazing simplicity and grandeur of the building - he put six mastabas one on another, decreasing upwards (Berney et al. 632). This pyramid, called by scientists "the mother of the pyramids," is the world's first Grand structure of stone (area of base 160 x 120 m, height 60 m). The main rooms of the tomb were under the mastaba. It was a series of chambers carved in the rocky soil. One of them was a sarcophagus with a mummy and the things needed on the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, to continue life in the afterlife. Now there is an exact copy of a small statue of Djoser. The real statue is in the Egyptian Museum.
Saqqara is the necropolis of the first capital of the United by Pharaoh Menes of Egypt - Memphis. Unfortunately, from a big bustling city that flourished for three millennia, almost nothing left. With the founding of Alexandria, Memphis began to decline. As a result of last century, 20-meter statue of Ramses II and a relatively small alabaster of Sphinx were also discovered.
The pyramids are probably the most famous architectural structures in the world. From an engineering point of view, it is a primitive building. However, the goal was achieved - the pyramids are eternal monuments, having survived the millennium.
Works Cited
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Dunn, Jerry Camarillo. The World's Greatest Landmarks. Lincolnwood, Ill.: PIL/Publications International, 2002. Print.
Levy, Janey. The Great Pyramid Of Giza. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2007. Print.
Michałowski, Kazimierz. Great Sculpture Of Ancient Egypt. New York: Reynal & Co. in association with W. Morrow, 1978. Print.
Rigano, Charles. Pyramids Of The Giza Plateau. Print.
Rodriguez, Junius P. The Historical Encyclopedia Of World Slavery. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1997. Print.
Trumpp, Hans-Joachim. Master Plan Of The Pyramid Of Cheops. Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2014. Print.
Wheeler, James Talboys. The Geography Of Herodotus London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854. Print.
