The
construction of the
great
pyramid is also famous for its accuracy. At the base the average length
of the
four sides is 755 feet (230.12 meters). The difference between the
shortest
baselines is just eight inches (20 centimeters), and the four corners
make
almost perfect right angles to within a fraction of one degree. By
observing
the stars, the builders of the Great Pyramids were able to align its
sides to
face the cardinal points of the compass, also to within fractions of a
degree.
With an angle of elevation of 520 the Great Pyramid rises to
a
height of nearly 490 feet (150 meters).
Sir
Flinders Petrie, the
great
archeologist, calculated that 100,000 men transported the blocks to the
site
and another 4000 worked on the actual construction.
The
actual constructional
methods were simple, yet accurate. To level the Pyramids bedrock
foundation,
the base area was surrounded by mud and then filled in with water.
Trenches
were dug in the rock floor at equal depth from the rock surface. Then
the water
was run off and the rock chipped away to the level of the trenches.
This was
how they leveled the foundation to the accuracy of half an inch.
The
limestone blocks used
for
construction were quarried in the Mokkatam Hills. The Egyptians in
those days
had no pulleys or cranes to lift the heavy stone blocks. They used an
inclined
plane - a long ramp built to cover one side of the pyramid. Legend and
popular
belief also suggests that the Egyptians might have used levitation
(mental
powers) to move these heavy stones for building.
The
inside of the pyramid
was
built around a vertical core of masonry. The core was then cased with
limestone
blocks to give a stepped effect. The steps were then filled in with
'packing
blocks' and lastly the sides were dressed with smooth facing stones.
In the
centre of the great
Pyramid lies Cheops burial chamber. Built of granites it measures 34 by
17 feet
(10.5 by 5.3 meters) and is 19 feet (5.8 meters) high. The Kings
Granite
sarcophagus (Coffin) still lies in the room's west side. From the
entrance on
the North face of the Pyramid, a corridor descended into the foundation
rock,
leading to an uncompleted burial chamber. This continues into a wide
ascending
passage, called the grand gallery at the top of which is the King's
burial
chamber.
Cheop's
Pyramid is
surrounded
by rows of low, flat tombs called 'mastabas' and three small pyramids
in which
his family and high officials were buried. By the south wall is an
underground
chamber, discovered in 1954, which contained Cheop's funeral ship
(Egyptians
believed the spirit had to travel to reach heaven and they provided a
ship to
sail, food, clothes and even buried servants to help him), untouched
since
being placed there 4600 years before.
The
Pyramid of Chephren,
the
second great pyramid, lies to the South-West of the great Pyramid and
is only
slightly smaller 460 feet (140 meters) high and 709 feet (216 meters)
square,
with a slightly steeper angle of elevation. Unlike Cheops Pyramid,
which has the
top limestone facing completely stripped off, the Pyramid of Chephren
has its
limestone facing intant.
The
third and the smallest
Giza
Pyramid, lies South-West of the Pyramid of Chephren. It is the Pyramid
of
Mycerinus. It is 354 feet square (108 meters) and 230 feet (70 meters)
high,
and needed less than 1/10th of the limestone used for each of the other
pyramids. It was faced both in pink granite and limestone.
Apart
from its pyramids.
"The Sphinx" is the most famous feature of Giza. It is carved out of
rock in the form of a lion with a human head. It was a portrait of
Chephren. It
was also considered to be representing the Sun-God and was worshipped.
The
Sphinx is 66 feet (20
meters) high and 240 feet (73 meters) long. It guards the way to the
Pyramid of
Chephren. The evolution of the Pyramids is related to the Egyptian Sun
Worship.
For them a Pyramidal shaped stone represented the Sun God and was
called,
"ben ben".
Its
slanting sides
represented
the sun's rays and was regarded as the stairway for the dead king to
reach
heaven. The Egyptians believed that the soul of the deceased takes time
to
reach the heavenly destination after death and they did their best to
help
their pharoahs, even after life. They treated and worshipped their
kings life
Gods.
In the
burial chamber
along
with the mummyfied (preserved) dead body in it's sarcophagus, great
treasures
of Gold and Silver were kept along with large supplies of food and
clothing.
Sometimes even the personal servants were also buried along with the
Pharoah so
that they can serve him in the afterlife also.
The
walls of the burial
chambers were elaborately decorated with paintings and pyramid texts in
hierographics. They consisted of collection of Egyptian mortuary
prayers, hymns
and spells intended to protect a dead King or Queen and ensure life and
sustenance in the life after death and even some magical spells.
Egyptians had many Gods,
in
human, animal and material forms representing the powers of nature and
abstract
ideas. These Gods were also painted on the walls of the burial chambers.
Also,
"The book of the dead" was
placed beside the dead body. It contained spells written on papyrus
(paper).
These texts constitute the oldest surviving body of religious and
funeral
writing available to modern scholars. The famous pyramids of Giza still
stand
as a monument to the great civilization of the Egyptian Pharoahs many
centuries
ago.