Egyptian Pyramids at Giza
...a, which is southwest of modern Cairo, is home to the Great Pyramid. This pyramid was built for King Khufu, during the time of the Old Kingdom, and completed around 2550 BC. It contains approximately 2,300,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2.5 tons each, with some up to 15 tons. Its base covers over 13 acres of land. Its sides measure 230 meters in length. The structure would have towered about 146.6 meters high, but it is now a little shorter since the outer casing having been removed during the Middle Ages to build many of Cairo's buildings. It originally stood over 481 feet high; today it is 450 feet high. (Smithsonian) Two other major pyramids were built at Giza. The first was built for King Khufu’s son, King Khafre. The other was built for Khafre’s successor, Menkaure. The widely known Sphinx is also located at Giza. The Sphinx is a 73 meter long statue of a lion’s body with a human head. It was carved during the time of Khafre. The construction of pyramids is still uncertain. It is known that the Egyptians owned tools made of copper. Such tools included chisels, drills, and saws that may have been used to cut the softer stone. Researches are not clear on how the hard granite was cut. Some speculate that sand was used in combination with the copper tools. To make the perimeter of the pyramids flat, water trenches were used to make sure the ground was level. A tomb painting shows a picture of how huge stone blocks were moved on sledges across ground made slippery by liquids. The stones were pulled up ramps and place on the pyramid. After all the stones were in place, an outer layer of casing stones were placed over top and the ramps were dismantled. (Aldred) The stones primarily came from the Giza plateau. Some of the limestone, which was used for casing, was shipped over from Tura, located across the Nile. Some rooms with cased with granite that came from Aswan. In the fifth century B.C., Heroditus, a Greek historian reported that his Egyptian guides told him 100,000 men were employed for three months a year for 20 years to build the Great Pyramid. Many modern estimates believe the number of workers to be much smaller.( Smithsonian) After the construction of these large pyramids, resources for building structures of this size became scarce. That is why the pyramids built after the ones of Giza were both smaller and more poorly made. These smaller pyramids continued to be built for over 1,000 years. Many have been discovered, but many were destroyed and are now buried under the sand. After the Old Kingdom, came the Middle Kingdom. The kings of the Middle Kingdom began to build themselves pyramids. What they did not realize was the fact that buil...