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The pyramids of Cheops
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The largest pyramid ever built in Egypt was known as the
horizon of Cheops this buildings astonishing in the
precision of its execution rightly heads the list of the
seven wonders of the ancient world it is 760 ft 230.38 m
square and the sides diverge from the average length
only by a maximum 4 1\4 in 11 cm at the top of the
structure the divergence is a mere 3\4 in 2.1 cm.
The pyramid of Cheops originally rose to a height of 479
ft 146.6 m , but the top and pyramidion capping it are
now missing entailing a loss in height of some 32 ft 10
m.
Apart from some small remnants, the facing blocks of
white time stone from the quarries of Tura on the
eastern bank of the main part of the masonry the
builders of the local numulithic limestone, each
weighing 2.5 tones, rising above one another in 210
courses.
The northern entrance now used is a tomb robbers
passageway from the caliphate period, situated slightly
below the original point of access. After about 1241\2
ft 38 m, a narrow corridor leads into the great gallery,
from which a horizontal passage branches off into a
burial chamber from the first phase of building.
At the far end of the great gallery a short passage then
leads to the final burial chamber, where the empty
sarcophagus of the ruler still stands. Unlike the
pyramid, the cult buildings on the eastern side are
poorly preserved. Little remains of the mortuary temple
except the black basalt paving of the courtyard.
Three smaller pyramids for the queens rise directly
beside the main pyramid. Huge boat pits were dug on both
sides of the mortuary temple and at the start of the
causeway now destroyed to the valley temple.
Two more pits on the southern side of the pyramid still
contained the dismantled mortuary boats of Cheops, one
of which has been reassembled and is exhibited where it
was found, in a special museum building over the old
boat pit.
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The great
gallery |
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Leading diagonally upward, this monumental gallery is
154 ft 47 m long, and as a narrowing corbel vault the
last room ever built in this style in seven courses,
roofed at the top with horizontally laid stone slabs.
The enormous dimension of the hall are explained by the
fact that the stone blocks some 25 of them required to
close the lower part of the corridor after small lateral
niches on the walls mark the places which supported
massive wooden beams to positions these blocks and
prevent them from slipping prematurely out of place
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The
portcullis system in the pyramid of Cheops |
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a short passageway only 4 ft 1.10 m high begins at the
end of the great gallery, and leads into a long chamber
containing three granite slabs poised to drop and seal
off access.
The burial chamber lies beyond them. Since the building
of the bent pyramid of Snefru, a device consisting of
three stone slabs placed one after another had been part
of the design; the idea was to block the corridor to the
burial chamber and protect the dead ruler’s resting
place.
However, even this obstacle could not ultimately foil tomb robbers: they
either went around the stone slabs or chiseled a way
through them.
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The
burial chamber |
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The burial chamber in the pyramid of Cheops, measuring
33 * 17 ft 10.50 * 5.20 m is a good 138 ft 42 m above
ground level, and was built entirely of red granite.
The nine mighty monolithic slabs of the ceiling alone have a span of 17
1\2 ft 5.5 m , and each weighs between 30 and 40 tones 7
ft;2.30 m long , which once contained other interior
coffins and the mummy, stands not quite centrally in the
room.
It must have been brought in during the buildings work, since it would not
have fitted along any of the corridors. The two narrow
shafts leading out of the north and south walls were not
to provide ventilation, but had a symbolic function:
they were to ensure that the pharaoh’s transfigured
spirit could rise to the stars.
Five weight-relieving chambers still accessible) with a gabled (saddle)
roof over them were built above the burial chamber;
modern calculation have shown that this was a rather
excessive measure to relieve the huge weight of the
stone.
Quarry inscriptions bearing the name of Cheops have been found on the
blocks of masonry in the weight-relieving chambers, and
prove for certain that he was the king for whom the
pyramid was intended.
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The western cemetery at Giza |
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The layout of the pyramid complex as a whole reflected
the social hierarchy of the country, which was expected
to be maintained as before in the next world.
In line with the divine position of the kings the pyramids as royal tombs,
tower above all other buildings.
The queen’s pyramids are considerably more modest in
size.
Court officials had themselves buried in their mastaba
tombs around the pyramids of Cheops.
At the time of Cheops and Chephren, burial in the
various sections of the cemetery followed a clearly
organized plan. The eastern area, near the pyramid of
Cheops was reserved for members of the royal family,
while the courtiers were assigned to the western
cemetery.
However, the grid – like pattern of the tombs was to a great extent
impaired by annexes and additional structures built on
to them in the late old Kingdom period.
The super structure of a large mastaba consisted of
limestone blocks with faced, slightly sloping outer
sides.
A cult chapel with an offerings dish lay in front of its
eastern side; the shafts to the underground burial
chamber led down from the main superstructure.
It was in the core area of the western cemetery that Hermann Junker
carried out most of his excavations; he was extremely
successful there between 1912 and 1929, working on
behalf of both the academy of Sciences and the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
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