This is the classic pyramid that people think of when they hear
the word "pyramid". It's the one that is supposed to sharpen razor-blades
left inside and the one where Napoleon spent the night in 1798,
but never told anyone what happened saying "you'd never believe
me" (my guess is that nothing happened, but if he said this, err....
people wouldn't have believed it).
The ancient entrance is that obvious hole about 1/4 of the way up.
It goes downwards into the pyramid at an angle. The actual current
entrance is to the lower-right of the large sealed up entrance where
there's a small group of people.
This pyramid is made of around 2.3 million blocks of stone at an
average of about 2.5 tons each. Mainly they are limestone, including
all of the outside stone, but granite is used internally, such as
in the King's Chamber where its strength is needed. The largest
visible slabs are used in the ceiling of the King's Chamber, at
up to 50 tons each.
The pyramid is known as the "Great Pyramid of Giza", Giza is around
12 kilometres from Cairo. It was built in the reign of the pharaoh
Khufu (also known as Cheops to the Greeks), in the fourth Egyptian
dynasty about 2600 BC.
The Greek historian Herodotus said in the 5th century BC that the
great pyramid was never used as a tomb by Cheops and that he was
buried somewhere else.
It is thought that the pyramid was first entered (after it had been
closed) around 820 AD. The story (unconfirmed) has it that only
an empty granite coffin was found.
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