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, er.. 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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