The Great Pyramids of Egypt.

The pyramids in Egypt were built in the time when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world. They were built from the beginning of the old kingdom to the close of the Ptolemaic period in the fourth century and they still stand as representation of the country’s days of glory.

The pyramids were built to be great tombs for the kings (pharaohs) then who were believed to have been chosen by the gods themselves to serve as their mediators on earth and that when the king died, part of his soul remained in his body. The corpse was therefore mummified and the king was buried with everything they needed in the afterlife. The kings were also believed to become gods when they died therefore the new king became the falcon god who served as the protector of the sun god, Ra.

Contrary to common knowledge, there are over 100 pyramids in Egypt, the commonest being the Great pyramids of Giza.

The Giza pyramid complex which is located in Giza, Egypt used to be one of the 7 wonders of the world. It comprises of the Great pyramid of Giza( Khufu), the pyramid of Khafre, the pyramid of Menkaure and the Great Sphinx of Giza. Khufu, Khufe and Menkaure were constructed under the order of the kings. The three smaller pyramids were built for queens.

The great pyramid of Giza was once the tallest human built structure with a square base of 230m sides and original height of 147. The pyramid is made of an estimated 2.3 million large blocks of stone which were quarried, moved and put together to form the structure. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian says it took about 100000 laborers and 20 years of construction to finish the structure. The core was made of yellowish limestone blocks, the outer casing and inner passages of light colored limestone and the burial chamber ( king’s chamber) was built with blocks of granite.