The Pyramids Today, Friday, we went to the Pyramids and Sphinx These were built in the fourth dynasty which was founded by Cheops in 2686 BC. The Great Pyramid was built for Cheops and he employed as many as 27,000 workers from all over Egypt for the construction. So at any one time, more than 1% of the total population of Egypt was employed by the Pharaoh for this construction. Contrary to popular belief, they were not slaves. They were well paid workers who were also well cared for with excellent food and accommodations and good medical care - better than working conditions for most workers today. The workers village was only discovered fairly recently - in 2000 - and a lot was learned about the working conditions from the village as well as from the medical clinics. The size of the village confirmed that there were between 25,000 and 27,000 living there at any one time. They were roughly the equivalent of modern fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers, who came and worked for a specific period, and then went home with lots of money. Over a period of only twenty years, the workers laid about 2,300,000 stones. The lightest stone was about 2.5 tonnes and the largest sandstone block was 15 tonnes. The rooms and shafts were built of granite, and the large granite blocks in the walls, floor and roof of the rooms weighed up to 40 tonnes. All of this done without modern machinery or cranes. Although there are many theories, we still can not work out how the work was done. What can be seen, however, is that it was done to perfection - something which slave labour would never achieve. There is evidence that the workers competed with each other in teams and took great pride in their work. They were working for their God/King (The representative of the Gods on Earth), and it was an honour to be allowed to do so. The entire visible surface of the Great Pyramid is now sandstone, but it was previously coated with limestone and highly polished. There was also a cap of gold covering the top of each pyramid. This was to reflect the suns rays in tribute to the God Ra (Sun God). There are eight other pyramids around the Great Pyramid - two others for Pharaohs, and the rest for wives and daughters. The second pyramid was for Cheops son and successor Kefren. This pyramid is quite distinctive as it still has part of the limestone coating over its apex. It is built on slightly higher ground, but is not as tall (mathematical details for you other nerds will follow), even though its apex appears to be higher. There is a secret (well - not any more) tunnel from an underground chamber under Chepos to a similar underground chamber under Kefren. Cheops probably would not have known where Kefren would choose to place his pyramid, so this tunnel was most likely commissioned by Kefren. The third largest pyramid is for Micrinis, Kefrens son and successor. This pyramid was much smaller, because the expenditure on his fathers and grandfathers pyramids didnt leave him much of an inheritance. However, the smaller size had it advantages. This meant that it was possible to cover this pyramid with a layer of granite stones - something which would have been too difficult and expensive for the larger pyramids. Again distinctive, as there still remain many of these granite blocks around the lower third of the pyramid. Then there are six other, smaller pyramids. Three are just behind Cheops for his favourite wife and two daughters. Three are just behind Micrinis for his favourite wife and two daughters. It is possible that daughters were also wives... It helps keep the blood-line pure... Finally, there is the Sphinx. This was carved out of a block of sandstone which still remained from the quarry where Kefrens blocks came from. It was a huge block of stone which was not attractive enough (even though it would have been covered by limestone - these guys and their employees were perfectionists), so Kefren told his quarry master to either remove the block or to make it decorative. Carving the sphinx was to be quicker, simpler and much less expensive, so it was made with Kefrens likeness. Enough of the history - this is what we did this morning... Drove to the pyramids and Rania told us some of the history about the Great Pyramid. We then went up to an entrance and climbed into the main burial chamber. The first part of this climb is a steep, narrow, low roofed shaft. You have to bend very low, but not crawl. This ends at a landing, with a second shaft going back down. The main shaft up from here is steeper, a little wider and much higher - the roof of this shaft is about 4-5 metres over head. Down both sides is a smooth shelf for the full length of this shaft at about waist height. We walk up a stepped sloping path between these slides, to a flat landing at the top. From that landing, there is a smaller, narrower flat tunnel about 20 metres to the main burial chamber. The chamber itself is a large rectangular room with a high ceiling. At the end of the room is a granite sarcophagus without a lid. Everything is simple, plane and flat. There are no paintings or carvings on the walls, no monuments or statues, no designs of any sort and no decoration. There is, however, the stunning workmanship. Angles are perfect right angles. Joins between blocks are almost imperceptible (except where there has been damage by modern scientists). Proportions are clean and comfortable (I will need to do some research to find out if the room is based on the golden ratio - but it would not surprise me). The blocks are huge, but they have been fitted perfectly. Purely from a mechanical or engineering viewpoint, just this one chamber is amazing. But there is more to this very plane room - there is a sense of awe inspired just by being there. All of the walls, floor and roof of chambers and tunnels are granite, as are the slides in the final sloping shaft. The purpose of the ledges or slides in this shaft was to slide a huge block down to seal the tunnel once the Pharaoh was in his sarcophagus. The block would have been supported at the flat landing, and when the time came, the honoured chosen workers would push the block from its support, onto the slides, and it would slide down the steep slope until it hit the bottom where it would be a perfect fit to the entrance to this shaft, and from the other side, it would look like part of the wall, giving no clue to the fact that this was the entrance to the burial chamber. This is all very well, but there is a problem... Once the burial chamber was found, there was no mummy, no riches, no wall paintings or carvings and no sign of looting. So it is believed that Chepos was not actually buried in this chamber. There is another chamber directly above this one, which is believed to have been the wifes burial chamber, which also has five other rooms immediately above. There is also the underground chamber (with the secret tunnel to Kefrens) directly below, but so far, there has been no sign of another chamber ever found. Just another mystery of the Great Pyramid... After climbing in and out (pretty hard work), we then drove up past the other two pyramids to a viewing point for photos, and to have a camel ride. Rania has friends among the various tourism providers, so we got to ride a couple of friendly healthy camels, with Kareem by our side. Lots of fun, a rough ride and great exercise for the lower back. (After last years surgery, this exercise might just be what I needed - I hope) We then drove around to the Sphinx and got some more photos. Then, on the way back home, we stopped at a Papyrus shop where they demonstrate how papyrus is made - the same way for thousands of years. It makes great paper, which is waterproof, can be machine washed (as long as you dont mind losing any pictures painted on it), and is very tough. The more it is washed and worked, the softer and more flexible it becomes, without losing its strength. Fantastic stuff... Then to the local markets to buy some food. What a different culture. Most of the food is on stalls or donkey-drawn carts on a dirt street. Lots of live animals for sale - ducks, chickens, rabbits, sheep and goats (we saw the mamals yesterday, but not today, so no photos) and other foods which we rarely see in Australia. It was sad to see the conditions for some of the animals - the only consolation is that they will not have to suffer much longer - tonight they will be someones dinner. As I write, Rania is making Tahini and Baba Ganoug from raw ingredients - and Kylie is taking notes. Damn - another blackout just started - see my previous post about the sabotage. I am glad I am writing this in a Pages document on the iPad before trying to upload to Facebook. ...and that I have all devices fully charged... Cooking is done with gas, so we will still be eating tonight - Grilled fish and prawns - all caught yesterday and last night in the Mediterranean, and trucked down on ice early this morning, in the coolest part of the night. We know it is fresh, because you cant keep anything for a day in this heat - the local fish shop gets their supply in very early morning, keep it on ice and sell till they sell out - then they close for the day. Baba Ganoug and vegetables to round it out... BTW - the Pharaohs names were not what we use today. Todays names were the Greek names given to these Pharaohs, but their original Egyptian names were quite different... Cheops (pronounced Kheops) = Khnm Khw F We Kefren (pronounced as it looks) = Khaa F Raa Micrinis (again phoenetic) = Mn Kwo Raa I cant even pretend to be able to give you the pronunciation of these Egyptian names ;-) Now for the other nerds (like myself) I mentioned that the Pyramids have 2,300,000 blocks. It took 20 years. The workers were working three shifts a day, eight hour shifts. So they were building 24 hours per day. That works out to one block every six minutes! Dont forget that even the lightest blocks were 2.5 tonnes. To make this even more incredible, the top of the pyramid is 168 metres up, and they had to somehow get that final block all that way up (by means that we still dont understand). The pyramid was incredibly well designed - such that it will not collapse. The collapse angle for rocks of this sort is 51 degrees 52 minutes. It just so happens that the architects designed these pyramids to exactly that angle, and then the engineers and builders built them perfectly to the right angle. Now for those who are a little lost here - the collapse angle is this - If you drop a whole lot of rocks into a single pile, the pile will stop collapsing when the surfaces have reaches the collapse angle. At this point, the pile of rubble is perfectly stable and will not collapse any further. By building the pyramid to this angle, it is actually more stable than if it were built to a lower angle, because the weight of the rock above stabilises the rock below. This makes the outside surface very stable, without the need for any cement. These piles of blocks are made stable by their own design and weight. The base of the Great Pyramid is about 13 hectares. So the sides of the base are about 114 metres long. The sides of each of the pyramids face perfectly north, south, east and west. Sadly, for the true believers, so far, nobody has ever been able to demonstrate any magical or mystical power generated by or within the Great Pyramid. But, some might say that this is because we havent tried in the still missing true burial chamber... Maybe, the reason it cant be found is because of the magical power of the pyramid... Having said that, climbing to the main chamber is breathtaking, and you do experience a sense of awe just being there - an experience not to be missed.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 20:50:52 +0000
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