(Khufu) is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, the only one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” that has survived to this day. It is assumed that construction, which lasted twenty years, ended around 2540 BC. e. Dozens are known Egyptian pyramids. On the Giza plateau, the largest of them are the pyramids of Cheops (Khufu), Khafre (Khafre) and Mikerin (Menkaure). Architect Great Pyramid believed to be Hemiun, vizier and nephew of Cheops. He also bore the title "Manager of all Pharaoh's construction projects." For more than three thousand years (until the construction of Lincoln Cathedral, England, around 1300), the pyramid was the tallest building on Earth.
In Egypt, the date for the start of construction of the Cheops Pyramid is officially established and celebrated - August 23, 2470 BC. e. However, this date should not be considered a true historical event, since there is no serious evidence, and the sources are so scarce that Egyptologists cannot even agree on the exact year in which construction began.
Pyramid of Cheops in the 19th century
- Height (today): ≈ 138.75 m
- Side Angle: 51° 50"
- Side rib length (original): 230.33 m (calculated) or about 440 royal cubits
- Side fin length (current): approx. 225 m
- The length of the sides of the base of the pyramid: south - 230.454 m; north - 230.253 m; west - 230.357 m; east - 230.394 m.
- Foundation area (initially): ≈ 53,000 m² (5.3 ha)
- Lateral surface area of the pyramid (initially): ≈ 85,500 m²
- Base perimeter: 922 m.
- Total volume of the pyramid without deducting the cavities inside the pyramid (initially): ≈ 2.58 million m³
- Total volume of the pyramid, after subtracting all known cavities (initially): 2.50 million m³
- Average size of observed stone blocks: 1.0 m in width, height and depth (but most are rectangular in shape.)
- Average weight of stone blocks: 2.5 tons
- Heaviest stone block: 15 t
- Number of blocks: about 2.5 million.
- According to estimates, the total weight of the pyramid: about 6.25 million tons
- The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rocky elevation in the center about 9 m high.
About the pyramid
Map of the necropolis near the Cheops pyramid
The pyramid is called "Akhet-Khufu" - "Horizon of Khufu" (or more accurately "Related to the sky - (it is) Khufu"). Consists of blocks of limestone, basalt and granite. It was built on a natural hill. Despite the fact that the Cheops pyramid is the tallest and most voluminous of all the Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh Snefru still built the pyramids in Meidum and Dakhshut (Broken Pyramid and Pink Pyramid), the total mass of which is estimated at 8.4 million tons.
Surviving fragments of the pyramid's cladding and the remains of the pavement surrounding the building
The pyramid was originally lined with white limestone, which was harder than the main blocks. The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - pyramidion (ancient Egypt - "Benben"). The facing shone in the Sun with a peach color, like “a shining miracle to which the Sun God Ra himself seemed to give all his rays.” In 1168 AD. e. The Arabs sacked and burned Cairo. Residents of Cairo removed the cladding from the pyramid in order to build new houses.
Pyramid structure
Cross section of the Cheops pyramid:
The entrance to the pyramid is at an altitude of 15.63 meters on the north side. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch. This entrance to the pyramid was sealed with a granite plug. A description of this stopper can be found in Strabo. Today tourists get inside the pyramid through a 17 m gap, which was made in 820 by Caliph Abu Jafar al-Ma'mun. He hoped to find the pharaoh's countless treasures there, but found there only a layer of dust half a cubit thick.
Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, located one above the other.
Funeral "pit"
A 105 m long descending corridor running at an inclination of 26° 26'46 leads to an 8.9 m long horizontal corridor leading to the chamber 5 . Situated below ground level, in a rocky limestone bedrock, it remained unfinished. The dimensions of the chamber are 14x8.1 m, it extends from east to west. The height reaches 3.5 m. At the southern wall of the chamber there is a well about 3 m deep, from which south direction a narrow hole stretches for 16 m (0.7 × 0.7 m in cross-section), ending in a dead end. Engineers John Shae Perring and Howard Vyse at the beginning of the 19th century dismantled the floor of the chamber and dug a deep well 11.6 m deep, in which they hoped to discover a hidden burial chamber. They were based on the testimony of Herodotus, who claimed that the body of Cheops was on an island surrounded by a canal in a hidden underground chamber. Their excavations came to nothing. Later studies showed that the chamber was abandoned unfinished, and it was decided to build the burial chambers in the center of the pyramid itself.
Several photographs taken in 1910
Ascending Corridor and Queen's Chambers
From the first third of the descending passage (18 m from the main entrance), an ascending passage goes south at the same angle of 26.5° ( 6 ) about 40 m long, ending at the bottom of the Great Gallery ( 9 ).
At its beginning, the ascending passage contains 3 large cubic granite “plugs”, which from the outside, from the descending passage, were masked by a block of limestone that fell during the work of Al-Mamun. Thus, for the previous approximately 3 thousand years it was believed that there were no rooms in the Great Pyramid other than the descending passage and the underground chamber. Al-Ma'mun was unable to break through these plugs and simply carved out a bypass to the right of them in the softer limestone. This passage is still in use today. There are two main theories about traffic jams, one of them is based on the fact that the ascending passage has traffic jams installed at the beginning of construction and, therefore, this passage was sealed by them from the very beginning. The second claims that the current narrowing of the walls was caused by an earthquake, and the plugs were previously located within the Great Gallery and were used to seal the passage only after the funeral of the pharaoh.
An important mystery of this section of the ascending passage is that in the place where the plugs are now located, in the full-size, albeit shortened model of the pyramid passages - the so-called. test corridors north of the Great Pyramid - there is a junction of not two, but three corridors at once, the third of which is a vertical tunnel. Since no one has yet been able to move the plugs, the question of whether there is a vertical hole above them remains open.
In the middle of the ascending passage, the wall design has a peculiarity: in three places so-called “frame stones” were installed - that is, a square passage along the entire length pierces through three monoliths. The purpose of these stones is unknown.
A horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high leads to the second burial chamber from the lower part of the Great Gallery in a southerly direction. The second chamber is traditionally called the “Queen’s Chamber,” although according to the ritual the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids. The Queen's Chamber, lined with limestone, measures 5.74 meters from east to west and 5.23 meters from north to south; its maximum height is 6.22 meters. There is a high niche in the eastern wall of the chamber.
Grotto, Grand Gallery and Pharaoh's Chambers
Another branch from the lower part of the Great Gallery is a narrow, almost vertical shaft about 60 m high, leading to the lower part of the descending passage. There is an assumption that it was intended to evacuate workers or priests who were completing the “sealing” of the main passage to the “King’s Chamber.” Approximately in the middle of it there is a small, most likely natural extension - the “Grotto” (Grotto) of irregular shape, in which several people could fit at most. Grotto ( 12 ) is located at the “junction” of the masonry of the pyramid and a small, about 9 meters high, hill on the limestone plateau lying at the base of the Great Pyramid. The walls of the Grotto are partially reinforced by ancient masonry, and since some of its stones are too large, there is an assumption that the Grotto existed on the Giza plateau as an independent structure long before the construction of the pyramids, and the evacuation shaft itself was built taking into account the location of the Grotto. However, taking into account the fact that the shaft was hollowed out in the already laid masonry, and not laid out, as evidenced by its irregular circular cross-section, the question arises of how the builders managed to accurately reach the Grotto.
The large gallery continues the ascending passage. Its height is 8.53 m, it is rectangular in cross-section, with walls slightly tapering upward (the so-called “false vault”), a high inclined tunnel 46.6 m long. In the middle of the Great Gallery along almost the entire length, there is a regular square cross-section a recess measuring 1 meter wide and 60 cm deep, and on both side protrusions there are 27 pairs of recesses of unknown purpose. The recess ends with the so-called. “Big Step” - a high horizontal ledge, a platform of 1x2 meters, at the end of the Great Gallery, immediately before the hole into the “hallway” - the Antechamber. The platform has a pair of ramp recesses similar to those in the corners near the wall (the 28th and last pair of BG recesses). Through the “hallway” a hole leads into the burial “Tsar’s Chamber” lined with black granite, where an empty granite sarcophagus is located.
Above the “Tsar’s Chamber” are discovered in the 19th century. five unloading cavities with a total height of 17 m, between which lie monolithic slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable ceiling. Their purpose is to distribute the weight of the overlying layers of the pyramid (about a million tons) in order to protect the “King’s Chamber” from pressure. In these voids, graffiti was discovered, probably left by workers.
Ventilation ducts
So-called “ventilation” channels 20-25 cm wide extend from the “Tsar’s Chamber” and “Queen’s Chamber” in the northern and southern directions (first horizontally, then obliquely upward). At the same time, the channels of the “Tsar’s Chamber”, known since the 17th century. , through, they are open both below and above (on the edges of the pyramid), while the lower ends of the channels of the “Queen’s Chamber” are separated from the surface of the wall by about 13 cm, they were discovered by tapping in 1872. The upper ends of these channels do not reach the surface by approximately 12 meters. The upper ends of the channels of the Queen's Chamber are closed by stone Gantenbrink Doors, each with two copper handles. The copper handles were sealed with plaster seals (not preserved, but traces remain). It was discovered in the southern ventilation shaft in 1993 with the help of the remote-controlled robot “Upout II”; the bend of the northern shaft did not allow this robot to open the same one then. In 2002, using a new modification of the robot, capable of crawling into very narrow holes, the southern “door” was drilled, since it was only a few centimeters thick, but behind it a small cavity 18 centimeters long was discovered and another stone “door”. What lies next is still unknown. A similar "door" was found by this robot at the end northern channel, but they didn’t drill it. In 2010, a new robot was able to insert a serpentine television camera into a drilled hole in the southern door and discovered that the copper “handles” on that side of the door were designed in the form of neat hinges, and individual red ocher icons were painted on the floor of the ventilation shaft. Currently, the most common version is that the purpose of the “ventilation” ducts was of a religious nature and is associated with the Egyptians’ ideas about afterlife journey souls. And the “door” at the end of the channel is nothing more than a door to afterworld. That is why it does not reach the surface of the pyramid.
Tilt angle
It is not possible to accurately determine the initial parameters of the pyramid, since its edges and surfaces are currently for the most part dismantled and destroyed. This makes it difficult to calculate the exact angle of inclination. In addition, its symmetry itself is not ideal, so deviations in the numbers are observed with different measurements.
In the literature on Egyptology, Peter Jánosi, Mark Lehner, Miroslav Verner, Zahi Hawass and Alberto Siliotti came to the same results in measurements, who believe that the length of the sides can be from 230.33 to 230.37 m. Knowing the length of the side and the angle at the base, they calculated the height of the pyramid - from 146.59 to 146.60 m. The slope of the pyramid is 51° 50", which corresponds to a second of 5 1/2 palms (an ancient Egyptian unit of measurement of slope, which is defined as the ratio of half the base to the height). Taking into account this , that there are 7 palms in one cubit (cubit), it turns out that with such a chosen seked, the ratio of the base to the height is equal to 22/7, a well-known approximation of the number Pi from ancient times... Which, apparently, happened by chance, since other pyramids had other values for seked are selected.
Geometric study of ventilation tunnels
A study of the geometry of the Great Pyramid does not provide a clear answer to the question of the original proportions of this structure. It is assumed that the Egyptians had an idea about the “Golden ratio” (“nombre d'or”) and the number Pi, which were reflected in the proportions of the pyramid: for example, the ratio of the height to half the perimeter of the base is 14/11 (height = 280 cubits, and the base = 2×220 cubits; 280/220 = 14/11). For the first time in history [ what?] these values were used in the construction of the pyramid at Meidum. However, for pyramids of later eras, these proportions were not used anywhere else, as, for example, some have height-to-base ratios, such as 6/5 (Pink Pyramid), 4/3 (Pyramid of Khafre) or 7/5 (Broken Pyramid).
Some of the theories consider the pyramid to be an astronomical observatory. It is argued that the corridors of the pyramid accurately point towards the “pole star” of that time - Thuban, the ventilation corridors on the south side point to the star Sirius, and on the north side to the star Alnitak. .
Concavity of the sides
Concavity of the sides of the Cheops pyramid
When the sun moves around the pyramid, you can notice the unevenness of the walls - the concavity of the central part of the walls. This may be due to erosion or damage from falling stone cladding. It is also possible that this was specially done during construction. As Vito Maragioglio and Celeste Rinaldi note, the pyramid of Mycerinus no longer has such concavity of the sides. I.E.S. Edwards explains this feature by saying that the central part of each side was simply pressed inward over time by the large mass of stone blocks.
As in the 18th century, when this phenomenon was discovered, today there is still no satisfactory explanation for this architectural feature.
Observation of the concavity of the sides at the end of the 19th century, Description of Egypt
Pharaoh's boats
Near the pyramids, seven pits with real ancient Egyptian boats, dismantled into pieces, were discovered. The first of these vessels, called "Solar Boats", was discovered in 1954 by Egyptian architect Kamal el-Mallakh and archaeologist Zaki Nur. The boat was made of cedar and did not have a single trace of nails for fastening the elements. The boat consisted of 1224 parts; the restorer Ahmed Yussef Mustafa managed to assemble them only in 1968.
Boat dimensions: length - 43.3 m, width - 5.6 m, and draft - 1.50 m.
On the southern side of the Cheops pyramid there is a museum of this boat.
Pyramids of the Queens of Cheops
Literature
- Ionina N. A. 100 Great Wonders of the World. - Moscow., 1999.
- Vojtech Zamarovsky. Their Majesties pyramids. - Moscow., 1986.
(Khufu) is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, the only one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” that has survived to this day. It is assumed that construction, which lasted twenty years, ended around 2540 BC. e. Dozens of Egyptian pyramids are known. On the Giza plateau, the largest of them are the pyramids of Cheops (Khufu), Khafre (Khafre) and Mikerin (Menkaure). The architect of the Great Pyramid is considered to be Hemiun, the vizier and nephew of Cheops. He also bore the title "Manager of all Pharaoh's construction projects." For more than three thousand years (until the construction of Lincoln Cathedral, England, around 1300), the pyramid was the tallest building on Earth.
In Egypt, the date for the start of construction of the Cheops Pyramid is officially established and celebrated - August 23, 2470 BC. e. However, this date should not be considered a true historical event, since there is no serious evidence, and the sources are so scarce that Egyptologists cannot even agree on the exact year in which construction began.
Pyramid of Cheops in the 19th century
- Height (today): ≈ 138.75 m
- Side Angle: 51° 50"
- Side rib length (original): 230.33 m (calculated) or about 440 royal cubits
- Side fin length (current): approx. 225 m
- The length of the sides of the base of the pyramid: south - 230.454 m; north - 230.253 m; west - 230.357 m; east - 230.394 m.
- Foundation area (initially): ≈ 53,000 m² (5.3 ha)
- Lateral surface area of the pyramid (initially): ≈ 85,500 m²
- Base perimeter: 922 m.
- Total volume of the pyramid without deducting the cavities inside the pyramid (initially): ≈ 2.58 million m³
- Total volume of the pyramid, after subtracting all known cavities (initially): 2.50 million m³
- Average size of observed stone blocks: 1.0 m in width, height and depth (but most are rectangular in shape.)
- Average weight of stone blocks: 2.5 tons
- Heaviest stone block: 15 t
- Number of blocks: about 2.5 million.
- According to estimates, the total weight of the pyramid: about 6.25 million tons
- The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rocky elevation in the center about 9 m high.
About the pyramid
Map of the necropolis near the Cheops pyramid
The pyramid is called "Akhet-Khufu" - "Horizon of Khufu" (or more accurately "Related to the sky - (it is) Khufu"). Consists of blocks of limestone, basalt and granite. It was built on a natural hill. Despite the fact that the Cheops pyramid is the tallest and most voluminous of all the Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh Snefru still built the pyramids in Meidum and Dakhshut (Broken Pyramid and Pink Pyramid), the total mass of which is estimated at 8.4 million tons.
Surviving fragments of the pyramid's cladding and the remains of the pavement surrounding the building
The pyramid was originally lined with white limestone, which was harder than the main blocks. The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - pyramidion (ancient Egypt - "Benben"). The facing shone in the Sun with a peach color, like “a shining miracle to which the Sun God Ra himself seemed to give all his rays.” In 1168 AD. e. The Arabs sacked and burned Cairo. Residents of Cairo removed the cladding from the pyramid in order to build new houses.
Pyramid structure
Cross section of the Cheops pyramid:
The entrance to the pyramid is at an altitude of 15.63 meters on the north side. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch. This entrance to the pyramid was sealed with a granite plug. A description of this stopper can be found in Strabo. Today tourists get inside the pyramid through a 17 m gap, which was made in 820 by Caliph Abu Jafar al-Ma'mun. He hoped to find the pharaoh's countless treasures there, but found there only a layer of dust half a cubit thick.
Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, located one above the other.
Funeral "pit"
A 105 m long descending corridor running at an inclination of 26° 26'46 leads to an 8.9 m long horizontal corridor leading to the chamber 5 . Situated below ground level, in a rocky limestone bedrock, it remained unfinished. The dimensions of the chamber are 14x8.1 m, it extends from east to west. The height reaches 3.5 m. At the southern wall of the chamber there is a well about 3 m deep, from which a narrow manhole (0.7 × 0.7 m in cross-section) stretches in a southern direction for 16 m, ending in a dead end. Engineers John Shae Perring and Howard Vyse at the beginning of the 19th century dismantled the floor of the chamber and dug a deep well 11.6 m deep, in which they hoped to discover a hidden burial chamber. They were based on the testimony of Herodotus, who claimed that the body of Cheops was on an island surrounded by a canal in a hidden underground chamber. Their excavations came to nothing. Later studies showed that the chamber was abandoned unfinished, and it was decided to build the burial chambers in the center of the pyramid itself.
Several photographs taken in 1910
Ascending Corridor and Queen's Chambers
From the first third of the descending passage (18 m from the main entrance), an ascending passage goes south at the same angle of 26.5° ( 6 ) about 40 m long, ending at the bottom of the Great Gallery ( 9 ).
At its beginning, the ascending passage contains 3 large cubic granite “plugs”, which from the outside, from the descending passage, were masked by a block of limestone that fell during the work of Al-Mamun. Thus, for the previous approximately 3 thousand years it was believed that there were no rooms in the Great Pyramid other than the descending passage and the underground chamber. Al-Ma'mun was unable to break through these plugs and simply carved out a bypass to the right of them in the softer limestone. This passage is still in use today. There are two main theories about traffic jams, one of them is based on the fact that the ascending passage has traffic jams installed at the beginning of construction and, therefore, this passage was sealed by them from the very beginning. The second claims that the current narrowing of the walls was caused by an earthquake, and the plugs were previously located within the Great Gallery and were used to seal the passage only after the funeral of the pharaoh.
An important mystery of this section of the ascending passage is that in the place where the plugs are now located, in the full-size, albeit shortened model of the pyramid passages - the so-called. test corridors north of the Great Pyramid - there is a junction of not two, but three corridors at once, the third of which is a vertical tunnel. Since no one has yet been able to move the plugs, the question of whether there is a vertical hole above them remains open.
In the middle of the ascending passage, the design of the walls has a peculiarity: in three places the so-called “frame stones” are installed - that is, the passage, square along its entire length, pierces through three monoliths. The purpose of these stones is unknown.
A horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high leads to the second burial chamber from the lower part of the Great Gallery in a southerly direction. The second chamber is traditionally called the “Queen’s Chamber,” although according to the ritual the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids. The Queen's Chamber, lined with limestone, measures 5.74 meters from east to west and 5.23 meters from north to south; its maximum height is 6.22 meters. There is a high niche in the eastern wall of the chamber.
Grotto, Grand Gallery and Pharaoh's Chambers
Another branch from the lower part of the Great Gallery is a narrow, almost vertical shaft about 60 m high, leading to the lower part of the descending passage. There is an assumption that it was intended to evacuate workers or priests who were completing the “sealing” of the main passage to the “King’s Chamber.” Approximately in the middle of it there is a small, most likely natural extension - the “Grotto” (Grotto) of irregular shape, in which several people could fit at most. Grotto ( 12 ) is located at the “junction” of the masonry of the pyramid and a small, about 9 meters high, hill on the limestone plateau lying at the base of the Great Pyramid. The walls of the Grotto are partially reinforced by ancient masonry, and since some of its stones are too large, there is an assumption that the Grotto existed on the Giza plateau as an independent structure long before the construction of the pyramids, and the evacuation shaft itself was built taking into account the location of the Grotto. However, taking into account the fact that the shaft was hollowed out in the already laid masonry, and not laid out, as evidenced by its irregular circular cross-section, the question arises of how the builders managed to accurately reach the Grotto.
The large gallery continues the ascending passage. Its height is 8.53 m, it is rectangular in cross-section, with walls slightly tapering upward (the so-called “false vault”), a high inclined tunnel 46.6 m long. In the middle of the Great Gallery along almost the entire length, there is a regular square cross-section a recess measuring 1 meter wide and 60 cm deep, and on both side protrusions there are 27 pairs of recesses of unknown purpose. The recess ends with the so-called. “Big Step” - a high horizontal ledge, a platform of 1x2 meters, at the end of the Great Gallery, immediately before the hole into the “hallway” - the Antechamber. The platform has a pair of ramp recesses similar to those in the corners near the wall (the 28th and last pair of BG recesses). Through the “hallway” a hole leads into the burial “Tsar’s Chamber” lined with black granite, where an empty granite sarcophagus is located.
Above the “Tsar’s Chamber” are discovered in the 19th century. five unloading cavities with a total height of 17 m, between which lie monolithic slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable ceiling. Their purpose is to distribute the weight of the overlying layers of the pyramid (about a million tons) in order to protect the “King’s Chamber” from pressure. In these voids, graffiti was discovered, probably left by workers.
Ventilation ducts
So-called “ventilation” channels 20-25 cm wide extend from the “Tsar’s Chamber” and “Queen’s Chamber” in the northern and southern directions (first horizontally, then obliquely upward). At the same time, the channels of the “Tsar’s Chamber”, known since the 17th century. , through, they are open both below and above (on the edges of the pyramid), while the lower ends of the channels of the “Queen’s Chamber” are separated from the surface of the wall by about 13 cm, they were discovered by tapping in 1872. The upper ends of these channels do not reach the surface by approximately 12 meters. The upper ends of the channels of the Queen's Chamber are closed by stone Gantenbrink Doors, each with two copper handles. The copper handles were sealed with plaster seals (not preserved, but traces remain). It was discovered in the southern ventilation shaft in 1993 with the help of the remote-controlled robot “Upout II”; the bend of the northern shaft did not allow this robot to open the same one then. In 2002, using a new modification of the robot, capable of crawling into very narrow holes, the southern “door” was drilled, since it was only a few centimeters thick, but behind it a small cavity 18 centimeters long was discovered and another stone “door”. What lies next is still unknown. A similar “door” was found by this robot at the end of the northern channel, but they did not drill it. In 2010, a new robot was able to insert a serpentine television camera into a drilled hole in the southern door and discovered that the copper “handles” on that side of the door were designed in the form of neat hinges, and individual red ocher icons were painted on the floor of the ventilation shaft. Currently, the most common version is that the purpose of the “ventilation” ducts was of a religious nature and is associated with the Egyptian ideas about the afterlife journey of the soul. And the “door” at the end of the channel is nothing more than a door to the afterlife. That is why it does not reach the surface of the pyramid.
Tilt angle
It is not possible to accurately determine the original parameters of the pyramid, since its edges and surfaces are currently mostly dismantled and destroyed. This makes it difficult to calculate the exact angle of inclination. In addition, its symmetry itself is not ideal, so deviations in the numbers are observed with different measurements.
In the literature on Egyptology, Peter Jánosi, Mark Lehner, Miroslav Verner, Zahi Hawass and Alberto Siliotti came to the same results in measurements, who believe that the length of the sides can be from 230.33 to 230.37 m. Knowing the length of the side and the angle at the base, they calculated the height of the pyramid - from 146.59 to 146.60 m. The slope of the pyramid is 51° 50", which corresponds to a second of 5 1/2 palms (an ancient Egyptian unit of measurement of slope, which is defined as the ratio of half the base to the height). Taking into account this , that there are 7 palms in one cubit (cubit), it turns out that with such a chosen seked, the ratio of the base to the height is equal to 22/7, a well-known approximation of the number Pi from ancient times... Which, apparently, happened by chance, since other pyramids had other values for seked are selected.
Geometric study of ventilation tunnels
A study of the geometry of the Great Pyramid does not provide a clear answer to the question of the original proportions of this structure. It is assumed that the Egyptians had an idea about the “Golden ratio” (“nombre d'or”) and the number Pi, which were reflected in the proportions of the pyramid: for example, the ratio of the height to half the perimeter of the base is 14/11 (height = 280 cubits, and the base = 2×220 cubits; 280/220 = 14/11). For the first time in history [ what?] these values were used in the construction of the pyramid at Meidum. However, for pyramids of later eras, these proportions were not used anywhere else, as, for example, some have height-to-base ratios, such as 6/5 (Pink Pyramid), 4/3 (Pyramid of Khafre) or 7/5 (Broken Pyramid).
Some of the theories consider the pyramid to be an astronomical observatory. It is argued that the corridors of the pyramid accurately point towards the “pole star” of that time - Thuban, the ventilation corridors on the south side point to the star Sirius, and on the north side to the star Alnitak. .
Concavity of the sides
Concavity of the sides of the Cheops pyramid
When the sun moves around the pyramid, you can notice the unevenness of the walls - the concavity of the central part of the walls. This may be due to erosion or damage from falling stone cladding. It is also possible that this was specially done during construction. As Vito Maragioglio and Celeste Rinaldi note, the pyramid of Mycerinus no longer has such concavity of the sides. I.E.S. Edwards explains this feature by saying that the central part of each side was simply pressed inward over time by the large mass of stone blocks.
As in the 18th century, when this phenomenon was discovered, today there is still no satisfactory explanation for this architectural feature.
Observation of the concavity of the sides at the end of the 19th century, Description of Egypt
Pharaoh's boats
Near the pyramids, seven pits with real ancient Egyptian boats, dismantled into pieces, were discovered. The first of these vessels, called "Solar Boats", was discovered in 1954 by Egyptian architect Kamal el-Mallakh and archaeologist Zaki Nur. The boat was made of cedar and did not have a single trace of nails for fastening the elements. The boat consisted of 1224 parts; the restorer Ahmed Yussef Mustafa managed to assemble them only in 1968.
Boat dimensions: length - 43.3 m, width - 5.6 m, and draft - 1.50 m.
On the southern side of the Cheops pyramid there is a museum of this boat.
Pyramids of the Queens of Cheops
Literature
- Ionina N. A. 100 Great Wonders of the World. - Moscow., 1999.
- Vojtech Zamarovsky. Their Majesties pyramids. - Moscow., 1986.
The pyramid is called "Akhet-Khufu" - "Horizon of Khufu"(or more precisely " Relating to the firmament - (this is) Khufu"). Consists of blocks of limestone, basalt and granite. It was built on a natural hill. Even though the pyramid Cheops- the tallest and most voluminous of all the Egyptian pyramids, but still Pharaoh Snofru built the pyramids in Meidum and Dakhshut (Broken Pyramid and Pink Pyramid), the total mass of which is estimated at 8.4 million tons. This means that 2.15 million tons were used to build these pyramids. or 25.6% more material than was required for the Cheops pyramid.
The pyramid was originally lined with white limestone, which was harder than the main blocks. The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - the pyramidion. The cladding shone in the Sun with a peach color, like “ a shining miracle to which the sun god Ra himself seemed to give all his rays" In 1168 AD. e. The Arabs sacked and burned Cairo. Residents of Cairo removed the cladding from the pyramid in order to build new houses.
Pyramid structure
Strabo Caliph Abu Ja'far al-Ma'mun. He hoped to find the pharaoh's countless treasures there, but found there only a layer of dust half a cubit thick.
Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, located one above the other.
Rice. 2. Cross section of the Cheops pyramid: 1. Main entrance, 2. The entrance made by Al-Mamun, 3. Crossroads, “traffic jam” and the Al-Mamun tunnel made “bypassing” the traffic jam, 4. Descending corridor, 5. Unfinished underground chamber – ( Funeral « pit "), 6. Ascending corridor, 7. " Queen's chamber» with outgoing « air ducts ", 8. Horizontal tunnel, 9. Large gallery, 10. Pharaoh's chamber With " air ducts ", 11. Antechamber, 12. Grotto.
The entrance to the pyramid is at an altitude of 15.63 meters on the north side. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch. This entrance to the pyramid was sealed with a granite plug. A description of this stopper can be found in Strabo. Today tourists get inside the pyramid through a 17 m gap, which was made in 820 by Caliph Abu Jafar al-Ma'mun. He hoped to find the pharaoh's countless treasures there, but found only a layer of dust half a cubit thick there.. Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers . They are located one below the other - “ King's Chamber(Pharaoh)", " Queen's Chamber», Unfinished underground chamber – (Funeral « pit »).
Grotto, Great Gallery and Chambers (Chamber) of the Pharaoh with sarcophagus
Rice. 3. View King's Chambers ( Rice. 2. – point 10) with an empty sarcophagus. The precisely fitted granite flat blocks from which the walls, floor and ceiling of this room are made are clearly visible. The empty granite sarcophagus is located asymmetrically in relation to the dimensions of the room.
Rice. 4. Big slant Gallery(Fig. 2. – point 9), leading to “ Chamber of the King (Pharaoh)"(Fig. 2. - item 11 and item 10). The walls of the gallery are inclined, tapering upward and have symmetrical protruding ledges. On the right and left sides of the passage, rectangular grooves located at equal distances from each other are also clearly visible on the rectangular ledges. There are 28 pairs of these grooves in total. Since there are grooves, it means that something was definitely inserted there and, probably, was removed. However, the grooves could also perform another function, about which, unfortunately, nothing is known yet.
Another branch from the lower part of the Great Gallery is a narrow, almost vertical shaft about 60 m high, leading to the lower part of the descending passage. There is an assumption that it was intended to evacuate workers or priests who were completing “ sealing " main passage to " King's chamber" Approximately in the middle there is a small, most likely natural expansion - “ Grotto» ( Grotto) of irregular shape, in which several people could fit at most. Grotto– (Fig. 2 - (12)) located on “ junction» stone masonry pyramid and a small, about 9 meters high, hill on a limestone plateau lying at the base of the Great Pyramid. The walls of the Grotto are partially reinforced by ancient masonry, and since some of its stones are too large, there is an assumption that the Grotto existed on the Giza plateau as an independent structure long before the construction of the pyramids, and the evacuation shaft itself was built taking into account the location of the Grotto. However, taking into account the fact that the shaft was hollowed out in the already laid masonry, and not laid out, as evidenced by its irregular circular cross-section, the question arises of how the builders managed to accurately reach the Grotto.
Big Gallery
Rice. 5. Black and white shot of the beginning Great gallery ( Rice. 2. – clause 9) s high step, which has a fellah. On the right and left, rectangular grooves are clearly visible along the lower part of the side walls of the gallery. 1910
The large gallery continues the ascending passage. Its height is 8.53 m, it is a rectangular cross-section, with walls slightly tapering upward (the so-called “false vault”), a high inclined tunnel 46.6 m long. In the middle Great gallery along almost the entire length, there is a square recess with a regular cross-section measuring 1 meter wide and 60 cm deep, and on both side protrusions there are 27 pairs of indentations of unknown purpose. The recess ends with the so-called. " Big step" - a high horizontal ledge, a platform of 1x2 meters, at the end of the Great Gallery, immediately in front of the hole in " hallway » - Prechamber ( Tsar) (Fig. 2 – item 11). The platform has a pair of ramp recesses, similar to the recesses, in the corners near the wall ( 28th and last pair of recesses BG.). Through the “hallway” a hole leads into the burial “Tsar’s Chamber” lined with black granite, where an empty granite sarcophagus is located.
Above the “Tsar’s Chamber” are discovered in the 19th century. five unloading cavities with a total height of 17 m, between which lie monolithic slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable ceiling. Their purpose is to distribute the weight of the overlying layers of the pyramid (about a million tons) in order to protect the “King’s Chamber” from pressure. In these voids, graffiti was discovered, probably left by workers.
Rice. 6. Isometric plan with sections Tsar's chambers. On the left you can see the upper end of the inclined Galleries with grooves on the sides, a rectangular step in front of the entrance and a hole into the King's chamber. Bottom right King's chamber granite sarcophagus on the right side of the chamber Tsar. To the right there is a rectangular shaft above the sarcophagus, which ends with a unloading gable " roof "made of granite blocks - "Above the "Tsar's Chamber" are discovered in the 19th century. five unloading cavities with a total height of 17 m, between which lie monolithic slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable ceiling.”
Rice. 7. Black and white photo " entrance and manhole"from inside the King's chamber. 1910
Ascending Corridor and Queen's Chambers
From the first third of the descending passage (18 m from the main entrance), an ascending passage goes up at the same angle of 26.5° to the south (Fig. 2. - p. 6 ) about 40 m long, ending at the bottom of the Great Gallery (Fig. 2. - p. 9 ).
Rice. 8. At its beginning, the ascending passage contains 3 large cubic granite “plugs”, which from the outside, from the descending passage, were masked by a block of limestone that fell out accidentally during the work of Al-Mamun - (Fig. 2 - item 3) Thus, the previous ones are approximately For 3 thousand years it was believed that there were no other rooms in the Great Pyramid except the descending passage and the underground chamber. Al-Ma'mun was unable to break through these plugs and simply carved out a bypass to the right of them in the softer limestone. This passage is still in use today. There are two main theories about traffic jams, one of them is based on the fact that the ascending passage has traffic jams installed at the beginning of construction and, therefore, this passage was sealed by them from the very beginning. The second claims that the current narrowing of the walls was caused by an earthquake, and the plugs were previously located within the Great Gallery and were used to seal the passage only after the funeral of the pharaoh. An important mystery of this section of the ascending passage is that in the place where the plugs are now located, in the full-size, albeit shortened model of the pyramid passages - the so-called. test corridors north of the Great Pyramid - there is a junction of not two, but three corridors at once, the third of which is a vertical tunnel. Since no one has yet been able to move the plugs, the question of whether there is a vertical hole above them remains open. In the middle of the ascending passage, the design of the walls has a peculiarity: in three places the so-called “frame stones” are installed - that is, the passage, square along its entire length, pierces through three monoliths. The purpose of these stones is unknown.
A horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high leads to the second burial chamber from the lower part of the Great Gallery in a southerly direction. The second chamber is traditionally called« Queen's chamber“, although according to the ritual the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids. " Queen's chamber", lined with limestone, measures 5.74 meters from east to west and 5.23 meters from north to south; its maximum height is 6.22 meters. There is a high niche in the eastern wall of the chamber.
Rice. 9. Isometric plan with sections Queen's chambers(Fig. 2 - item 7). Shown on the left stepped niche in the cell wall. On the right is the horizontal entrance to the Queen's chamber. Above the walls of the Queen's chamber there are stone blocks in the form of a gable roof to relieve pressure on the chamber. The “air ducts” coming out of the chamber are shown schematically.
Rice. 10. Login type into a stepped niche from Queen's chambers(Fig. 2 - item 7).
Rice. 11. Black and white image of the entrance to the Queen’s chamber from the inclined Gallery (Fig. 2 - item 8). 1910
Ventilation ducts
From " King's Chambers"(Fig. 2 - item 10) and " Queen's Chambers"(Fig. 2 - point 7) the so-called " ventilation » the channels are 20-25 cm wide in diameter. At the same time, the channels « King's Chambers», known since the 17th century, end-to-end, they are open both below and above (on the edges of the pyramid), while the lower ends of the channels " Queen's Chambers» separates about 13 cm from the surface of the wall; they were discovered by tapping in 1872. The upper ends of these channels do not reach the surface of the side faces of the Cheops pyramid. The end of the southern channel is closed with stone " doors", discovered in 1993 using the remote-controlled robot Upout II. In 2002, with the help of a new modification of the robot " door" was drilled, but behind it a small cavity and another " door». What's next is still unknown. Currently, versions are being expressed that the purpose of “ ventilation » channels is of a religious nature and is associated with Egyptian ideas about the afterlife journey of the soul.
Funeral "pit"
A descending corridor 105 m long, going at an inclination of 26° 26'46, leads to a horizontal corridor (Fig. 2. - point 4) 8.9 m long, leading to the chamber (Fig. 2. - point 5), which was named Funeral "pit". Situated below ground level, in a rocky limestone bedrock, it remained unfinished. The dimensions of the chamber are 14x8.1 m, it extends from east to west. The height of the chamber reaches 3.5 m. At the southern wall of the chamber there is a well about 3 m deep, from which a narrow manhole (0.7 × 0.7 m in cross-section) stretches southward for 16 m, ending in a dead end. Engineers John Shae Perring and Howard Vyse in the early 19th century dismantled the floor of the cell and dug a deep well 11.6 m deep, in which they hoped to discover hidden burial room. They were based on the testimony of Herodotus, who claimed that the body of Cheops was on an island surrounded by a canal in a hidden underground chamber. Their excavations came to nothing. Later research showed that the camera was abandoned unfinished, and burial chambers it was decided to arrange it in the center of the pyramid itself.
Rice. 12. Black and white image of the interior " underground» cameras. 1910. On the left you can see half the body of a fellah leaning out of the passage into the cell.”
A COMMENT:
Now we can show on the plan the Pyramid of Cheops in the matrix of the Universe the position “ Libra in h ale Judgment Maat over the hearts of Ab (Ab)Living creatures" Figure 13 shows a cross-section of the Cheops pyramid according to Weiss. It is more accurate than the one shown in Figure 2 from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Rice. 13. Section of a pyramid Cheops (Khufu, Khufu) in Giza. According to Weiss.
Rice. 14. The figure shows the result of combining a section of the Cheops pyramid (according to Weiss) in Giza with “ energy matrix of the universe "or simply the matrix of the Universe. This drawing is similar to Figure 8 from our work - Amun-Ra discovered the secret of the original floor plan in the Cheops pyramid. All the main elements of the section of the Cheops pyramid are located in the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe. The top of the vault above The King's Chamber" aligned with the third position from the left on the 7th level, base " King's Chambers"with a sarcophagus combined with the 10th level. Base " Queen's Chambers» – with the 12th level, the base of the pyramid – with the 14th level. Passage to the gallery - from level 13, passage to " Lower horizon"in the rocky base of the pyramid - with the 14th level, and the " Lower horizon"combined with the 17th level of the Lower World of the matrix. The remaining elements of combining the cross-sectional plan of the pyramid with the matrix of the Universe are clearly visible in the figure. Angles of inclination of the side of the pyramid Khufu and the matrix pyramids are clearly different. Right side of the pyramid section Khufu is directed to the north, and the left side is directed to the south.
Now the Egyptian pattern of weighing the heart is compatible with the matrix of the Universe Ab from our work - The Mystery of the Tombstone of the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova together with a plan of the section of the pyramid Khufu, which is shown in the previous Figure 14.
In the well-known Egyptian The myth of Osiris « Council of the Gods"in the retinue of Osiris ( Asar) was called – “ Pout – Paut" Their total number was - 42.
« Council of the Gods“helped Osiris analyze and evaluate the affairs of a deceased person during his life. The number 42 exactly corresponds to the sum of the “positions” of levels 13, 14 and 15 – 13+14+15 = 42
– The lower world of the matrix of the Universe. In the same area of the matrix of the Universe was located “ Double Hall
» Maati (goddess of truth and truth), where “ heart
» – Ab – Ab – (aspects of a creature's soul). On one pan of the scales there was placed Maati feather, and on the other side of the scale was placed “ heart
» Ab. If " heart
» Ab it turned out to be harder" feather Maati
", or Maat herself with open hands on the scales, ( the creature sinned a lot), then this is the heart " ate
" creature Ammit with the head and half of the body of a crocodile, and the back half the body of a hippopotamus. 
Rice. 16. The figure shows the result of joint combination of the pyramid plan in the matrix of the Universe Khufu and Egyptian scene drawing " weighing the heart » « Ab" It is clearly visible that the vertical axis of the scales is aligned with the vertical axis of the matrix pyramid and the section of the Khufu pyramid, and the transverse crossbar of the scales is aligned with the 14th level of the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe, which is also the base of the Khufu pyramid on the rocky plateau. The remaining alignment details are visible in the figure.
Now let’s write the word on top of this picture in Egyptian hieroglyphs Paut, which will show us the location area in the matrix of the 42 gods - advisors to Osiris.
Rice. 17. The figure shows the recording of the word WEB – PAUT Egyptian hieroglyphs into the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe, which “ will determine Osiris (Asar). The lower hieroglyph is in the form of a “circle with a square inside” “ defines "in the matrix of the Universe, the area where the 42 gods - advisors are located Osiris (Asar). Hieroglyph T(t) combined with the Queen's camera. Hieroglyph U(U) practically occupied the entire space from the base of the King's chamber to the sharp top of the rectangular shaft above the sarcophagus in the King's chamber. The mine ends with an unloading gable " roof "made of granite blocks - "Above the "Tsar's Chamber" are discovered in the 19th century. five unloading cavities with a total height of 17 m, between which lie monolithic slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable ceiling.” The position of the remaining hieroglyphs is clearly visible in the figure. If we assume that the word Pout (Paut) was for the priests of Egypt one of the " prayer words » inside the Cheops pyramid, for example, when they were indoors Tsar's chambers in front of the sarcophagus, which could simply be open, then such a ritual can be called an appeal to advice 42 gods - assistants of Osiris (Asar). Wherein Pyramid of Khufu, How " resonant device "in its likeness translated the words of the prayer into the matrix of the Universe. If we add the Egyptian word to the words of the prayer appeal of the priests Paauta, meaning like " creature male" and " creature woman"(Fig. 13) from our work - Who are you Russians, and we know who they are! , then you get the following meaningful prayer appeal, for example, “ We pray to Osiris and his council of gods (Pout) about sending forgiveness and blessing to the soul of the King - Pharaoh and/or to his close associates for future incarnation into a human being - (Paauta)". Wherein Khufu's pyramid again, How " resonant device "in its likeness translated the words of the prayer into the matrix of the Universe. Although our assumption seems fantastic, it may correspond to the true state of affairs, and determine the real purpose of construction pyramids of Khufu. Probably other Egyptian pyramids too. This is indicated by the surprisingly accurate results of combining the plan of the Khufu pyramid, Egyptian drawings and Egyptian words written in hieroglyphs in the matrix of the Universe. Additional " resonant devices ", which could be installed in the grooves of the inclined Gallery, strengthened " Effect "such a connection. Thus, all Pyramid of Khufu and its specific interior spaces constituted a single “ resonant device " to contact " subtle worlds of the Universe "and their inhabitants. Priests ancient egypt were wise scientists, possessed sacred knowledge, and probably knew how to work with it even “ hermetically sealed » « resonant device " Today, with the availability of a large number of " destruction - changes in the parameters of the resonant device "its quality may be " impaired or deteriorated ».
Figure 18 shows the result of writing the word Paauta - “male being” in Egyptian hieroglyphs into the matrix of the Universe and comparing it with the writing in Sanskrit of the word Jiva Loka - “ Jiv space - Shower"in the matrix of the Universe.
Rice. 18. This is how the Egyptian priests understood what “ Creature Man" The picture on the right shows an ancient hieroglyphic inscription Paut – Paauta – Paauta – « Creature Man" It was enough to change the last hieroglyph to the image of a woman and the hieroglyphic entry would read: “ Creature Woman", and it would sound the same - Paut – Paauta – Paauta. On the left in the figure is the word written in Sanskrit - Jeeva Loka- space Shower – Jeev in the matrix of the Universe. Comparing the hieroglyphic notation on the right and the Sanskrit notation on the left, we see that the upper hieroglyph Pa (Pa) in the form of a bird with open wings means opportunity Souls - Jivas rise above the previous space and rush further into the Upper World of the matrix of the Universe. Egyptian priests knew about this possibility for Souls - Jivas, which the Lord gave her, and reflected it in hieroglyphic text.
In the eastern regions, tourists cannot ignore one of the greatest mysteries of history - the Pyramid of Cheops. The only surviving miracle Ancient world, out of the seven existing ones, generates interest among scientists, archaeologists, historians, astrologers and simply fans of mysteries. To questions like: “Where are the pyramids of Cheops?” or “Why is it worth visiting them?”, we will be happy to answer in our article.
What are the dimensions of the Cheops pyramid?
To fully understand the greatness of this architectural masterpiece, it is enough to imagine its dimensions. Just imagine, this is a huge structure weighing about 6.4 million tons, located in Giza, a republic of Egypt. The height of the Cheops pyramid, even after wind erosion, reaches 138 meters, the size of the base reaches 230 meters, and the length of the side edge is 225 meters. And it is with this pyramid that they are connected greatest mysteries Egyptian history, which scientists around the world are struggling with.
The mystery of the Cheops pyramid - who built it and why?
The most common theory is that the pyramid was built as a tomb for Pharaoh Cheops or Khufu (as the Egyptians themselves call him). Proponents of this theory confirm their guesses with the pyramid model itself. On a base of 53 thousand square meters there are three tombs, one of which houses the Great Gallery.
However, opponents of this version emphasize that the tomb intended for Cheops is not decorated in any way. Which is strange, since, as is known, the Egyptians were adherents of pomp and wealth in the design of the tombs of their rulers. And the sarcophagus itself, which was intended for one of the greatest pharaohs in Egyptian history, was not completed. The edges of the stone box that were not completely hewn and the missing lid indicate that the craftsmen did not take the issue of burial too seriously. In addition, the remains of Cheops himself were not found during any excavations.
Video - How was the Cheops pyramid built?
The version with the tomb is being replaced by the version that the pyramid is an astronomical structure. Astonishing mathematical calculations and the ability to see constellations in the night sky through corridor-type shafts provide astronomers with reasons for debate.
Archaeologists and scientists around the world are trying to unravel the truth of Khufu's pyramid in Giza. However, based on the facts already obtained, we can say with confidence that the author of the project was Hemion, a close relative and, concurrently, the court architect of Cheops. Under his strict leadership for 20 years, from 2560 BC. and until 2540 BC, more than three dozens of builders, architects and laborers were constructing a pyramid from huge granite blocks.
Some Egyptians and lovers of occult sciences perceive the pyramid as a religious object. They see a mystical pattern in the intersections of corridors and catacombs. But this idea does not have sufficient basis, as does the version of alien intervention. Thus, a certain circle of ufologists argues that only with the help of alien creatures could such a colossal work of architectural art be built.
What should a tourist know?
Tourists and admirers of Arab culture are only amused and inspired by the difference in versions and general uncertainty that revolves around the Cheops pyramid. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the foot of the granite structure to experience history. And local residents are only happy about this - all conditions for educational excursions have been created for visitors.
Twice a day, at 8 and 13 o'clock, a group of up to 150 people comes to the pyramid. They enter inside through a passage located on the north side. But, having finally arrived at the place of a kind of pilgrimage, not all visitors are ready for what the Cheops Pyramid is like inside. The long, low passage, compressed on the sides, causes an attack of claustrophobia for some foreigners. And sand, dust and stale air can cause asthma.
But for those who overcame themselves and withstood the transition inside the pyramid, all the architectural grandeur of Egyptian culture is revealed. Massive walls, the Grand Gallery, the general feeling of antiquity and authenticity - this is exactly what captivates guests.
On the south side, at the exit, tourists are invited to get acquainted with exhibits that are the fruits of many years of excavations. Here you can also look at Solar Rook- one of the largest floating vehicles discovered in the entire history of archaeological activity of mankind. Here you can buy souvenirs and commemorative figurines, T-shirts and so on.
Those who stay until late in the evening will be lucky enough to see the light show. Under the spotlight, the organizers create a unique, slightly mystical atmosphere and tell mysterious stories about the pyramid and Egyptian culture.
Another point that visitors to the Cheops Pyramid should pay attention to is the issue of photography and video shooting. Inside the building itself, there is a ban on any photography, as well as on the desire of some people to climb the pyramid itself. But, after leaving the tomb and buying a souvenir, you can take countless pictures from any angle. In the photo, the Cheops pyramid will sparkle with new colors and amaze with its geometric shapes.
However, you should be as vigilant as possible and not give your gadgets to strangers, other tourists and, especially, local residents. Otherwise, you risk either never seeing your camera at all, or parting with an impressive amount to get it back.
From a purely practical point of view, there is nothing strange in this. As is known, in any tourist center the world, the local population prefers to make a profit at any cost. Hence the inflated prices, the tendency to fraud, and a large number of pickpockets. Therefore, you should be as vigilant as possible.
Pyramid of Cheops: interesting facts
The Pyramid of Cheops is a beautiful and amazing creation. She is the object of fascination for scientists, artists, writers, directors and many other people who are not afraid to solve mysteries. And before heading to Giza to the granite massif, it is worth reading the stories about it. There are dozens of movies online for this purpose. Such as, for example, the documentary “Unraveling the Mystery of the Cheops Pyramid” directed by Florence Tran. In it, the author tries to explore as broadly as possible the idea of construction, the mystery of creation and the true purpose of the pyramid of the great pharaoh.
Interestingly, despite the unfinished sarcophagi and the lack of clear information about the architect of the Cheops pyramid, the greatest mystery is the internal shafts. According to experts, reaching a width of 13 to 20 centimeters, the shafts run along the sides of the main rooms and have a diagonal exit to the surface. The specific purpose of these mines is still not known. Either this is ventilation, or secret passages, or a kind of air gap. Until now, science has no specific information on this matter.
Video - Facts about the Cheops pyramid
The same goes for the process of building a pyramid. Materials for one of the seven wonders of the world were delivered from a nearby quarry. But it is still not known how large boulders weighing up to 80 tons were delivered to the construction site. Here again a lot of questions arise about the level of technological progress of the Egyptians. Or to the question of magic or higher intelligence.
What is the Cheops pyramid really? Tomb? Observatory? Occult object? A message from alien civilizations? We will probably never know this. But each of us has a chance to go to Giza and touch history and make our own assumptions.
During the construction of the most grandiose monument of antiquity, the Pyramid of Cheops, more than one year was spent and a huge number of slaves were involved, many of whom died at the construction site. This was the opinion of the ancient Greeks, among them Herodotus, one of the first historians who described this grandiose structure in detail.
But modern scientists do not agree with this opinion and argue: many free Egyptians wanted to work on construction sites - when agricultural work ended, it was an excellent opportunity to earn extra money (here they provided food, clothing and housing).
For any Egyptian, participating in the construction of a tomb for their ruler was a duty and a matter of honor, since each of them hoped that he would also be touched by a piece of pharaonic immortality: it was believed that the Egyptian ruler had the right not only to life after death, but could also take with him their loved ones (usually they were buried in tombs adjacent to the pyramid).
Ordinary people, however, were not destined to go to the afterlife - the exception was slaves and servants, who were buried with the ruler. But everyone had the right to hope - and therefore, when housework was finished, for many years the Egyptians rushed to Cairo, to the rocky plateau.
The Pyramid of Cheops (or as it was also called, Khufu) is located near Cairo, on the Giza plateau, on the left side of the Nile, and is the largest tomb located there. This tomb is the tallest pyramid on our planet; it took many years to build and has a non-standard layout. A rather interesting fact is that during the autopsy, the ruler’s body was not found in it.
For many years now, it has been exciting the minds of researchers and admirers of Egyptian culture, who ask themselves the question: were ancient people able to build such a structure and is the pyramid not the work of representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations who erected it for only one clear purpose?
The fact that this tomb of stunning size almost immediately entered the list of the ancient seven wonders of the world does not surprise anyone: the size of the Cheops pyramid is amazing, and this, despite the fact that over the past millennia it has become smaller, and scientists cannot determine the exact proportions of the Cheops pyramid condition, since its edges and surfaces were dismantled for their needs by more than one generation of Egyptians:
- The height of the pyramid is about 138 m (interestingly, in the year it was built, it was eleven meters higher);
- The foundation has a square shape, the length of each side is about 230 meters;
- The foundation area is about 5.4 hectares (thus, the five largest cathedrals of our planet will fit on it);
- The length of the foundation along the perimeter is 922 m.
Construction of the pyramid
If earlier scientists believed that the construction of the Cheops pyramid took the Egyptians about twenty years, in our time, Egyptologists, having studied the records of the priests in more detail, and, taking into account the parameters of the pyramid, as well as the fact that Cheops ruled for about fifty years, refuted this fact and came to I conclude that it took at least thirty, and maybe even forty, years to build it.
Despite the fact that the exact date of construction of this grandiose tomb is unknown, it is believed that it was built by order of Pharaoh Cheops, who allegedly reigned from 2589 to 2566 BC. e., and his nephew and vizier Hemion was responsible for the construction work, using Newest technologies of its time, over the solution of which many scientific minds have been struggling for many centuries. He approached the matter with all care and meticulousness.
Preparation for construction
More than 4 thousand workers were involved in the preliminary work, which took about ten years. It was necessary to find a place for construction, the soil of which would be strong enough to support a structure of this scale - so the decision was made to stop on a rocky site near Cairo.
To level the site, the Egyptians, using stones and sand, built a waterproof square shaft. They cut out channels intersecting at right angles in the shaft, and the construction site began to resemble a large chessboard.
After that, water was released into the trenches, with the help of which the builders determined the height of the water level and made the necessary notches on the side walls of the channels, after which the water was released. The workers cut down all the stones that were above the water level, after which the trenches were filled with stones, thus creating the foundation of the tomb.
Works with stone
The building material for the tomb was obtained from a quarry located on the other side of the Nile. To obtain a block of the required size, the stone was cut down from the rock and hewn to the required size - from 0.8 to 1.5 m. Although on average one stone block weighed about 2.5 tons, the Egyptians also made heavier specimens, for example, the heaviest the block that was installed above the entrance to the “Pharaoh’s Room” weighed 35 tons.
Using thick ropes and levers, the builders secured the block on wooden runners and dragged it along a deck of logs to the Nile, loaded it onto a boat and transported it across the river. And then they again dragged it along the logs to the construction site, after which the most difficult stage began: the huge block had to be pulled to the very top platform of the tomb. How exactly they did this and what technologies they used is one of the mysteries of the Cheops pyramid.
One of the versions proposed by scientists implies the following option. Along a 20 m wide brick rise located at an angle, the block lying on skids was pulled upward with the help of ropes and levers, where it was placed in a clearly designated place. The higher the Cheops pyramid became, the longer and steeper the climb became, and the upper platform became smaller - so it became more and more difficult and dangerous to lift the boulders.
The workers had the hardest time when it was necessary to install the “pyramidon” - the topmost block 9 meters high (not preserved to this day). Since the huge boulder had to be lifted almost vertically, the work turned out to be deadly, and many people died at this stage of the work. As a result, the Cheops pyramid, after construction was completed, had more than 200 steps leading up and looked like a huge stepped mountain.
In total, it took the ancient Egyptians at least twenty years to build the body of the pyramid. The work on the “box” was not finished yet - they still had to lay them with stones and make sure that the outer parts of the blocks became more or less smooth. And at the final stage, the Egyptians completely lined the pyramid with outside slabs of white limestone polished to a shine - and it sparkled in the sun like a huge shiny crystal.
The slabs have not survived to this day on the pyramid: the inhabitants of Cairo, after the Arabs plundered their capital (1168), used them in the construction of new houses and temples (some of them can be seen on mosques today).
Drawings on the pyramid
Interesting fact: the outer side of the pyramid body is covered with curvilinear grooves of different sizes. If you look at them from a certain angle, you can see the image of a man 150 m high (possibly a portrait of one of the ancient gods). This drawing is not alone: on the northern wall of the tomb one can also distinguish a man and a woman with their heads bowed to each other.
Scientists claim that these Egyptians made the grooves several years before they finished building the pyramid body and installed the top stone. True, the question remains open: why did they do this, because the slabs with which the pyramid was subsequently decorated hid these portraits.
What the Great Pyramid looked like from the inside
A detailed study of the Cheops Pyramid showed that, contrary to popular belief, there are practically no inscriptions or any other decorations inside the tomb, except for a small portrait in the corridor leading to the Queen's Room.
The entrance to the tomb is located on the north side at a height exceeding fifteen meters. After burial, it was closed with a granite plug, so tourists get inside through a gap located about ten meters below - it was cut down by the Caliph of Baghdad Abdullah al-Mamun (820 AD) - the man who first entered the tomb with the aim of robbing it. The attempt failed because he found nothing here except a thick layer of dust.
The Cheops Pyramid is the only pyramid where there are corridors leading both down and up. The main corridor first goes down, then branches into two tunnels - one leads down to the unfinished funeral chamber, the second leads up, first to the Great Gallery, from which you can get to the Queen's Room and the main tomb.
From the central entrance, through a tunnel leading down (its length is 105 meters), you can get into a burial pit located below ground level, the height of which is 14 m, width - 8.1 m, height - 3.5 m. Inside the room, near Egyptologists discovered a well on the southern wall, the depth of which is about three meters (from it stretches to the south narrow tunnel, leading to a dead end).
Researchers believe that this particular room was originally intended for the crypt of Cheops, but then the pharaoh changed his mind and decided to build a tomb higher for himself, so this room remained unfinished.
You can also get to the unfinished funeral room from the Great Gallery - at its very entrance a narrow, almost vertical shaft 60 meters high begins. Interestingly, in the middle of this tunnel there is a small grotto (most likely of natural origin, since it is located at the point of contact between the stonework of the pyramid and a small hump of limestone), which could accommodate several people.
According to one hypothesis, the architects took this grotto into account when designing the pyramid and initially intended it to evacuate builders or priests who were completing the “sealing” ceremony of the central passage leading to the tomb of the pharaoh.
The Pyramid of Cheops has another mysterious room with an unclear purpose - the “Queen's Chamber” (like the lowest room, this room is not completed, as evidenced by the floor on which they began to lay tiles, but did not complete the work).
This room can be reached by first going down the corridor 18 meters from the main entrance, and then going up a long tunnel (40 m). This room is the smallest of all, located in the very center of the pyramid, has an almost square shape (5.73 x 5.23 m, height - 6.22 m), and a niche is built into one of its walls.
Despite the fact that the second burial pit is called the “queen’s room,” the name is a misnomer, since the wives of Egyptian rulers were always buried in separate small pyramids (there are three such tombs near the tomb of the pharaoh).
Previously, it was not easy to get into the “Queen’s Chamber”, because at the very beginning of the corridor that led to the Great Gallery, three granite blocks were installed, disguised with limestone - so it was previously believed that this room did not exist. Al-Mamunu guessed about its presence and, being unable to remove the blocks, hollowed out a passage in the softer limestone (this passage is still in use today).
It is not known exactly at what stage of construction the plugs were installed, and therefore there are several hypotheses. According to one of them, they were installed even before the funeral, during construction work. Another claims that they were not there at all in this place before, and they appeared here after the earthquake, rolling down from the Great Gallery, where they were installed after the funeral of the ruler.
Another secret of the Cheops pyramid is that exactly where the plugs are located, there are not two, as in other pyramids, but three tunnels - the third is a vertical hole (though no one knows where it leads, since granite blocks with no one has moved the seats yet).
You can get to the tomb of the pharaoh through the Great Gallery, which is almost 50 meters long. It is a continuation of the upward corridor from the main entrance. Its height is 8.5 meters, with the walls narrowing slightly at the top. In front of the tomb of the Egyptian ruler there is a “hallway” - the so-called Antechamber.
From the Antechamber, a hole leads to the “Pharaoh's Chamber,” built from monolithic polished granite blocks, in which there is an empty sarcophagus made from a red piece of Aswan granite. (interesting fact: scientists have not yet found any traces or evidence that there was a burial here).
Apparently, the sarcophagus was brought here even before construction began, since its dimensions did not allow it to be placed here after the completion of construction work. The length of the tomb is 10.5 m, width – 5.4 m, height – 5.8 m.
The biggest mystery of the Cheops pyramid (as well as its feature) is its 20 cm wide shafts, which scientists call ventilation ducts. They start inside the two upper rooms, first go horizontally, and then go out at an angle.
While these channels in the Pharaoh’s room are through, in the “Queen’s Chambers” they begin only at a distance of 13 cm from the wall and do not reach the surface at the same distance (at the same time, at the top they are closed with stones with copper handles, the so-called “Ganterbrink doors”). .
Despite the fact that some researchers suggest that these were ventilation ducts (for example, they were intended to prevent workers from suffocating during work due to the lack of oxygen), most Egyptologists are still inclined to think that these narrow channels had religious significance and were able to prove that they were built taking into account the location of astronomical bodies. The presence of canals may well be related to the Egyptian belief about the gods and souls of the dead who live in the starry sky.
At the foot of the Great Pyramid there are several underground structures - in one of them, archaeologists (1954) found the oldest ship on our planet: a wooden cedar boat disassembled into 1224 parts, the total length of which when assembled was 43.6 meters (apparently , it was on it that the pharaoh had to go to the Kingdom of the Dead).
Is this tomb Cheops?
Over the past few years, Egyptologists have increasingly questioned the fact that this pyramid was actually intended for Cheops. This is evidenced by the fact that there is absolutely no decoration in the burial chamber.
The pharaoh's mummy was not found in the tomb, and the sarcophagus itself, in which it was supposed to be located, was not completely finished by the builders: it was hewn rather roughly, and the lid was missing altogether. These Interesting Facts make it possible for fans of theories of the alien origin of this grandiose structure to claim that the pyramid was built by representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations, using technologies unknown to science and for a purpose incomprehensible to us.
