HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO
BUILD THE GREAT PYRAMID?
G'day folks,
Ever been to see the pyramids? Ever wondered how they got there, and how long they took to build? Well, read on ...
The oldest of
the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that survives today,
the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed as a tomb for the Egyptian pharaoh
Khufu. The precise details regarding the pyramid’s construction remain a
mystery, as no written records have been found, but a number of estimates place
its completion at sometime between 2560 B.C. and 2540 B.C. The pyramid
initially rose about 481 feet, making it the world’s tallest man-made structure
for thousands of years until it was surpassed in the early 1300s by England’s
Lincoln Cathedral. Due to erosion, the pyramid now stands around 455 feet tall.
Covering an
area of 13 acres, the massive monument was designed to align with the points of
the compass and built with an estimated 2.3 million stones, each weighing a ton
or more on average. The workforce is thought to have consisted of thousands of
skilled tradesmen and paid laborers, as opposed to slaves, and estimates
suggest the project took about two decades to complete. It’s been speculated
that workers created ramps in order to move the stone building blocks into
place on the pyramid.
In addition to
Khufu’s pyramid, two other large pyramids for pharaohs were erected at the Giza
site, one for his son Khafra (it originally stood 471 feet high) and the other
for Khafra’s son Menkaure (originally 218 feet high). Khafra’s pyramid complex
is home to the famous Great Sphinx statue, which measures 241 feet long and
about 66 feet high. Over the ages, all three pyramids have been targeted by
grave robbers and much of their exterior white limestone stolen, possibly for
use in other building projects.
Clancy's comment: Amazing edifices, eh? Looking back at history, I often wonder how far we have really advanced. In some things we have, but in others we have lagged.
I'm ...
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