Through the Eras

Architecture and DesignThe Great Pyramid at Giza. PHOTOGRAPH BY SUSAN D. ROCK. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.pyramid temple’s east façade is repeated with the westface of Khafre’s pyramid and the east façade ofMenkaure’s pyramid temple. Moreover, the south sideof the Great Sphinx aligns perfectly with the south faceof Khafre’s pyramid. This evidence of mathematical sophisticationin addition to the enormous size of the monumentshas continued to impress visitors to Egypt sincethe Greek historian Herodotus visited them in the fifthcentury B.C.E.THE GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU. The Great Pyramidmeasures 230.33 meters (756 feet) on each side andreached a height of 146.59 meters (481 feet). It was tallerthan any building constructed by humans anywhere inthe world before the twentieth century C.E. The GreatPyramid of Khufu’s enormous size has led the Germanarchaeologist Rainer Stadelmann to question if ancientrecords claiming that Khufu ruled 23 years could be accurate.Even if Khufu ruled thirty years, one average-sizestone block would need to be placed every two or threeminutes of a ten-hour workday every day of the reign.This “average block” is often said to be about 2.5 tons.Yet the largest blocks at the bottom of the Great Pyramidweighed up to fifteen tons while some of the relievingstones inside the pyramid weigh from fifty toeighty tons each. During that ten-hour day, 230 cubicmeters (8,122 cubic feet) of stone would be set in placeat his pyramid, causeway, two temples, subsidiary pyramid,queen’s pyramids, or officials’ mastaba tombs. Overthe course of his reign, workers built 2,700,000 cubicmeters (95,350,000 cubic feet) of stone architecture.These statistics continue to inspire awe at the ancientEgyptians’ accomplishments with such simple tools. Theconstruction techniques reveal that the Egyptian buildershad learned well the lessons derived from constructionat Meidum and Dahshur during the reign of Khufu’s father,Sneferu. The level platform for a base and the layingof stone blocks in horizontal rows rather thaninverted layers proved to be a much more stable buildingtechnique than those used at the Meidum Pyramidor the Bent Pyramid of Dahshur. There was a clear evolutionfrom the Meidum Pyramid to the Great Pyramidin technique. This evolution demonstrates the Egyptianability to learn from previous errors. They were not soconservative in their thinking that they could not benefitfrom experience. The interior of Khufu’s Great Pyramidcontains three chambers reached by a series of threeArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 21