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The Great Pyramid of KhufuThe Great Pyramid, called Akhet Khufu (The Horizon of Khufu), is the largest pyramid in Egypt. The pharoh Khnum-khuf, called Khufu for short, and Cheops in Greek, created this pyramid after he came to the throne in 2551 BC upon the death of his father, Sneferu, creator of the Meidum and Dahshur pyramids. So massive is this pyramid that it almost, if not does, exceeds the total amount of stone in the three created by Sneferu. It would be very easy to say that Khufu took his dad's idea and ran with it, so to speak.
CitationIn the above picture of the great pyramid, note some of the fascinating features. Just to the lower right of the pyramid is an odd-shaped building, which is where a massive sun boat was discovered. To the right of that are several satellite pyramids, more than likely of Khufu's queens, or possibly of some of his sons. All around the pyramid are various mastabas, which were the structures that were the predecessors to the pyramids, which are probably tombs of various important figures of the time. Also, note the city in the background. This city is Cairo, which has been getting closer and closer to the pyramids at Giza for many years.
The Dimensions of this pyramid are as follows: The technical precision that was used in this pyramid is phenomenal. The base of this pyramid is level within less than an inch. The sides deviate from the cardinal directions at an average of 3 minutes, 6 seconds of arc - far less than one degree. One reason could be that the royal designers thought that being this exact was so symbolic that is must be exact. Another reason, however, is much more practical. They did not wish for this project to suffer the same fate as the Bent Pyramid. They wished for the pyramid to be a perfect pyramid, so they worked with such exacting detail so as to avoid the fate of the bend. The massive qualities of this pyramid simply cannot be overlooked. It is estimated to contain 2.3 million blocks of stone, each block said to weigh about 2.5 tons. While there is debate as to how accurate these estimates are, because it is not known if the inner blocks are as well-cut as the ones exposed now and because the blocks, obviously, get smaller as they get closer to the top of the pyramid. However, some of the stones at the base might weigh up to 15 tons, and the granite beams supporting the King's Chamber and the other chambers above it weigh an astonishing 50 to 80 tons. No matter how you look at it, this is a very large, very heavy building.
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