The Great pyramid of Cheops

The pyramid of Cheops is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world still in existence. Cheops Pyramid is the largest, oldest and finest of the three and known as “The Great Pyramid. Until the end of the 19th Century, it was the tallest manmade structure in the world. Cheops is the son of Snefru and second ruler of the 4th dynasty. It incorporates about 2.3 million stone blocks, weighing an average of 2.5 to 15 tons each. It is estimated that the workers would have had to set a block every two and a half minutes. The encasing marble which covered the outside of the pyramid has eroded or been removed over time. With this casing off, the pyramid lost 33 feet (11m) of all of its dimensions. The top platform is 10m square.

There are lots and lots of stories about how The Cheops Pyramid was built, Herodotus said that it would have taken 30 years and 100,000 slaves to have built it. There is another theory which says that it was built by peasants who were unable to work the land while the Nile flooded between July and November, so they worked in building the pyramid and in return they can get their food. The flooded waters would have also helped in the moving of the casing stones. These stones were brought from Aswan and Tura and the water would have brought the stones right to the pyramid. Cheops pyramid is thought to have been built between 2589 - 2566 BC. It would have taken over 2,300,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2.5 tons each. The total weight would have been 6,000,000 tons and a height of 482 feet (140m).

There are three small pyramids stand to the east of Cheops' pyramid. These are thought to have been for his sister, Merites, who was also his wife, and possibly two other queens. And in the west side of the Great Pyramid, There is the Royal Cemetery. It contains 15 mastabas which have just recently been opened to the public after having been closed for over 100 years. They discovered also at this site, that there was the mummy of a 4,600 year old female. She had a completely unique plaster encasement that has never been seen or found anywhere else.

And At the southern side of the pyramid, you can find the Boat Pits and Museum. The five boat pits were discovered in 1982. One boat is encased in the stones, has no nails. It was held together with ropes and pegs, but not nails, and is amazingly intact. Of course, these boats is related to their believes in the afterlife.

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