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Many articles and books have been written about the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops, considering it from the standpoint of a modern materialistic view, not taking into account that it was built during the period of the previous highly developed civilization, the knowledge of which has not reached us. The Pyramid of Cheops, with its enormous size, involuntarily raises the question of the methods of its construction. The hypotheses put forward in this regard are far from the truth.

The pyramid of Cheops, built about 4600 years ago, is located on a stone plateau in the Libyan desert. The stones for its construction were delivered mainly from the quarries of the Maccatim Highlands, which is located east of the Nile River. The construction of the pyramid was carried out under the guidance of the famous architect Khafre for 20 years. According to ancient sources, peasants took part in its construction only three months a year, in their free time from field work, when the Nile flooded. But this does not exclude the conduct of work by a small number of specialists who prepared the scope of work for thousands of seasonal peasant builders.

The purpose of the construction of the pyramid-tomb.

The word "pyramid" in literal translation from Greek - "the fire that is inside." By "fire" here one must understand the presence of an ordered energy flow both inside and outside the pyramid. Similar energy flows can be observed in crystals (quartz, diamond...), in trees, etc. Above the top of the pyramid (tree ...) a vertical energy flow is formed, which is sometimes called a cosmic channel (pillar). In the morning, at dawn, this energy flow can be seen above the top of the pyramid with the naked eye. The energy flows at the top of the pyramid of Cheops are connected with the energy flows of neighboring pyramids, forming a channel-energy connection between them. In nature, a similar energy connection is observed in trees of crystals (druze), etc. At the same time, the formation of an additional domed energy shell, a collective aura, is observed above them. Until now, the pyramid has been considered as a material body without taking into account its energy properties, just as in medicine the physical body of a person is studied without taking into account his other six subtle bodies.

The pyramid, like the physical body of a person, is only a material frame for subtle energy systems. The legends say that the Great Stone is located in the pyramid, which arrived from the Cosmos to the Earth. He has great energy and magical power. Similar stones are found in the Kaaba mosque (Mecca, Saudi Arabia) in the Himalayas, and earlier the emperor Tatslau in Atlantis, who was buried in Taimyr, had. These are stones of spiritual centers and centers of civilization.

In order to create energy vertical columns of space communication (flows) on Earth, humanity has used a variety of technical solutions in all millennia. For example, in the mountainous regions, the tops of the mountains were arranged in the form of pyramids, tents, sphinxes and other structures, and under them - tombs. In flat places, artificial architectural ground or underground structures were created (mounds, pyramids, labyrinth drawings ...)

The pyramid has calculated characteristics to obtain the necessary types of energy flows. The larger the pyramid, the more powerful its energy flow. Above the top of Mount Everest (Himalayas) is one of the most powerful energy flows on Earth.
There are tombs of Ancient Egypt both in mountainous (near Lake Victoria) and in flat places (near the Nile Delta). Their construction was carried out mainly during the heyday of an ancient civilization that had a high technical level of development (air transport (vimanas, chariots), eternal lamps, energy, laser, nuclear, sound weapons, etc.).

Start of construction.

The pyramid of Cheops has a height of about 150 meters with a base length of one side of 250 meters. It was built on the western bank of the Nile, near the city of Cairo.
The famous architect Khafre did not build this pyramid on a bare spot. Here were very ancient squat pyramids made of monolithic stone, which were called "remnants" by modern experts. One of the ancient pyramids with its energy flows and underground passages (built about 14,000 years ago) was used by Khafre for its intended purpose, increasing its height and replanning the internal passages and rooms. This ancient pyramid had a powerful foundation and special entrances to the dungeons for underground work.

The Pyramid of Cheops, like the ancient one, is oriented towards spiritual centers (Shambhala is in the east, and Thule is in the north), since the north pole was located 12,000 years ago in northwestern Canada near the border with America. The geographic north pole is constantly migrating around the globe.

Using the ancient pyramid as a base for a new one, the builders achieved a significant reduction in labor and material costs, and a reduction in the construction period. Now no one remembers more ancient builders, although more than half of the volume of the Cheops pyramid is made up of stones of the ancient pyramid. The original monolithic pyramid (remnant) had its own burial chamber with other dungeons. During the construction of the pyramid, Khafre made a new redevelopment of the dungeons. Therefore, some voids from the ancient pyramid that did not fit into the new layout do not find a logical explanation from the researchers.

Daria Nessel | Dec 21, 2016

The Pyramid of Cheops (Pyramid of Khufu) is one of the most famous and the only one that has survived to this day, which everyone who comes to Cairo can see. Its age dates back to about 2500 BC. For about fifty hundred years it has been rising, surprising and striking with its size, in the burning Egyptian desert. This unique complex has been studied for more than one century. More than one generation of Egyptologists and archaeologists “broke many spears” with disputes about its purpose and methods of construction. Thanks to the pyramid of Khufu (whom the Greeks called Cheops), the science of pyramidology appeared. Adherents of non-traditional teachings, magicians of all times also put forward their conjectures describing the genesis of this grandiose creation.

Versions about the methods of building the pyramid of Cheops

The Pyramid of Cheops was built by the architect and chief Hemiun, a cousin or nephew of the supreme ruler himself. The methods used by the Egyptians in its construction were forgotten and lost due to wars, civil strife, adverse weather conditions that hit Ancient Egypt, when there were no memories left of the former wealth and power.

There are many interpretations explaining how the pyramid of Cheops was built. The first was proposed by Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the 5th century BC. and left a detailed description of what he saw. According to him, more than 100,000 slaves were involved in the construction, many of whom died in this hard work. With the help of levers made of wood, they raised huge basalt blanks to the desired level. This option does not stand up to criticism, since it is problematic to imagine such levers that can withstand an almost three-ton stone and lift it to a height of more than 140 meters (the inhabitants of the Nile Valley at that time did not know what a wheel and a block were).

Another version is the use of an embankment built around the building as it grows. If we adhere to this point of view, then the amount of excavation work performed will also require a huge amount of labor.

Meanwhile, the most recent archaeological finds indicate that there was a settlement near the construction site, where about 4,500 people lived permanently, constantly employed in the construction of the tomb. These people were not slaves, they ate well and had good dwellings. It is assumed that up to 20,000 Egyptians were involved in temporary work after the completion of agricultural work.

The third is the use of a spiral outer ramp around the entire perimeter. But its use did not explain how the inner chamber was made, where the pharaoh's sarcophagus is located, located 50 m above the base, and where one relatively narrow corridor leads.

Pyramid of Khufu - the sparkling crystal of Egypt

The Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt is a geometric body with a square base with a perimeter of 922 m, with a height from the base of 146 m (original, now - 138 m). The angle of inclination of its geometrically ideal faces was 51 degrees. It is lined with limestone blocks of 2.5 tons.

In the center there are three rooms made of five-ton polished granite blocks, one of which contains the pharaoh's sarcophagus. The purpose of the two smaller chambers located above it is unknown. According to the latest assumptions, they serve as a shock absorber that does not allow crushing the “king's chambers”. Everything in the cavity of the building, except for the tunnel leading to the rooms and down below the base, as well as two ventilation shafts, is completely filled with monoliths.

Until 1168, the tomb of Khufu was lined with polished elements of soft material, which made it look like a crystal sparkling under the rays of the sun. Later, the lining was used by the Cairo to restore their city after the invasion of the Arabs. The total weight of the monument resting on a cut rock foundation is over 5 million tons. Even with today's cutting-edge technology and technique, it's hard to imagine a way to solidly construct this marvel of architecture.

Theories for the creation of the pyramid of Cheops

French architect Jean Pierre Ruden became interested in Khufu's pyramid in 1999 and devoted 10 years of his hard work to it. As a professional designer, he wanted to understand what techniques were used by people almost 5,000 years ago when building it. The result of his examination was the conclusion: the ancient Egyptians used an internal ramp during construction, which grew along with the pyramid and repeated its perimeter, with an inclination angle of not more than 7 degrees (a steeper rise makes it impossible to move stone parallelepipeds on wooden rolls and skids).

Jean Pierre explained the impeccable execution of geometric proportions by the fact that at first the front polished blocks were laid along the marked lines, then two more inner rows of already unpolished, but correctly marked slabs were leveled along them, and then the empty space was filled with roughly sawn limestone. His theory explained how the granite parallelepipeds of the pharaoh's burial chamber were raised and installed at a height of 50 meters.

This theory would be recognized as reliable and final if there were voids in the thickness of the Cheops pyramid that remained after the cessation of construction and testified to the presence of internal ramps. But so far there is no such confirmation.

All experts agree that some parts of the pyramid of Khufu are made at a high technological level, unrealizable 4000 years ago. So, for example, the granite pieces of the structure are cut out of the rock with such precision that even a knife blade cannot be pushed into the gap between them.

The very fact of Khufu's burial raises many questions: the granite sarcophagus for his mummy was not completed, made without proper care, and no traces of the burial were found. The presence of 15 and 35 tons of granite stones in the masonry also cannot be explained. Such inconsistencies have given rise to theories about the divine origin of the pyramid at Giza. Since the end of the 19th century, the pyramid of Cheops has become a place of pilgrimage for followers of various esoteric movements and those who are fond of magic, proclaiming it to be the habitat of spirits and demons.

Edgar Cayce, the most famous of all occultists (1877-1945), proclaimed that it was created by the Atlanteans 10,000 BC to escape the global flood, and that the lost wisdom of a highly developed civilization is contained there.

The beginning of the space age gave birth to a fabrication about the involvement of aliens in its construction. The most popular author of one of these conclusions, Swiss Erich von Daniken, hypothesized that the Cheops pyramid was designed by aliens to store the bodies of representatives of foreign civilizations who died on Earth; and the god Ra, who was worshiped by the local population, is an alien, and all the myths and religion of this period are just a distorted reflection of reality. Careful geometric and astronomical research has led to unexpected discoveries that can be attributed either to random coincidences or patterns:

• the base to height ratio is approximately 3.14 (pi);
• the direction of the corridor and ventilation shafts coincides with the location in the sky of the Polar Star, the stars Sirius and Alnitak.

The latter led to the theory that the pyramid of Cheops was nothing more than an astronomical observatory.

In the 60s and 70s of the 20th century. a new surge of interest in this object occurred due to the experiment of the Czech Karel Dribal, who placed a blunt razor inside a cardboard copy (15 cm) of the pyramid, and after a few days the initial sharpness returned to it.

When they removed fragments of stones near the pyramid of Khufu, they noticed a closed triangular chamber, consisting of heavy limestone slabs. It was in 1955. Lifting the plate with the image of Jephedra, they found a huge boat, consisting of 1224 parts. It was a large boat made of Lebanese cedar. She consisted of 2 cabins, could float on water with 10 oars. Fragments of acacia needed repair. The rook was assembled for 10 years. In 1971, it was exhibited at the Solar Boat Museum.

There was also a second chamber, which was not opened for a long time. But in 1987 another smaller boat was found by radar. She is poorly preserved. In 2008, they allocated money for excavations, in 2011 its details were raised up.

The pyramid is part of the ritual and burial complex of the earthly ruler: the pharaoh. Therefore, with all the differences, in addition to the general form, all the pyramids also have a common internal structure, which is due to the obligatory presence of the hall in which the pharaoh's sarcophagus was installed and the passages leading to it. Let's see how they are arranged egyptian pyramids inside on the example of the tomb of Cheops - the highest stone structure in the world.

The only entrance, which was provided by the ancient builders, is located on the northern side of the pyramid structure at a height of 12 meters from the ground. Once this entrance was hidden by cladding slabs, but already at the end of the 18th century, the first European scientists who explored this wonder of the world - the French, saw it open, because by that time people and time had already deprived the ancient building of facing slabs.

Inside the pyramid of Cheops there is a passage-corridor, which has an almost square section. The angle of inclination of the corridor, apparently, was not chosen arbitrarily - it coincides with the angle at which the ancient Egyptians could observe the North Star. Therefore, the first researchers had to face certain difficulties - then there were no railings, which are now made for the convenience of tourists, and the feet slid along the polished stone floor slabs. Yes, and with ventilation then it was incomparably worse than today (although even now it is far from ideal). The corridor sometimes narrowed to such an extent that they had to crawl on their haunches. Now, again, for the benefit of tourists, everything has been “corrected”.

Pyramid of Cheops inside

Unlike most other similar structures in Egypt, which have one burial chamber, the most famous pyramidal collos has three of them. One of them - underground - is located below the base of the structure, cut directly into the natural foundation. However, this chamber was not completely finished. Apparently, the plans of the builders have changed, and the other two chambers are already located directly in the above-ground stone body of the giant structure. For a long time, scholars explained this by the fact that the pharaoh wanted the tomb to be ready for a possible funeral ceremony at any stage of construction. And when the builders started building the next chamber, located above, the need for an underground chamber disappeared.

This theory does not explain why all other similar structures have a burial chamber below the base line. Only the pyramids of the pharaohs Snefru and Cheops have burial chambers inside above the base in the thickness of the masonry. A significant number of modern Egyptologists believe that such an arrangement of chambers in the tomb of Cheops was associated with certain religious views of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. Briefly, this theory is as follows. There are facts that allow us to conclude that Cheops began to be revered as the god Ra during his lifetime.

The pyramid of this pharaoh is called the "Horizon of Khufu", which meant that he, like the god Ra himself, rises every day to the horizon. The sons and successors of Cheops, Djedefra and Chefren, became the first pharaohs whose titles contain the epithet - "son of Ra". That is, Khufu was identified with Ra, so his burial chamber should be located above the ground and closer to the sky - where the real sun is visible. True, it should be noted that in relation to Pharaoh Sneferu, no facts have yet been found that would make it possible to interpret the location of his burial chamber in this way.

But back to what is Cheops pyramid inside. From the corridor leading down to the underground chamber, at approximately ground level, an upward passage begins. From it you can get into a small gallery, and then into a small chamber, called the queen's chamber. One of the underground "junctions" If you don’t turn towards the queen’s room, but go further, then the Great Gallery will begin, having a length of 47 and a height of 8.5 meters. This magnificent gallery is a unique architectural structure. The ancient masters laid the limestone slabs of the false vault in such a way that each subsequent layer overlapped the previous one by 5-6 cm. The limestone slabs framing the walls are polished to a shine and pressed together with amazing accuracy - even the blade of a thin knife could not pass through the joints . Notches are chiselled into the floor, allowing movement without having to hold on to smooth walls.

After the Great Gallery there is a small airlock room leading to a room called the king's chamber. Its dimensions are:

• length - 10.5 m;
• width - 5.2 m;
• height - 5.8 meters.

The lining of the chamber is made of pink granite slabs. Above the ceiling are five unloading chambers, the top of which has a gable roof made of giant granite blocks. They take on the enormous weight of the stone mass, preventing it from crushing the burial chamber of the pharaoh. It should also be noted that the pharaoh's chamber is precisely oriented to the cardinal points.

Near the western wall (the Egyptians' afterlife began in the west) there is a massive sarcophagus carved from a monolithic block of pink granite. The lid of the sarcophagus is missing. Also, no traces of the pharaoh's mummy were found. That is, there is no evidence that the pyramid of Cheops was ever used for an actual funeral. However, no other burial site of Pharaoh Cheops has yet been discovered, just as his mummy has not been found. Nevertheless, Egyptologists have enough reason to say that the pyramids are part of the ritual-burial complex, and not something else.

When the first European explorers discovered the pharaoh's sarcophagus at the end of the 18th century, they still did not know exactly for whom this, as they thought, tomb was erected, what was the name of the ancient ruler of Egypt. Only later, several hieroglyphs were found above the burial chamber, surrounded by an oval frame. In fairness, it should be noted that some Egyptologists consider this inscription to be a much later forgery, and there are certain grounds for this. The inscription was able to be read thanks to the scientific discoveries of Champollion, who by that time had already deciphered the language of the ancient Egyptians. It turned out that it was the name of the pharaoh, by whose order this main and first wonder of the world was built. The pharaoh's name was Khufu (the Greeks called him Cheops), and he ruled according to modern scientific ideas in the 28th-27th centuries. BC, that is, about 4700 years ago.

Mystery of the channels

Speaking about the structure of the Cheops pyramid, one cannot fail to say that both the queen’s chamber and the king’s chamber are equipped with inclined shafts-channels of a square section going up in the north and south direction, averaging 20x20 cm in size. Until recently, it was believed that they served as ventilation ducts. However, if two passages extending from the pharaoh's burial chamber pass through the body of the structure and go outside, then two passages from the queen's chamber cannot be ventilation ducts - they end in the masonry itself far from the outer surfaces of the walls (see diagram above).

Since 1993, attempts have been made to understand, using various technical devices, for what purpose they were intended. German engineers have designed a special robot capable of crawling through such narrow shafts. But both in the southern shaft and in the northern one, the robot ran into a barrier, which is a kind of slab with two protrusions (handles?) similar to metal (copper?). An attempt was made to drill through one of the partitions, but the video camera that the robot pushed into the drilled hole showed that the small space behind the slab ended again with a new stone partition.

It was decided to continue the research by preparing new technical equipment, but the events in Egypt that occurred at the beginning of 2011 postpone them indefinitely.

In the light of new data, a scientific hypothesis has spread that these mines performed some ritual tasks related to the religious ideas of the ancients. There is also a simpler hypothesis that initially these were actually ventilation ducts. But as the building rose higher and higher, it was decided to build a third burial chamber - the king's chamber. And the builders blocked the passages leading from the queen's chamber as unnecessary. This hypothesis is indirectly confirmed by the fact that the entrances to the mines from the side of the queen's chamber were walled up and were found only after her thorough examination.

The internal structure of the pyramid of Cheops from an engineering and construction point of view, the most difficult of all such structures of ancient Egypt. All other Egyptian pyramids inside look about the same as the great pyramidal structure of Cheops, but in general, inside the pyramids of other pharaohs, they have a simpler device, with the exception of the tomb of Pharaoh Djoser in Saqqara, which has an extensive system of underground passages and rooms at its base.

It will also be interesting to see.

Why did the ancient Egyptians build pyramids, how were these grandiose and mysterious creations of human hands created. Many mysteries have not yet been revealed, and there are more questions than answers. Perhaps the rulers of those times wanted to emphasize the majesty of the era, to confirm the constancy of their power, to show proximity to the gods.

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First buildings

From the end of the 4th millennium BC. pharaohs were buried in truncated structures - medium-sized stone buildings (mastabs), for fastening which a solution of clay was used. Today, such structures look like shapeless piles of stones that do not carry any architectural value.

The history of the pyramids - the most unusual buildings of ancient Egypt - began in 2780-2760 BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Djoser, who completely changed the architectural style of the tombs. His new tomb consisted of as many as 6 mastabas erected on top of each other. The narrowest was at the top, the widest at the bottom. Such a building was a stepped building. Its height was just over 60 meters, and the perimeter was 115 by 125 meters.

The construction of the pyramids in ancient Egypt was carried out in a special architectural style that reigned for two hundred years. Its developer and designer was the famous vizier Imhotep. They built pyramids in a different form. For example, the period of the reign of Pharaoh Snefru was marked by the creation of two unique pyramids of ancient Egypt - broken and pink:

1. At the first, the angle of inclination of the walls from the base of the building to its middle is 54° 31', and then it changes to 43° 21'. There are many versions explaining such a strange form of construction. The main one is that the death of the pharaoh was sudden, so the workers made the slope steeper to speed up the construction process. There are other opinions on this matter. For example, that it was a trial version created for the sake of "experiment".
2. The second got its name due to the color of the blocks that were used for construction. The stone was a pale pink hue, and at sunset it turned bright pink. Initially, the outer cladding was white, but over time, the coating gradually peeled off, and pink limestone, the material from which the structure was laid out, came out.

But still, the most famous are those structures that proudly rise on the Giza plateau. These three majestic pyramids of impressive size are famous all over the world.

The largest pyramid

Its other name is the Pyramid of Khufu. This is one of the most famous and largest buildings in the world. Let's make a brief description of it. When was the pyramid of Cheops built? It was erected near the city of Giza (at the moment - a suburb of Cairo). The largest pyramid began to be built on August 23, 2480 BC. For its construction, the forces of 100 thousand people were used. The first 10 years were required in order to build a road along which giant blocks of stones were delivered. It took another 20 years to build the structure itself.

Attention! The Pyramid of Cheops is striking in its scale. Today, its height is 137 meters, but this was not always the case, because over time the cladding was worn out and part of the base was covered with sand. Initially, it was 10 meters higher.

147 meters is the length of the side of the base, made in the form of a square. According to studies, more than 2 million limestone blocks were used for construction, the average weight of one of them is 2.5 tons. Each block fits perfectly to the next one and is raised to a certain height. The entrance can be found on the north side of the building, at a height of just over 15 meters. Stone slabs resembling an arch are laid out around.

It is still unknown how exactly the Egyptians managed to cope not only with the lifting of the blocks, but also with their perfect fit to each other. There are no gaps between blocks. Some are sure that they were not engaged in raising the blocks - they just crushed the limestone, brought it to a powdery state, and then removed the moisture, and so it turned into cement, which was poured into pre-created formwork. After that, water, crushed stone and stone were added - in this way monolithic blocks arose.

The stepped structure served several purposes: it was used as a sundial, a seasonal calendar, and a reference point for geodetic measurements.

Little is known about who built the largest Egyptian pyramid. The architect was the vizier of the pharaoh named Cheops Hemiun. He was engaged in design, was the head of the work, but he did not have time to see his offspring, as he died shortly before the completion of construction.

Attention! Today there is no exact information that the tomb of Cheops is located inside. However, it is believed that such buildings were part of ritual burial complexes.

Chamber inside Khufu's pyramid

Inside there are three chambers: the upper one is the royal burial chamber and is lined with granite blocks, each one weighs 60 tons. This chamber is located at a height of 43 meters from the base. There is also an ascending corridor and the queen's chambers. In the burial pit at the beginning of the 20th century, two engineers dug a well, where, in their opinion, a hidden burial chamber should have been located.

However, their efforts were in vain: it later turned out that the construction of the chamber was not completed. Instead, the burial chambers were arranged in the center, they are located one above the other.

More recently, using muon radiography technology, it was possible to find a room that was not known before.. It was calculated that its length is 30 meters, and its width is 2 meters, it is located right in the center of the building. Scientists are trying to drill a small 3-centimeter hole in order to launch a mini-robot inside and explore the room they found, since it is still unknown what is in it and for what purposes it serves.

Today, there is almost nothing left of the cladding - the inhabitants of Cairo decided that it would be “more necessary” for the construction of their houses, and they took it to their homes. However, there are remains of white limestone on the nearby Pyramid of Khafre, which is somewhat smaller.

Second largest building

Its height is 143.5 meters. If you believe the legends, then it was crowned with a granite pyramidion, decorated with gold. There is no data on why what is no longer there, and where it is now. Khafre spent 40 years building a tomb for himself. It was built using the same technology as the previous one, but it is located on a higher hill, and its slope is steeper, which makes the structure impregnable and difficult even for professional climbers. At the moment, climbing to the top is prohibited in order to preserve the remains of the old cladding.

The protective material granite was used inside and outside the pyramid, but it was not used in the burial chamber. At the moment, the condition of the building is assessed as good, despite the fact that its size has slightly decreased. The blocks, made of limestone and weighing a couple of tons each, are attached to each other so tightly that not a piece of paper or even a hair can be inserted between them.

The youngest of the three, the height is 62 meters. At the same time, in some pictures, tourists manage to choose the angle so that it looks the highest. The ancient building has been preserved in good condition and is open to the public. Starting from this building, large tombs were no longer erected. Scientists believe that by that time the decline of the era of great buildings began.

Attention! An interesting feature of the Menkaure pyramid is that the largest stone block in it weighs at least 200 tons.

Other architectural elements

Later, the pharaohs stopped creating grandiose structures. Thus, Pharaoh Userkaf ordered the construction of a building in Saqqara, the height of which is 44.5 meters. At the moment, it looks like a pile of stones that has nothing to do with an architectural structure. The same goes for the rest of the buildings. In total, about 100 pyramids were erected in Egypt. Their appearance is the same - only the height and volume change.

Great sphinx

A monolithic limestone rock was used to make this famous sculpture. The Great Sphinx is considered one of the elements of the architectural complex in Giza. The length of the sphinx is 73 meters, and it “stretched” up to 20 meters in height. For all the time of its existence, the sculpture turned out to be almost completely covered with sand. It was cleared only in 1925 - then they learned about the actual dimensions of the architectural object.

Output

Some believe that the multi-stage pyramids in ancient Egypt were born as a result of the actions of a mysterious and powerful civilization or alien beings. Different concepts of how the ancient Egyptians built their structures are attractive and more than once formed the basis of works of literature and cinema.

Therefore, in this article, only the main general facts and figures relating to the Great Pyramid as a whole will be given.

Date of construction and geometric dimensions

According to the generally accepted opinion, the Great Pyramid was built in the 2560-2580s BC as a tomb for the pharaoh of the IV dynasty Cheops (Khufu) who reigned at that time. Despite some difficulties in explaining the possibility of building it within the required timeframe using the technology available at that time, this version is nevertheless considered the main one and has quite numerous confirmations in the form of inscriptions found inside the Pyramid and the Pit of the Solar Boat with it.

The Pyramid of Cheops is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids.

• Altitude (today): ≈ 138.75 m
• Height (originally): ≈ 146.5 m
• Angle: 51° 50"
• Side face length (original): 230.33 m (calculated) or about 440 King's cubits
• Side face length (now): about 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.
• Base area (originally): ≈ 53,000 m² (5.3 ha)
• Area of ​​the pyramid: (originally) ≈ 85,500 m²
• Perimeter: 922 m.
• The 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
• The average size of the observed stone blocks of the rough masonry: 1.27 m in width and depth, 71 cm in height (according to Petrie)
• Average weight of rough masonry stone blocks: 2.5 t
• Heaviest rough stone block: 15 t
• The heaviest stone block (known; granite; above the entrance to the King's Chamber): 90 tons
• Number of blocks: about 2.5 million (provided that the pyramid is not of the infill type)
• Estimated total weight of the pyramid: about 6.25 million tons (possibly about 6 million tons according to microgravimetry)
• The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rocky elevation in the center (in the area of ​​the Grotto) more than 9 m high.
• Materials used in the construction (of the known ones): limestone from the Giza Plateau - rough masonry, Tursky white limestone - interior walls, ventilation shafts and exterior cladding, Aswan granite - Prechamber, King's Chamber, unloading chambers (partially), traffic jams; Sinai - sarcophagus. Also found inside and quartz sand.
• the pyramidion of the pyramid was not found, the stones of its fastening, too.
• The True Entrance is located traditionally, i.e., on the northern side. He is the only known one.

The difference in the thicknesses of the layers of the pyramid masonry

Despite the fact that the pyramid was built in layers, the thickness of the layers is different and varies from 60 cm to one and a half meters.

The reasons for this are not exactly known, there are several hypotheses, the simplest says that large blocks were laid in eras when an excess amount of labor appeared on the laying of layers of rough masonry. What can be connected, for example, with the release of it after the completion of a certain laborious stage of building some complex internal infrastructures or a season for harvesting blocks, etc. The scheme requires careful analysis.

The current state of affairs and appearance after the disappearance of the cladding

The Great Pyramid now has faces concave inward. This often gives rise to various theories and speculations, but it should be remembered that the structure lost several meters of facing on each side, and the nature of its looting into stone does not give reason to believe that the faces were not originally flat.

Perhaps the observed picture is simply a consequence of the most profitable extraction of stone.

The question of using the pyramid for its intended purpose

Since the most ancient times, the question has been sharply raised - was the pyramid of Cheops used for its intended purpose? There is still no single answer to this question. On the one hand, there is almost complete certainty that the pyramid was completely finished by the builders. On the other hand, what we see inside it, for example, the obviously not of the best quality sarcophagus in the King's Chamber, the unfinished floor in the Queen's Chamber, or the picture of continuous incompleteness in the Underground Chamber - everything suggests that the pharaoh in these famous the premises could hardly be buried at all. Herodotus also claimed that Cheops was buried elsewhere, on an island surrounded on all sides by water. On the third hand, traces of obvious breaking of traffic jams and shutters of the Antechamber indicate that the pyramid was carefully sealed for some reason. The official point of view of science on this matter suggests that crackers visited the pyramid no later than the first 500-600 years from the moment it was built. But what they found, who they were, and whether they found anything at all is completely unknown. In the volume of the Great Pyramid, the volume of all known and explored rooms is less than 1 percent, and it is already known that in addition to the explored ones, there are several unknown sealed rooms in it.

Blocks and Careers

Egyptologists believe that the pyramids of Giza were built from natural stone, which was mined in three quarries. The actual construction of the pyramids is made of nummulite limestone of the Mokattam formation. The quarries were located in close proximity to the pyramids. The lower parts of the pyramids of Khafre and Mykerin were faced with granite from the Aswan quarry, which is located in southern Egypt at a distance of 934 kilometers along the Nile (700 kilometers in a straight line). Several rows of granite cladding have been preserved at the pyramid of Menkaure. The middle and upper parts of the two large pyramids were lined with limestone from the Tours quarry, which is located on the east bank of the Nile south of Cairo at a distance of 13-17 kilometers from the pyramids. The number of pyramid facing blocks (granite and limestone) that have come down to us is relatively small. Therefore, we can simply agree that stone from the Tur and Aswan quarries was used in the construction of the pyramids. The opinion that the pyramids were built of nummulite limestone is not fully true. The lower rows of the pyramids are composed of solid limestone from the Moqattam Formation. Higher up, blocks of soft limestone dominate, in which there are no nummulites. It is fundamentally. That is, when describing blocks of pyramids in the specialized literature, it seems to remain “behind the scenes” that most of them are carved from soft limestone.

The lower rows of the pyramids (approximately 1-7/10 rows) are built from blocks carved from hard limestone. The first row of the pyramid of Cheops (thickness 1.5 m) is carved from a layer of strong limestone, having the greatest thickness - 1.5 m. In the upper rows of the pyramids, blocks carved from soft limestone predominate (or cast blocks indistinguishable from them. - the statement requires proof, Supervisor 03:05, 22 May 2011 (UTC)). When developing a quarry, it was necessary to fulfill one condition: the time elapsed from the moment of opening soft limestones to cutting building blocks from them should be minimal. That is, soft limestones had to be cut into blocks before they hardened from contact with air. In addition, after cutting blocks of soft limestone, it took some time for them to harden and not crumble during transportation. These requirements correspond to the cyclic nature of quarrying. Its section was being developed, the area of ​​which was approximately 1.5 times larger than the area of ​​a number of blocks, on which the construction of the pyramid was stopped. Blocks were cut from layers of hard and soft limestone and stored "by layer", that is, according to their vertical dimensions. After removing all the limestone from the area of ​​the site, it began to be laid into the body of the pyramid. The sequence of laying blocks of different thicknesses (and, accordingly, different weights) was determined by the ratio of labor costs for their lifting. This ensured the ranking of rows of blocks according to their thickness.

base of the pyramid

The rocky base of the pyramid of Cheops, according to modern calculations, occupies from 23% of the volume of the pyramid, or about 600,000 cubic meters. The minimum figures were obtained when determining the height of the rock in terms of an average level of 12.5 meters. new exploration work is required to clarify these data. A revision of most of the old works with calculations of the stone used during construction is also required. In addition, there are estimates of 10-12% of the volume of the pyramid, which is occupied by a solution that holds the blocks together.

The directions to the north of the side faces were drawn out so precisely that due to the sphericity of the Earth and the colossal size of the Pyramid, its northern side turned out to be 20 cm shorter than the southern one. (the exact dimensions of the pyramid are known from the preserved pits of the supporting corner stones)

Sources

[http://supernovum.ru/public/index.php?doc=171 | Mining and Geological Aspect of Giza Pyramid Construction Technology]

[http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/31/95/86/PDF/PyramidsSR.pdf Geological and Geomorphological study of the original hill at the base of Fourth Dynasty Egyptian monuments.]