2019 Winter Egypt In-Depth Travelogue (11) – Cairo Pyramids

Cairo is the capital and largest city of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and also the largest city in Africa and the Arab world. It is located in northeastern Egypt, at the southern tip of the Nile Delta, and serves as the political, economic, cultural, and transportation center of the entire Middle East.

Cairo is one of the oldest cities in the world, its origins tracing back to around 3100 BC with Menes, the founder of the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. After unifying Upper and Lower Egypt, he built the city of Memphis near the southern end of the Nile Delta (near present-day Cairo) as his capital, thus beginning nearly a millennium of glory on this land.

During the eight hundred years from the First to the Sixth Dynasties, Memphis remained the capital. The ancient Egyptians underwent a long evolution in burial practices. Early tombs were simple pits in the ground with mounds of earth on top; later, tombs became deeper, dug as underground chambers, while the surface mounds were surrounded by stone walls. The ancient Egyptians called such tombs "mastaba" (meaning "bench of stone").

By the 27th century BC, during the Third Dynasty, Pharaoh Djoser was no longer satisfied with the mastaba as an eternal dwelling. He built a huge stone mastaba at Saqqara, northwest of Memphis, and added five smaller mastabas on top, each smaller than the one below—this became the Step Pyramid. During the Fourth Dynasty, Pharaoh Snefru built a truly smooth-sided pyramid. Later, under the three generations of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure of the Fourth Dynasty, the pyramid complex at Giza, more than twenty kilometers northwest of Memphis, brought pyramid construction to its peak. According to incomplete statistics, the ancient Egyptians built about 110 pyramids of various sizes.

We visited the Giza Pyramids on December 22, 2019; and on December 31, we visited the Red Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, and the Pyramid of Djoser. This section mainly introduces our visits to these pyramids.

The Giza Pyramid Complex was built between 2631 and 2498 BC. It mainly consists of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre, the Pyramid of Menkaure, and other smaller pyramids, the Great Sphinx, and the Solar Boat, all from the Fourth Dynasty.

The largest and tallest in the Giza complex is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, which is the largest single building in the world by volume. To its southwest is the slightly smaller Pyramid of Khafre, son of Khufu. Further southwest, and even smaller, is the Pyramid of Menkaure, grandson of Khufu.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu was built as the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu (c. 2670 BC), the second ruler of the Fourth Dynasty, so that he might be deified after death. Originally 146.59 meters tall, due to erosion and the loss of its outer casing, the top is now 10 meters shorter, leaving a current height of 136.5 meters, equivalent to a 40-story building. It was constructed from stones weighing between 1.5 and 50 tons, with a total weight of approximately 6.84 million tons. The four sides of the Great Pyramid face exactly north, south, east, and west, with an error of less than 3 arcminutes. The original base side length was 230 meters, but due to the loss of the outer limestone casing, it is now 227 meters. The slope angle is 51°52′. The pyramid sits on a large rock foundation, covering about 52,900 square meters, with a volume of about 2.6 million cubic meters.

On the north face, about halfway up, there is an entrance. One first walks along a man-made passage, then enters a sloping corridor built of massive stone blocks, leading to the burial chamber. Although the chamber is now empty, experts believe it once contained the mummy of Pharaoh Khufu.

The ancient Egyptian pharaohs believed they would become gods after death, and that gods would sail with the sun god to the afterlife. To the south of the Great Pyramid, there is a Solar Boat Museum, which houses an ancient solar boat measuring 43.6 meters long and 5.9 meters wide—a vessel built by the ancient Egyptians over 4,000 years ago!

To the east of the Great Pyramid, there are three smaller pyramids. Except for the one on the southeast side, which still retains its pyramidal shape, the other two look like piles of rubble, their outlines barely discernible.

The Pyramid of Khafre is 136 meters tall, with a slope angle of 52°20′, steeper than Khufu's pyramid. Because it still retains some of the original polished limestone casing near the top, it appears more elegant and is often called the "Beautiful Pyramid." Since Khafre's pyramid stands on higher ground in Giza, it actually looks taller than Khufu's.

The Pyramid of Menkaure is 65.5 meters tall, with a base of 103.4 meters, a slope of 51°20′25″, and a base side length of 108 meters. Its stones are heavier and rougher in workmanship, and its volume is only about one-tenth of Khufu's pyramid. It is believed that Menkaure died before the pyramid was completed, so it was finished hastily.

To the south of Menkaure's pyramid, there are also three smaller pyramids, arranged from east to west with decreasing height, but their overall shapes are still recognizable. These smaller pyramids are thought to be the tombs of Menkaure's queens.

We walked to the northwest of the pyramid complex, where we could see nine pyramids in one frame.

The Egyptians revered the lion as a symbol of strength, and the sphinx (lion with a human head) was seen as an emblem of royal power. Therefore, ancient Egyptian pharaohs often placed sphinxes outside their tombs as guardians.

The Great Sphinx (also known as the Sphinx) is 20 meters high, 72 meters long, with a face about 5 meters long and 4.7 meters wide, a nose 1.71 meters long, a mouth 2.3 meters wide, and a height of 1.93 meters. It wears the "nemes" royal headdress, with flaring "nemes" headcloth falling beside its ears. On its forehead is a cobra relief, and on its chin is the royal beard—a long, downward-turning beard. Around its neck is a necklace, and the lion's body is adorned with patterns of eagle feathers.

Evidence suggests that the Great Sphinx was built by Pharaoh Khafre, who constructed his pyramid, the Sphinx, and several temples near Khufu's pyramid.

The Red Pyramid, located at Dahshur, about thirty kilometers south of Cairo, is the tomb of Pharaoh Snefru of the Fourth Dynasty. It is also the world's first true smooth-sided pyramid. It stands 104 meters tall, second only to the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre. The Red Pyramid was built based on the lessons learned from the Bent Pyramid.

Originally, the surface of the Red Pyramid was not red but white Tura limestone. During the Middle Ages, local residents removed the outer Tura limestone for their own buildings, revealing the reddish limestone underneath, giving it its current appearance. This reddish hue adds a unique beauty.

Near the Red Pyramid is another unusual pyramid: the Bent Pyramid, also built by Pharaoh Snefru of the Fourth Dynasty. During construction, the slope angle was initially 52 degrees. When the pyramid reached about half its height, the architects realized that continuing at this angle might cause the structure to collapse under the weight of the stones, so they changed the angle inward to 43.5 degrees. This reflects the ancient Egyptians' advanced understanding of mechanics. The resulting pyramid became unique in Egypt, with four curved sides and a smooth surface.

The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is located at Saqqara and is the tomb of Pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty. It is 62 meters tall, with a base of 109 meters by 125 meters, and was originally faced with polished white limestone. It can be considered a prototype of the pyramid, composed of six mastabas stacked on top of each other, each smaller than the one below. This structure laid the foundation for the construction of true pyramids.

To the south of the Pyramid of Djoser lies a large plaza, with some ancient architectural ruins on its east and south sides, and several smaller pyramids nearby.

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