Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest of the three pyramids at Giza, in Egypt. It was built around 2560 BC as the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu. It is so old that Cleopatra, who died in 30 BC, lived closer in time to the first Moon landing in 1969 than to the building of the pyramid. To Cleopatra the pyramid was already an ancient monument, and to the pyramid Cleopatra was fairly recent.^[1]

Age

The Great Pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one still standing. It has outlasted the other six, the list itself and most of the people who drew it up, and is not believed to know it is on a list.^[2]

• Building of the pyramid to Cleopatra: about 2,500 years.
• Cleopatra to the Moon landing: about 2,000 years.
• The Moon landing to now: comparatively nothing.

Height

When it was finished the pyramid stood about 146 metres tall, and for roughly 3,800 years it was the tallest structure built by people anywhere in the world. It is now about 138 metres tall, because its smooth outer casing stones and its top were later removed. It is one of the very few buildings to get shorter by staying where it was.

It is a triangle from every side and a square from above. Geometers have called it the most cooperative building ever made.

Construction

The pyramid is made of more than two million blocks of stone. Exactly how it was built is still studied and debated by archaeologists, and the debate is expected to take somewhat less time than the pyramid did. It is the only great wall-sized project in history to have finished with a point.

See also

• Great Wall of China – another large thing made of stone
• Triangle – its side view
• Sand – what it stands in

References

1. Sandstone, S. (1981). Older Than Old. Desert Press. p. 2560.
2. Wonders Committee (n.d.). “The List: Current Status”. One remaining.
3. Block, B. (2016). Two Million and Counting. Limestone Books.