Model of the Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt, with cut away revealing interior passages. The Great Pyramid is unusual in having chambers within the actual structure, most Egyptian pyramids only have them underneath. This model is made to scale, with the human-sized figure looking like a tiny speck at the base of the enormous structure. The Pyramid is thought to have been built for the pharaoh Khufu as his tomb in about 2,500 BC. No one really knows, though, and I've not heard any satisfactory explanation for how it could have been built within the time-frame envisaged by contemporary chronology. The thing covers 13 acres, and contains over 2 million blocks of limestone and granite, weighing between two and 70 tonnes, and weighing over seven and a half million tonnes all together, all arranged with incredible precision in 201 courses of masonry. It contains as much stone as all the churches and cathedrals in England put together, yet was supposedly built within a single reign. Khufu's predecessor Sneferu is attributed with building three pyramids, each almost as massive as this one. I find this notion ridiculous, yet there it is. The Great Pyramid's positioning and dimensions also seem far from random, and to encode extraordinary mathematical, geological and astronomical knowledge. #ancient #egypt #egyptian #giza #great #knufu #passages #pharaoh #pyramid #pyramids #sphinx #tomb
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