The Pyramids and the Sphinx

What was Napoleon doing in Egypt?
Pyramid and Sphinx Throughout history, people have tried to understand the pyramids. Early Christians thought that they were places where priests watched the stars. In the 19th century, some people believed that the measurements of the Great Pyramid were devised by God, and that from them they could predict the future!
    But by then, scholars could read ancient Egyptian writing and they had started to dig up ancient sites. They pyramids were finally known as the last resting places of Egypt's ancient kings.

NAPOLEON'S NIGHTMARE
    Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of France, led an invasion of Egypt in 1798. Legend has it that he ventured into the Great Pyramid alone, only to emerge pale, shaken, and gasping for air. What secrets did he encounter in the darkness? We may never know . . .

PYRAMID CONSTRUCTION

    Building the Old Kingdom pyramids was a gigantic task. The Great Pyramid at Giza contains about 625 million tons of stone. The individual blocks weigh between 2 and 15 tons. To complete this pyramid during Khufu's Reign, the blocks must have been produced at a rate of one every two minutes each day for 23 years!  Some scholars believe this theory to be untrue, while others argue at its possibility.  The stonemasons who quarried, shaped and smoothed the blocks must have formed a highly skilled workforce.
    Many of the blocks were quarried close to the pyramid site. Granite from Aswan and fine limestone from Tura were brought by barge to the edge of the desert. The blocks were then lashed on to sledges. They were dragged over wooden rollers, which had to be kept damp to prevent friction. Mud-brick ramps were probably used to get the stones up to where they were needed.
    Some believe that his pyramid at Giza was built by slaves,  but this is not true. One hundred thousand people worked on it for three months of each year. This was the time of the Nile's annual flood which made it impossible to farm the land and most of the population was unemployed. Pharaoh provided food and clothing for his workers and was kindly remembered in folk tails for many centuries.
    Inside each Old Kingdom pyramid is a series of stepped buttress walls around a central core. Packing blocks were used to fill in the steps. Then the casting stones were added. These walls were fitted closely to form the smooth outer walls. The casing stones were mainly pale Tura limestone so the pyramids would originally have looked white. The capstones at the very top of a pyramid was covered in gold.
 

EMPTY BURIAL CHAMBERS

    The King's burial chamber was usually under the center of the pyramid. In the Great Pyramid the granite burial chamber is reached by a steeply ascending corridor known as the Grand Gallery. After Khufu's funeral huge granite blocks were slid down to seal off the burial chamber. These impressive precautions failed to stop tomb robbers. No bodies or grave goods have been found in any of the Old Kingdom Pyramids.
 

THE SPHINX

The Sphinx The Buried Sphinx
    In Egyptian legend, the Sphinx (the statue that guards the Pyramids) appeared to a young prince in a dream. It promised to make him king if he cleared away the sand covering its body. He did so, and became Thutmose IV.
    Chephren, the same king who built the second pyramid at Giza, also built the Sphinx at Giza. While building his pyramids, a laborer noticed that the limestone lump near by looked like a lion. Unless they could find another use for it, it would have to be leveled since it was so close to the pyramid. Since the king was often represented by a lion, they decided to make a statue with the head of king Chephren and the body of a lion.
    The body is 66 feet high and 240 feet long. The nose was the height of an average Egyptian and the lips stretched seven feet across. Almost as soon as it was built, the king it resembled was forgotten and the Sphinx became a god by itself. Presents and prayers were brought to a temple built near by. It was popularly thought to have been created by the gods.
    Other sphinxes were also made. At Abu Roash, a female sphinx associated with Chephren's older half brother has been discovered. Probably representing a Fourth Dynasty queen, it might be older than the one in Giza. Later variations on the sphinx included leaving the lion's ears and mane and only humanizing the face, and the criosphinx, with the head of a ram.