Pyramids of Giza

The Pyramids of Giza, the major tourist sight in the immediate surroundings of Cairo, are commandingly situated on the northeast margin of the Plateau of the Western (Libyan) Desert. They are the largest and most imposing of the six groups of pyramids set along the edge of the desert over a distance of some 25mi/40km. They are approached by the Road to the Pyramids (Shari el-Haram), which runs southwest from the Cairo suburb of Giza, increasingly flanked in recent years by high-rise buildings and blocks of flats.

History

The Pyramids of Giza, built by rulers of the fourth Dynasty (c. 2600-c. 2500), rank among the oldest surviving structures erected by man. In Greek and Roman times they were marveled at as the first of the Seven Wonders of the World, and they still exert a powerful fascination, both as an extraordinary technical achievement and as a demonstration of the power of the Pharaohs, who could marshal tens of thousands of subjects and slaves to construct these colossal monuments. The question of the relationship between the size of a pyramid and the ruler for whom it was built is still unsettled; it seems probable, however, that the size depended on the Pharaoh's personal inclination, power and economic resources. It has not been possible to prove an alternative theory that the size of a pyramid might be increased in stages in the course of a lengthy reign. Features common to all the pyramids are their situation on the edge of the desert to the west of the Nile and their structure, built up from huge blocks of the local (mostly nummulitic) limestone and enclosed in a casing, originally polished, of fine grained white limestone or granite. Concealed within the great bulk of the pyramid (in the later period) or underground beneath its base (in the earlier period) were the relatively small tomb chamber, a chamber for the cult of the dead Pharaoh and other chambers for the grave goods. Also common to all pyramids were the entrance on the north side and the mortuary temple on the east side, with a causeway (originally open, later frequently covered) leading up to it from a valley temple on the edge of the Nile Depression.