Egypt’s Monuments Part VII: The Pyramids Part IV; The First Seven Wonder Of The World

As promised Khufu is the next great king of Egypt I will cover. Khufu is famous for building one of the biggest structures in the world; the Great Pyramid of Giza. Like his father he achieved an architectural dream. Snefru was his father and we can assume that by watching his father build four, or more, pyramids that Khufu was challenged to surpass him. So instead of building many pyramids Khufu just built one enormous pyramid, so he chose quality over quantity. During this era of ancient Egypt the capitol city was Memphis and most kings of the Fourth Dynasty resided there, but Khufu moved his residence to modern day Giza and this is where he constructed his pyramid. Khufu’s full name was Khnemkhufu, and like his father he known to be a good and benevolent ruler. Many of the accomplishments Snefru did Khufu followed in his footsteps. He made boats and palaces out of cedar, and set up military campaigns in Nubia and Libya. But one thing he did that surpassed his father was the fact that he built the first earliest known dam in history. (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids: Their Archaeology and History. New York: Grove Press, 1997, p. 154-155). King Khufu made such an impact on history by building the Great Pyramid, but he also made an impact in his own time. As ruler he set up a hierarchy system with the royal family being the officials over the state, and this was the first time such a system was set up. Even after his death many royals wanted to be buried by him. “Around the pyramid was built a necropolis with smaller pyramids for the queens and mastabas for other members of the royal family and high state officials. It was an expression of the longing even after death to lie near the ‘good god’ – that is, the pharaoh – and at the same time it reflected the hierarchal social order of ancient Egypt, which resembled a pyramid in form.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 155).

There are only a few things I will focus on with King Khufu and the Great Pyramid, but Khufu, like Snefru, is a good king to mention because of his great achievement. There are many myths and stories surrounding the Great Pyramid of Giza because it looks like a task that was humanly impossible to do, especially in that time with the ancient technology they used. It would make more sense that aliens helped build it rather than human hands and wooden and stone pulleys and ramps. In fact that is one story surrounding the Great Pyramid that we most commonly see in movies; aliens helped to make it. But in fact it was build with just man-power, wooden ramps, papyrus ropes, and stone pulleys. This just shows that the Egyptians were advanced beyond their time. Miroslav Verner mentions the astonishment the Great Pyramid has had one people since the time it was built: “’Khufu’s Horizon,’ the Great Pyramid, was the first of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World. Surrounded by legends and mysteries, it has always aroused astonishment, admiration, and doubts as to whether it is the product of human hands at all. It has fascinated many generations of scholars and travelers.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 189). One of the most fascinating facts about the Great Pyramid is also a fact that is constantly debated by scholars and archaeologists alike, and that is the infrastructure, the inside, of the pyramid. I will get into some of these debates in a second, but first because of its substructure there could be many more hidden corridors and passageways that are still unfound and there are those who are still searching for them. “The debate about the Great Pyramid and its complex infrastructure will certainly go on for a long time. In this connection, we may quote a passage from the Westcar Papyrus: ‘His majesty Khufu spent time looking for hidden chambers in the temple of Thoth in order to create something like them for his Horizon’ (Khufu’s pyramid was called Khufu’s Horizon). This suggests that the author of the Middle Kingdom papyrus was aware of the complex plan of Khufu’s pyramid and had thought about its origin. The passage quoted above may also justify the efforts of those who are still searching for hidden rooms inside the pyramid.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 206). So it can be assumed from the Middle Kingdom text that Khufu purposefully built hidden rooms within the pyramid, and it would not be exaggerating to think this because of the enormous size of the pyramid.

One of the debated topics about the infrastructure of the Great Pyramid is the Queen’s Chamber and if it was meant to be a back-up chamber for the King in case he died before the completion of the pyramid. One of the things disputed with this is the shafts found in the Queen’s Chamber. In Egyptian worship of the dead the first mastabas and tombs would have shafts within the Kings chamber so that his soul would fly through them to reach the heavens where he would reign with the gods as a god. When the pyramids first started being made the shafts were built in them as well, but in the late Third early Fourth Dynasties the shafts in the pyramids first led down and then up to where the spirit of the king would exit to the heavens. “The Great Pyramid was not the only one in which the way out of the tomb led first downward and then upward in the direction of the pyramid’s entrance. For example, in the Medium Pyramid and in the Red Pyramid in Dashur the ruler’s soul had first to descend from the burial chamber in order to reach the ascending corridor that led out of the tomb.”(Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 201). But unlike those two pyramids the Great Pyramid had shafts that pointed north and south, and why would these shafts be in the Queen’s Chamber when the king was the only one who was looked on as a god? But, like I said, this is why some archaeologists believe that this chamber was meant to be a back-up chamber. Another view is that these were only built to be ventilation shafts so that the worker’s within the pyramid did not suffocate from lack of air, because both the Queen’s and King’s Chambers were above the entrance of the pyramid. “The architects realized that the circulation of air was made more difficult by the location of the chamber over the level of the pyramid’s entrance (both the King’s and the Queen’s Chambers are above this level), which could have led to serious problems if several people were in the chamber at once – during the burial rites, for example. The fact that the shafts are ‘astronomically aligned’ corresponds to the logic of the structure and to its builders’ practical conceptions and religious ideas. The ancient Egyptians were probably well aware that the dominant wind was from the north, as they commonly made use of it sailing on the Nile. Thus there was nothing unusual about the alignment of the shafts with a given star in the northern and southern skies; it thoroughly practical.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 201-202).

As mentioned in the first paragraph the Great Pyramid was not the only structure standing around it but there were smaller pyramids, mastabas, and walls that were possibly built by a king of a later era. But like his father Khufu had a small pyramid town where the workers would be housed, the materials kept, and any other necessary needs for the pyramid to be built. But another interesting fact about the surroundings around the Great Pyramid is the boat pits that were dug, with boats in them that were newly carved and had never been on water. But like with all findings the pits and the use of the boats is also debated: “The discovery of Khufu’s boat opened the discussions regarding the meaning of boat pits at the Great Pyramid and at royal tombs in general.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 209). Verner goes on to show us what the four views about the boat pits say: “the four boats buried near the east and south walls of the Great Pyramid were intended for the king’s use in traveling into the beyond in all four cardinal directions. The fifth pit near the approach causeway was supposed to contain the boat on which the king’s mummy was transported to the burial site……Other experts……considered the boat a sun boat and believed that the pharaoh was supposed to use it to travel over the heavenly ocean following the sun god Re……[Another two archaeologists] maintained that all the boats buried near the Great Pyramid were originally used to carry the pharaoh to Egypt’s holy places on pilgrimages and other ceremonial occasions……[Lastly] the boats were never in the water – traces of shavings around the boat pit show that they were built right next to the pyramid –…” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 209). So the purpose for the boats is still debated but as I mentioned in a previous post it was not uncommon for some cultures to bury their possessions with them.

The last things I wish to talk about from Miroslav Verner’s section on Khufu is the beautiful architecture with both the King’s Chamber and the Great Gallery. The Great Gallery is a long corridor that connects to the Queen’s Chamber and is one the most beautiful pieces of architectural work in history. Miroslav Verner goes on to explain the architecture in the Great Gallery: “The ceiling consists of a corbel vault built of seven layers of enormous lime-stone blocks, each of which projects about seven and a half centimeters. Low ramps run along both sides of the gallery. On their surfaces twenty-seven large and small square openings alternate at regular intervals. Corresponding to the right-angled niches in the side wall.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 197). Another architectural masterpiece that is as equally beautiful within the Great Pyramid is the King’s Chamber. The chamber, plus the sarcophagus, was made entirely out of pink granite. Even though limestone was one of the main materials used pink granite was also commonly used in the constructing of a pyramid. But the pink granite was harder to find and quarries had to be used to gather it and bring it to the building site. The reason for why pink granite was used in the King’s Chamber besides lime-stone or any other material wasn’t just because of it’s beautiful color but also because it was lighter, and because the King’s chamber was above the entrance and higher in the pyramid it was practical to use it. “To resist the enormous pressure, it was built entirely of pink granite. Its flat ceiling is composed of nine huge blocks with a combined wait of more than four hundred tons. The fact that there is only one small crack in the ceiling slabs (which appears only near the south wall) and that the chamber has withstood the tests of more than four and a half millennia, is to be explained not only by the building material used, but especially by the carefully thought out construction of the five relieving chambers over its ceiling.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 202). Not only was Khufu’s chamber made entirely out of pink granite but his sarcophagus, the item within the chamber, was as well. How the chamber must have looked like after it was finished in the time of Khufu? If its beauty has withstood the sands of time then it must have been twice as majestic in its newly finished form. Like many of the early pharaohs Khufu’s remains weren’t found inside the pink granite sarcophagus: “Near the west wall of the King’s Chamber stands Khufu’s pink granite sarcophagus, oriented north-south. Neither the cover nor any of the ruler’s bodily remains was found there.” (Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids, p. 203). Many historians throughout time have had different theories on why this is. One of the most interesting is that during the construction of the King’s Chamber the crack in the ceiling happened and that it was heard throughout the pyramid and the eerie sound made Khufu decide not to be buried in his magnificent Horizon.