Pyramid of Khafre and The Sphinx, Egypt - A first hand experience

"Tourists don't know where they've been, travellers don't know where they are going"- A travel quote

Pyramids of Khafre and Mankaure 

Although big brother, the Great Pyramid of Giza [of Khufu] may have hogged the limelight, there are two other pyramids in the plateau of Giza, namely the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Mankaure.

The pyramid of Khafre built around 2520 BC, though of lesser height [originally 471 feet or 143 meters] than the Great Pyramid, appears to be bigger in the Giza plateau, the reason being that it is built at an elevated hillock. It also had a surrounding wall all around its perimeter and this is the only pyramid that has partly preserved outer casing near its top. This gives this pyramid a distinctive and rather impressive appearance.  This also gives you an imaginative view as to how the completed pyramids would have looked, when covered in their entirety by the outer casing stones.

The entry inside the pyramid is also not as claustrophobic or scary as in the Great Pyramid. This was the reason we could make it inside the Pyramid, although a feeling of claustrophobia and lack of oxygen was definitely felt. Tourists were entering and exiting through the same narrow passage and we could not find any ambulance standing by or any medical post, in case a stampede occured. That way it looked a bit tricky and risky. 

The funerary complex of this pyramid is comparatively well preserved consisting of a valley temple connected by a causeway to the Pyramid and is about 500 metres long. The valley temple is unique in the sense that it has 16 huge pillars of limestone, which once weighed upto 100-150 tons. Granite has also been used in the temple as a lining. The temple was located near the river Nile which used to flow nearby in those days.

The pyramid of Mankaure built around 2490 BC is the smallest of the three rising originally to a height of 218 feet [66 metres]. Although the smallest, the complex has preserved some of the most stunning examples of sculpture to survive from the ancient Egypt.

Sphinx

Situated to the south of Pyramid of Khafre is a giant monolithic statue carved out of the limestone hillock. The statue has a human head and the body of a recumbent lion. This statue is called Sphinx, named in the later period based on its not so accurate resemblence to a mythological treacherous Greek goddess. The greek goddess was a female and also had wings, while this one is a male and has no wings and is benevolent in contrast. I find the formation of Sphinx to be in contrast to what we see in Hindu mythology where many gods have the body of human but the head of an animal, Lord Ganesha being the most obvious and most revered example. The human face of Sphinx is considered to be that of Egyptian king Khafre wearing his traditional headgear, the same king whose name is also associated with building the second highest Pyramid.

 The face of the sphinx presently is defaced, with the nose having been chiseled out by some vandals at some point in the history. The traditional artificial beard from the king's face is also broken, the pieces of which are preserved in the London museum. The sphinx while sitting majestically for many centuries, was later abandoned due to shifting of the power centre to a different city. It was later rediscovered by a later ruler, Thutmose IV who found it lying mostly buried in the sand. Sphinx was eventually fully excavated at a much later date in history.

 Today it is one of the most visited and photographed sites in Egypt. We were no exception.                                      

                                                                     

                                     The sphinx in the backdrop

                                        
                                                          The sphinx with Pyramid of Khafre in backdrop   

            Click here to see my other blog on Mohammed Rafi

The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt - A first hand experience

    " A WONDER IS A REAL WONDER ONLY WHEN YOU SEE IT"- A TRAVEL QUOTE

The only surviving ancient wonder of the world is the Great Pyramid of Giza [also known as Pyramid of Khufu after the ancient Egyptian king or Pharaoh Khufu] in Egypt, the others having vanished because of the vagaries of nature. The other six ancient wonders of the world were 

• Hanging Gardens of Babylon in present day Iraq
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia in Greece
• Colossus of Rhodes, Greece
• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in present day Turkey
• Mausoleum at Halicarnassus in present day Turkey
• Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt

           

               .                                    

The Great Pyramid of Giza is indeed the wonder of the world in the real sense. Who has not read about the pyramids in Egypt during school days but actually witnessing it is an altogether different experience. 

There are three main pyramids in the Giza plateau. The Great pyramid is the oldest, built in the years 2551-2528 BCE and is northernmost of the three pyramids in Giza. 

Size and construction: The length of each side at the base measures 755.75 feet [230 metres] and its original height was 481.4 feet [147 metres]. The greatest difference in length among its four sides is mere 1.75 inches [4.4cm] and the base level is less than an inch [2.1cm], an astonishing engineering achievement. It was the tallest man made structure for 3800 years.

The question of how pyramids were built has not received a completely satisfactory explanation. The most plausible one is that the Egyptians employed a sloping and encircling embankment of brick, earth and sand, which was increased in height and length as the pyramid rose. The stone blocks were hauled up the ramp by means of sledges, roller and levers. It is believed that it took 20 years to complete the pyramid and demanded the labour of 100000 men. The pyramids were supposed to be the final resting places of the ancient Egyptian kings, called Pharaohs. 

The pyramid is made up of approximately 2.3 million stone blocks, some of which weighed upwards of 50 tons, The pyramid consists of an inner core of roughly hewn locally quarried lime stones and an outer casing of angled polished Tura lime stones that was laid in horizontal lines with spaces filled with gypsum plaster.

 The outer casing was laid with great precision and when completed in white, would have given an appearance of unimaginable beauty, when dazzled by the Egyptian sun and would have been visible from a great distance. The outer casing has been either removed by later rulers or destroyed by earth quakes and presently the inner core is what remains. Only few stones of this casing are seen at the base of Pyramid. The walls of the great pyramid are sloping at an angle of 51° 52'.

The interior chambers and passageways of the great pyramid are unique and include a number of enigmatic features. There is a main King's chamber and a smaller queen's chamber. The King's chamber is made up entirely of red granite which was brought from Aswan, which is about 800 km away. The sarcophagus inside the King's chamber is also made of granite, but was found to be empty. Possibly the body of Pharaoh and other valuable goods in the chamber were stolen. The entrance to the chamber was initially blocked with large granite slabs to prevent anyone from entering.

One can go inside the pyramid. The passages are at many places small and claustrophobic and one has to go half bent in such passages. The journey may not be pleasant for some, but for others it can be an exhilarating experience. Although we could not go inside the Great Pyramid but we could manage to go inside the 2nd highest pyramid of Khafre. Although one could feel the claustrophobia and lack of air inside, it was once in a life time experience.

                                                                     

 

                                                    Original entry gate to the Great Pyramid

Outside the Great Pyramid there are a number of local Arabs with camels, offering free rides. One has to be very careful and avoid them, because once you accept their offer and get on the camel, they would not let you get down unless you shell out good amount of money as their " Bakshish".   

Below is a very nice video of the interior of the Great Pyramid