" 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
Thank you for the great Knowledge sharing. Reading this felt like being there in real.
ReplyDeleteVery very nicely explained and great pictures. 😊
The description about the pyramids made great reading and the research work that has gone into it is quite on expected lines from a person with deep sense of history and geography I really loved it.
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