Egypt: Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx

Imagine sitting down for lunch on the roof of a restaurant in Cairo while enjoying the view of the Giza Pyramids in the distance. Garth and I, the students and the professors were excited to finish lunch so we could head to the famous pyramids. You can spend your life daydreaming about places like this but when it becomes a reality, it's hard to believe when you are really there.

Dr. Huff, Assistant Jerusalem Center Director, and students finishing lunch in Cairo.

 We are headed to the famous Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx.

The Giza Pyramids are breathtaking and I was lucky enough to capture a photo from the bus.

The Giza Pyramids were built between 2589 and 2504 BC.  
Giza was once an Arab village on the west bank of the Nile River.

Giza, Egypt, is home to three pyramids built by Pharaoh Khufu and his son, Khafre, and Khafre’s predecessor, Menkaure.  Our guide explained that the Great Pyramids are precisely aligned with the constellation of Orion. Orion? I am not into astrology so I had to look it up on the web and learned it was named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. Apparently this constellation is visible throughout the world. Hmm . . . I learn something new every day! The blue-white and red stars in the photo below form the constellation of Orion.

Photo from the internet of Orion Constellation.

Photo from the web which shows not only the the pryramids but others built by pharaohs.

This diagram of the entire Giza complex will give you a visual before we visit the site.

When the pyramids were originally built, they were plated with an outer layer of white “casing stones”. These stones were cut with astounding precision to give a smooth slope to the pyramids, unlike how they appear today with the outer stones more or less forming very large “steps." The original casing stones were made of highly polished Tura limestone and were so shiny they looked like mirrors and were meant to reflect the sun’s rays.  It is said they were accurate within 1/100th of an inch. Each casing stone was about five'  long, five' high, 6' deep and weighed about 3.3 tons each once the face angle was cut. 

Anyway, you might be wondering what happened to the casing stones?  Our guide explained that they were cut loose and carried off  after an earthquake loosened them in the 14th century.  Then Arabs used them to build mosques and other structures in Cairo and apparently they are still standing intact in those structures.

When the pyramids were finished, the surface was not only smooth and seamless but steep without any entrances which made it impossible to climb up. The luminously white casing stones reflected the sun's light and made them shine like jewels in the desert.  In order to achieve this exterior, the joints between the stones had to be as small as possible and then filled with nearly invisible mortar.  This was done with such precision that not even a knife could be slid between the crevasses between the stones. Also, the outer stones were laid in a pattern so that the stones would interlock and the inner layer had to be planned so precisely that the outer surface could not shift or crack.  

The Great Pyramid in this photo has a cap on the top which distinguishes it from the other two.

We are walking to the largest of the three pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramid Khufu is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world.  Each was built with such precision that archeologists and scientists are baffled.  The photos that follow do not do justice nor capture the magnitude of the pyramids.  

The Great Pyramid is the largest of the three, rising 481' above the desert. Builders used 2.3 million stone blocks to construct this pyramid and 144,000 casing stones on the exterior. Each block weighs between 2.5 and 15 tons and weight of the Khufu Pyramid is estimated at about 6,000,000 tons. The first pyramids  (Sakkara and others) were constructed of stair-stepped stones but then builders moved to this more classical shaped pyramid. 

Egyptians anxiously stood by with carts drawn by donkeys and horses and camel owners were more than ready to be hired for rides. I am not sure why anyone would need to ride because the distance is not far to walk from one pyramid to another. 

I love camels and riding a camel in Egypt is definitely on my bucket list but not at the pyramids because our time was limited. Camels are interesting creatures with very long legs, a big-lipped snout and a humped back.  I always thought that the hump was a place they stored water but that is not true. The hump consists of stored fat which they can metabolize when food and water is scarce. They also have a third or clear eyelid. That extra eyelid protects their eyes from the blowing sand. Two rows of long lashes also protect their eyes and they can shut their nostrils during sandstorms when they need to adapt to their environment.  I asked one of the boys what he fed his camel and he said, "Anything green." Seriously? I questioned that because there was NOTHING green around here! Camels can carry up to 500 pounds on their backs and have historically been referred to as "ships of the desert."

I always feel sorry for camels, especially those we have seen in Israel because they are tethered along the side of the road in the hope of attracting tourists for a ride.  The camels at Giza, however,  appeared a little healthier and not as skinny as those in Israel.  As I got close to this one, he suddenly made a very loud screeching sound and I stepped back because I was afraid he might spit on me.  (They are known to do that.)

The Egyptians built the pyramids as tombs for their kings or pharaohs because they believed when the pharaoh died, that part of his spirit or "ka" needed a home on earth.  Therefore, they took great care in preserving his body so he would feel protected and included all of the earthly possessions that he loved in his tomb. They wanted him to feel safe and comfortable so items such as furniture, his favorite food and anything they felt would allow him a happy afterlife. They also believed that as this did this for their pharaoh, his people would also be protected from disaster. 



One hundred thousand people worked on the Great Pyramid for three months each year during the Nile's annual flood when it was impossible to farm the land and most of the population was unemployed.  The pharaoh provided lots of good food and clothing for his workers and was kindly remembered in folk tales for many centuries. Excavations have revealed that these workers were not slaves but a mixture of local residents and highly skilled craftsmen with specialized skills in stone carving and techniques in building pyramids. The workers lived in villages near the pyramid site.  

The first pyramid we came to was not the largest of the three (Khufu), but one that Khufu’s son, Khafre, built in Giza.  From a distance, the second pyramid appears to be taller than the Great Pyramid because it was built on a rise that is 33 feet higher than his father’s pyramid. Khafre also built the Sphinx which was carved from the bedrock in front of his pyramid.

The rocks were massive! The shape of the pyramid was carefully designed as Ancient Egyptians believed that their pharaoh reached heaven via sunbeams.  Therefore, the pyramids contain shafts leading up from the burial chambers to help the pharaoh's spirit reach the heavens.   

The Great Pyramids at Giza are large enough to be viewed from outer space and are clearly identifiable on satellite photos. 

The Great Pyramids of Giza are one of the world's oldest and greatest wonders.

The Giza Pyramids have attracted visitors for centuries.

The complex at Giza also includes the Sphinx.

Young boys were eager to sell head scarves for $8 until you walked away and immediately they lowered the price to $1 (they sell sell in Jerusalem for $8 - $10).  I can't imagine they made any profit at that price. 

Because the casing stones reflected light like mirrors, scientists say they would have been visible on the moon as a shining star on earth and it understandable why the Ancient Egyptians called the Great Pyramids “Glorious Light." 

Khufu’s Pyramid is the oldest and largest.  Archeologists say it was the tallest structure in the world for about 3, 800 years and at 481' tall, it was the tallest structure in the world until the advent of modern skyscrapers. 

The Great Pyramid is located at the center of the land mass of the earth. The east/west parallel that crosses the most land and the north/south meridian that crosses the most land intersect in two places on the earth, one in the ocean and the other at the Great Pyramid.

In the beginning of this entry, I mentioned that the Great Pyramids were aligned with the constellation Orion.  It's interesting to note that the southern shaft in the Pharaoh's chamber pointed directly to the st Al Nitak in the constellation Orion and no other star aligned with this shaft during that time in history.

Scientists don’t know why Egyptians stopped building pyramids, although it may have been that the cost of construction became prohibitive.

Whenever I see graffiti on monuments, it makes me wonder if the culprit had a brain!  To deface ancient artifacts is a not only a disgrace but an embarrassment of the human race.

It is remarkable that the speed and amazing accuracy that was carried out in the construction of this pyramid.  If Pharaoh Khufu reigned for 23 years and if he started building the pyramid on the 1st day of his reign  . . . and if the workers worked 365 days of the year for 12 hours/day, then they had to average putting one of those huge blocks into place every 2.65 minutes for those 12 hour days for the entire 23 years!!  Of course, this is speculation by scientists but nevertheless the construction of the pyramids was an amazing feat which cannot be denied.

In order to make the pyramids level, workers built narrow basins filled with water and they used the water level to mark out the base of the pyramid. Stone blocks were quarried and were floated to the pyramid. From there they seemed to have been hauled across the sand in huge sleds. Some say that ramps were built to circle around the pyramid while others think that sand or other material was piled up and used to make a ramp. Despite many scientific attempts to determine how the pyramids were built, no one really knows. The base of each pyramid was found to be almost perfectly level with a variance of less than 1" or 2.5 centimeters.

At one time, the Great Pyramid had a swivel door entrance. Swivel doors were found in only two other pyramids: Khufu’s father and grandfather, Sneferu and Huni, respectively.  When the pyramid was first broken into that the swivel door, weighing some 20 tons, was so well balanced that it could be opened by pushing out from the inside with only minimal force, but when closed, it was so perfect a fit that it could scarcely be detected as there was not enough crack around the edges to gain a grasp from the outside.  I'd love to go back in time, taking my notebook in hand and ask many, many questions.

The Great Pyramid in the background.  We love the students from the Jerusalem Center. 

Taking photos from inside a bus are not the best but this was taken from another angle of Menkaure's Pyramid and shows the smaller pyramids to the side.  More than a dozen pharaohs built pyramids at Giza and more than 100 identifiable tombs have been discovered in Egypt.  More are being uncovered but many are in a poor state of preservation or are buried by the shifting, desert sands. 

Pictured above is Menkaure's Pyramid.  

The pyramid is estimated to have around 2,300,000 stone blocks that weigh from 2 to 30 tons each. Some blocks weigh over 50 tons.

It is very difficult to get a sense of the grandeur of any of the pyramids. Menkaure's Pyramid was originally 215' in height but now stands at 205' tall.  It is the smallest of the three major pyramids. It was constructed of limestone and granite and the first 16 courses of the exterior were made of red granite.  The upper and part of the lower portions were also cased with Tura limestone, the same used in the other two.  For architecture geeks, the angle of the incline is 51°20′25".

The base of Menkaure's Pyramid is adjacent to the northern entrance. The bottom courses of granite are visibly unfinished, probably halted in mid-work due to the death of the Pharaoh Menkaure.   

Part of the granite was left in the rough.  Because it was found incomplete, it has helped archaeologists better understand the methods used to build the temples and pyramids.

We entered up a very steep entry and it was necessary to bend over so we wouldn't klonk our heads.  It was a busy day with tourists and with sand on the soles of our shoes, it was hard to keep from slipping backward.  However, the horizontal boards helped going up but NOT on our way down.   This was the walkway up to the tomb of the pyramid.  

Tomb inside Menkaure's Pyramid.  It is the smallest of the three main pyramids of Giza. It is assumed it was built to serve as the tomb of Pharaoh Menkaure. The interior temperature is constant and equals the average temperature of the earth, which is 68 degrees farenheit.

This is the entrance to the Sphinx.  If you recall, the Sphinx was built by Khufu's son, Khafre. 

With the head of a woman, the Sphinx symbolizes wisdom and strength.  The head appears small in comparison to the body of the Sphinx.  Because of blowing sand, wind, and the ever changing desert terrain, the body of the Sphinx has been buried several times over the past thousand years.  In 1905, the sand was cleared away to expose the magnitude of the entire Sphinx.  The paws themselves are 50 feet long and the entire body is 150 feet.  The head is 30 feet long and 14 feet wide.  Through the years, there has been a lot of erosion due to the fact the figure was once carved of softer stone.  It's really difficult to show in photos how immense the Sphinx is and you have to be there to experience it.

There were so many people at the Sphinx it was hard to get a photo. However, I managed to get through the crowd, holding my camera as high as possible to snap a photo. It was then I resigned myself that there wasn't any way I would getting a photo of myself and Garth taken in front of it.  At least I can say we were at the site.  

The Great Sphinx of Giza is the most recognizable statue associated with Ancient Egypt. The statue was carved out of limestone during the period of the Old Kingdom of Egypt (2613-2181 BC).  The Sphinx is the body of a lion, the head of a woman and the wings of a bird. The Sphinx has deteriorated but was extensively renovated in ancient times.  It lost its nose in 1798 when Napoleon's solider used it for target practice.  

One more look at the amazingly well preserved pyramids that form one of the wonders of the world. What a great site to visit and probably one of the most memorable we will ever see in our lifetime.

To be continued . . . .