This is the first edition of a new three-part blog series, delving into the mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Giza. In Part 2, I’ll look at the theories regarding how it was built and the ‘power plant’ theory. In Part 3, I’ll discuss my own experiences of visiting the Great Pyramid, offer a few travel tips and consider the supernatural elements of the pyramid design. In this week’s instalment, however, I’m going to be considering the claims Egyptologists make regarding its creation.
Mysteries of the Great Pyramid – Part 1 of 3: The Khufu Mystery
What is the Great Pyramid?
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and the largest of the three pyramids in Giza, Greater Cairo, Egypt. It is the only surviving example of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and it was the tallest man-made structure in the world until Lincoln Cathedral was completed in 1311 AD.
The Great Pyramid would have looked quite different in ancient times, primarily because it was covered in 27,000 blocks of white polished limestone, which would have brightly reflected the sun. Sadly, many of these were broken away by an earthquake and then they were all stripped away and re-used in local buildings. Originally, it was also topped by a capstone (rumoured to be gold) which would have completed the dazzling spectacle.
Why is it that shape?
Dr Bob Brier, the American Egyptologist, explains in his excellent series ‘The History of Ancient Egypt’ (see link, above) that the pyramid shape was merely an architectural development that you can trace via Djoser’s ‘Step Pyramid’ and the flat-roofed mustabas. The theory goes that the Step Pyramid was really just a series of increasingly small mustabas, stacked on top of each other, and that the Great Pyramid merely smoothed the steps out.
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Dr Brier dismisses claims of higher mathematics and seems to think it was relatively simple for the Ancient Egyptians to have aligned the pyramid with the compass directions, with only a rudimentary understanding of astrology. Dr Brier is also a master of understatement when he dismisses the perfect fitting of 2.3 million stone blocks as a ‘remarkable achievement’ – I should say so! He is absolutely convinced that the pyramid is the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty Pharaoh Khufu and that it dates to 2560 BC.
Was it built by slaves?
This was the Judeo-Christian myth (made familiar by the film, The Ten Commandments) but Egyptologists now believe that a small army of skilled artisans was employed.
Why was it built?
Egyptologists, including Bob Brier, will tell you that the Great Pyramid was built as the tomb of the Pharaoh Khufu. So, one has to ask the question – if its purpose was to conceal and protect the body of Khufu, why did they build something 500ft high with a ground space of 13 acres? Didn’t that make it just a little bit conspicuous? The tallest building in the world for 3,800 years was built to hide a body? Why, then, are other Pharaohs hidden in tombs so secretive that we have yet to discover many of them? Why when all the other tombs were built underground is the King’s Chamber, at the heart of the pyramid, cited as Khufu’s resting place?
There were no bodies or sarcophagi found in the pyramids but, even more curiously, there were no hieroglyphics or images. Where are the depictions of the life of the greatest of all Pharaohs? Where are the magical spells to guide him safely to the afterlife? Other tombs are beautifully decorated – why is there nothing inside the pyramids?
If Khufu’s ego was so extraordinary as to build such a magnificent wonder as the Great Pyramid just to house his coffin, presumably there are megalithic statues to him, as with many of his predecessors and successors? Where are the colossi depicting this greatest of men? Remarkably, the only depiction is a 3-inch ivory idol in the Cairo Museum (see photograph, below), which some scholars do not believe is even contemporary (Zahi Hawass, whom I was delighted to see emerging from the Serapeum of Saqqara on my visit there, is amongst them).
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Okay, I presume there are ancient documents or papyri which specify who constructed the Great Pyramid?
Precious little papyri reveal anything at all about the pyramids. Herodotus named Khufu as the contractor but the rather more trusted Greek historian, Diodorus, who also wrote hundreds of years later and examined the legends and stories of the pyramids, attributes it to a ‘King Harmais’.
So, how come Egyptologists think it was Khufu who built them?
The answer, for me, is quite astounding. Major General Howard Vyse, a British soldier and master of ‘gunpowder archaeology’ blasted his way into an area above the King’s Chamber and discovered graffiti with the name of work gangs, one of which read, ‘the gang, Companions of Khufu’.
This was the Holy Grail – no concrete evidence had previously existed. There is just one problem. It was a fraud.
What do you mean?
Nearing the end of his expedition, Vyse’s letters reveal that he was desperate to make a significant discovery and this find (conveniently!) made his name. Yet the graffiti’s hieroglyphics are a later form, Hieratic, which was not in use at the time of Khufu. It also misspells with a sun symbol – as does a text book which we know Vyse possessed! So desperate were Egyptologists to assign the Giza pyramid to Khufu, that this absurd scribbling became accepted as key historical evidence.
If not Khufu, who?
That is a significant problem. Certain evidence points to the pyramids being much older than is admitted but, since an advanced civilisation’s existence would go against historians’ fixed desire for linear progression any suggestion is angrily discounted. The evidence for Khufu maybe paper thin but better that than admitting ‘we do not know who built them’.
Here’s something to think about, however – If the Giza pyramids were built to align with Orion’s belt, as some suggest, then it would have been as they appeared 12,000 years ago – more than 7,000 years before Egyptologists claim they were built.
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