5. THE GREAT PYRAMID (Khufu's)
Pyramids
today stand as a reminder of the ancient Egyptian glorification of life after
death. Death was seen as the beginning of a journey to the other world.
Each
one's eternal life was dependent on the continued existence of their king, a
belief that made pharaoh's tomb the concern of the entire kingdom.
About
2.550 B.C. King Khufu (the Greek Cheops) started building his tomb
at Giza. This pyramid is the last survivor of the Seven Wonders of the World. A
hundred thousand workers, according to Herodotus, were working for about 30
years to complete it. It took them 10 years to build the ramp that leads from
the Nile valley floor to the pyramid and 20 years to construct the pyramid
itself. Two million blocks of stone were used weighing 2,5 tonnes
and the heaviest ones (weighing 40 – 60 tonnes) were used as the
ceiling of Khufu's burial chamber.
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