Giza and the Great Pyramid
The tomb of Khufu, tallest human-made structure for some 3,800 years, and a magnet for claims from star shafts to Thoth's tablets.
- Location
- Giza plateau, west of Cairo
- Modern country
- Egypt
- Builder
- Khufu (Cheops), Fourth Dynasty
- Original height
- About 146 m (now about 138 m)
- Features
- King's Chamber with narrow shafts aimed north and south
- Status
- Part of UNESCO 'Memphis and its Necropolis' (1979)
What are Giza and the Great Pyramid known for?
The Great Pyramid at Giza was built for the Fourth Dynasty king Khufu around 2560 BCE. It rose about 146 meters and remained the tallest human-made structure on Earth for some 3,800 years. Next to it stand the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure and the Great Sphinx. Workers' villages and administrative papyri found by archaeologists show it was built by organized Egyptian labor crews.
Inside, two narrow shafts rise from the King's Chamber, one aimed roughly north and one south. Many Egyptologists link them to the king's journey to the sky, including the circumpolar stars described in the later Pyramid Texts. The Giza pyramids themselves carry no texts inside.
The Great Pyramid attracts many alternative claims. Doreal said he found the 'Emerald Tablets of Thoth' there in 1925 and translated them; no such tablets have ever been produced or examined. Mainstream archaeology treats the pyramid as a royal tomb and a triumph of Old Kingdom engineering.
Its star shafts echo the Pyramid Texts, and Doreal claimed to find Thoth's Emerald Tablets there.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeDoreal and the "Emerald Tablets of Thoth"
- Rabbit holePyramid Texts
- Rabbit holeThe Imperishable Stars
- PassageThe Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean (Doreal, 'The Emerald Tablets of Thoth-the-Atlantean')
- PersonAlexander Badawy
- PersonAli ibn Ridwan
- PersonFlinders Petrie
- PersonKate Spence
- PersonRobert Schoch
- PersonTutankhamun
- PersonVirginia Trimble
- PlaceSaqqara
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Great Pyramid of Giza'Reference
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur'Reference
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