Day 13: A Pyramid Scheme!

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Mike and Bone rose early to check out the Pyramids in the Morning sky. All the rest of the Road Scholars were jazzed up and excited for one of the very biggest highlights of the whole dang trip, the Giza Plateau!

The Pyramids from the Hotel Lobby!

After another, buffet breakfast, Mike and Bone eagerly jumped on the Bus ready for the day. The Pyramids appeared to be in walking distance, but they are so dang big that it still was a 10 minute bus ride to get to the site!

The Pyramids of Giza National Park!

Most pictures of the Pyramids make them appear that they are in the middle of the desert. That is really some great photography. The reality is that they are almost entirely encapsulated in the huge megapolis called Cairo. The Egyptian Government has done a good job in turning it into a national park.

The Bus pulled up and an additional "member" of the Road Scholar Team joined the gang. It was an Egyptian with mirrored glasses, a sports jacket with an Uzi in his jacket that he was holding at all time. While it made the Boys feel good, that the tour would be safe, at the same time, the need for such security made the morning much more interesting!

The Giza pyramid complex (also called the Giza necropolis) in Egypt is home to the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx. All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, between 2500 and 2600 BC. The site also includes several temples and cemeteries and the remains of a workers' village.

The site is at the edges of the Western Desert, about 6 miles west of the Nile River. It forms the northernmost part of the 40,000-acre Pyramid Fields of Memphis and its Necropolis UNESCO World Heritage Site dedicated in 1979. The pyramid fields include the Abu Sir, Saqarra and Dahshur pyramid complexes, that were all built in the vicinity of Egypt's ancient capital of Memphis.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Khafre are the largest pyramids built in ancient Egypt, and they have historically been common as emblems of Ancient Egypt in the Western imagination. The start of the tour found Mike and Bone in front of one of most recognizable sites in the world but still astounding and simply amazing, enormous structure, called the Great Pyramid of Khufu!

Mike and Bone in front of the Great Pyramid!

The builder of the Great Pyramid, Khufu (often mis-named Cheops) was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period (26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza. Safwat told Mike and Bone the correct Egyptian way to pronounce his name is “Que-foo.” Regarding that name, Khufu's was dedicated to the god Khnum, which might point to an increase of Khnum's popularity and religious importance. In fact, several royal and religious titles introduced at this time may point out that Egyptian pharaohs sought to accentuate their divine origin and status by dedicating their official cartouche names to certain deities. Khufu may have viewed himself as a divine creator, a role that was already given to Khnum, the god of creation and growth. As a consequence, the king connected Khnum's name with his own. Khufu's full name (Khnum-khufu) means "Khnum protect me".

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid was built in the early 26th century BC, which took around 27 years, it is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. It is the best known of the Giza Pyramid Fields, it initially stood at 481 feet, which made the Great Pyramid the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years! Over time, most of the smooth white limestone casing was removed, which lowered the pyramid's height to the present 454 feet. What is seen today is the underlying core structure. The base was measured to be about 756 square feet square, giving a volume of roughly 92 million cubic feet!

It was built by quarrying an estimated 2.3 million large blocks weighing 6 million tons in total. The majority of stones are not uniform in size or shape and are only roughly dressed. The outside layers were bound together by mortar. Primarily local limestone from the Giza Plateau was used. Other blocks were imported by boat on the Nile: White limestone from Tura for the casing, and granite blocks from Aswan, weighing up to 80 tons, for the King's Chamber structure.

Mike and Bone GOING INTO of the Great Pyramid!?!

There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest was cut into the bedrock, upon which the pyramid was built, but remained unfinished. The so-called Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber, that contains a granite sarcophagus, are above ground, within the pyramid structure. Khufu's vizier, Hemiunu, is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid. Many varying scientific and alternative hypotheses attempt to explain the exact construction techniques.

As Safwat described the Great Pyramid, he mentioned almost in passing, that you could go inside the Great Pyramid, that was it! Mike and Bone were the first to volunteer!

Mike and Bone, Chasing Khufu!

Mike and Bone walked into the entrance of the Great Pyramid, with only a few Road Scholars. This entrance has become larger by excavation, and the Government has built cement steps and iron guardrails.

A 20 minute, 45 degree climb!

However once inside, the ascending passage becomes narrower and narrower, many segments are less than 5 meters in height and width.The further you go, it starts to get very steep, probably a 45 degree climb you need to do on all fours on non-slip wooden boards and handrails, fortunately there are lamps that have been laid in the passage to reduce the claustrophobia! In fact, two of the Road Scholars could not handle it and had to turn around. It really is a deep, hot. Stuffy, and narrow tunnel! However, after 20 minutes as always, Mike and Bone prevailed!

Mike and Bone in the Kings Chamber!!!

Once inside the Kings Chamber Mike and Bone saw the solid granite alter that Khufu had been placed on. It was very cool!! Well, actually it was pretty hot and stuffy!! So after a few pictures Mike and Bone started the much easier journey back. Both were pretty happy when they got out to feel a breeze and fresh air! Next, the Road Scholars headed to check out the next two pyramids.

Mike and Bone Checking out Giza Plateau!

Heading from the Great Pyramid to the Second of the Great Pyramids, Safwat let Mike and Bone, along with the rest of the Road Scholars that no, space aliens did not make the Pyramids, because the one of the main reasons that they were built on the Giza Plateau could be seen everywhere. The Giza Plateau is essentially a huge block of limestone! If offered a place to build something that could hold the weight and provide the building materials.

For those space alien conspiracy crazies, none of them had been to the Giza Plateau! Because there are signs of blocks being cut out and moved through out the site. Safwat showed the Boys places that the workers cut stones to size. Another epiphany was that the workers were not slaves, at least not most of them. According to Safwat the workers who built the Pyramids were all paid employees of the State, no different than the US Postal System! Mike and Bone, then wandered to the middle Pyramid, Sonnys Pyramid!!

The Kid's Pyramid! Khufu's Boy, the Pyramid of Khafre!

Chip off the old block!?! The pyramid of the Khafre or of Chephren is the middle of the three Ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza, the second tallest and second largest of the group. It is the tomb of the Fourth-Dynasty Pharaoh Khafre (Chefren), who ruled c. 2558−2532 BC. Khafre, the son of Khufu did not want to show up Dad, and insisted his pyramid be next to Dad’s but be smaller. A respectful son!

Khafre’s pyramid has a base length of 706 feet and rises up to a height of 448 feet. It is made of limestone blocks weighing more than 2 tons each. The slope of the pyramid rises at a 53° 13' angle, steeper than its neighbor, the pyramid of Khufu, which has an angle of 51°50'24". Khafre's pyramid sits on bedrock 33 feet higher than Khufu's pyramid, which makes it appear to be taller.

The pyramid was first explored in modern times by Giovanni Belzoni on March 2, 1818, when the original entrance was found on the north side. Belzoni had hopes of finding an intact burial but the chamber was empty except for an open sarcophagus and its broken lid on the floor.

The first complete exploration was conducted by John Perring in 1837. In 1853, Auguste Mariette partially excavated Khafre's valley temple, and, in 1858, while completing its clearance, he managed to discover a diorite statue of Khafre.

Like the Great Pyramid, a rock outcropping was used in the core. Due to the slope of the plateau, the northwest corner was cut 33 feet out of the rock subsoil, and the southeast corner was built up.

The pyramid is built of horizontal courses. The stones used at the bottom are very large, but as the pyramid rises, the stones become smaller, becoming only 520 inches thick at the apex. The courses are rough and irregular for the first half of its height but a narrow band of regular masonry is clear in the midsection of the pyramid. At the northwest corner of the pyramid, the bedrock was fashioned into steps. Casing stones cover the top third of the pyramid, but the pyramidion and part of the apex are missing.

The bottom course of casing stones was made out of pink granite but the remainder of the pyramid was cased in Tura limestone. Close examination reveals that the corner edges of the remaining casing stones are not completely straight but are staggered by a few millimeters. One theory is that this is due to settling from seismic activity. An alternative theory postulates that the slope on the blocks was cut to shape before being placed due to the limited working space towards the top of the pyramid.

Two entrances lead to the burial chamber, one that opens 40 feet up the face of the pyramid and one that opens at the base of the pyramid. These passageways do not align with the centerline of the pyramid, but are offset to the east by 39 feet. The lower descending passageway is carved completely out of the bedrock, descending, running horizontal, then ascending to join the horizontal passage leading to the burial chamber.

One theory as to why there are two entrances is that the pyramid's northern base was intended to be shifted 98 feet further to the north which would make Khafre's pyramid much larger than his father's. This would place the entrance to the lower descending passage within the masonry of the pyramid. While the bedrock is cut away farther from the pyramid on the north side than on the west side, it is not clear that there is enough room on the plateau for the enclosure wall and pyramid terrace. An alternative theory is that, as with many earlier pyramids, plans were changed and the entrance was moved midway through construction.

There is a subsidiary chamber, equal in length to the King's Chamber in Khufu's pyramid, that opens to the west of the lower passage, the purpose of which is uncertain. It may be used to store offerings, store burial equipment, or it may be a serdab chamber. The upper descending passage is clad in granite and descends to join with the horizontal passage to the burial chamber.

The burial chamber was carved out of a pit in the bedrock. The roof is constructed of gabled limestone beams. The chamber is rectangular, 46.4 by 16.4 feet, and is oriented east-west. Khafre's sarcophagus was carved out of a solid block of granite and sunk partially in the floor, in it, Belzoni found bones of an animal, possibly a bull. Another pit in the floor likely contained the canopic chest, its lid would have been one of the pavement slabs.

Next Safwat discussed the final of the Great Pyramids, Grandsonny's pyramid, Menkaure's!

Menkaure Minor Pyramid!

The Grandson of Khufu followed in Dads steps by stepping down his pyramid. Menkaure's pyramid had an original height of 215 ft and is the smallest of the three major pyramids. It now only stands at 200 ft tall do to some stupidity with Islam. It was constructed of limestone and Aswan granite. The first sixteen courses of the exterior were made with that red granite from the Aswan. The upper portion was cased in the normal manner with Tura limestone. Part of the granite was left in the rough. Per Safwat, incomplete projects such as this pyramid have helped archaeologists understand the methods used to build pyramids and temples.

The pyramid's date of construction is unknown, because Menkaure's reign has not been accurately defined, but it was probably completed in the 26th century BC. Even though like almost every other place in Egypt, Menkaure grave was robbed in July 28th 1837 the archeologist Howard Vyse discovered the remains of a wooden anthropoid coffin in the upper antechamber, inscribed with Menkaure's name and containing human bones. This is now considered to be a substitute coffin from the Saite period. Radiocarbon dating on the bones determined them to be less than 2,000 years old, suggesting either an all-too-common bungled handling of remains from another site or access to the pyramid during Roman times. The lid from the anthropoid coffin mentioned above was successfully transported to England and may be seen today at the British Museum.

Deeper into the pyramid, Vyse came upon a basalt sarcophagus, described as beautiful black and rich in detail with a bold projecting cornice, which contained the bones of a young woman. Unfortunately, this sarcophagus now lies at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, having sunk on 13 October 1838, with the ship Beatrice, as she made her way between Malta and Cartagena, on the way to Great Britain. Sadly, it was one of only a handful of Old Kingdom sarcophagi to survive into the modern period.

In the mortuary temple the foundations and the inner core were made of limestone. The floors were begun with granite and granite facings were added to some of the walls. The foundations of the valley temple were made of stone but both temples were finished with crude bricks. Reisner estimated that some of the blocks of local stone in the walls of the mortuary temple weighed as much as 220 tons, while the heaviest granite ashlars imported from Aswan weighed more than 30 tons. It is assumed that Menkaure's successor Shepseskaf completed the temple construction. An inscription was found in the mortuary temple that said he "made it (the temple) as his monument for his father, the king of upper and lower Egypt."

Safwat next covered the small pyramids next to the Great Pyramids, the Queens Pyramids.

Pyramids for a Queen!

There are also several smaller pyramids at Giza, constructed for the pharaohs' wives and mothers or the Queens Pyramids. These small pyramids are mostly solid masses of stone with very little to be found inside, more in tribute than an actual place for their loved one remains.

Mike and Bone, checking out the Giza Plateau!

With that presentation over, Safwat gave the Road Scholars an hour to look around on their own. Mike and Bone bolted back to the Great Pyramid to check out the ridicolously huge foundation stones of the megalith!

There is clear, archealogical e vidence of how these truck-sized blocks were cut from the ground and moved into position, but the sheer scale can make one incredulous of the amount of effort in building these gargantuan structures!! After a little more awe and admiration, Mike and Bone got into some monkey business, or better still camel business!

Camel Jockeying!!

Now this was not the first time, that Mike and Bone climbed on top of the smelly behemoths better known as camels! While it was not like a duck to water, it was simply Mike and Bone taking to well, camels!! Apparently riding a camel near the Pyramids is a right of passage (on camels!) and Mike and Bone wanted to be good tourists! With that ticket punched, the Boys made their way back to the Bus to see another fearsome beast, the Sphinx!

Parachute Jumpers over the Great Pyramid!!

On the way to the Sphinx the Road Scholars were treated to the sight of stunt men parachuting around the Great Pyramids, truly a cool thing to see!

First Sight of the Father of Fear!

After the aerial hijinks the Road Scholar Bus pulled up to the enigma, wrapped in a riddle, the Sphinx!

Once every one was out of Bus and gathered by the great monument (which is completed fenced off to the public!) Safwat begin to regale the Road Scholars on that enigma. The Great Sphinx has also been known for a long time under the name “Father of Fear”. A wise man once said: “Everything fears time, yet time fears the Pyramids” and the Sphinx Guards the Pyramids!

What is the Sphinx? The Great Sphinx of Giza is a big old block of limestone crafted into a statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human, and the body of a lion.

Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx appears to represents Khufu’s kid, the pharaoh Khafre!

The original shape of the Sphinx was cut from the bedrock and has since been restored with layers of limestone blocks. It is about 240 feet long from paw to tail and 66 feet high from the base to the top of the head.

The Sphinx with the Pyramids

It is uncertain why the Sphinx’s nose was broken off. According to a popular myth, the Sphinx’s nose was broken by cannonballs fired by Napoleon Bonaparte’s army during one of the military battles of the French campaign in Egypt in 1798. However, this is refuted by several sources predating the birth of Napoleon. Not only are there paintings from the 17th century which depict the Sphinx in this way but the 15th century Arab historian al-Maqrīzī also acknowledged its broken nose, attributing it to a Sufi Muslim extremist called Mohamed Sa'm al-Dahr who he claimed broke it in 1378 and was later executed for vandalism, you gotta love religion! However, this is also unlikely to be the case as an archaeological study performed by Mark Lehner concluded that although the Sphinx’s nose was intentionally broken, as opposed to being damaged by weather and corrosion, it most likely happened sometime between the 3rd and 10th centuries.

Most interesting is no one really knows its original name! The commonly used name "Sphinx" was given to it in classical antiquity, about 2,000 years after the commonly accepted date of its construction by reference to a Greek mythological beast with the head of a woman, a falcon, a cat, or a sheep and the body of a lion with the wings of an eagle. (although, like most Egyptian sphinxes, the Great Sphinx has a man's head and no wings). The English word sphinx comes from the ancient Greek Σφίγξ (transliterated: sphinx) apparently from the verb σφίγγω (transliterated: sphingo / English: to squeeze), after the Greek sphinx who strangled anyone who failed to answer her riddle.

Another myth was that the Sphinx was built before the Pyramids, aint no way! The Giza Plateau has too many drag marks and construction tracks that indicate that the weight being moved over the floor of the Giza Plateau would have wrecked a structure like the Sphinx. It was again probably built after the second pyramid which further confirms the probability that Khafre was the face on the Sphinx.

The Sphinx has gone through a lot since it was built. Sometime around the First Intermediate Period, the Giza Necropolis was abandoned, and drifting sand eventually buried the Sphinx up to its shoulders. The first documented attempt at an excavation dates to 1400 BC, when the young Thutmose IV (1401–1391 or 1397–1388 BC) gathered a team and, after much effort, managed to dig out the front paws, between which he erected a shrine that housed the Dream Stele, an inscribed granite slab (possibly a repurposed door lintel from one of Khafre's temples). When the stele was discovered, its lines of text were already damaged and incomplete. An excerpt reads:

“... the royal son, Thothmos, being arrived, while walking at midday and seating himself under the shadow of this mighty god, was overcome by slumber and slept at the very moment when Ra is at the summit [of heaven]. He found that the Majesty of this august god spoke to him with his own mouth, as a father speaks to his son, saying: Look upon me, contemplate me, O my son Thothmos; I am thy father, Harmakhis-Khopri-Ra-Tum; I bestow upon thee the sovereignty over my domain, the supremacy over the living ... Behold my actual condition that thou mayest protect all my perfect limbs. The sand of the desert whereon I am laid has covered me. Save me, causing all that is in my heart to be executed.”

Later, Ramesses II the Great (1279–1213 BC) may have undertaken a second excavation.

The Being Nosy with the Sphinx!

By the time of the Romans, Giza had become a tourist destination—the monuments were regarded as antiquities—and some Roman Emperors visited the Sphinx out of curiosity, and for political reasons.

The Sphinx was cleared of sand again in the first century AD in honor of Emperor Nero. A monumental stairway, more than 39 feet wide, was erected, leading to a pavement in front of the paws of the Sphinx. At the top of the stairs, a podium was positioned that allowed view into the Sphinx sanctuary. Further back, another podium neighbored several more steps. The stairway was dismantled during the 1931–32 excavations by Émile Baraize.

In 1817, the first modern archaeological dig, supervised by the Italian Giovanni Battista Caviglia, uncovered the Sphinx's chest completely.

In the beginning of the year 1887, the chest, the paws, the altar, and plateau were all made visible. Flights of steps were unearthed, and finally accurate measurements were taken of the great figures. The height from the lowest of the steps was found to be one hundred feet, and the space between the paws was found to be thirty-five feet long and ten feet wide. Here there was formerly an altar; and a stele of Thûtmosis IV was discovered, recording a dream in which he was ordered to clear away the sand that even then was gathering round the site of the Sphinx.

Many of the renovations have been worse than the damage done to the poor Sphinx, in 1931, engineers of the Egyptian government repaired the head of the Sphinx. Part of its headdress had fallen off in 1926 due to erosion, which had also cut deeply into its neck. This questionable repair was by the addition of a concrete collar between the headdress and the neck, creating an altered profile. Many renovations to the stone base and raw rock body were done in the 1980s, and then redone in the 1990s. Examination of the Sphinx's face shows that long rods or chisels were hammered into the nose area, one down from the bridge and another beneath the nostril, then used to pry the nose off towards the south, resulting in the 5 foot wide nose still being lost to date. Mark Lehner, who performed an archaeological study, concluded that it was intentionally broken with instruments at an unknown time between the 3rd and 10th centuries AD, again due to religious nonsense.

The Being Nosy with the Mike and Bone with their new buddy, the Sphinx!

In 1817, the first modern archaeological dig, supervised by the Italian Giovanni Battista Caviglia, uncovered the Sphinx's chest completely.

Its Good Side!

After the presentation Mike and Bone became aware of the worst pesitulence since the ten plagues of Moses! The damned tourist trinket vendors!!! In Egypt, they will walk in front of you to stop you, place their crap in your face, and scream "only $5 dollars!" With the women in the group, they were even more aggressive!

Finally, as everyone excricated themselves from the mass of messy vendors, everyone had learned a new dance step. The "tourist trinket vendor two step!."

Once back in the Hotel, Safwat let everyone know that they had a 5:30 AM wakeup and an early flight down to the Aswan Dam. That led Mike and Bone to another Barfett Dinner (mis-spelling on purpose!), who decided to bow out of the evening talk on Egypt and the Nile led by a scholar from Cairo University Giza. Both were facing a little Montezumas or better still Kamal's revenge from a meal in Jordan!