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It is the second largest Pyramyd at Giza Necropolis. It is almost same in the hight as Cheops's but the base of it is a much smaller. I choose to go inside in this one taking the advice of our guide . The coridors that lead into the main room are high only about 1,5 m. in both Pyramids, so having that in mind the Chephren's Pyramid was better choice as it has much shorter corridor.
You have to leave the camera outside, so I made one bad photo with my mobile phone camera. It still is a dear thing to have in times to come. Leave a Comment
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The Great Sphinx in Ghiza was made of one stone. It represents lion body with a head of pharaoh. It doesn't have nose. The one of stories I heard about that was that Napoleon soldiers were drunk and they tried to shoot it with cannon-shot. Fortunately, they missed. Leave a Comment
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The Great Sphinx of Giza is a large half-human Sphinx statue in Egypt. It is one of the largest single-stone statues on Earth, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians in the 3rd millennium BC.
What name ancient Egyptians called the statue is not completely known. The Western name "Sphinx" was given to it in Antiquity based on the legendary Greek creature with the body of a lion, the head of a woman and the wings of a bird, though Egyptian sphinxes have the head of a man. The ancient Greek term itself is postulated to be a corruption of the ancient Egyptian Shesep-ankh. This name was applied to royal statues in the Fourth Dynasty, though it came to be more specifically associated with the Great Sphinx in the New Kingdom. In medieval texts, the names balhib and bilhaw referring to the Sphinx are attested, including by Egyptian historian Maqrizi, which suggest Coptic constructions, but the Egyptian Arabic name Abul-Hôl, which translates as "Father of Terror", came to be more widely used.
he Great Sphinx is a statue with the face of a man and the body of a lion. Carved out of the surrounding limestone bedrock, it is 57 metres (260 feet) long, 6 m (20 ft) wide, and has a height of 20 m (65 ft), making it the largest single-stone statue in the world. Blocks of stone weighing upwards of 200 tonnes were quarried in the construction phase to build the adjoining Sphinx Temple. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River within the confines of the Giza pyramid field. The Great Sphinx faces due east, with a small temple between its paws. Leave a Comment Directions: On the Giza Plateau at the west bank of the Nile River, near modern-day Cairo.Website: http://www.touregypt.net
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The Sphinx is to the northeast of Chephren's Valley Temple. Where it sits was once a quarry. Chephren's workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their king's face over 4,500 years ago. The sphinx faces the rising sun with a temple to the front which resembles the sun temples which were built later by the 5th Dynasty Kings. The figure was buried for most of its life in the sand. King Thutmose IV (1425-1417 BC) placed a stela between the front paws of the figure. It describes when Thutmose, while still a prince, had gone hunting and fell asleep in the shade of the sphinx. During a dream, the sphinx spoke to Thutmose and told him to clear away the sand because it was choking the sphinx. The sphinx told him that if he did this, he would be rewarded with a kingship. Thutmose carried out this request and the sphinx held up his end of the deal.
The sphinx is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for so long. The body is 60m in length and 20m tall. The face of the sphinx is 4m wide and its eyes are 2m high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose and the ritual beard are now missing. . The beard from the sphinx is displayed in the British Museum. The statue is crumbling today because of the wind, humidity and the smog from Cairo. Attempts to restore it have often caused more harm than good. No one can be certain who the figure is to personify. It is possible that it is Chephren. If it is, it would be the oldest known royal portrait in such large scale. Some say that it was built after the pyramid of Chephren was complete. It may have been set as a sort of scarecrow to guard his tomb. Still others say it is the face of his guardian deity, rather than Chephren himself. The image of the sphinx is a depiction of royal power. Only a pharaoh or an animal could be shown this way, with the animal representing a protective deity. Leave a Comment
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The pyramids of Egypt, among the largest constructions ever built by humankind, constitute one of the most potent and enduring symbols of Ancient Egyptian civilization. It is generally accepted by most archaeologists that they were constructed as burial monuments associated with royal solar and stellar cults, and most were built during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.
Giza, on the southern outskirts of Cairo is the location of the Pyramid of Khufu (also known as the "Great Pyramid" and the "Pyramid of Cheops"), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Kephren), and the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinus), along with a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as "queens" pyramids, and the Great Sphinx.
Of the three, only Khafre's pyramid retains part of its original polished limestone casing, towards its apex. Interestingly this pyramid appears larger than the adjacent Khufu pyramid by virtue of its more elevated location, and the steeper angle of inclination of its construction — it is, in fact, smaller in both height and volume. Leave a Comment
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These 3 pyramids where built for the three pharaohs: Khufu (Cheops), Khafre and Menkaure - Khufu's being the largest and Menkaure's the smallest. Please note that each where part of a "pyramid complex" with a Valley temple in East and a Mortuary temple close to the pyramid itself. These two temples where joined by a covered causeway leading to the walled area around each pyramid. The East-West direction from the Valley to the Mortuary temple was the direction of the sun during the day - and since the sun went from North to East during the night, the pyramid entrance was in the North wall of the pyramids.
There is almost as much myths, theories and stories around these monuments as there are stone blocks in them - still some facts from Khufu's pyramid speaks its own story: The pyramid is 153m high and 241m sq in plan. Estimated to have been built of 2.3 million stone blocks with an average weight of 3.5 tons (although some are up to 15 tons).
Discoveries during the last few decades have proven that these monuments where not built by slaves, but by farmers and special workers of ancient Egypt. All the three pyramids at Giza where built during the 4th dynasty, some 4700 years ago. Leave a Comment
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The 1st thing you'll notice as you arrive here is that you'll be assaulted by the locals begging to provide you with a service. Do not let them con you into buying your entrance fees. You must go directly to the ticket office and buy them yourself.
The second thing you'll notice is that the pyramids is planted next to a bustling suburb. What happened to all those romantic and majestic pictures you always see? They're usually taken with the camera's back to the city.
After you have purchased your entrance fees, walk at your leisure to the pyramids. Take your time to walk around all of them and seeing them from different angles. You can buy tickets at 8AM and 1PM to enter into the Pyramid of Khufu however cameras are not allowed inside. There's no need if you've been to the Red Pyramid of Dahshur. To take a picture of all the pyramids together and without the city in the background, have your taxi drive you to the last parking lot further into the desert.
When you are done with the Pyramids, walk down towards the Sphinx and spend some time there.
Throughout all this there will be many trying to sell you a ride on their camels. A favorite trick is to offer to take a free photo with you sitting on their camel. Then before you can react the camel will get up and start walking for a short distance with the ride ending with a demand of payment for services rendered. If you want a camel or horse ride, go to the stables MG or AA in Nazlet as-Samaam, the village near the Sphinx. The ride is about 25 Egyptian pounds/hr. The ride and pictures are best done near sunset. Leave a Comment
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You don't need me to tell you that the last remaining wonder of the world is worth seeing. When a Camel owner at the Pyramids was asked to sum up his thoughts on the Pyramids he response was 'Very big.Very old'.
I couldn't have put it better myself ! Leave a Comment
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A ride on a camel is one of those things you feel you must do at the pyramids, even though they smell evil at both ends and are notoriously bad tempered, we were lucky with ours, we managed to get up and down without being toppled off, although the ride is not recommended for those who suffer from motion sickness Leave a Comment
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It's as simple as you cannot go to Cairo and not see one of the World's great wonders - the pyramids.
The area around the pyramids are probably the hassle-central of Egypt! I gave up counting how many people tried to engage us in conversation or stick dish dashes on our heads , take our photos, have their photo taken or tried to give us "free" presents... and it's almost impossible to avoid them giving your kids presents and once that piece of tat is in your kids hands... it's gonna cost ya! I consider us good at not getting caught but we came away with our children wearing head pieces and clutching their scareb beetles! It was all very friendly and done with the best of humour but it meant we couldn't stand still to wonder and soak in the surroundings... and that was a shame.
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