Scope: Here we will learn the “nuts and bolts” of pyramid building. Step by step we will see how a pyramid was built, from leveling the foundation to laying the capstone. Higher mathematics was not needed to build a pyramid, only great care, an endless supply of stone, lots of cheap labor, and a remarkable social organization. We will also discuss the significance of the “Boat Beneath the Pyramid”—the 144-foot boat discovered in 1954 in a pit near the Great Pyramid.
Outline
I. Khufu (2589-2566 BC), or Cheops, as the Greeks called him, the son of Sneferu, built the Great Pyramid.
A. The Great Pyramid is 480 feet high, the highest building in the world until the Eiffel Tower was built. The base covers 13 1/2 acres and is built of 2 1/2 million blocks, averaging 2.5 tons each. It required masses of labor and advanced social organization to build—but not higher mathematics.
B. The building of the pyramid is burdened with myth and legend.
1. People talk about the magical power of the pyramidal shape. But its shape was more the result of evolving accidents than a sudden discovery. The pyramid was a tomb for the pharaoh; it wasn’t a form that even the ancient Egyptians considered magical.
2. Napoleon was said to have gone into the burial chamber alone and come out again ashen-faced, refusing to describe what he saw. Was he genuinely disturbed by the experience—or was he just creating the legend of Napoleonic greatness?
3. Herodotus says 90,000 men at a time built the Great Pyramid in three-month stints, probably in the season when their fields were under water. When he says they used “machines” to build it, however, he’s probably referring to levers.
4. Contrary to popular belief, slaves didn’t build the pyramid—the Exodus of the Israelites was much later. There were never large numbers of slaves doing public works in Egypt.
II. No architectural papyri exist explaining how to build temples or pyramids; it was apparently a trade secret. So how was the pyramid built?
A. Workers cleared the sand down to bedrock. They probably built channels in the earth at the base and filled them with water until they had a level surface, much like the principle of a carpenter’s level.
B. The rock quarries were next to the pyramid, so moving stone over long distances was unnecessary.
C. The pyramid has two entrances; visitors today enter by the one that robbers created.
D. The pyramid’s original plan changed from a below-ground burial to a higher chamber.
E. The Grand Gallery, a passageway to the burial chamber, is an engineering marvel: a 28-foot high, corbelled ceiling that goes all the way up the pyramid. Its function is unknown.
F. The sarcophagus of Khufu is the only thing in the burial chamber. But it happens to be 2 inches wider than the doorway! It must have been placed there before the pyramid was finished, and the chamber was built around it.
G. Relieving chambers were used instead of corbelling to remove the weight from the burial chamber ceiling.
H. Mow were the stones positioned at the top of the pyramid, by ramp or winding road?
1. We know they used ramps elsewhere. Or they may have had the equivalent of a switchback.
2. In the end, careful measurement, not higher mathematics, was “all” that was required for construction. Construction was completed within the 22 years of Khufu’s reign.
III. Overall, highly sophisticated social organization was needed for quarrying the stone, transporting the blocks, and feeding the workers.
IV. Khufu buried a boat (“the Cheops boat”) next to his pyramid.
A. In 1954 a boat pit was discovered carved in the bedrock and covered with blocks.
B. The boat, made of cedars of Lebanon, was broken down into pieces. It was later reconstructed and found to be 150 feet long.
C. Given that it had no mast fitting, it wasn’t intended to sail.
D. The oars were too small—model tests reveal that it wasn’t rowed.
E. It may have been a ritual boat to take the pharaoh to the next world. Or, it may have been used—only once—to convey the body of Cheops from the east to the west bank of the Nile.
F. I’m attempting to build a full-scale replica of the boat and put it on the Nile.
Essential Reading:
I. E. S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt, Chapter 3.
Questions to Consider:
1. What was the interior of the Great Pyramid like?
2. Which was more essential in building the Great Pyramid, technology or organizational skills?