Pyramids

On our last day in Egypt we went out to the pyramids at the Giza plateau. The previous two days were windy and there was blowing sand and dust. Today was windy, but very little blowing sand and dust.

There are three large pyramids here, Khufu, his son Khafre and his son Menkaure. There were other sons that ruled in between these Pharoahs, but they didn’t rule that long.

Khufu is the son of Sneferu who built three pyramids.

So in a period from ~2613 BC to ~2508 BC, approximately 100 years, seven large pyramids were built. Think of the strain on the economy to do these massive building projects.

Near Khufu’s pyramid, the solar boat was discovered in the 1950’s. It has been reassembled in a museum at the pyramid.

The boat is 143 feet long and is tied together with ropes made of grass.

Khafre is also thought to have built the Sphinx.

Khafre also built a temple out of granite near the Sphinx. The granite came from Aswan, 934 km up the Nile River. The granite blocks fit together almost as tight as in Peru.