Pyramid of Khufu Egypt

about Pyramid of Khufu Egypt

Why this ancient Seven Wonders pyramid is special
The pyramid of Khufu (Cheops in Greek) is the largest, oldest and only true surviving member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was built in the 26th century BC.

Interesting tidbits about
the pyramid of Khufu
It held the world's tallest man-made structure title for over 4400 years until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was built.
The base area of Khufu's pyramid is equal in size to that of six big-city blocks. Most of the chiseled stones used to build this pyramid are as big as small pickup trucks.
The rugged exterior we see today on Pharaoh Khufu's tomb was originally covered by a beautiful smooth limestone surfacing. That valuable material was subsequently filched by later rulers for use on their own buildings. This lowered the height of the pyramid by about 5% to its current height of 138 meters (456 feet). It also shortened its base width.
It was once legal to climb Khufu's pyramid (as I and many other travelers did years ago). Today, the government prohibits climbing out of concern for visitor safety and possible vandalism.

Khufu's pyramid has three burial chambers - the upper (where he was put to rest), the middle (called "Queen's Chamber") and the lower .carved out of the solid rock below the pyramid

The lower burial chamber may have been a decoy to confuse tomb robbers.
The "Queen's Chamber" is a misnomer - it was designed for the pharoah's burial use, but was eventually abandoned in favor of the bigger upper burial chamber. His queens were buried in three small stand-alone pyramids at the base of his pyramid.
Little is known about Khufu the man. Archeological evidence of his existence is quite skimpy.
Many current printed sources state that the pyramid of Khufu required 100,000 slaves and took 20 years to complete. Those figures are derived from writings of the 5th century BC Greek historian Horodotus. He wasn't qualified to give those numbers because he lived 2,000 years after Khufu's pyramid was built and he didn't have the benefit of modern archeological knowledge. 
In reality, it took fewer years and workers to build Khufu's pyramid than Horodotus guessed. Moreover, the workforce consisted not of slaves but mainly of local peasants who needed income when the annual Nile flooding prevented them from farming their riverside plots. Their belief in the divine status of their pharaoh Khufu was added motivation