Peering through the cabin window like a child seemed to accentuate the vast expanse of rooftops, roads and cars that lay below; sprawling, dusty, cramped. Yet there, amidst this most typical of North African cities, a patch of sand and three pyramids. Not quite what I was expecting. I had always imagined the Giza pyramids to be in the middle of the desert, unspoilt, a majestic tribute to the rulers of a once pioneering empire. Surely, I thought, what seemed like a minute patch of sand from the airplane window must be a vast swathe of desert on the ground.
The City of Cairo is no different from many a capital city; bustling, loud, dirty, but full of character and offers much time to appreciate such matters, while stuck in seemingly endless traffic queues. As it was late afternoon when I arrived, I decided to pay a visit to the pyramids and experience the nightly ‘Sound and Light Show’. I was told to dress conservatively and advised to refrain from buying anything from any tourist site, as I would undoubtedly be ripped-off – great.
As we approached the pyramids, I realized to my disappointment that the pyramids actually were right next to the motorway. The patch of sand from the airplane window was, unfortunately, still just a patch of sand, but the sun was setting, casting shadows across what sand was there, bathing the area in a beautiful red glow. It was surreal and somewhat humbling to finally be in the shadow of the only remaining wonder of the world, a structure built some 4500 years ago but that remains, to this day, one of the largest structures ever built.
Not sure what to expect from the ‘Sound and Light Show’, but determined to experience everything that Egypt had to offer, I took my seat and was struck by how many people nearby had failed to adhere to the conservative dress rule – clearly it wasn’t that important. With a thunderous, booming noise, the pyramids lit up and the voice of Omar Sharif echoed across the site. The noise from the nearby motorway drowned out the much of his speech – not that this mattered – my preconceptions had indeed proved to be realistic. As the audience were given a history of the three pyramids, they lit up in succession and then continued to light up in alternating colours; even the sphinx had different colour holograms outlining his face. While the lighting effects were impressive, the show was vulgar and detracted from the natural beauty of the area. Indeed, as I left the show, I began to make plans to return the next day – a visit that might go some way toward reconciling the disappointment of the money-making scheme that was the ‘Sound and Light Show’.
Arriving at the pyramids once again at 8am the next morning, I felt the same sense of wonder sweep over me. Any attempt to climb the magnificent structures was, of course, forbidden and heavily marshalled by numerous guards. There were also plenty of merchants, selling postcards, hats, camel rides and offering photographs –all for a not-so-small fee of course; this quickly became a nuisance. Any hesitation or misdirected gaze constituted an expression of interest and I quickly became swamped. Police a-top camels strolled by and despite the hour, the place was overrun by tourists – most of whom had made every effort to escape the midday sun. Despite the unwanted attention, one could not help but feel insignificant standing in front of this most magnificent of monuments to mankind’s innovation. Just one ‘stone’ used to build the pyramid was longer, wider and deeper than any person – easy then to understand how the pyramids had stood the test of time.
For many a year, the popular belief was that slave labour was used to construct the pyramids, yet some historians argue that citizens either worked on the pyramid for wages or in exchange for a waiver of taxes. The most prolific pyramid-building phase coincided with the greatest degree of absolutist pharaonic rule. It was during this time these, the most famous of pyramids, were built. Over time, as authority became less centralized, the ability and willingness to harness the resources required for construction on a massive scale decreased and later pyramids were smaller, less well-built and often hastily constructed.
The pyramid of Khufu, the largest pyramid, was built as a tomb for the Egyptian King Khufu and constructed over a 20 year period, completing in 2540 BC. He is known to have had at least three wives, who bore him sons that split into three distinct family groups following Khufu's death. Like most ancient Egyptian pharaohs, Khufu built a temple to house his body after his death, although his mummified corpse has never been found.
The second, slightly smaller, pyramid was that of Khafre, King Khufu' son. King Khafre wanted his pyramid to be bigger than his fathers. However, his advisors, the Royal Priests, suggested that subjects may view this as impertinent. Hence King Khufre's pyramid is smaller in both height and volume, yet it appears larger by virtue of its more elevated location and the steeper angle of inclination of its construction.
Located at the base of the structure, I was allowed to venture inside the downward sloping passageway. I had barely walked inside the long narrow tunnel when the heat and lack of air became evident; there was no possibility of turning back, as the passage was only big enough for one person. I followed the route for some ten minutes, until I reached a large rectangular room – the burial chamber. I was overwhelmed by an extraordinary feeling – I was inside the great pyramid – millennia after the King of Egypt was finally laid to rest here. This feeling was short-lived, as I was ushered toward the exit and the long, stifling crawl back toward daylight.
Menkaura was purportedly the son of Khufu and alleviated the suffering his father's reign had caused the inhabitants of ancient Egypt (conflicting sources state that Menkaura was not the son of Khufu, but of Khafra). He suffered much misfortune during his life; his only daughter died before him. His is the smallest of the three main pyramids. Evident on this structure is the hole in the centre where, at the end of the twelfth century, Saladin’s son attempted to demolish the pyramids. He quickly discovered them to be almost as expensive to destroy as to build; for months, wedges, levers and ropes were used to move the stones. While some stones were successfully removed, they would be consumed by the sand below and require an extraordinary effort to free them. Suffice to say this chore proved to extinguish the motivation of the workers and the task was never completed.
The face of the Great Sphinx is said to resemble that of Khufre. The nose on the face is missing, which is often attributed to a Sufi Muslim fanatic whom, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, was so outraged that he destroyed the nose - and was hanged for vandalism. More realistically, though, it may simply have eroded away over time. The sand around the Sphinx is now carefully monitored, as at one time the sand enveloped the sphinx and begun to erode it away. The function of the Sphinx is a mystery; though it may resemble Khufre, it is not sure whether it is there to guard the pyramids and the treasures inside them, or whether it was simply Khufre’s way of showing that he had a human head but the body, and therefore the heart, of a lion.
The shape of Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound from which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. The shape is also thought to be representative of the descending rays of the sun. Most pyramids were faced with polished, highly reflective white limestone, in order to give them a brilliant appearance when viewed from a distance.
While it is generally agreed that pyramids were burial monuments, there is continued disagreement on the particular theological principles that might have given rise to them.
The Egyptians believed the dark area of the night sky around which the stars appear to revolve was the physical gateway into the heavens. One of the narrow shafts that extends from the main burial chamber through the entire body of the Great Pyramid points directly towards this part of the sky. This suggests the pyramid may have been designed to serve as a means to launch the deceased pharaoh's soul directly into the abode of the gods.
All Egyptian pyramids were built on the west bank of the Nile which, as the site of the setting sun, was associated with the realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.
Whatever their purpose, the pyramids inspire a sense of mystery and majesty in all who stand before them – a tribute to the creativity, innovation and invention of an ancient civilisation whose legacy has outlasted every other…