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Giza pyramid complex

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

The Giza pyramid field, viewed from the southwest. Dominating the picture from foreground to background are the Pyramids of Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu.

The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complec of ancient monuments is located some eight km inland into the desert from the old town of Giza on the Nile, some 20 km southwest of Cairo city centre.

Contents

1 The site

2 Components of the Necropolis

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The site

This Ancient Egyptian necropolis consists 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.

Giza pyramids, view from south in late . From left: pyramid, pyramid, Great () pyramid.

Giza pyramids, view from south in late nineteenth century. From left: Menkaura pyramid, Khafra pyramid, Great (Khufu) pyramid.

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.

The most active phase of construction here was in the 25th century BC.

The ancient remains of the Giza necropolis have attracted visitors and tourists since classical antiquity, when these Old Kingdom monuments were already over 2,000 years old. It was popularised in Hellenistic times when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Today it is the only one of the ancient Wonders still in existence.

While, due largely to nineteenth-century images, the pyramids of Giza are generally thought of by foreigners as lying in a remote, desert location, they are located in what is now part of the most populated city in Africa. [1] (http://www.delange.org/Giza_Pyramids_Sphinx/GC.jpg) Consequently, urban development reaches right up to the perimeter of the antiquities site, to the extent that in the 1990s a Pizza Hut restaurant opened across the street. [2] (http://www.theagitator.com/archives/60-16-andec-01.jpg)

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Components of the Necropolis

Nineteenth-century tourists in front of the Sphinx. View from South-East, Great Pyramid in background.

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Open questions

Are the Pyramids of Giza sequenced in straight lines with stars?
Is the Hall of Records real? If so, where is it? Is it under the Great Pyramid? Is it under the Sphinx?
How old is the Sphinx? Does the Sphinx date to the predynastic period or the Old Kingdom? What was the purpose of the Sphinx? Which pharaoh was the Sphinx meant to resemble?

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