home > Construction > What is in the Cheops pyramid? The Pyramid of Cheops is the largest pyramid in Egypt. The mystery of the Cheops pyramid - who built it and why

What is in the Cheops pyramid? The Pyramid of Cheops is the largest pyramid in Egypt. The mystery of the Cheops pyramid - who built it and why

In the eastern regions, tourists cannot ignore one of the greatest mysteries of history - the Pyramid of Cheops. The only surviving miracle Ancient world, out of the seven existing ones, generates interest among scientists, archaeologists, historians, astrologers and simply fans of mysteries. To questions like: “Where are the pyramids of Cheops?” or “Why is it worth visiting them?”, we will be happy to answer in our article.

What are the dimensions of the Cheops pyramid?

To fully understand the greatness of this architectural masterpiece, it is enough to imagine its dimensions. Just imagine, this is a huge structure weighing about 6.4 million tons, located in Giza, a republic of Egypt. The height of the Cheops pyramid, even after wind erosion, reaches 138 meters, the size of the base reaches 230 meters, and the length of the side edge is 225 meters. And it is with this pyramid that the greatest mysteries of Egyptian history are connected, over which scientists around the world are struggling.

The mystery of the Cheops pyramid - who built it and why?

The most common theory is that the pyramid was built as a tomb for Pharaoh Cheops or Khufu (as the Egyptians themselves call him). Proponents of this theory confirm their guesses with the pyramid model itself. On a base of 53 thousand square meters there are three tombs, one of which houses the Great Gallery.

However, opponents of this version emphasize that the tomb intended for Cheops is not decorated in any way. Which is strange, since, as is known, the Egyptians were adherents of pomp and wealth in the design of the tombs of their rulers. And the sarcophagus itself, which was intended for one of the greatest pharaohs in Egyptian history, was not completed. The edges of the stone box that were not completely hewn and the missing lid indicate that the craftsmen did not take the issue of burial too seriously. In addition, the remains of Cheops himself were not found during any excavations.

Video - How was the Cheops pyramid built?

The version with the tomb is being replaced by the version that the pyramid is an astronomical structure. Astonishing mathematical calculations and the ability to see constellations in the night sky through corridor-type shafts provide astronomers with reasons to debate.

Archaeologists and scientists around the world are trying to unravel the truth of Khufu's pyramid in Giza. However, based on the facts already obtained, we can say with confidence that the author of the project was Hemion, a close relative and, concurrently, the court architect of Cheops. Under his strict leadership for 20 years, from 2560 BC. and until 2540 BC, more than three dozen builders, architects and laborers built a pyramid from huge granite blocks.

Some Egyptians and lovers of occult sciences perceive the pyramid as a religious object. They see a mystical pattern in the intersections of corridors and catacombs. But this idea does not have sufficient basis, as does the version of alien intervention. Thus, a certain circle of ufology researchers argue that only with the help of alien creatures could such a colossal work of architectural art be built.

What should a tourist know?

Tourists and admirers of Arab culture are only amused and inspired by the difference in versions and general uncertainty that revolves around the Cheops pyramid. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the foot of the granite structure to experience history. And local residents are only happy about this - all conditions for educational excursions have been created for visitors.

Twice a day, at 8 and 13 o'clock, a group of up to 150 people comes to the pyramid. They enter inside through a passage located on the north side. But, having finally arrived at the place of a kind of pilgrimage, not all visitors are ready for what the Cheops Pyramid is like inside. The long, low passage, compressed on the sides, causes an attack of claustrophobia for some foreigners. And sand, dust and stale air can cause asthma.

But for those who overcame themselves and withstood the transition inside the pyramid, all the architectural grandeur of Egyptian culture is revealed. Massive walls, The Big Gallery, the general feeling of antiquity and authenticity is exactly what captivates guests.

On the south side, at the exit, tourists are invited to get acquainted with exhibits that are the fruits of many years of excavations. Here you can also look at the Solar Boat - one of the largest floating vehicles discovered in the entire history of archaeological activity of mankind. Here you can buy souvenirs and commemorative figurines, T-shirts and so on.

Those who stay until late in the evening will be lucky enough to see the light show. Under the spotlight, the organizers create a unique, slightly mystical atmosphere and tell mysterious stories about the pyramid and Egyptian culture.

Another point that visitors to the Cheops Pyramid should pay attention to is the issue of photography and video shooting. Inside the building itself, there is a ban on any photography, as well as on the desire of some people to climb the pyramid itself. But, after leaving the tomb and buying a souvenir, you can take countless pictures from any angle. In the photo, the Cheops pyramid will sparkle with new colors and amaze with its geometric shapes.

However, you should be as vigilant as possible and not give your gadgets to strangers, other tourists and, especially, local residents. Otherwise, you risk either never seeing your camera at all, or parting with an impressive amount to get it back.

Sincerely practical point point of view, there is nothing strange in this. As you know, in any tourist center in the world, the local population prefers to make a profit at any cost. Hence the inflated prices, and the tendency to fraud, and big number pickpockets. Therefore, you should be as vigilant as possible.

Pyramid of Cheops: interesting facts

The Pyramid of Cheops is a beautiful and amazing creation. She is the object of fascination for scientists, artists, writers, directors and many other people who are not afraid to solve mysteries. And before heading to Giza to the granite massif, it is worth reading the stories about it. There are dozens of movies online for this purpose. Such as, for example, the documentary “Unraveling the Mystery of the Cheops Pyramid” directed by Florence Tran. In it, the author tries to explore as broadly as possible the idea of construction, the mystery of creation and the true purpose of the pyramid of the great pharaoh.

Interestingly, despite the unfinished sarcophagi and the lack of clear information about the architect of the Cheops pyramid, the greatest mystery is the internal shafts. According to experts, reaching a width of 13 to 20 centimeters, the shafts run along the sides of the main rooms and have a diagonal exit to the surface. The specific purpose of these mines is still not known. Either this is ventilation, or secret passages, or a kind of air gap. Until now, science has no specific information on this matter.

Video - Facts about the Cheops pyramid

The same goes for the process of building a pyramid. Materials for one of the seven wonders of the world were delivered from a nearby quarry. But it is still not known how large boulders weighing up to 80 tons were delivered to the construction site. Here again a lot of questions arise about the level of technological progress of the Egyptians. Or to the question of magic or higher intelligence.

What is the Cheops pyramid really? Tomb? Observatory? Occult object? A message from alien civilizations? We will probably never know this. But each of us has a chance to go to Giza and touch history and make our own assumptions.

- Oh Osiris, I don’t want to die! -Who wants it? - Osiris shrugged. “But I... I’m still a pharaoh!.. Listen,” Cheops whispered, “I will sacrifice one hundred thousand slaves to you.” Just allow me to immortalize my life alone! - One hundred thousand? And are you sure that they will all die during construction? - Rest assured. Such a pyramid as I conceived... - Well, if so... Perpetuate it, I don’t mind.

The Pyramid of Cheops

Nobody remembers Cheops alive. Everyone only remembers him when he is dead. He was dead a hundred, a thousand, and three thousand years ago and always, always will be dead - the pyramid immortalized his death.

1. What is called the first wonder of the world?
Already in ancient times, the pyramids of Giza were considered one of the seven “wonders of the world.” The largest of the pyramids was built by Pharaoh Khufu (2590 - 2568 BC), in Greek his name was Cheops. Currently, the height of the pyramid is 138 m, although originally it was 147 m: the top stones fell during earthquakes. The pyramid is made up of 2.5 million limestone blocks different sizes weighing an average of 2.5 tons. Initially, it was lined with white sandstone, which was harder than the main blocks, but the lining has not been preserved. At the base of the pyramid lies a square with a side of 230 m, oriented to the cardinal points. According to some legends, the corners of the square symbolize Truth, Reason, Silence and Depth; according to others, the pyramid is based on the four material substances from which the human body is created.
The greatest creations of antiquity among the pyramids include only the Pyramid of Cheops, also called the Great Pyramid.
At a distance of approximately 160 meters from the Pyramid of Cheops, the Pyramid of Chefre rises, the height of which is 136.6 meters, and the length of the sides is 210.5 meters. At its top, part of the original cladding is still visible.
The Pyramid of Mikerin, which is even smaller, is located 200 meters from the Pyramid of Khafre. Its height is 62 meters, and the length of the sides is 108 meters. But the most famous Egyptian monument in the world after the Pyramid of Cheops is the figure of the Sphinx, vigilantly guarding the city of the dead.
The three pyramids are part of a complex that also consists of several temples, small pyramids, and tombs of priests and officials.
The smaller pyramids further south were probably intended for the wives of rulers and were left unfinished.

2. How was the Cheops pyramid built?

Its height is 146.6 m, which approximately corresponds to a fifty-story skyscraper. The base area is 230x230 m. In such a space, five of the largest cathedrals in the world could easily fit simultaneously: St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, as well as the Florence and Milan cathedrals. From the building stone used for the construction of the Cheops pyramid, it would be possible to build all the churches in Germany created in our millennium. The young pharaoh Cheops gave the order to build the pyramid immediately after the death of his father Snefru. Like all previous pharaohs since the time of Djoser (approximately 2609 -2590 BC), Cheops wanted to be buried after his death in a pyramid.
The ivory statue of Pharaoh Cheops is the only surviving image of the pharaoh. On the head of Cheops is the crown of the Ancient Egyptian kingdom, in his hand is a ceremonial fan.
Like his predecessors, he believed that his pyramid should surpass all other pyramids in size, splendor and luxury. But before the first of the more than two million blocks that made up the pyramid was cut from a quarry on the east bank of the Nile, complex preparatory work. First, it was necessary to find a suitable site for the construction of the pyramid. The weight of the huge structure is 6,400,000 tons, so the soil had to be strong enough so that the pyramid would not sink into the ground under its own weight. The construction site was chosen south of the modern Egyptian capital Cairo, on a ledge of a plateau in the desert seven kilometers west of the village of Giza. This strong rocky platform was able to support the weight of the pyramid.
First, the surface of the site was leveled. To do this, a waterproof rampart of sand and stones was built around it. In the resulting square, a dense network of small channels intersecting at right angles was cut out, so that the site looked like a huge chessboard. The channels were filled with water, the height of the water level was marked on the side walls, and then the water was drained. The stonemasons cut down everything that protruded above the surface of the water, and the channels were again filled with stone. The base of the pyramid was ready.
Over 4,000 people - artists, architects, stonemasons and other artisans - carried out these preparatory work for about ten years. Only after this could the construction of the pyramid itself begin. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (490 - 425 BC), construction continued for another twenty years, about 100,000 people worked on the construction of the huge tomb of Cheops. Only on radishes, onions and garlic, which were added to the food of construction workers, 1600 talents were spent, i.e. approximately $20 million. Data on the number of workers are questioned by many modern researchers. In their opinion, there would simply not be enough space on the construction site for so many people: more than 8,000 people would not be able to work productively without interfering with each other.
Herodotus, who visited Egypt in 425 BC, wrote: “The method used was to build in steps, or as some call it, in rows or terraces. When the foundation was completed, the blocks for the next row above the foundation were raised from the main level with devices made from short wooden levers; on this first row there was another one that raised the blocks one level higher, so step by step the blocks were raised more and more. Higher and higher. Each row or level had its own set of mechanisms of the same type, which easily moved loads from level to level. The completion of the pyramid began at the top with the highest level, continued down, and ended with the lowest levels closest to the ground."
At the time of the construction of the pyramid, Egypt was a rich country. Every year from the end of June to November, the Nile overflowed its banks and flooded the adjacent fields with its waters, leaving on them a thick layer of silt that turned the dry desert sand into fertile soil. Therefore, in favorable years it was possible to harvest up to three harvests a year - grain, fruits and vegetables. So, from June to November, the peasants could not work in their fields. And they were glad when every year in mid-June the pharaoh’s scribe appeared in their village, compiling lists of those willing to work on the construction of the pyramid.

3. Who worked on the construction of the pyramid?
Almost everyone wanted this work, which means it was not forced labor, but voluntary labor. This was explained by two reasons: each construction participant received housing, clothing, food and a modest salary during work. Four months later, when the waters of the Nile receded from the fields, the peasants returned to their villages.

In addition, every Egyptian considered it his natural duty and a matter of honor to participate in the construction of the pyramid for the pharaoh. After all, everyone who contributed to the accomplishment of this grandiose task hoped that a piece of the immortality of the god-like pharaoh would touch him too. Therefore, at the end of June, endless streams of peasants flocked to Giza. There they were housed in temporary barracks and grouped into groups of eight. Work could begin. Having sailed on boats to the other side of the Nile, the men headed to the quarry. There they cut down a block of stone, trimmed it with sledgehammers, wedges, saws and drills and received a block required sizes- with sides from 80 cm to 1.45 m. Using ropes and levers, each group placed its block on wooden runners and dragged it along the log flooring to the bank of the Nile. The sailboat transported workers and a block weighing up to 7.5 tons to the other side.

4. What job was the most dangerous?
The stone was dragged along roads lined with logs to the construction site. Here came the hardest work, since the cranes and other lifting devices have not yet been invented. Along an inclined entrance 20 m wide, built of bricks from Nile silt, runners with a stone block were pulled with the help of ropes and levers to the upper platform of the pyramid under construction. There, workers laid the block in the place indicated by the architect with millimeter precision. The higher the pyramid rose, the longer and steeper the entrance became and the lower the upper work site. Therefore, the work became more and more difficult.
Then came the turn of the most dangerous work: laying the “pyramidon” - an upper block nine meters high, dragged upward along an inclined entrance. We don’t know how many people died doing just this work. So, twenty years later, the construction of the pyramid body was completed, which consists of 128 layers of stone and is four meters higher than Strasbourg Cathedral. By this time, the pyramid looked much the same as it looks now: it was a stepped mountain. However, the work did not end there: the steps were filled with stones, so that the surface of the pyramid became, although not completely smooth, but without protrusions. To complete the work, the four triangular outer faces of the pyramid were lined with slabs of dazzling white limestone. The edges of the slabs were fitted so precisely that it was impossible to insert even a knife blade between them. Even from a distance of several meters, the pyramid gave the impression of a giant monolith. The outer slabs were polished to a mirror finish using the hardest grinding stones. According to eyewitnesses, in the sun or moonlight, the tomb of Cheops sparkled mysteriously, like a huge crystal glowing from within.

5. What's inside the Cheops pyramid?
The Cheops Pyramid is not made entirely of stone. Inside it there is an extensive system of passages, which through a large passage 47 m long, the so-called large gallery, leads to the pharaoh's chamber - a room 10.5 m long, 5.3 m wide and 5.8 m high. It is entirely lined with granite, but not decorated with any ornament. There is a large empty granite sarcophagus without a lid. The sarcophagus was brought here during construction, since it does not go into any of the passages of the pyramid. There are such chambers of the pharaohs in almost all Egyptian pyramids oh, they served as the last refuge of the pharaoh.
There are no inscriptions or decorations inside the Cheops pyramid, with the exception of a small portrait in the passage leading to the Queen's chamber. This image resembles a photograph on a stone. On external walls pyramids there are numerous curvilinear grooves of large and small sizes, in which, at a certain lighting angle, one can discern an image 150 meters high - a portrait of a man, apparently one of the deities Ancient Egypt. This image is surrounded by other images (the trident of the Atlanteans and Scythians, a bird-plane, plans of stone buildings, pyramid rooms), texts, individual letters, large signs resembling a flower bud, etc. On the north side of the pyramid there is a portrait of a man and a woman with their heads bowed towards each other. These enormous images were painted just a few years before the main pyramid was completed and installed in 2630 BC. top stone.
Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, located one above the other. The construction of the first chamber was not completed. It is carved into the bedrock. To get into it, you need to overcome 120 m of a narrow descending corridor. The first burial chamber is connected to the second by a horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high. The second chamber is called the “queen’s chamber,” although according to the ritual the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids.
The queen's chamber is surrounded by legends. A legend is associated with it, according to which the pyramid was the main temple of a certain Supreme Deity, a place where ancient secret religious rites were held. Somewhere in the depths of the pyramid lives an unknown creature with the face of a lion, who holds in his hands the seven keys of Eternity. No one can see it except those who have undergone special rites of preparation and purification. Only to them did the Great Priest reveal the secret Divine Name. A person who possesses the secret of a name becomes equal in magical power to the pyramid itself. The main sacrament of initiation took place in the royal chamber. There, the candidate, tied to a special cross, was placed in a huge sarcophagus. The person accepting initiation was, as it were, in the gap between the material world and the divine world, inaccessible to human consciousness.
From the beginning of the horizontal corridor, another one goes up, about 50 m long and more than 8 m high. At the end of it there is a horizontal passage leading to the pharaoh’s burial chamber, trimmed with granite, in which the sarcophagus is placed. In addition to the burial chambers, voids and ventilation shafts were discovered in the pyramid. However, the purpose of many rooms and various void channels is not fully understood. One of these rooms is a room where on a table there is an open book about the history and achievements of the country during the period of completion of the pyramid.
The purpose of the underground structures at the foot of the Cheops pyramid is also unclear. Some of them were opened in different time. In one of the underground structures in 1954, archaeologists found the oldest ship on Earth - a wooden boat called solar, 43.6 m long, disassembled into 1224 parts. It is built of cedar without single nail and, as evidenced by the traces of silt preserved on it, before its death Cheops was still floating along the Nile.

6. How was the pharaoh buried?
After death, the carefully embalmed body of the ruler was placed in the burial chamber of the pyramid. The internal organs of the deceased were placed in special hermetic vessels, the so-called canopies, which were placed next to the sarcophagus in the burial chamber. So, the mortal remains of the pharaoh found their last earthly refuge in the pyramid, and the “ka” of the deceased left the tomb. “Ka,” according to Egyptian ideas, was considered something like a person’s double, his “second self,” which left the body at the moment of death and could move freely between the earthly and the afterlife. Having left the burial chamber, the “ka” rushed to the top of the pyramid along its outer lining, which was so smooth that no mortal could move along it. The father of the pharaohs, the sun god Ra, was already there in his solar boat, in which the deceased pharaoh began his journey to immortality.
IN Lately some scientists doubt that the Great Pyramid was really the tomb of Pharaoh Cheops. They put forward three arguments in favor of this assumption:
The burial chamber, contrary to the customs of that time, does not have any decorations.
The sarcophagus in which the body of the deceased pharaoh was supposed to rest was only roughly hewn, i.e. not completely ready; the cover is missing.
And finally, two narrow passages through which air from outside penetrates into the burial chamber through small holes in the body of the pyramid. But the dead do not need air - here is another weighty argument in favor of the fact that the Cheops pyramid was not a burial place.
7. Who was the first to penetrate the Cheops pyramid?
The entrance to the Cheops pyramid was originally located on the north side, at the level of the 13th row of granite slabs. It is now closed. You can get inside the pyramid through a hole left by ancient robbers.
For more than 3,500 years, the interior of the Great Pyramid was not disturbed by anyone: all the entrances to it were carefully walled up, and the tomb itself, according to the Egyptians, was guarded by spirits ready to kill anyone who tried to penetrate it.
That is why the robbers appeared here much later. The first person to penetrate inside the Cheops pyramid was Caliph Abdallah al-Mamun (813-833 AD), son of Harun al-Rashid. He dug a tunnel to the burial chamber in the hope of finding treasure there, as in other tombs of the pharaohs. But he found nothing except the droppings of the bats that lived there, the layer of which on the floor and walls reached 28 cm. After this, the interest of robbers and treasure hunters in the Cheops pyramid disappeared. But they were replaced by other robbers. In 1168 after R. Chr. part of Cairo was burned and completely destroyed by the Arabs, who did not want it to fall into the hands of the crusaders. When the Egyptians later began rebuilding their city, they removed the shiny white slabs that covered the outside of the pyramid and used them to build new houses. Even now these slabs can be seen in many mosques in the old part of the city. All that remains of the former pyramid is the stepped building - this is how it now appears before the admiring eyes of tourists. Along with the cladding, the pyramid also lost its top, the pyramidon, and upper layers masonry Therefore, now its height is no longer 144.6 m, but 137.2 m. Today, the top of the pyramid is a square with sides of approximately 10 m. This site in 1842 became the venue for unusual festivities. The Prussian king Frederick William IV, known for his love of art, sent an expedition to the Nile Valley led by archaeologist Richard Lepsius with the aim of acquiring ancient Egyptian art objects and other exhibits for the Egyptian Museum being created in Berlin (it was opened in 1855).

Powerful, surrounded by mystery... - this is how the Cheops pyramid stood for 4500 years

, vizier and nephew of Cheops. He also bore the title "Manager of all Pharaoh's construction projects." For more than three thousand years (until the construction of Lincoln Cathedral, England, around 1300), the pyramid was the tallest building on Earth.

It is assumed that construction, which lasted twenty years, ended around 2540 BC. e. Existing methods for dating the start of construction of the pyramid are divided into historical, astronomical and radiocarbon. In Egypt, the date for the start of construction of the Cheops Pyramid is officially established and celebrated - August 23, 2560 BC. e. This date was obtained using the astronomical method of Kate Spence (University of Cambridge). However, this date should not be considered true. historical event, since her method and the dates obtained with it were criticized by many Egyptologists. The existing three other dating methods give different dates - Stephen Hack (University of Nebraska) 2720 BC. e., Giuana Antonio Belmonte (University of Astrophysics in Canaris) 2577 BC. e. and Pollux (Bauman University) 2708 BC. e. Radiocarbon dating gives a range from 2680 BC. e. to 2850 BC e. Therefore, there is no serious confirmation of the established “birthday” of the pyramid, since Egyptologists cannot agree on exactly what year construction began.

Statistical data

Height (today): ≈ 138.75 m
Side angle (current): 51° 50"
Side rib length (original): 230.33 m (calculated) or about 440 royal cubits
Side fin length (current): approx. 225 m
The length of the sides of the base of the pyramid: south - 230.454 m; north - 230.253 m; west - 230.357 m; east - 230.394 m
Foundation area (initially): ≈ 53,000 m² (5.3 ha)
Lateral surface area of the pyramid (initially): ≈ 85,500 m²
Base perimeter: 922 m
Total volume of the pyramid without deducting the cavities inside the pyramid (initially): ≈ 2.58 million m³
Total volume of the pyramid minus all known cavities (initially): 2.50 million m³
Average volume of stone blocks: 1,147 m³
Average weight of stone blocks: 2.5 tons
The heaviest stone block: about 35 tons - is located above the entrance to the “King’s Chamber”.
The number of blocks of average volume does not exceed 1.65 million (2.50 million m³ - 0.6 million m³ of rock base inside the pyramid = 1.9 million m³/1.147 m³ = 1.65 million blocks of the specified volume can physically fit in the pyramid, without taking into account the volume of mortar in interblock joints); referring to a 20-year construction period * 300 working days per year * 10 working hours per day * 60 minutes per hour leads to a speed of laying (and delivery to the construction site) of about a block of two minutes.
According to estimates, total weight pyramids - about 4 million tons (1.65 million blocks x 2.5 tons)
The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rocky elevation about 12-14 m high in the center and, according to the latest data, occupies at least 23% of the original volume of the pyramid

About the pyramid

The pyramid is called "Akhet-Khufu" - "Horizon of Khufu" (or more accurately "Related to the firmament - (it is) Khufu"). Consists of limestone and granite blocks. It was built on a natural limestone hill. After the pyramid has lost several layers of cladding, this hill is partially visible on the eastern, northern and southern sides of the pyramid. Despite the fact that the Cheops pyramid is the tallest and most voluminous of all the Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh Sneferu built the pyramids in Meidum and Dakhshut (Broken Pyramid and Pink Pyramid), the total mass of which is estimated at 8.4 million tons.

Initially, the pyramid was lined with white limestone, which was harder than the main blocks. The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - pyramidion (ancient Egyptian - “Benben”). The cladding shone in the sun with a peach color, like “a shining miracle to which the Sun God Ra himself seemed to give all his rays.” In 1168, the Arabs sacked and burned Cairo. Residents of Cairo removed the cladding from the pyramid in order to build new houses.

Pyramid structure

The entrance to the pyramid is at an altitude of 15.63 meters on the north side. Entrance form stone slabs, laid in the form of an arch, but this is the structure that was inside the pyramid - the true entrance has not been preserved. The true entrance to the pyramid was most likely closed with a stone plug. A description of such a plug can be found in Strabo, and its appearance can also be imagined based on the preserved slab that covered the upper entrance to the Bent Pyramid of Snefru, the father of Cheops. Today, tourists enter the pyramid through a 17-meter gap, which was made 10 meters lower by the Baghdad caliph Abdullah al-Mamun in 820. He hoped to find the pharaoh's countless treasures there, but found there only a layer of dust half a cubit thick.

Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, located one above the other.

Funeral "pit"

A 105 m long descending corridor running at an inclination of 26° 26'46 leads to an 8.9 m long horizontal corridor leading to the chamber 5 . Situated below ground level in a limestone bedrock, it remained unfinished. The dimensions of the chamber are 14x8.1 m, it extends from east to west. The height reaches 3.5 m, the ceiling has a large crack. At the southern wall of the chamber there is a well about 3 m deep, from which a narrow manhole (0.7 × 0.7 m in cross-section) stretches in a southern direction for 16 m, ending in a dead end. At the beginning of the 19th century, engineers John Shae Perring and Richard William Howard Vyse cleared the floor of the chamber and dug a well 11.6 m deep, in which they hoped to discover a hidden burial chamber. They were based on the testimony of Herodotus, who claimed that the body of Cheops was located on an island surrounded by a canal in a hidden underground chamber. Their excavations came to nothing. Later studies showed that the chamber was abandoned unfinished, and it was decided to build the burial chambers in the center of the pyramid itself.

Several photographs taken in 1910

Interior

Ascending Corridor and Queen's Chambers

From the first third of the descending passage (18 m from the main entrance) upward at the same angle of 26.5°, an ascending passage goes south ( 6 ) about 40 m long, ending at the bottom of the Great Gallery ( 9 ).

At its beginning, the ascending passage contains 3 large cubic granite “plugs”, which from the outside, from the descending passage, were masked by a block of limestone that fell out during the work of al-Mamun. Thus, for the previous approximately 3 thousand years, it was believed that there were no rooms in the Great Pyramid other than the descending passage and the underground chamber. Al-Mamun was unable to break through these plugs and simply hollowed out a bypass to the right of them in the softer limestone. This passage is still in use today. There are two main theories about the traffic jams, one of them is based on the fact that the ascending passage has traffic jams installed at the beginning of construction and thus this passage was sealed by them from the very beginning. The second argues that the current narrowing of the walls was caused by an earthquake, and the plugs were previously located within the Great Gallery and were used to seal the passage only after the funeral of the pharaoh.

An important mystery of this section of the ascending passage is that in the place where the traffic jams are now located, in the full-size, albeit shortened model of the pyramid passages - the so-called test corridors north of the Great Pyramid - there is a junction of not two, but three corridors at once, the third of which is a vertical tunnel. Since no one has yet been able to move the plugs, the question of whether there is a vertical hole above them remains open.

In the middle of the ascending passage, the wall design has a peculiarity: in three places so-called “frame stones” were installed - that is, a square passage along the entire length pierces through three monoliths. The purpose of these stones is unknown. In the area of the frame stones, the walls of the passage have several small niches.

A horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high leads to the second burial chamber from the lower part of the Great Gallery in a southerly direction. The walls of this horizontal corridor are made of very large limestone blocks, on which false “seams” are applied, imitating masonry from smaller blocks . Behind the western wall of the passage there are cavities filled with sand. The second chamber is traditionally called the “Queen's Chamber,” although according to the ritual, the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids. The Queen's Chamber, lined with limestone, measures 5.74 meters from east to west and 5.23 meters from north to south; its maximum height is 6.22 meters. There is a high niche in the eastern wall of the chamber.

Chambre-reine-kheops.jpg

Drawing of the Queen's Chamber ( 7 )

Niche in the wall of the Queen's Chamber

Corridor at the entrance to the queen's hall (1910)

Entrance to the Queen's Chamber (1910)

Niche in the Queen's Chamber (1910)

Ventilation duct in the queen's chamber (1910)

Corridor to the ascending tunnel ( 12 )

Granite plug (1910)

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Corridor to the ascending tunnel (on the left are closing blocks)

Grotto, Grand Gallery and Pharaoh's Chambers

Another branch from the lower part of the Great Gallery is a narrow, almost vertical shaft about 60 m high, leading to the lower part of the descending passage. There is an assumption that it was intended to evacuate workers or priests who were completing the “sealing” of the main passage to the “King’s Chamber.” Approximately in the middle there is a small, most likely natural extension - the “Grotto” (Grotto) of irregular shape, in which several people could fit at most. Grotto ( 12 ) is located at the “junction” of the masonry of the pyramid and a small, about 9 meters high, hill on the limestone plateau lying at the base of the Great Pyramid. The walls of the Grotto are partially reinforced by ancient masonry, and since some of its stones are too large, there is an assumption that the Grotto existed on the Giza plateau as an independent structure long before the construction of the pyramids, and the evacuation shaft itself was built taking into account the location of the Grotto. However, taking into account the fact that the shaft was hollowed out in the already laid masonry, and not laid out, as evidenced by its irregular circular cross-section, the question arises of how the builders managed to accurately reach the Grotto.

The large gallery continues the ascending passage. Its height is 8.53 m, it is rectangular in cross-section, with walls slightly tapering upward (the so-called “false vault”), a high inclined tunnel 46.6 m long. In the middle of the Great Gallery along almost the entire length there is a square recess with a regular cross-section measuring 1 meter wide and 60 cm deep, and on both side protrusions there are 27 pairs of recesses of unknown purpose. The recess ends with the so-called. “Big step” - a high horizontal ledge, a 1x2 meter platform at the end of the Great Gallery, immediately before the hole into the “hallway” - the Antechamber. The platform has a pair of ramp recesses similar to those in the corners near the wall (the 28th and last pair of BG recesses). Through the “hallway” a hole leads into the funeral “Tsar’s Chamber” lined with black granite, where an empty granite sarcophagus is located. The sarcophagus lid is missing. Ventilation shafts have mouths in the “King’s Chamber” on the southern and northern walls at a height of about a meter from the floor level. The mouth of the southern ventilation shaft is severely damaged, the northern one appears intact. The floor, ceiling, and walls of the chamber do not have any decorations or holes or fastening elements of anything dating back to the construction of the pyramid. The ceiling slabs have all burst along the southern wall and are not falling into the room only due to the pressure from the weight of the overlying blocks.

Above the “Tsar’s Chamber” there are five unloading cavities with a total height of 17 m discovered in the 19th century, between which lie monolithic granite slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable roof made of limestone. It is believed that their purpose is to distribute the weight of the overlying layers of the pyramid (about a million tons) to protect the “King's Chamber” from pressure. In these voids, graffiti was discovered, probably left by workers.

Interior of the Grotto (1910)

Drawing of a Grotto (1910)

Drawing of the connection of the Grotto with the Great Gallery (1910)

Entrance to the Tunnel (1910)

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View of the Great Gallery from the entrance to the room

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Large gallery

Grand Gallery (1910)

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"Big Step"

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Drawing of the Pharaoh's Chamber

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Pharaoh's chamber

Pharaoh's Chamber (1910)

Interior of the vestibule in front of the Tsar's chamber (1910)

"Ventilation" channel at the southern wall of the king's room (1910)

Ventilation ducts

So-called “ventilation” channels 20-25 cm wide extend from the “Tsar’s Chamber” and “Queen’s Chamber” in the northern and southern directions (first horizontally, then obliquely upward). At the same time, the channels of the “Tsar’s Chamber,” known since the 17th century, through, they are open both below and above (on the edges of the pyramid), while the lower ends of the channels of the “Queen’s Chamber” are separated from the surface of the wall by about 13 cm; they were discovered by tapping in 1872. The upper ends of these channels do not reach the surface by about 12 meters. The upper ends of the channels of the Queen's Chamber are closed by stone Gantenbrink Doors, each with two copper handles. The copper handles were sealed with plaster seals (not preserved, but traces remain). In the southern ventilation shaft, a “door” was discovered in 1993 with the help of a remote-controlled robot “Upout II”; the bend of the northern shaft did not allow this robot to detect the same “door” in it. In 2002, using a new modification of the robot, a hole was drilled in the southern “door,” but behind it a small cavity 18 centimeters long and another stone “door” were discovered. What lies next is still unknown. This robot confirmed the presence of a similar “door” at the end of the northern channel, but they did not drill it. A new robot in 2010 was able to push into drilled hole in the southern “door” there was a serpentine television camera and discovered that the copper “handles” on that side of the “door” were designed in the form of neat hinges, and on the floor of the “ventilation” shaft there were individual red ocher icons. Currently, the most common version is that the purpose of the “ventilation” ducts was of a religious nature and is associated with the Egyptian ideas about the afterlife journey of the soul. And the “door” at the end of the channel is nothing more than a door to the afterlife. That is why it does not reach the surface of the pyramid.

Tilt angle

It is not possible to accurately determine the initial parameters of the pyramid, since its edges and surfaces are currently for the most part dismantled and destroyed. This makes it difficult to calculate the exact angle of inclination. In addition, its symmetry itself is not ideal, so deviations in the numbers are observed with different measurements.

A study of the geometry of the Great Pyramid does not provide a clear answer to the question of the original proportions of this structure. It is assumed that the Egyptians had an idea about the “Golden ratio" and the number pi, which were reflected in the proportions of the pyramid: thus, the ratio of the height to half the perimeter of the base is 14/22 (height = 280 cubits, and the base = 220 cubits, semi-perimeter of the base = 2 ×220 cubits; 280/440 = 14/22). For the first time in world history, these quantities were used in the construction of the pyramid at Meidum. However, for pyramids of later eras, these proportions were not used anywhere else, as, for example, some have height-to-base ratios, such as 6/5 (Pink Pyramid), 4/3 (Pyramid of Khafre) or 7/5 (Broken Pyramid).

Some of the theories consider the pyramid to be an astronomical observatory. It is argued that the corridors of the pyramid accurately point towards the “pole star” of that time - Thuban, the ventilation corridors on the south side point to the star Sirius, and on the north side to the star Alnitak.

Concavity of the sides

As in the 18th century, when this phenomenon was discovered, today there is still no satisfactory explanation for this architectural feature.

Pharaoh's boats

Near the pyramids, seven pits with real ancient Egyptian boats, dismantled into pieces, were discovered. The first of these vessels, called "Solar Boats" or "Solar Boats", was discovered in 1954 by Egyptian architect Kamal el-Mallah and archaeologist Zaki Nour. The boat was made of cedar and did not have a single trace of nails for fastening the elements. The boat consisted of 1224 parts; they were assembled by restorer Ahmed Youssef Mustafa only in 1968.

Boat dimensions: length - 43.3 m, width - 5.6 m, and draft - 1.50 m.

On the southern side of the Cheops pyramid there is a museum of this boat.

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One of two solar boat pits. Eastern part of the pyramid

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The place where the Solar Boat was discovered

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Boat Museum on the south side of the pyramid

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The Cheops solar boat, discovered near the pyramid in 1954.

Pyramids of the Queens of Cheops

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Descent to the Henoutsen burial chamber

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Burial chamber of Henoutsen

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Literature

Ionina N. A. 100 Great Wonders of the World. - Moscow., 1999.
Vojtech Zamarovsky. Their Majesties Pyramids. - Moscow., 1986.

Notes

Links

(English)
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Ancient kingdom
(2686-2181 BC)

1st transition period
(2181–2040 BC)

Middle Kingdom
(2040–1650 BC)

2nd transition period
(1650–1570 BC)

New kingdom
(1570–1070 BC)



Pyramids

Sculptures

Excerpt characterizing the Pyramid of Cheops

-What are you talking about the militia? - he said to Boris.
“They, your lordship, in preparation for tomorrow, for death, put on white shirts.”
- Ah!.. Wonderful, incomparable people! - said Kutuzov and, closing his eyes, shook his head. - Incomparable people! - he repeated with a sigh.
- Do you want to smell gunpowder? - he said to Pierre. - Yes, a pleasant smell. I have the honor to be an admirer of your wife, is she healthy? My rest stop is at your service. - And, as often happens with old people, Kutuzov began to look around absently, as if he had forgotten everything he needed to say or do.
Obviously, remembering what he was looking for, he lured Andrei Sergeich Kaisarov, the brother of his adjutant, to him.
- How, how, how are the poems, Marina, how are the poems, how? What he wrote about Gerakov: “You will be a teacher in the building... Tell me, tell me,” Kutuzov spoke, obviously intending to laugh. Kaisarov read... Kutuzov, smiling, nodded his head to the beat of the poems.
When Pierre walked away from Kutuzov, Dolokhov moved towards him and took him by the hand.
“I’m very glad to meet you here, Count,” he told him loudly and without being embarrassed by the presence of strangers, with particular decisiveness and solemnity. “On the eve of the day on which God knows which of us is destined to survive, I am glad to have the opportunity to tell you that I regret the misunderstandings that existed between us, and I would like you not to have anything against me.” Please forgive me.
Pierre, smiling, looked at Dolokhov, not knowing what to say to him. Dolokhov, with tears welling up in his eyes, hugged and kissed Pierre.
Boris said something to his general, and Count Bennigsen turned to Pierre and offered to go with him along the line.
“This will be interesting to you,” he said.
“Yes, very interesting,” said Pierre.
Half an hour later, Kutuzov left for Tatarinova, and Bennigsen and his retinue, including Pierre, went along the line.

Bennigsen from Gorki descended along the high road to the bridge, which the officer from the mound pointed out to Pierre as the center of the position and on the bank of which lay rows of mown grass that smelled of hay. They drove across the bridge to the village of Borodino, from there they turned left and past a huge number of troops and cannons they drove out to a high mound on which the militia was digging. It was a redoubt that did not yet have a name, but later received the name Raevsky redoubt, or barrow battery.
Pierre did not pay much attention to this redoubt. He did not know that this place would be more memorable for him than all the places in the Borodino field. Then they drove through the ravine to Semenovsky, in which the soldiers were taking away the last logs of the huts and barns. Then, downhill and uphill, they drove forward through broken rye, knocked out like hail, along a road newly laid by artillery along the ridges of arable land to the flushes [a type of fortification. (Note by L.N. Tolstoy.) ], also still being dug at that time.
Bennigsen stopped at the flushes and began to look ahead at the Shevardinsky redoubt (which was ours only yesterday), on which several horsemen could be seen. The officers said that Napoleon or Murat was there. And everyone looked greedily at this bunch of horsemen. Pierre also looked there, trying to guess which of these barely visible people was Napoleon. Finally, the riders rode off the mound and disappeared.
Bennigsen turned to the general who approached him and began to explain the entire position of our troops. Pierre listened to Bennigsen's words, straining all his mental strength to understand the essence of the upcoming battle, but he felt with disappointment that his mental abilities were insufficient for this. He didn't understand anything. Bennigsen stopped talking, and noticing the figure of Pierre, who was listening, he suddenly said, turning to him:
– I think you’re not interested?
“Oh, on the contrary, it’s very interesting,” Pierre repeated, not entirely truthfully.
From the flush they drove even further to the left along a road winding through a dense, low birch forest. In the middle of it
forest, a brown hare with white legs jumped out onto the road in front of them and, frightened by the tramp of a large number of horses, he was so confused that he jumped along the road ahead of them for a long time, arousing everyone’s attention and laughter, and only when several voices shouted at him, he rushed to the side and disappeared into the thicket. After driving about two miles through the forest, they came to a clearing where the troops of Tuchkov’s corps, which was supposed to protect the left flank, were stationed.
Here, on the extreme left flank, Bennigsen spoke a lot and passionately and made, as it seemed to Pierre, an important military order. There was a hill in front of Tuchkov’s troops. This hill was not occupied by troops. Bennigsen loudly criticized this mistake, saying that it was crazy to leave the height commanding the area unoccupied and place troops under it. Some generals expressed the same opinion. One in particular spoke with military fervor about the fact that they were put here for slaughter. Bennigsen ordered in his name to move the troops to the heights.
This order on the left flank made Pierre even more doubtful of his ability to understand military affairs. Listening to Bennigsen and the generals condemning the position of the troops under the mountain, Pierre fully understood them and shared their opinion; but precisely because of this, he could not understand how the one who placed them here under the mountain could make such an obvious and gross mistake.
Pierre did not know that these troops were not placed to defend the position, as Bennigsen thought, but were placed in a hidden place for an ambush, that is, in order to be unnoticed and suddenly attack the advancing enemy. Bennigsen did not know this and moved the troops forward for special reasons without telling the commander-in-chief about it.

Prince Andrei, on this clear August evening on the 25th, lay leaning on his arm in a broken barn in the village of Knyazkova, on the edge of his regiment's location. Through the hole in the broken wall, he looked at a strip of thirty-year-old birch trees with their lower branches cut off running along the fence, at an arable land with stacks of oats broken on it, and at bushes through which the smoke of fires—soldiers’ kitchens—could be seen.
No matter how cramped and no one needed and how difficult his life now seemed to Prince Andrei, he, just like seven years ago at Austerlitz on the eve of the battle, felt agitated and irritated.
Orders for tomorrow's battle were given and received by him. There was nothing else he could do. But the simplest, clearest thoughts and therefore terrible thoughts did not leave him alone. He knew that tomorrow's battle was going to be the most terrible of all those in which he participated, and the possibility of death for the first time in his life, without any regard to everyday life, without consideration of how it would affect others, but only according to in relation to himself, to his soul, with vividness, almost with certainty, simply and terribly, it presented itself to him. And from the height of this idea, everything that had previously tormented and occupied him was suddenly illuminated by a cold white light, without shadows, without perspective, without distinction of outlines. His whole life seemed to him like a magic lantern, into which he looked for a long time through the glass and artificial lighting. Now he suddenly saw, without glass, in bright daylight, these poorly painted pictures. “Yes, yes, these are the false images that worried and delighted and tormented me,” he said to himself, turning over in his imagination the main pictures of his magic lantern of life, now looking at them in this cold white light of day - a clear thought of death. “Here they are, these crudely painted figures that seemed like something beautiful and mysterious. Glory, public good, love for a woman, the fatherland itself - how great these pictures seemed to me, what deep meaning they seemed filled with! And all this is so simple, pale and rough in the cold white light of that morning, which I feel is rising for me. Three major sorrows of his life in particular occupied his attention. His love for a woman, the death of his father and the French invasion that captured half of Russia. “Love!.. This girl, who seemed to me full of mysterious powers. How I loved her! I made poetic plans about love, about happiness with it. Oh dear boy! – he said out loud angrily. - Of course! I believed in some kind of ideal love, which was supposed to remain faithful to me during the whole year of my absence! Like the tender dove of a fable, she was to wither away from me. And all this is much simpler... All this is terribly simple, disgusting!
My father also built in Bald Mountains and thought that this was his place, his land, his air, his men; but Napoleon came and, not knowing about his existence, pushed him off the road like a piece of wood, and his Bald Mountains and his whole life fell apart. And Princess Marya says that this is a test sent from above. What is the purpose of the test when it no longer exists and will not exist? will never happen again! He's gone! So who is this test for? Fatherland, death of Moscow! And tomorrow he will kill me - and not even a Frenchman, but one of his own, just as yesterday a soldier emptied a gun near my ear, and the French will come, take me by the legs and head and throw me into a hole so that I don’t stink under their noses, and new conditions will arise. lives that will also be familiar to others, and I will not know about them, and I will not exist.”
He looked at the strip of birch trees with their motionless yellow, green and white bark, glistening in the sun. “To die, so that they would kill me tomorrow, so that I wouldn’t exist... so that all this would happen, but I wouldn’t exist.” He vividly imagined the absence of himself in this life. And these birches with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke from the fires - everything around was transformed for him and seemed something terrible and threatening. A chill ran down his spine. Quickly getting up, he left the barn and began to walk.
Voices were heard behind the barn.
- Who's there? – Prince Andrei called out.
The red-nosed captain Timokhin, the former company commander of Dolokhov, now, due to the decline of officers, a battalion commander, timidly entered the barn. He was followed by the adjutant and the regimental treasurer.
Prince Andrei hastily stood up, listened to what the officers had to convey to him, gave them some more orders and was about to let them go, when a familiar, whispering voice was heard from behind the barn.
- Que diable! [Damn it!] - said the voice of a man who bumped into something.
Prince Andrei, looking out of the barn, saw Pierre approaching him, who tripped on a lying pole and almost fell. It was generally unpleasant for Prince Andrei to see people from his world, especially Pierre, who reminded him of all those difficult moments that he experienced on his last visit to Moscow.
- That's how! - he said. - What destinies? I didn't wait.
While he was saying this, in his eyes and the expression of his entire face there was more than dryness - there was hostility, which Pierre immediately noticed. He approached the barn in the most animated state of mind, but when he saw the expression on Prince Andrei’s face, he felt constrained and awkward.
“I arrived... so... you know... I arrived... I’m interested,” said Pierre, who had already senselessly repeated this word “interesting” so many times that day. “I wanted to see the battle.”
- Yes, yes, what do the Masonic brothers say about the war? How to prevent it? - said Prince Andrei mockingly. - Well, what about Moscow? What are mine? Have you finally arrived in Moscow? – he asked seriously.
- We've arrived. Julie Drubetskaya told me. I went to see them and didn’t find them. They left for the Moscow region.

The officers wanted to take their leave, but Prince Andrei, as if not wanting to remain face to face with his friend, invited them to sit and drink tea. Benches and tea were served. The officers, not without surprise, looked at the thick, huge figure of Pierre and listened to his stories about Moscow and the disposition of our troops, which he managed to travel around. Prince Andrei was silent, and his face was so unpleasant that Pierre addressed himself more to the good-natured battalion commander Timokhin than to Bolkonsky.
- So, did you understand the entire disposition of the troops? - Prince Andrei interrupted him.
- Yes, that is, how? - said Pierre. “As a non-military person, I can’t say that I completely, but I still understood the general arrangement.”
“Eh bien, vous etes plus avance que qui cela soit, [Well, you know more than anyone else.],” said Prince Andrei.
- A! - Pierre said in bewilderment, looking through his glasses at Prince Andrei. - Well, what do you say about the appointment of Kutuzov? - he said.
“I was very happy about this appointment, that’s all I know,” said Prince Andrei.
- Well, tell me, what is your opinion about Barclay de Tolly? In Moscow, God knows what they said about him. How do you judge him?
“Ask them,” said Prince Andrei, pointing to the officers.
Pierre looked at him with a condescendingly questioning smile, with which everyone involuntarily turned to Timokhin.
“They saw the light, your Excellency, as your Serene Highness did,” Timokhin said, timidly and constantly looking back at his regimental commander.
- Why is this so? asked Pierre.
- Yes, at least about firewood or feed, I’ll report to you. After all, we were retreating from the Sventsyans, don’t you dare touch a twig, or some hay, or anything. After all, we are leaving, he gets it, isn’t it, your Excellency? - he turned to his prince, - don’t you dare. In our regiment, two officers were put on trial for such matters. Well, as His Serene Highness did, it just became so about this. We saw the light...
- So why did he forbid it?
Timokhin looked around in confusion, not understanding how or what to answer such a question. Pierre turned to Prince Andrei with the same question.
“And so as not to ruin the region that we left to the enemy,” said Prince Andrei with malicious mockery. – This is very thorough; The region must not be allowed to be plundered and the troops must not be accustomed to looting. Well, in Smolensk, he also correctly judged that the French could get around us and that they had more forces. But he couldn’t understand,” Prince Andrei suddenly shouted in a thin voice, as if escaping, “but he couldn’t understand that we fought there for the first time for Russian land, that there was such a spirit in the troops that I had never seen, that We fought off the French for two days in a row and that this success increased our strength tenfold. He ordered a retreat, and all efforts and losses were in vain. He didn’t think about betrayal, he tried to do everything as best as possible, he thought it over; but that’s why it’s no good. He is no good now precisely because he thinks everything over very thoroughly and carefully, as every German should. How can I tell you... Well, your father has a German footman, and he is an excellent footman and will satisfy all his needs better than you, and let him serve; but if your father is sick at the point of death, you will drive away the footman and with your unusual, clumsy hands you will begin to follow your father and calm him down better than a skilled but stranger. That's what they did with Barclay. While Russia was healthy, a stranger could serve her, and she had an excellent minister, but as soon as she was in danger; I need my own, dear person. And in your club they made up the idea that he was a traitor! The only thing they will do by slandering him as a traitor is that later, ashamed of their false accusation, they will suddenly make a hero or a genius out of the traitors, which will be even more unfair. He is an honest and very neat German...
“However, they say he is a skilled commander,” said Pierre.
“I don’t understand what a skilled commander means,” said Prince Andrey with mockery.
“A skillful commander,” said Pierre, “well, the one who foresaw all the contingencies... well, guessed the thoughts of the enemy.”
“Yes, this is impossible,” said Prince Andrei, as if about a long-decided matter.
Pierre looked at him in surprise.
“However,” he said, “they say that war is like a chess game.”
“Yes,” said Prince Andrei, “only with this small difference that in chess you can think about every step as much as you like, that you are there outside the conditions of time, and with this difference that a knight is always stronger than a pawn and two pawns are always stronger.” one, and in war one battalion is sometimes stronger than a division, and sometimes weaker than a company. The relative strength of the troops cannot be known to anyone. Believe me,” he said, “if anything depended on the orders of the headquarters, I would have been there and made the orders, but instead I have the honor of serving here, in the regiment with these gentlemen, and I think that we really tomorrow will depend, not on them... Success has never depended and will not depend on position, weapons, or even numbers; and least of all from the position.
- And from what?
“From the feeling that is in me, in him,” he pointed to Timokhin, “in every soldier.”
Prince Andrei looked at Timokhin, who looked at his commander in fear and bewilderment. In contrast to his previous restrained silence, Prince Andrei now seemed agitated. He apparently could not resist expressing those thoughts that unexpectedly came to him.
– The battle will be won by the one who is determined to win it. Why did we lose the battle at Austerlitz? Our loss was almost equal to the French, but we told ourselves very early that we had lost the battle - and we lost. And we said this because we had no need to fight there: we wanted to leave the battlefield as quickly as possible. “If you lose, then run away!” - we ran. If we hadn’t said this until the evening, God knows what would have happened. And tomorrow we won’t say this. You say: our position, the left flank is weak, the right flank is stretched,” he continued, “all this is nonsense, there is none of this.” What do we have in store for tomorrow? A hundred million of the most varied contingencies that will be decided instantly by the fact that they or ours ran or will run, that they will kill this one, they will kill the other; and what is being done now is all fun. The fact is that those with whom you traveled in position not only do not contribute to the general course of affairs, but interfere with it. They are busy only with their own small interests.
- At such a moment? - Pierre said reproachfully.
“At such a moment,” repeated Prince Andrei, “for them it is only such a moment in which they can dig under the enemy and get an extra cross or ribbon.” For me, for tomorrow this is this: a hundred thousand Russian and a hundred thousand French troops came together to fight, and the fact is that these two hundred thousand are fighting, and whoever fights angrier and feels less sorry for himself will win. And if you want, I’ll tell you that, no matter what it is, no matter what is confused up there, we will win the battle tomorrow. Tomorrow, no matter what, we will win the battle!
“Here, your Excellency, the truth, the true truth,” said Timokhin. - Why feel sorry for yourself now! The soldiers in my battalion, would you believe it, didn’t drink vodka: it’s not such a day, they say. - Everyone was silent.
The officers stood up. Prince Andrei went out with them outside the barn, giving the last orders to the adjutant. When the officers left, Pierre approached Prince Andrei and was just about to start a conversation when the hooves of three horses clattered along the road not far from the barn, and, looking in this direction, Prince Andrei recognized Wolzogen and Clausewitz, accompanied by a Cossack. They drove close, continuing to talk, and Pierre and Andrey involuntarily heard the following phrases:
– Der Krieg muss im Raum verlegt werden. Der Ansicht kann ich nicht genug Preis geben, [War must be transferred to space. I cannot praise this view enough (German)] - said one.
“O ja,” said another voice, “da der Zweck ist nur den Feind zu schwachen, so kann man gewiss nicht den Verlust der Privatpersonen in Achtung nehmen.” [Oh yes, since the goal is to weaken the enemy, the losses of private individuals cannot be taken into account]
“O ja, [Oh yes (German)],” confirmed the first voice.
“Yes, im Raum verlegen, [transfer into space (German)],” Prince Andrei repeated, snorting angrily through his nose, when they passed. – Im Raum then [In space (German)] I still have a father, a son, and a sister in Bald Mountains. He doesn't care. This is what I told you - these German gentlemen will not win the battle tomorrow, but will only spoil how much their strength will be, because in his German head there are only reasonings that are not worth a damn, and in his heart there is nothing that is only and what is needed for tomorrow is what is in Timokhin. They gave all of Europe to him and came to teach us - glorious teachers! – his voice squealed again.
– So you think that tomorrow’s battle will be won? - said Pierre.
“Yes, yes,” said Prince Andrei absently. “One thing I would do if I had power,” he began again, “I would not take prisoners.” What are prisoners? This is chivalry. The French have ruined my house and are going to ruin Moscow, and they have insulted and insulted me every second. They are my enemies, they are all criminals, according to my standards. And Timokhin and the entire army think the same. We must execute them. If they are my enemies, then they cannot be friends, no matter how they talk in Tilsit.
“Yes, yes,” said Pierre, looking at Prince Andrei with sparkling eyes, “I completely, completely agree with you!”
The question that had been troubling Pierre since Mozhaisk Mountain all that day now seemed to him completely clear and completely resolved. He now understood the whole meaning and significance of this war and the upcoming battle. Everything he saw that day, all the significant, stern expressions on faces that he glimpsed, were illuminated for him with a new light. He understood that hidden (latente), as they say in physics, warmth of patriotism, which was in all those people whom he saw, and which explained to him why all these people were calmly and seemingly frivolously preparing for death.
“Take no prisoners,” continued Prince Andrei. “This alone would change the whole war and make it less cruel.” Otherwise we were playing at war - that’s what’s bad, we’re being generous and the like. This is generosity and sensitivity - like the generosity and sensitivity of a lady who becomes sick when she sees a calf being killed; she is so kind that she cannot see the blood, but she eats this calf with gravy with appetite. They talk to us about the rights of war, about chivalry, about parliamentarianism, to spare the unfortunate, and so on. It's all nonsense. I saw chivalry and parliamentarianism in 1805: we were deceived, we were deceived. They rob other people's houses, pass around counterfeit banknotes, and worst of all, they kill my children, my father, and talk about the rules of war and generosity towards enemies. Don't take prisoners, but kill and go to your death! Who got to this point the way I did, through the same suffering...
Prince Andrei, who thought that he didn’t care whether they took Moscow or not the way they took Smolensk, suddenly stopped in his speech from an unexpected spasm that grabbed him by the throat. He walked several times in silence, but his eyes shone feverishly, and his lip trembled when he began to speak again:
“If there were no generosity in war, then we would go only when it’s worth going to certain death, as now.” Then there would be no war because Pavel Ivanovich offended Mikhail Ivanovich. And if there is a war like now, then there is a war. And then the intensity of the troops would not be the same as it is now. Then all these Westphalians and Hessians, led by Napoleon, would not have followed him to Russia, and we would not have gone to fight in Austria and Prussia, without knowing why. War is not a courtesy, but the most disgusting thing in life, and we must understand this and not play at war. We must take this terrible necessity strictly and seriously. That's all there is to it: throw away the lies, and war is war, not a toy. Otherwise, war is the favorite pastime of idle and frivolous people... The military class is the most honorable. What is war, what is needed for success in military affairs, what are the morals of military society? The purpose of war is murder, the weapons of war are espionage, treason and its encouragement, the ruin of the inhabitants, their robbery or theft to feed the army; deception and lies, called stratagems; the morals of the military class - lack of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, drunkenness. And despite this, this is the highest class, respected by everyone. All kings, except the Chinese, wear a military uniform, and the one who killed the most people is given a large reward... They will come together, like tomorrow, to kill each other, kill, maim tens of thousands of people, and then they will serve thanksgiving services for having beaten there are many people (whose number is still being added), and they proclaim victory, believing that the more people are beaten, the greater the merit. How God looks and listens to them from there! – Prince Andrei shouted in a thin, squeaky voice. - Oh, my soul, lately it has become difficult for me to live. I see that I have begun to understand too much. But it is not good for a person to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... Well, not for long! - he added. “However, you are sleeping, and I don’t care, go to Gorki,” Prince Andrei suddenly said.

Age of the pyramid

The architect of the Great Pyramid is considered to be Hemiun, the vizier and nephew of Cheops. He also bore the title "Manager of all Pharaoh's construction projects." It is assumed that the construction, which lasted twenty years (during the reign of Cheops), ended around 2540 BC. e. .

Existing methods for dating the start of construction of the pyramid are divided into historical, astronomical and radiocarbon. In Egypt, the date for the start of construction of the Cheops Pyramid was officially established (2009) and celebrated - August 23, 2560 BC. e. This date was obtained using the astronomical method of Kate Spence (University of Cambridge). However, this method and the dates obtained with it have been criticized by many Egyptologists. Dates according to other dating methods: 2720 BC. e. (Stephen Hack, University of Nebraska), 2577 BC. e. (Juan Antonio Belmonte, University of Astrophysics in Canaris) and 2708 BC. e. (Pollux, Bauman University). Radiocarbon dating gives a range from 2680 BC. e. to 2850 BC e. Therefore, there is no serious confirmation of the established “birthday” of the pyramid, since Egyptologists cannot agree on exactly what year construction began.

First mention of the pyramid

The complete absence of mention of the pyramid in Egyptian papyri remains a mystery. The first descriptions are found in the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC) and in ancient Arab legends [ ] . Herodotus reported (at least 2 millennia after the appearance of the Great Pyramid) that it was built under a despot pharaoh named Cheops (Greek: Cheops). Koufou), who ruled for 50 years, that 100 thousand people were employed in construction. for twenty years, and that the pyramid is in honor of Cheops, but not his grave. The real grave is a burial near the pyramid. Herodotus gave erroneous information about the size of the pyramid, and also mentioned about the middle pyramid of the Giza plateau, that it was built by the daughter of Cheops, who sold herself, and that everyone building stone corresponded to the man to whom she gave herself. According to Herodotus, if “to lift the stone, a long winding path to the grave was revealed,” without specifying what kind of pyramid we are talking about; however, the pyramids of the Giza plateau did not have “winding” paths to the tomb at the time Herodotus visited them; on the contrary, the Descending Passage of BP Cheops is distinguished by careful straightforwardness. At that time, no other premises were known in the BP.

Appearance

Surviving fragments of the pyramid's cladding and the remains of the pavement surrounding the building

The pyramid is called "Akhet-Khufu" - "Horizon of Khufu" (or more accurately "Related to the firmament - (it is) Khufu"). Consists of limestone and granite blocks. It was built on a natural limestone hill. After the pyramid has lost several layers of cladding, this hill is partially visible on the eastern, northern and southern sides of the pyramid. Despite the fact that the Cheops pyramid is the tallest and most voluminous of all the Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh Sneferu built the pyramids in Meidum and Dahshur (Broken Pyramid and Pink Pyramid), the total mass of which is estimated at 8.4 million tons.

Statistical data

Pyramid of Cheops in the 19th century

Map of the necropolis near the Cheops pyramid

Height (today): ≈ 136.5 m
Side angle (current): 51° 50"
Side rib length (original): 230.33 m (calculated) or about 440 royal cubits
Side fin length (current): approx. 225 m
The length of the sides of the base of the pyramid: south - 230.454 m; north - 230.253 m; west - 230.357 m; east - 230.394 m
Foundation area (initially): ≈ 53,000 m2 (5.3 ha)
Lateral surface area of the pyramid (initially): ≈ 85,500 m2
Base perimeter: 922 meters
Total volume of the pyramid without deducting the cavities inside the pyramid (initially): ≈ 2.58 million m 3
Total volume of the pyramid minus all known cavities (initially): 2.50 million m 3
Average volume of stone blocks: 1,147 m3
Average weight of stone blocks: 2.5 tons
The heaviest stone block: about 35 tons - is located above the entrance to the “King’s Chamber”.
The number of blocks of average volume does not exceed 1.65 million (2.50 million m³ - 0.6 million m³ of rock base inside the pyramid = 1.9 million m 3 /1.147 m 3 = 1.65 million blocks of the specified volume can physically fit in the pyramid , without taking into account the volume of mortar in interblock joints); referring to a 20-year construction period * 300 working days per year * 10 working hours per day * 60 minutes per hour leads to a speed of laying (and delivery to the construction site) of about a block of two minutes.
According to estimates, the total weight of the pyramid is about 4 million tons (1.65 million blocks x 2.5 tons)
The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rocky elevation about 12-14 m high in the center and, according to the latest data, occupies at least 23% of the original volume of the pyramid
The number of layers (tiers) of stone blocks is 210 (at the time of construction). Now there are 203 layers.

Concavity of the sides

Concavity of the sides of the Cheops pyramid

When the sun moves around the pyramid, you can notice an unevenness - a concavity in the central part of the walls. This may be due to erosion or damage from falling stone cladding. It is also possible that this was specially done during construction. As Vito Maragioglio and Celeste Rinaldi note, the pyramid of Mycerinus no longer has such concave sides. I.E.S. Edwards explains this feature by saying that the central part of each side was simply pressed inward over time by the large mass of stone blocks. [ ]

As in the 18th century, when this phenomenon was discovered, today there is still no satisfactory explanation for this architectural feature.

Observation of the concavity of the sides in late XIX V., Description of Egypt

Tilt angle

It is not possible to accurately determine the original parameters of the pyramid, since its edges and surfaces are currently mostly dismantled and destroyed. This makes it difficult to calculate the exact angle of inclination. In addition, its symmetry itself is not ideal, so deviations in the numbers are observed with different measurements.

Geometric study of ventilation tunnels

A study of the geometry of the Great Pyramid does not provide a clear answer to the question of the original proportions of this structure. It is assumed that the Egyptians had an idea of the “Golden ratio" and the number pi, which were reflected in the proportions of the pyramid: for example, the ratio of height to base is 14/22 (height = 280 cubits, and base = 440 cubits, 280/440 = 14/ 22). For the first time in world history, these quantities were used in the construction of the pyramid at Meidum. However, for pyramids of later eras, these proportions were not used anywhere else, as, for example, some have height-to-base ratios, such as 6/5 (Pink Pyramid), 4/3 (Pyramid of Khafre) or 7/5 (Broken Pyramid).

Internal structure

Cross section of the Cheops pyramid:

The entrance to the pyramid is at an altitude of 15.63 meters on the north side. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch, but this is the structure that was inside the pyramid - the true entrance has not been preserved. The true entrance to the pyramid was most likely closed with a stone plug. A description of such a plug can be found in Strabo, and its appearance can also be imagined based on the preserved slab that covered the upper entrance to the Bent Pyramid of Snefru, the father of Cheops. Today, tourists enter the pyramid through a 17-meter gap, which was made 10 meters lower by the Baghdad caliph Abdullah al-Mamun in 820. He hoped to find the pharaoh's countless treasures there, but found there only a layer of dust half a cubit thick.

Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, located one above the other.