Giza
is a manufacturing and agricultural trade centre. Products include
textiles, cigarettes, and apparel. Giza is the seat of government
ministries, cultural and research institutes and Egypt’s film
industry. Educational facilities include Cairo University (1908). It has been a
heavily trafficked sightseeing area for centuries.
Close to the city are the great pyramids of
Khafre,
Khufu,
and Menkaure, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the Sphinx.
Standing at the base of the Great Pyramid, it is hard to imagine that this
monument - which remained the tallest building in the world until early in
this century - was built in just less than 30 years. It presides over the
plateau of Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, and is the last survivor of
the Seven Wonders of the World. Five thousand years ago Giza, situated on
the Nile's west bank, became the royal necropolis, or burial place, for
Memphis, the pharaoh's capital city. Giza's three pyramids and the Sphinx
were constructed in the fourth dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom, arguably
the first great civilization on earth.
The ancient ruins of the Memphis area, including the Pyramids of Giza, Saqqarah,
Dahshur, Abu Ruwaysh,
and Abu Sir, were collectively designated a World Heritage
site in 1979. The
designations of the pyramids - Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure - correspond to
the kings for whom they were built. The northernmost and oldest pyramid
of the group was built for Khufu.
Called the Great Pyramid,
it is the largest of the three, the length of each side at the base
averaging 7553/4 feet (230 metres) and its original height
being 4812/5 feet (147 metres). King
Khufu, who is also known by the Greek name "Cheops," was the
father of pyramid building at Giza. He ruled from 2551 - 2528 B.C. and
was the son of King Sneferu and Queen Hetpeheres. Khufu
is perhaps the most colossal single building ever erected on the planet.
Its sides rise at an angle of 51°52¢ and are accurately oriented to
the four cardinal points of the compass.
The Great Pyramid's core is made of yellowish limestone blocks, the outer
casing (4now almost completely gone) and the inner passages are of finer
light-coloured limestone, and the interior burial chamber is built of
huge blocks of granite. Approximately 2,3 million blocks of stone were
cut, transported,
and assembled to create the 5,750,000-ton structure, which is a
masterpiece of technical skill and engineering ability. The internal
walls as well as those few outer-casing stones that still remain in place
show finer joints than any other masonry constructed
in ancient Egypt. To the south of the Great Pyramid near Khafre's valley temple lays the Great Sphinx, which is approximately 240 feet (73 metres) long and 66 feet (20 metres) high. Sphinx is a mythical beast of ancient Egypt, frequently symbolizing the pharaoh as an incarnation of the sun god Ra. The sphinx was represented in sculpture usually in a recumbent position with the head of a man and the body of a lion, although some were constructed with rams’ heads and others with hawks’ heads. Thousands of sphinxes were built in ancient Egypt; the most famous is the Great Sphinx at Giza, a colossal figure sculptured out of natural rock, near the pyramid of Khafre. Sphinxes, however, were not peculiar to Egypt; represented in various shapes and forms, they were common throughout the ancient Middle East and Greece.
|
