Giza pyramid complex: Encyclopedia II - Giza pyramid complex - The site

Giza pyramid complex - 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-size Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinus), along with a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as "queens" pyramids, and the Great Sphinx. Associated with these royal monuments are the tombs of high officials and much later burials and monuments (from the New Kingdom onwards) associated with the reverence to those buried in the necropolis.

Of the three, only Khafre's pyramid retains part of its original polished limestone casing, towards its apex. It is interesting to note that 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.

Due largely to nineteenth-century images, the pyramids of Giza are generally thought of by foreigners as lying in a remote, desert location, although they are located in what is now part of the most populated city in Africa. [1] Consequently, urban development reaches right up to the perimeter of the antiquities site, to the extent that in the 1990s a Pizza Hut and KFC restaurant opened across the road. [2]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The site", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki