How was the Pyramid of Khufu built?
The architect "Ham Iunu" began preparing to build the pyramid and chose the site on the northern side of the plateau after he had completely surveyed the site, and then gave instructions to the workers to dig in the rock in the area designated for the base. At that time, the engineer had chosen the site of the quarries from which the stones would be taken and the ascending road was built on which the stones would be transported from the quarries to the site of the pyramid. This road was built from rubble in addition to the clay. They prepared workshops for the builders who would work in it to make the statues of the king as well as the tools that would be used in cutting the stones. A city was made for the permanent workers who would work in the various professions and another city for the workers who transported the stones. The workers began to implement the base of the pyramid and carved it in the rock until the base of the pyramid became 9 m from the rock itself. This is the secret of building the pyramid that many do not know.
What is the purpose of building the pyramid of Khufu?
The purposes of the pyramid were multiple. It was built primarily to be a safe haven for the king's corpses and belongings, then to be a witness to his wealth and the breadth of his power, a means of immortality for his memory and the spread of his fame, and evidence of his high status in this world and the hereafter, and an image of the sophistication of architecture and art in his era. That is, it was not just a tomb in a cemetery, nor was it just a mountain of stones that testified to the power of its owner, but rather it was and still is an artistic work inside and out. Its owner or his priests called it "Akhet Khufu" meaning the east of Khufu or the horizon of Khufu based on the same motive that prompted their likes to name his father's pyramid "Kha Sneferu" meaning the radiance of Sneferu. The pyramid has its northern entrance, which was covered by the stones of the outer casing after the burial ceremonies, and another artificial entrance located below it, as if it was carved during the reign of Caliph Al-Ma'mun to enter the pyramid and search for its treasures. The pyramid included three large rooms, a room below it that was carved into the interior of the rock and abandoned before the work was completed. In it, and another one in its interior, mistakenly called the Queen's Chamber, which was also abandoned after work on it was almost finished, and a third in its upper half to bury the king in her granite coffin. The multiplicity of these chambers was explained by an acceptable opinion, confirming that the pyramid was built in three stages, and the engineer moved from one stage to another as a result of his increasing experience and the increasing capabilities of his reign and as a result of the extension of his reign.
The phenomena of unique enormity with the superior skill that distinguished the Great Pyramid are clear in more than one meaning, related to the political, practical, economic, social and ideological conditions during the era of its construction. From a political perspective, it indicates a system of government that allowed the king, the owner of the pyramid, to have broad control over the country's material and human capabilities.
From an architectural perspective, it attests to the pyramid’s engineer or engineers’ extensive knowledge of the principles of engineering and the art of architecture, such that modern science can hardly find a clear error in what they have accomplished. From a practical perspective, it attests to the craftsmen’s genuine skill in carving, leveling and fixing the huge stones in a way that suits them in the body of the pyramid, and a similar genuine skill in implementing what the engineers planned with great success. From a human perspective, it attests to the thousands of ordinary workers who participated in building the pyramid with great endurance and great endurance in cutting its huge stones from their quarries, transporting them and then raising them to their places in its construction. From an administrative perspective, it attests to the administration men supervising the workers’ system in the pyramid with a great deal of sufficiency in drawing up plans to gather and supply thousands of workers, making good use of them and ensuring the continuation of their physical strength to continue working while organizing them and dividing them into teams, some of whose names are still recorded on scattered stones on the sides of the pyramid.
From its construction, and from the administrative point of view, it attests to the management men supervising the workers’ system in the pyramid with a great deal of sufficiency in drawing up plans to gather thousands of workers and supply them, and making good use of them and ensuring the continuity of their physical strength to continue working with organizing them and dividing them into teams, some of whose names are still recorded on scattered stones on the sides of the pyramid.
References
1. Ahmed Rashad Moussa, Studies in the Economic History of Egypt, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Supreme Council of Culture, Cairo, 1998
2. Ahmed Fakhry, The Egyptian Pyramids, Anglo Egyptian Library, Cairo, 1963
3. The Pyramids of Egypt, A. A. S. Edwards, Translated by Mustafa Othman, Reviewed by Ahmed Fakhry, Egyptian General Book Authority, Cairo, 1997
4. Dr. Ali Hassan, Khufu and His Great Pyramid, Dar Al Maaref, Cairo, 2008
5. Zahi Hawass, The Family of King Khufu: History and Secrets of the Fourth Dynasty, Old Kingdom, Dar Al Masryia Al Lubnaniyya, Cairo, 2009
6. Zahi Hawass, The Miracle of the Pyramid of King Khufu, Dar Nahdet Misr, Cairo, 2006
7. Abdel Aziz Saleh, The Ancient Near East in Egypt and Iraq, Anglo Egyptian Library, Cairo, 2012