Friday, February 18, 2011

Facts About Pyramids of Egypt - strangefacts

  • The great pyramids of Egypt now stand a full 3 miles south of the spot where they were originally built
  • Egypt has more than 100 pyramids that are spread all over the country 
  • The three pyramids of Giza do in fact match the belt of Orion, but they did not when the pyramids were built. It seems that the Egyptians built the pyramids to resemble today's belt of Orion 
  • This pyramid figure is one of the seven wonders of the worlds 
  • All of the signifigant major pyramids were built over a time period of about 200 years. A new one was well underway before the previous one was completed. It amounted to keeping a more or less constant work force busy the year around for the 200 years
  • Three big one’s are called the great pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) , the pyramid of Khafre (Khafra) and the pyramid of Menkaure 
  • The Egyptian Pyramids were not made from cut stone. The blocks were poured in place using crushed, local limestone and a 'geopolymer' - a cement that is better than most known today. The largest was built in 20 years using an estimated 14,000 workers

  • Out of all the three pyramids at Giza, only the pyramid of Khafre retains some parts of the originally polished limestone casing near its pinnacle
  • The biggest Pyramid in the world is not in Egypt. It's actually about sixty miles southeast of Mexico City, Mexico. It covers more than forty acres and the largest Egyptian Pyramid, The Great Pyramid at Giza, covers about 13 acres
  • To the naked eyes and laymen, the pyramid of Khafre would always look tall, but the fact is that the pyramid of Khufu is the tallest of all
  • The Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt, constructed around 2500 B.C., was the tallest building in the world until the Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889
  • The pyramid of Menkaure further has 3 smaller pyramids that are subsidiary to this main pyramid and are called the queens’ pyramids
  • More than 14 million sandstone blocks make up the pyramids which were originally covered in limestone. Funilly enough this limestone wasn't stolen but used by the native egyptians as building material
  • Some believe that his pyramid at Giza was built by slaves but this is not true. One hundred thousand people worked on it for three months of each year. This was the time of the Nile's annual flood which made it impossible to farm the land and most of the population was unemployed. He provided good food and clothing for his workers and was kindly remembered in folk tales for many centuries