The Great Sphinx of Giza is a giant 4,500-year-old limestone statue situated

near the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. Measuring 240 feet (73 meters) long
and 66 feet (20 meters) high, the Great Sphinx is one of the world’s largest
monuments. It is also one of the most recognizable relics of the ancient
Egyptians, though the origins and history of the colossal structure are still
debated.

What Is a Sphinx?

A sphinx (or sphynx) is a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a
human, with some variations. It is a prominent mythological figure in
Egyptian, Asian, and Greek mythology.

In ancient Egypt , the sphinx was a spiritual guardian and most often depicted
as a male with a pharaoh headdress—as is the Great Sphinx—and figures of
the creatures were often included in tomb and temple complexes. For
instance, the so-called Sphinx Alley in Upper Egypt is a two-mile avenue that
connects the temples of Luxor and Karnak and is lined with sphinx statues.

Sphinxes with the likeness of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut  also exist, such
as the granite sphinx statue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art  in New
York  and the large alabaster sphinx at the Ramessid temple in Memphis,
Egypt.

From Egypt, the sphinx imported to both Asia and Greece around 15th to 16th
century B.C. Compared with the Egyptian model, the Asian sphinx had eagle
wings, was frequently female, and often sat on its haunches with one paw
raised in depictions.

In Greek traditions, the sphinx also had wings, as well as the tail of a serpent
—in legends, it devours all travelers unable to answer its riddle.

How Old Is the Sphinx?

The most common and widely accepted theory about the Great Sphinx
suggests the statue was erected for the Pharaoh Khafre (about 2603-2578
B.C.).

Hieroglyphic texts suggest Khafre’s father, Pharaoh Khufu, built the Great
Pyramid, the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in Giza. When he
became Pharaoh, Khafre constructed his own pyramid next to his father’s;
though Khafre’s pyramid is 10 feet shorter than the Great Pyramid, it is
surrounded by a more elaborate complex that includes the Great Sphinx and
other statues.

Residues of red pigments on the face of the Sphinx suggest the statue may
have been painted.

Given the organization of the pyramids and the Sphinx, some scholars believe
there may have been a celestial purpose to the Great Sphinx and temple
complex, that is, to resurrect the soul of the pharaoh (Khafre) by channeling
the power of the sun and other gods.

Khafre

Several lines of evidence exist that tie the Great Sphinx to Pharaoh Khafre
and his temple complex.

For one thing, the head and face of the Sphinx are strikingly similar to a life-
size statue of Khafre that French archaeologist Auguste Mariette found in the
Valley Temple—the ruins of a building situated adjacent to the Great Sphinx
—in the mid-1800s.

Additionally, Mariette discovered remnants of a causeway (processional road)

that connect the Valley Temple to a mortuary temple next to Khafre’s
pyramid. In the early 1900s, French archaeologist Emile Baraize  dug up
another building (the Sphinx Temple) directly in front of the Sphinx that’s
similar in design to the Valley Temple.

In the 1980s, researchers uncovered evidence that the limestone blocks used
in the walls of the Sphinx Temple came from the ditch surrounding the great
statue, suggesting workmen hauled away quarry blocks for the Sphinx Temple
as they were being chipped off the Great Sphinx during its construction.

Researchers estimate that it would have taken 100 people 3 years to carve the
Great Sphinx out of a single mass of limestone. But there’s some evidence
that these workers may have suddenly quit before fully finishing the sphinx
and temple complex, such as partially quarried bedrock and remnants of a
workman’s lunch and tool kit.

Other Theories

Over the years, researchers have put forth many other theories for the Great
Sphinx’s origins, though most are refuted by mainstream Egyptologists.

Some theories suggest the face of the sphinx actually resembles Khufu and,
therefore, Khufu built the structure. Alternatively, Pharaoh  Djedefre—
Khafre’s older half-brother and Khufu’s other son—built the Great Sphinx in
commemoration of his father.

Other theories hold that the statue depicts Amenemhat II (around 1929 to
1895 B.C.) based on the style of the stripes on the sphinx’s head cloth.

Some scientists also contend that the Great Sphinx is far older than is widely
believed, based on the potential age of the causeway or various patterns of
erosion of the statue.

Riddle of the Sphinx

What Egyptians called the Great Sphinx during its prime remains a riddle,
because the word sphinx originates from Greek mythology some 2,000 years
after the statue was built.

It’s also unclear in what regard Egyptians held the Great Sphinx during the
Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 B.C.), as there are few texts that discuss the
statue. However, Khafre associated himself with the god Horus and the Great
Sphinx may have been known as Harmakhet (“Horus on the Horizon”), as it
was during the New Kingdom (1570-1069 B.C.).
Whatever the case, the statue began to fade into the desert background at the
end of the Old Kingdom, at which point it was ignored for centuries.

Inscriptions on a pink granite slab between the Great Sphinx’s paws tell the
story of how the statue was saved from the sands of time. Prince Thutmose,
son of Amenhotep II, fell asleep near the Sphinx, the story goes. In
Thutmose’s dream, the statue, calling itself Harmakhet, complained about its
state of disarray and made a deal with the young prince: It would help him
become pharaoh if he cleared away the sand from the statue and restored it.

Whether or not the dream actually occurred is unknown, but when the prince
did, in fact, become Pharaoh Thutmose IV, he introduced a Sphinx-
worshipping cult to his people. Statues, paintings, and reliefs of the figure
popped up across the country and the sphinx became a symbol of royalty and
the power of the sun.

Great Sphinx Restoration

The Great Sphinx was eventually forgotten again. Its body suffered from
erosion and its face became damaged by time as well.

Though some stories claim Napoleon ‘s troops shot off the statue’s nose with
a cannon when they arrived in Egypt in 1798, 18th-century drawings suggest
the nose went missing long before then. More likely, the nose was purposely
destroyed by a Sufi Muslim in the 15th century to protest idolatry. Part of the
Sphinx’s royal cobra emblem from its headdress and sacred beard have also
broken off, the latter of which is now displayed in the  British Museum .

The Sphinx was actually buried in sand up to its shoulders until the early
1800s, when a Genoese adventurer named Capt. Giovanni Battista Caviglia
attempted (and ultimately failed) to dig out the statue with a team of 160
men.

Mariette managed to clear some of the sand from around the sculpture and
Baraize made another large excavation push in the 19th and 20th centuries.
But it wasn’t until the late 1930s that Egyptian archaeologist Selim Hassan
was able to finally free the creature from its sandy tomb.
Today, the Sphinx is continuing to deteriorate thanks to wind, humidity, and
pollution. Restoration efforts have been ongoing since the mid-1900s, some
of which failed and ultimately caused more damage to the Sphinx.

In 2007, authorities learned that the local water table under the statue was
rising due to sewage being dumped in a nearby canal. The moisture ultimately
spread through the porous limestone of the structure, causing the rock to
crumble and break away in large flakes in some cases. Authorities installed
pumps close to the Great Sphinx, diverting the groundwater and saving the
relic from further destruction.

Size and appearance

The second great pyramid of Giza was built by Khufu’s second son Khafre. At the very top, a
section of outer casing stones like those that would have originally covered all three of the Great
Pyramids still survives. Although this monument appears larger than that of his father, it is
actually slightly smaller but was constructed 10 meters (33 feet) higher on the plateau.  

Interior

The interior is much simpler than that of Khufu’s pyramid, with a single burial chamber, one
small subsidiary chamber, and two passageways. The mortuary temple at the pyramid base was
more complex than that of Khufu and was filled with statuary of the king—over 52 life-size or
larger images originally filled the structure.  

Khafre, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Khafre, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Valley Temple
Khafre’s valley temple, located at the east end of the causeway leading from the pyramid base, is
beautifully preserved. It was constructed of megalithic blocks sheathed with granite and floors of
polished white calcite. During excavation, a magnificent just over life size statue of the king
carved of an extremely hard stone known as gneiss was discovered buried under the floor of the
Valley Temple. This sculpture shows the king seated on a lion throne that has on its sides a
symbol of the two heraldic plants of Upper and Lower Egypt, the papyrus and lotus, bound
around a hieroglyph for “stability.” This important emblem, known as a sema-tawy (“binding the
Two Lands”), represents the king’s primary duty—to “bind” the country under the authority of a
single ruler. The king is supported in his task by the Horus falcon that wraps protectively around
the back of his nemes headdress. Statue bases and other fragments indicate that this was one of
about 23 such images of the pharaoh that were originally located in this temple. 

Pillars in Valley Temple of Khafre (photo: Dr. Amy Calvert)

Pillars in Valley Temple of Khafre (photo: Dr. Amy Calvert)
The Great Sphinx

Right next to the causeway leading from Khafre’s valley temple to the mortuary temple sits the
first truly colossal sculpture in Egyptian history: the Great Sphinx. This close physical
association (along with other evidence) indicates that this massive depiction of a recumbent lion
with the head of a king was carved for Khafre.

The Great Sphinx (photo: superblinkymac, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Great Sphinx (photo: superblinkymac, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Sphinx is carved from the bedrock of the Giza plateau, and it appears that the core blocks
used to construct the king’s valley temple were quarried from the layers of stone that run along
the upper sides of this massive image.

Khafre
The lion was a royal symbol as well as being connected with the sun as a symbol of the horizon;
the fusion of this powerful animal with the head of the pharaoh was an icon that survived and
was often used throughout Egyptian history. The king’s head is on a smaller scale than the body.
This appears to have been due to a defect in the stone; a weakness recognized by the sculptors
who compensated by elongating the body.  

Directly in front of the Sphinx is a separate temple dedicated to the worship of its cult, but very
little is known about it since there are no Old Kingdom texts that refer to the Sphinx or its
temple. The temple is similar to Khafre’s mortuary temple and has granite pillars forming a
colonnade around a central courtyard.  However, it is unique in that it has two sanctuaries—one
on the east and one on the west—likely connected to the rising and setting sun.

onstructed in the 26th and 25th centuries B.C. (roughly 2600 B.C.–2400 B.C.), the Egyptian
pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, built in that order, are a testament to ancient planning
and engineering.

The precise years that they were built is somewhat unclear, as those dates depend on when
exactly the pharaohs who built them reigned, which is a subject of debate among scholars. For
instance, the Metropolitan Museum of Art(opens in new tab) dates the reign of Khufu as being
ca. 2551–2528 B.C., Khafre as being ca. 2520–2494 B.C. and Menkaure's as being ca. 2490–
2472 B.C. However, different sources and scholars have different estimates for when each
pharaoh reigned.
How these pyramids were built is also a source of speculation and debate. Many researchers
believe that a ramp system of some form was used to move the blocks into place during
construction. When the pyramids were completed, they were encased entirely or partly in white
limestone, most of which is lost today.

Research suggests that when the blocks were being moved across the desert, a small amount of
water was put on the sand in front of them, making them easier to move. In 2018, researchers
found a 4,500-year-old contraption in a quarry in the eastern desert that may have been used to
help move blocks up a ramp. The contraption has a central ramp flanked by staircases that have
numerous post holes on them. A similar contraption could have been used at Giza, researchers
said.
Additionally, archaeologists have found evidence that Giza had a bustling port, allowing goods
to be shipped to the site from across ancient Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. Goods brought
in included limestone from Tura (a town in Egypt) and cedar wood from Lebanon, researchers
have found.
Despite the differences among the three pyramids (Khufu's pyramid, the "Great Pyramid," is
several times the mass of Menkaure's) the southeast tips of each pyramid align together almost
precisely. Each pyramid had a mortuary and valley temple, with a causeway connecting them.
They also had smaller pyramids referred to as satellites or queens' pyramids.

The Sphinx, an enigmatic monument usually associated with king Khafre, stands watch near his
valley temple. To the south of the Sphinx is the "Wall of the Crow," which is 656 feet (200
meters) long and 32 feet (10 m) thick. 

South of the wall is a settlement that archaeologists sometimes refer to as "the lost city." This
city has barracks that may have housed troops, Live Science previously reported. Archaeologists
have discovered a mansion in the city that would have been used by senior officials. The
pyramid workers may have lived in simpler housing located by the pyramids
themselves. Research has also revealed evidence for a massive catering operation that kept
people at Giza fed. 
Vast cemeteries have also been found beside the Giza pyramids that were in use for thousands of
years – long after construction of the pyramids came to an end. Some of the tombs were used for
royal family members and senior officials. 
In 2018, archaeologists reported finding the 4,300-year-old tomb of a female official. The tomb
had wall paintings depicting hunting and fishing scenes, musical and dancing performances, and
a pair of monkeys, one of which is dancing in front of an orchestra.
KHUFU'S PYRAMID
When it was completed by Khufu, the Great Pyramid rose 481 feet (146 m). Today, with the loss
of some of the stone, the pyramid is slightly shorter, measuring 455 feet (138 m). It was the
tallest building in the world until 1311, when the Lincoln Cathedral's central tower was
completed in England. 

The Great Pyramid is slightly lopsided with the western side being slightly longer than the
eastern side. In 2016 it was calculations by engineer Glen Dash and Egyptologist Mark Lehner
revealed that the eastern side was originally between 755.561 and 755.817 feet (230.295 to
230.373 meters) while the western side was between 755.833 and 756.024 feet (230.378 to
230.436 m). 
To the southeast of the Great Pyramid are three smaller pyramids. Two of them are dedicated to
Queen Henutsen and Queen Meritites, who were Khufu's wives, while another small pyramid
was dedicated to Queen Hetepheres, who was Khufu's mom, wrote Peter Lacovara, director of
the An cient Egyptian Archaeology and Heritage Fund, in his book "The Pyramids, The Sphinx:
Tombs and Temples of Giza(opens in new tab)" (Bunker Hill Publishing, 2004). 
Seven boat pits have been found at Khufu's pyramid, two on the south side, two on the east side,
two in between the queens' pyramids and one located beside the mortuary temple and causeway.
The best-preserved boat, carefully reassembled from more than 1,200 pieces, is 142 feet (43 m)
long, with wooden planks and oars. The purpose of these boats is a mystery. 

Khufu's pyramid held three chambers. A grand gallery leads up to the king's chamber, a red
granite room that contains a now-empty royal sarcophagus. The king's chamber was protected by
a primitive machine that dropped giant blocks in front of the chamber to protect it from grave
robbers. Ultimately, at some point in antiquity, people managed to get into the chamber and rob
it.  
In the center of the pyramid is the so-called queen's chamber, although it probably never held a
queen. Beneath the pyramid is a subterranean chamber, its purpose, like the queen's chamber, a
mystery.

Both the king's chamber and the queen's chamber each contain two "air shafts" (although they
may not have been used as such). The shafts from the king's chamber now lead outside, while the
two from the queen's chamber stop after a distance. Robot exploration of the shafts reveal that
they lead to doors with copper handles and hieroglyphs.

The largest of the three main pyramids of Giza is Khufu's Pyramid. (Image credit: Bruce
Yuanyue Bi via Getty Images.)
In 2013 archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the former Egyptian minister of state for antiquities, told
Live Science that he believes these shafts lead to Khufu's real burial chamber. "There is no
pyramid of the 123 pyramids in Egypt that have these type of doors with copper handles,"
Hawass said. "Really, I believe they're hiding something."
In 2017, scientists scanned the pyramid using muons — high-energy particles that constantly rain
down on Earth. Muons act differently when interacting with different materials (such as stone
versus air). With this analysis, the researchers  found evidence of a void above the grand gallery
that is roughly 98 feet (30 meters) long and 20 feet (6 m) in height. It may contain one or more
chambers. They found a second much smaller void beyond the north face of the Great Pyramid. 
They detected the voids by analyzing muons A new mission using more powerful muon
detectors has been approved, and it may reveal more about what the void contains. 
The construction of Khufu's pyramid complex was a massive undertaking. Archaeologist Mark
Lehner, who excavates at Giza, estimates that — assuming Khufu reigned for about 30 years —
an estimated 251 cubic yards (230 cubic meters) of stone per day had to be put down. That's "a
rate of one average-size block every two or three minutes in a ten-hour day," he writes in his
book "The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries(opens in new tab)" (Thames &
Hudson, 2008), adding that estimates for the average size of these pyramid stones are as high as
2.5 tons.
Scholars are learning more about the workers who built the pyramid. Contrary to popular belief,
scholars are confident that the workers who built the pyramids were not slaves. In 2013, an
important find was made when the remains of a logbook documenting a group (sometimes
translated as a "gang") of workers, led by a man referred to as Merer, was uncovered from the
Red Sea site of Wadi al-Jarf. 
The logbook mentions that the workers helped transport limestone from Tura to the Great
Pyramid. The limestone would have been used in the outer casing of the pyramid. The logbook
mentions that this "gang" worked all over Egypt throughout much of the year. Scientists continue
to analyze and decipher the logbook, and future work may reveal more about this group of
workers who helped to build the Great Pyramid.
 KHAFRE'S PYRAMID
Khufu's successor, Djedefre, built his pyramid off-site at Abu Roash. The person who succeeded
Djedefre, Khafre, returned to Giza and built a pyramid that, today, stands about 446 feet (136
meters) in height, making it somewhat smaller than Khufu's. It was, however, built on a slightly
higher elevation making it look taller than that. 

Khafre's pyramid would have looked different than that of Khufu's as its outer casing was
different. Whereas the casing on Khufu's pyramid was made of limestone the casing on the lower
levels of Khafre's pyramid was made of red granite while the upper part was made of limestone,
wrote Miroslav Verner, the former director of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, in his book
"The Pyramids: The Archaeology and History of Egypt's Iconic Monuments, new and updated
edition(opens in new tab)" (AUC Press, 2021). Most of this red granite casing no longer exists.

Tourists view the Enthroned Khafre (Chephren) funerary statue of the Fourth dynasty (2613-
2494 BC) Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and builder of the second of the Giza Pyramids, on display
at the Old Kingdom gallery in the Egyptian Museum in the centre of Egypt's capital Cairo on
October 27, 2021. (Image credit: AMIR MAKAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Only one satellite pyramid sits outside Khafre's pyramid. Inside, the pyramid's architecture is
simpler than Khufu's. It has two entranceways, both on the north side, one located 38 feet (12 m)
above the base of the pyramid and another at ground level. "The relatively simple plan of the
whole substructure, allow us to conclude that the builders of Khafre's pyramid may have tried to
avoid the complications that were encountered in constructing the technically difficult, time
consuming, and costly system of passageways, barriers and chambers in Khufu's Pyramid,"
Verner wrote in his book.

Both entrances lead to passageways that ultimately lead to the burial chamber. That chamber
contains a red granite sarcophagus that is empty, with no traces of the mummy or burial
equipment found, wrote Verner. They may have been robbed in antiquity. 

His valley temple contains a "slightly larger-than-life" statue of Khafre shown sitting on his
throne, wrote Jeffrey Newman, a doctoral candidate in Egyptology at UCLA, in an article
published on the American Research Center in Egypt's website(opens in new tab). Made of a
type of volcanic rock called anorthosite gneiss, the statue "is one of the most important and
iconic surviving sculptures from ancient Egypt," Newman wrote, noting that the sides of the
throne contain hieroglyphs that "represent the king's duty to literally ‘bind' the constituent parts
of Egypt together under one authority." The statue is now in the Grand Egyptian Museum.
MENKAURE'S PYRAMID
With a height of 215 feet (65 m) and a base of 335 by 343 feet (102 by 105 m), Menkaure's is by
far the smallest of the three pyramids. Lehner notes that its building mass is about one-tenth that
of Khufu's pyramid. Its complex includes three satellite pyramids on its south side.

The entranceway for Menkaure's pyramid is located just above ground level, its passages leading
to an antechamber and burial chamber. An ornate sarcophagus was found in the 19th century by
Howard Vyse, but it was lost when the ship that was taking it to England, the Beatrice, sank.
It's a mystery as to why Menkaure's pyramid is so much smaller than the other two. It could
simply be that there wasn't room at Giza for another large pyramid or perhaps events during
Menkaure's reign prevented him from building another large structure. No future pharaoh would
ever build a pyramid as large as those built by Khufu and Khafre.

THE SPHINX

The Sphinx laying down in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. (Image credit: Kitti
Boonnitrod via Getty Images)
All three of Giza's pyramids had mortuary temples connecting to valley temples through a
causeway. However, in the case of Khafre's pyramid, his valley temple also has an enigmatic
monument nearby known as the Sphinx, with an uncompleted temple dedicated to it.

The Sphinx is a 241-foot (74 m) long monument carved out of the limestone bedrock of the Giza
Plateau. It has the face of a man and the body of a lion. The mythical creature is seen in art
throughout the ancient Middle East, as well as in India and Greece. During the spring equinox
the sun sets on the shoulder of the sphinx.
The word "sphinx," in Greek can mean "strangler" or "constricted," writes Carolina Lopez Ruiz,
a classics professor at The Ohio State University, in an essay published in the book "Text and
Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama: Essays in Honor of Margalit Finkelberg(opens in new tab)"
(Routledge, 2020). The face of the giant statue at Giza may have been based on that of Khafre.
Efforts to conserve and restore the Sphinx go back at least 3,400 years.
WHAT PURPOSE DID THE PYRAMIDS HAVE?
The simplest explanation for the use of the pyramids is that they were places of burial for their
respective kings; the discovery of a sarcophagus in all three pyramids backs up this idea. The
pyramid complexes, and the grave goods once located inside them, helped the king ascend to the
afterlife.

"The pyramid was supposed to be the death residence of the pharaoh – unshakeable,
indestructible, eternal," Verner wrote in his book. He noted that the temple buildings nearby
"were dedicated to the worship of the deceased, which was also supposed to go on forever…"

Interestingly, the spiritual importance of Giza appears to cross the ages. In late 2010,
archaeologists announced the discovery of the remains of about 400 malnourished people, buried
with few grave goods, located near the Wall of the Crow. They date to between 2,700 and 2,000
years ago, two millennia after the pyramids had been built, their burial location suggesting they
had a desire to be near Giza.

onstructed in the 26th and 25th centuries B.C. (roughly 2600 B.C.–2400 B.C.), the Egyptian
pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, built in that order, are a testament to ancient planning
and engineering.

The precise years that they were built is somewhat unclear, as those dates depend on when
exactly the pharaohs who built them reigned, which is a subject of debate among scholars. For
instance, the Metropolitan Museum of Art(opens in new tab) dates the reign of Khufu as being
ca. 2551–2528 B.C., Khafre as being ca. 2520–2494 B.C. and Menkaure's as being ca. 2490–
2472 B.C. However, different sources and scholars have different estimates for when each
pharaoh reigned.
How these pyramids were built is also a source of speculation and debate. Many researchers
believe that a ramp system of some form was used to move the blocks into place during
construction. When the pyramids were completed, they were encased entirely or partly in white
limestone, most of which is lost today.

Research suggests that when the blocks were being moved across the desert, a small amount of
water was put on the sand in front of them, making them easier to move. In 2018, researchers
found a 4,500-year-old contraption in a quarry in the eastern desert that may have been used to
help move blocks up a ramp. The contraption has a central ramp flanked by staircases that have
numerous post holes on them. A similar contraption could have been used at Giza, researchers
said.
Additionally, archaeologists have found evidence that Giza had a bustling port, allowing goods
to be shipped to the site from across ancient Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. Goods brought
in included limestone from Tura (a town in Egypt) and cedar wood from Lebanon, researchers
have found.
Despite the differences among the three pyramids (Khufu's pyramid, the "Great Pyramid," is
several times the mass of Menkaure's) the southeast tips of each pyramid align together almost
precisely. Each pyramid had a mortuary and valley temple, with a causeway connecting them.
They also had smaller pyramids referred to as satellites or queens' pyramids.

The Sphinx, an enigmatic monument usually associated with king Khafre, stands watch near his
valley temple. To the south of the Sphinx is the "Wall of the Crow," which is 656 feet (200
meters) long and 32 feet (10 m) thick. 

South of the wall is a settlement that archaeologists sometimes refer to as "the lost city." This
city has barracks that may have housed troops, Live Science previously reported. Archaeologists
have discovered a mansion in the city that would have been used by senior officials. The
pyramid workers may have lived in simpler housing located by the pyramids
themselves. Research has also revealed evidence for a massive catering operation that kept
people at Giza fed. 
Vast cemeteries have also been found beside the Giza pyramids that were in use for thousands of
years – long after construction of the pyramids came to an end. Some of the tombs were used for
royal family members and senior officials. 
In 2018, archaeologists reported finding the 4,300-year-old tomb of a female official. The tomb
had wall paintings depicting hunting and fishing scenes, musical and dancing performances, and
a pair of monkeys, one of which is dancing in front of an orchestra.
KHUFU'S PYRAMID
When it was completed by Khufu, the Great Pyramid rose 481 feet (146 m). Today, with the loss
of some of the stone, the pyramid is slightly shorter, measuring 455 feet (138 m). It was the
tallest building in the world until 1311, when the Lincoln Cathedral's central tower was
completed in England. 
The Great Pyramid is slightly lopsided with the western side being slightly longer than the
eastern side. In 2016 it was calculations by engineer Glen Dash and Egyptologist Mark Lehner
revealed that the eastern side was originally between 755.561 and 755.817 feet (230.295 to
230.373 meters) while the western side was between 755.833 and 756.024 feet (230.378 to
230.436 m). 
To the southeast of the Great Pyramid are three smaller pyramids. Two of them are dedicated to
Queen Henutsen and Queen Meritites, who were Khufu's wives, while another small pyramid
was dedicated to Queen Hetepheres, who was Khufu's mom, wrote Peter Lacovara, director of
the Ancient Egyptian Archaeology and Heritage Fund, in his book "The Pyramids, The Sphinx:
Tombs and Temples of Giza(opens in new tab)" (Bunker Hill Publishing, 2004). 
Seven boat pits have been found at Khufu's pyramid, two on the south side, two on the east side,
two in between the queens' pyramids and one located beside the mortuary temple and causeway.
The best-preserved boat, carefully reassembled from more than 1,200 pieces, is 142 feet (43 m)
long, with wooden planks and oars. The purpose of these boats is a mystery. 

Khufu's pyramid held three chambers. A grand gallery leads up to the king's chamber, a red
granite room that contains a now-empty royal sarcophagus. The king's chamber was protected by
a primitive machine that dropped giant blocks in front of the chamber to protect it from grave
robbers. Ultimately, at some point in antiquity, people managed to get into the chamber and rob
it.  
In the center of the pyramid is the so-called queen's chamber, although it probably never held a
queen. Beneath the pyramid is a subterranean chamber, its purpose, like the queen's chamber, a
mystery.

Both the king's chamber and the queen's chamber each contain two "air shafts" (although they
may not have been used as such). The shafts from the king's chamber now lead outside, while the
two from the queen's chamber stop after a distance. Robot exploration of the shafts reveal that
they lead to doors with copper handles and hieroglyphs.

The largest of the three main pyramids of Giza is Khufu's Pyramid. (Image credit: Bruce
Yuanyue Bi via Getty Images.)
In 2013 archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the former Egyptian minister of state for antiquities, told
Live Science that he believes these shafts lead to Khufu's real burial chamber. "There is no
pyramid of the 123 pyramids in Egypt that have these type of doors with copper handles,"
Hawass said. "Really, I believe they're hiding something."
In 2017, scientists scanned the pyramid using muons — high-energy particles that constantly rain
down on Earth. Muons act differently when interacting with different materials (such as stone
versus air). With this analysis, the researchers  found evidence of a void above the grand gallery
that is roughly 98 feet (30 meters) long and 20 feet (6 m) in height. It may contain one or more
chambers. They found a second much smaller void beyond the north face of the Great Pyramid. 
They detected the voids by analyzing muons A new mission using more powerful muon
detectors has been approved, and it may reveal more about what the void contains. 
The construction of Khufu's pyramid complex was a massive undertaking. Archaeologist Mark
Lehner, who excavates at Giza, estimates that — assuming Khufu reigned for about 30 years —
an estimated 251 cubic yards (230 cubic meters) of stone per day had to be put down. That's "a
rate of one average-size block every two or three minutes in a ten-hour day," he writes in his
book "The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries(opens in new tab)" (Thames &
Hudson, 2008), adding that estimates for the average size of these pyramid stones are as high as
2.5 tons.
Scholars are learning more about the workers who built the pyramid. Contrary to popular belief,
scholars are confident that the workers who built the pyramids were not slaves. In 2013, an
important find was made when the remains of a logbook documenting a group (sometimes
translated as a "gang") of workers, led by a man referred to as Merer, was uncovered from the
Red Sea site of Wadi al-Jarf. 
The logbook mentions that the workers helped transport limestone from Tura to the Great
Pyramid. The limestone would have been used in the outer casing of the pyramid. The logbook
mentions that this "gang" worked all over Egypt throughout much of the year. Scientists continue
to analyze and decipher the logbook, and future work may reveal more about this group of
workers who helped to build the Great Pyramid.

KHAFRE'S PYRAMID
Khufu's successor, Djedefre, built his pyramid off-site at Abu Roash. The person who succeeded
Djedefre, Khafre, returned to Giza and built a pyramid that, today, stands about 446 feet (136
meters) in height, making it somewhat smaller than Khufu's. It was, however, built on a slightly
higher elevation making it look taller than that. 

Khafre's pyramid would have looked different than that of Khufu's as its outer casing was
different. Whereas the casing on Khufu's pyramid was made of limestone the casing on the lower
levels of Khafre's pyramid was made of red granite while the upper part was made of limestone,
wrote Miroslav Verner, the former director of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, in his book
"The Pyramids: The Archaeology and History of Egypt's Iconic Monuments, new and updated
edition(opens in new tab)" (AUC Press, 2021). Most of this red granite casing no longer exists.

Tourists view the Enthroned Khafre (Chephren) funerary statue of the Fourth dynasty (2613-
2494 BC) Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and builder of the second of the Giza Pyramids, on display
at the Old Kingdom gallery in the Egyptian Museum in the centre of Egypt's capital Cairo on
October 27, 2021. (Image credit: AMIR MAKAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Only one satellite pyramid sits outside Khafre's pyramid. Inside, the pyramid's architecture is
simpler than Khufu's. It has two entranceways, both on the north side, one located 38 feet (12 m)
above the base of the pyramid and another at ground level. "The relatively simple plan of the
whole substructure, allow us to conclude that the builders of Khafre's pyramid may have tried to
avoid the complications that were encountered in constructing the technically difficult, time
consuming, and costly system of passageways, barriers and chambers in Khufu's Pyramid,"
Verner wrote in his book.

Both entrances lead to passageways that ultimately lead to the burial chamber. That chamber
contains a red granite sarcophagus that is empty, with no traces of the mummy or burial
equipment found, wrote Verner. They may have been robbed in antiquity. 
His valley temple contains a "slightly larger-than-life" statue of Khafre shown sitting on his
throne, wrote Jeffrey Newman, a doctoral candidate in Egyptology at UCLA, in an article
published on the American Research Center in Egypt's website(opens in new tab). Made of a
type of volcanic rock called anorthosite gneiss, the statue "is one of the most important and
iconic surviving sculptures from ancient Egypt," Newman wrote, noting that the sides of the
throne contain hieroglyphs that "represent the king's duty to literally ‘bind' the constituent parts
of Egypt together under one authority." The statue is now in the Grand Egyptian Museum.
MENKAURE'S PYRAMID
With a height of 215 feet (65 m) and a base of 335 by 343 feet (102 by 105 m), Menkaure's is by
far the smallest of the three pyramids. Lehner notes that its building mass is about one-tenth that
of Khufu's pyramid. Its complex includes three satellite pyramids on its south side.

The entranceway for Menkaure's pyramid is located just above ground level, its passages leading
to an antechamber and burial chamber. An ornate sarcophagus was found in the 19th century by
Howard Vyse, but it was lost when the ship that was taking it to England, the Beatrice, sank.

It's a mystery as to why Menkaure's pyramid is so much smaller than the other two. It could
simply be that there wasn't room at Giza for another large pyramid or perhaps events during
Menkaure's reign prevented him from building another large structure. No future pharaoh would
ever build a pyramid as large as those built by Khufu and Khafre.

THE SPHINX

The Sphinx laying down in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. (Image credit: Kitti
Boonnitrod via Getty Images)
All three of Giza's pyramids had mortuary temples connecting to valley temples through a
causeway. However, in the case of Khafre's pyramid, his valley temple also has an enigmatic
monument nearby known as the Sphinx, with an uncompleted temple dedicated to it.

The Sphinx is a 241-foot (74 m) long monument carved out of the limestone bedrock of the Giza
Plateau. It has the face of a man and the body of a lion. The mythical creature is seen in art
throughout the ancient Middle East, as well as in India and Greece. During the spring equinox
the sun sets on the shoulder of the sphinx.
The word "sphinx," in Greek can mean "strangler" or "constricted," writes Carolina Lopez Ruiz,
a classics professor at The Ohio State University, in an essay published in the book "Text and
Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama: Essays in Honor of Margalit Finkelberg(opens in new tab)"
(Routledge, 2020). The face of the giant statue at Giza may have been based on that of Khafre.
Efforts to conserve and restore the Sphinx go back at least 3,400 years.
WHAT PURPOSE DID THE PYRAMIDS HAVE?
The simplest explanation for the use of the pyramids is that they were places of burial for their
respective kings; the discovery of a sarcophagus in all three pyramids backs up this idea. The
pyramid complexes, and the grave goods once located inside them, helped the king ascend to the
afterlife.
"The pyramid was supposed to be the death residence of the pharaoh – unshakeable,
indestructible, eternal," Verner wrote in his book. He noted that the temple buildings nearby
"were dedicated to the worship of the deceased, which was also supposed to go on forever…"

Interestingly, the spiritual importance of Giza appears to cross the ages. In late 2010,
archaeologists announced the discovery of the remains of about 400 malnourished people, buried
with few grave goods, located near the Wall of the Crow. They date to between 2,700 and 2,000
years ago, two millennia after the pyramids had been built, their burial location suggesting they
had a desire to be near Giza.

Ankhsenamun (born c. 1350 BCE and known as Ankhesenpaaten in youth) was the

daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. She was married to
her father and may have borne him one daughter, Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit
('Ankhesenpaaten the Younger'), before she was 13 years old.

While still a young girl, and possibly already married to Akhenaten, she was betrothed
to her half-brother Tutankhaten who is better known as Tutankhamun. She survived
both her father and her husband and is the first Egyptian woman of royal blood known
to have tried to marry a foreign prince and make him pharaoh. Her attempt failed,
however, and what became of her afterwards is unknown, as is the year of her death.

Youth & Marriage

Akhenaten, possibly through religious conviction but probably for political reasons,
outlawed the traditional religion of Egypt and suppressed religious practices. The
popular worship of the god Amun was especially targeted for persecution because the
priests of the temple complexes of Amun had grown in wealth and power to rival that
of the royal house. Land was the source of wealth in ancient Egypt and, by the time of
Akhenaten's religious reforms, the priests owned more land than the pharaoh. In place
of the traditional polytheism the Egyptians had always known, Akhenaten instituted a
strict monotheism centered on the one supreme god Aten, represented by the sun disk.

Akhenaten moved the seat of power from the traditional palace at Thebes to a newly

constructed complex at a city he founded, Akhetaten (later known as Amarna), and it
would have been here that Ankhsenamun grew up as a child-bride of her father and
then the betrothed of her half-brother Tutankhaten. The Egyptologist Zahi Hawass
notes that,

the two children must have grown up together and perhaps playing together in the
palace gardens. The royal children would have had lessons from teachers and scribes,
who would have given them instruction in wisdom and knowledge about the new religion
of the Aten. (50)

At some point, exactly when is not clear, she would have given birth to her daughter
but it is possible that Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit was not her child but the daughter of
Akhenaten and his lesser wife Kiya (Tutankhamun's mother). Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit
is only known from damaged inscriptions which make determining her mother
problematic. How long the child lived or when she died is unknown.

Ankhsenamun & Tutankhamun

AS THEIR FIRST STEP IN RETURNING BALANCE
TO EGYPT, THE ROYAL COUPLE CHANGED
THEIR NAMES TO TUTANKHAMUN &
ANKHSENAMUN.
Akhenaten died in 1336 BCE and his son took the throne. Shortly after this, the boy-king
known as Tutankhaten repealed his father's religious proscriptions and re-instated the
traditional religious practices of Egypt. The temples were re-opened and the rites were
again performed in accordance with tradition.

The Egyptians considered balance and harmony the most important aspects of life and
honored those concepts through an eternal law known as ma'at (harmony). To the
Egyptians, Akhenaten's monotheism and persecution of ancient Egyptian religion had
upset ma'at and it was the duty of the new king to restore order and balance.
Tutankhaten and Ankhesenpaaten were married in a royal wedding and, as their first
step in returning balance to Egypt, changed their names to Tutankhamun and
Ankhsenamun; he was 8 or 9 years old at the time and she was 13 or 14.
Tutankhamun

wikipedia user: dalbera (CC BY)

Tutankhamun moved the Egyptian government back to the traditional seat at Thebes

and Memphis and set about trying to repair the damage his father's edicts had caused.
With his advisors Ay and Horemheb to guide him, Tutankhamun rebuilt temples and
refurbished the old palace. Hawass notes that,

At the major temples, Tutankhamun and his queen would have had a small ceremonial
palace, complete with a reception area, throne room, and private chambers, including
bathrooms for royal use. The `golden king' would have used his palace at Thebes for
important religious festivals, and various rest-houses scattered around the country for
hunting trips. (54)
It would seem, from paintings and inscriptions, that Ankhsenamun was his almost
constant companion on these trips. Hawass writes,

To judge from their portrayal in the art that fills the golden king's tomb, this was
certainly the case [that they loved one another]. We can feel the love between them as
we see the queen standing in front of her husband giving him flowers and
accompanying him while he was hunting. (51)

They seem to have been inseparable until Tutankhamun died suddenly in 1327 BCE
around the age of 18.