The
Great Pyramid of
Khufu (
Greek:
Cheops ) has alwasy fascinated people because it is the only ancient wonder of the world that is still exists today .
The fascination of the
Great Pyramid started during the time of the
Pharaoh s as in the story of
Khufu and the magician .
Alexander the Great admired the
Pyramid and wanted to build one for his father .
The great historians who visited
Egypt tried to explain how the
pyramid was built.
Herodotus , the father of history said 100,000 workmen built the
Great Pyramid under which there is an island where
Khufu is buried.
Dr.Hawass decided to visit the shaft that is supposed to lead to the island and he actually discovered a large granite sarcophagus on an island surroned by four pillars.
The
Pyramid is complex especially the interior. there is an entrance created by
al-Mamuan son of
Haroun el-Rhasied , but the true entrance is above that one . Scientific work on the
Pyramid began in 1993 when the
Pyramid was closed and they began to clean the air shafts in the third chamber ( King''s chamber ). A bobot called
Webwawat was designed to investigate the air shafts in the King''s and the Queen''s chambers . It stopped at 208 feet. The shafts were found by
Dixon in 1872 , but he reached only 67 feet .
Egyptologists have muliple explanations for these shafts .
Dr. Hawass thinks that the open south shaft from the third burial chamber meant to help
Khufu''s soul to travel as the sun god
Ra . From there , he would take the two boats buried to the south of his
Pyramid to use as solar boats . The open north shaft was made for
Khufu''s soul as
Horus to travel to the stars to emerge from them as the sun god. the shafts from the Queen''s chamber seem to have no function as they were blocked . The third chamber was lined in granite and its ceiling consists of eight large blocks weighing over 400 tons. Five relieving chambers were built above the third chamber to distribute the weight of the
Pyramid .