For several centuries, historians and archaeologists have been focusing on the mysteries of Ancient Egypt. When it comes to this ancient civilization, first of all, the grandiose pyramids come to mind, many of whose secrets have not yet been revealed. Among such mysteries, which are still far from being solved, is the construction of a great structure - the largest pyramid of Cheops that has survived to our time.
Known and mysterious civilization
Of all the oldest civilizations, the culture of Ancient Egypt is perhaps the most well studied. And the point here is not only in the many historical artifacts and architectural monuments that have survived to this day, but also in the abundance of written sources. Even historians and geographers of Antiquity paid attention to this country and, describing the culture and religion of the Egyptians, did not ignore the construction of the great pyramids in the AncientEgypt.
And when the Frenchman Champollion was able to decipher the hieroglyphic writing of this ancient people in the 19th century, scientists gained access to a huge array of information in the form of papyri, stone steles with hieroglyphs and numerous inscriptions on the walls of tombs and temples.
The history of ancient Egyptian civilization spans almost 40 centuries, and there are many interesting, bright and often mysterious pages in it. But the Old Kingdom, the great pharaohs, the construction of the pyramids and the mysteries associated with them attract the most attention.
When the pyramids were built
The era that Egyptologists call the Old Kingdom lasted from 3000 to 2100 BC. e., just at this time, the Egyptian rulers were fond of building pyramids. All tombs erected earlier or later are much smaller in size, and their quality is worse, which affected their safety. It seems that the heirs of the architects of the great pharaohs lost the knowledge of their ancestors at once. Or were they completely different people who replaced an incomprehensibly disappeared race?
Pyramids were built during the Middle Kingdom, and even later, in the Ptolemaic era. But not all pharaohs “ordered” similar tombs for themselves. So, at present, more than a hundred pyramids are known, built over 3 thousand years - from 2630, when the first pyramid was erected, until the 4th century AD. e.
Predecessors of the Great Pyramids
Before the great pyramids of Egypt were erected, the history of the construction of these grandiose buildings spanned more than one hundred years.
According to the generally accepted version, the pyramidsserved as tombs in which the pharaohs were buried. Long before the construction of these structures, the rulers of Egypt were buried in mastabas - relatively small buildings. But in the 26th century BC. e. the first real pyramids were built, the construction of which began with the era of Pharaoh Djoser. The tomb named after him is located 20 km from Cairo and is very different in appearance from those that are called great.
It has a stepped shape and gives the impression of several mastabas placed one on top of the other. True, its dimensions are rather big - more than 120 meters along the perimeter and 62 meters in height. This is a grandiose building for its time, but it cannot be compared with the pyramid of Cheops.
By the way, a lot is known about the construction of the tomb of Djoser, even written sources have survived that mention the name of the architect - Imhotep. One and a half thousand years later, he became the patron saint of scribes and doctors.
The first of the pyramids of the classical type is the tomb of Pharaoh Snofu, the construction of which was completed in 2589. The limestone blocks of this tomb have a reddish tint, which is why Egyptologists call it “red” or “pink.”
Great Pyramids
This is the name of the three cyclopean tetrahedra located in Giza, on the left bank of the Nile.
The oldest and largest of them is the pyramid of Khufu, or, as the ancient Greeks called it, Cheops. It is she who is most often called the Great, which is not surprising, because the length of each of its sides is230 meters and height - 146 meters. Now, however, it is slightly lower due to destruction and weathering.
The second largest is the tomb of Khafre, the son of Cheops. Its height is 136 meters, although visually it looks higher than the pyramid of Khufu, because it was built on a hill. Not far from it you can see the famous Sphinx, whose face, according to legend, is a sculptural portrait of Khafre.
The third one is the Pyramid of Pharaoh Menkaure, which is only 66 meters high and was built much later. Nevertheless, this pyramid looks very harmonious and is considered the most beautiful of the great ones.
Modern man is accustomed to grandiose structures, but his imagination is also shaken by the great pyramids of Egypt, the history and secrets of construction.
Secrets and mysteries
Monumental buildings in Giza in the era of Antiquity were included in the list of the main wonders of the world, of which the ancient Greeks numbered only seven. Today it is very difficult to comprehend the intention of the ancient rulers, who spent enormous amounts of money and human resources on the construction of such gigantic tombs. Thousands of people for 20-30 years were cut off from the economy and were engaged in the construction of a tomb for their ruler. Such irrational use of labor is questionable.
Since the great pyramids were erected, the secrets of construction have not ceased to attract the attention of scientists.
Maybe the construction of the great pyramid had a completely different goal? Three chambers were found in the pyramid of Cheops, which Egyptologists called burial chambers, but none of themno mummies of the dead and objects that necessarily accompanied a person to the kingdom of Osiris were found. There are no decorations or drawings on the walls of the burial chambers either, more precisely, there is only one small portrait in the corridor on the wall.
The sarcophagus found in the pyramid of Khafre is also empty, although many statues were found inside this tomb, but there are no things that, according to Egyptian customs, were placed in the tombs.
Egyptologists believe that the pyramids were looted. Perhaps, but it is not entirely clear why the robbers also needed the mummies of the buried pharaohs.
There are many mysteries associated with these cyclopean structures in Giza, but the very first question that arises for a person who saw them with his own eyes: how did the construction of the great pyramids of Ancient Egypt take place?
Amazing Facts
Cyclopean structures demonstrate the phenomenal knowledge of the ancient Egyptians in astronomy and geodesy. The faces of the Pyramid of Cheops, for example, are precisely oriented to the south, north, west and east, and the diagonal coincides with the direction of the meridian. Moreover, this accuracy is higher than that of the observatory in Paris.
And such an ideal figure from the point of view of geometry has a huge size, and even made up of separate blocks!
Therefore, the knowledge of the ancients in the field of building art is even more impressive. The pyramids are built from giant stone monoliths up to 15 tons in weight. The granite blocks lining the walls of the main burial chamber of Khufu's pyramid weighed 60 tons each. How did such colossus rise, if this chamberlocated at a height of 43 meters? And some stone blocks of Khafre's tomb generally reach 150 tons in weight.
The construction of the Great Pyramid of Cheops required the ancient architects to process, drag and raise to a very significant height more than 2 million of these blocks. Even modern technology does not make this task easy.
There is a completely natural surprise: why did the Egyptians need to drag such colossus to a height of several tens of meters? Wouldn't it have been easier to build a pyramid of smaller stones? After all, they were able to somehow “cut out” these blocks from a solid mass of rock, why didn’t they make it easier for themselves by sawing them into pieces?
Besides this, there is another mystery. The blocks were not just laid in rows, but so carefully processed and tightly fitted to each other that in some places the gap between the plates is less than 0.5 millimeters.
After the erection, the pyramid was still lined with stone slabs, which, however, had long been stolen by enterprising local residents for the construction of houses.
How did the ancient architects manage to solve this incredibly difficult task? There are many theories, but they all have their flaws and weaknesses.
Herodotus version
The famous historian of Antiquity Herodotus visited Egypt and saw the Egyptian pyramids. The construction described by the ancient Greek scientist looked like this.
Hundreds of people on drags dragged a stone block to the pyramid under construction, and then with the help of a wooden gate and systemlevers lifted it to the first platform, equipped on the lower level of the structure. Then the next lifting mechanism came into play. And so, moving from one platform to another, the blocks were raised to the desired height.
It's hard to even imagine how much effort the great Egyptian pyramids required. Construction (photo, according to Herodotus, see below) was indeed an extremely difficult task.
For a long time, most Egyptologists adhered to this version, although it raised doubts. It is difficult to imagine such wooden lifts that could withstand the weight of tens of tons. Yes, and dragging millions of multi-ton blocks on drags seems difficult.
Can Herodotus be trusted? Firstly, he did not witness the construction of the great pyramids, as he lived much later, although he may have seen how smaller tombs were erected.
Secondly, the famous scientist of Antiquity in his writings often sinned against the truth, trusting the stories of travelers or ancient manuscripts.
Ramp Theory
In the 20th century, the version proposed by the French researcher Jacques Philippe Louer became popular among Egyptologists. He suggested that the stone blocks were moved not on drags, but on skating rinks along a special ramp, which gradually became higher and, accordingly, longer.
Construction of the great pyramid (image photo below) thus required great ingenuity as well.
But this version also has its drawbacks. Firstly, it is impossible not to pay attention to the fact that the work of thousands of workers in dragging stone blocks was not at all facilitated by this method, because the blocks had to be dragged uphill, into which the embankment gradually turned. And it's extraordinarily hard.
Secondly, the slope of the ramp should be no more than 10˚, therefore, its length will be more than a kilometer. To build such an embankment requires work no less than the construction of the tomb itself.
Even if it was not one ramp, but several, built from one tier of the pyramid to another, it is still a colossal work with a dubious result. Especially when you consider that several hundred people are needed to move each block, and there is practically no place to place them on narrow platforms and embankments.
In 1978, ancient Egyptian history aficionados from Japan tried to build a pyramid only 11 meters high using drags and mounds. They could not complete the construction, inviting modern technology to help.
It seems that people with the technology that was in antiquity, this is beyond their powers. Or were they not people? Who built the great pyramids at Giza?
Aliens or Atlanteans?
The version that the great pyramids were built by representatives of another race, despite its fantasticness, has quite rational grounds.
Firstly, it is doubtful that the people who lived in the Bronze Age owned the tools and technologies that allowed them to process such an array of wildstone and put together a perfect, from the point of view of geometry, structure weighing more than one million tons.
Secondly, the statement that the great pyramids were built in the middle of the III millennium BC. er, debatable. It was expressed by the same Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the 5th century BC. BC. and described the Egyptian pyramids, the construction of which was completed almost 2 thousand years before his visit. In his writings, he simply recounted what the priests had told him.
There are suggestions that these cyclopean structures were built much earlier, perhaps 8-12 thousand years ago, or maybe all 80. These assumptions are based on the fact that, apparently, the pyramids, sphinx and temples around them survived flood era. This is evidenced by traces of erosion that were found on the lower part of the Sphinx statue and the lower tiers of the pyramids.
Thirdly, the great pyramids are clearly objects connected in one way or another with astronomy and space. Moreover, this purpose is more important than the function of the tombs. Suffice it to recall that there are no burials in them, although there is what Egyptologists call sarcophagi.
The theory of the alien origin of the pyramids in the 60s was popularized by the Swiss Erich von Daniken. However, all of his evidence is more a figment of the writer's imagination than the result of serious research.
Assuming that aliens organized the construction of the great pyramid, the photo should look something like the picture below.
No less fans of the version"Atlanteans". According to this theory, long before the rise of the ancient Egyptian civilization, the pyramids were built by representatives of some other race, who possessed either super-advanced technology or the ability to force the will to move colossal blocks of stone through the air. Just like Master Yoda from the famous Star Wars movie.
It is almost impossible to prove or disprove these theories by scientific methods. But perhaps there is a less fantastic answer to the question of who built the great pyramids? Why could not the ancient Egyptians, who had a variety of knowledge in other areas, do this? There is an interesting theory that lifts the veil of mystery surrounding the construction of the great pyramid.
Concrete version
If moving and processing multi-ton stone blocks is so laborious, could not the ancient builders have used an easier method of pouring concrete?
This point of view is actively defended and proved by several well-known scientists from different speci alties.
French chemist Iosif Davidovich, having made a chemical analysis of the material of the blocks from which the pyramid of Cheops was built, suggested that this was not a natural stone, but concrete of a complex composition. It is made on the basis of ground rock, and is the so-called geopolymer concrete. Davidovich's conclusions were also confirmed by a number of American researchers.
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. G. Fomenko, having examined the blocks from which the pyramid of Cheops was built, believes that the “concrete version” is the most plausible. The builders simply ground the stone available in abundance,binders were added, for example, lime, the foundation for concrete was raised in baskets to the construction site and already there it was loaded into formwork and diluted with water. When the mixture hardened, the formwork was dismantled and transferred to another place.
Decades later, the concrete was so compacted that it became indistinguishable from natural stone.
It turns out that the construction of the Great Pyramid did not use stone, but concrete blocks? It would seem that this version is quite logical and explains many of the mysteries of the construction of ancient pyramids, including the difficulties of transportation and the quality of block processing. But it has its weaknesses, and it raises as many questions as other theories.
Firstly, it is very difficult to imagine how the ancient builders could grind more than 6 million tons of rock without the use of technology. After all, this is the weight of the pyramid of Cheops.
Secondly, the possibility of using wooden formwork in Egypt, where wood has always been highly valued, is questionable. Even the boats of the pharaohs were made from papyrus.
Thirdly, the ancient architects, of course, could think of making concrete. But the question arises: where then did this knowledge go? Within a few centuries after the construction of the great pyramid, not a trace remained of them. There were still tombs of this kind erected, but they were all but a pitiful imitation of those that stand on the plateau at Giza. And until now, from the pyramids of a later period, most often shapeless piles of stones have remained.
Consequently, it is impossible to say with certainty how the great pyramids were built, the secrets of which have not yet been revealed.
Not only Ancient Egypt, but also other civilizations of the past keep many mysteries, which makes getting to know their history an incredibly exciting journey into the past.
