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GIZA
    Khufu, Sneferu’s son and successor and the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2551-2528 B.C.), outdid his predecessor not in number of pyramids but in the size and elaboration of his single effort. Realizing that Dahshur was too small to hold the kind of grand pyramid complex he envisioned, Khufu chose the Giza plateau, which lay farther up the Nile, close to the point where the great river branches and braids into the delta that spills its great watery load into the Mediterranean. This area on the border between the dry Sahara and the verdant Nile Valley offered plenty of room and an abundant supply of high-quality limestone.
    As we shall see later, there may have been additional reasons for Khufu’s choice of Giza. For example, the presence of the Sphinx, the origins of which predate the Old Kingdom by at least 2,000 years, indicates that the area possessed ritual significance well before Khufu turned his attention to it. He may have been less going somewhere new than returning somewhere old.
    Whatever brought him to Giza, it was there that Khufu launched the largest single building project of ancient Egypt (although, in sum, Sneferu’s two or three pyramids were more ambitious) and one of the most monumental structures yet erected on this planet. The Great Pyramid—which the ancient Egyptians called Khufu’s Horizon—is the only survivor among the Seven Wonders of the ancient world (see the appendices). It certainly qualifies, if only on quantitative measure. Even without its original white-limestone casing, the Great Pyramid contains approximately 2.3 million blocks of limestone. At an average per-block weight of 2.5 tons, the whole structure tips the scales at some 5.75 million tons. Originally reaching 481 feet in height, the Great Pyramid is the tallest pyramid, not only in Egypt but also in the entire ancient world. Until the construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, it was the tallest building in the modern world, as well. With its sides measuring almost 756 feet apiece in length, it also has the largest ancient footprint of all, over 13 acres.

    Photograph of the Great Pyramid taken by Francis Bedford on March 5, 1862; to the left is the Second (Khafre) Pyramid. ( From Smyth, 1864, frontispiece. )
    Two other aspects of the Great Pyramid make it stand out from all the other pyramids, both of which we will examine in more detail later. One is the extraordinary precision of the building. For example, the sides are oriented almost perfectly to the north-south and east-west axes, and they vary in length by only a matter of inches. The second feature is the network of passages and chambers that lie within and under the great stone structure. No other pyramid boasts an interior architecture anywhere nearly as complex.
    After Khufu, pyramid building declined in scale and, apparently, social and religious importance. Only two more of the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty built pyramids at Giza: Khafre, the fourth king in the line, and Menkaure, the sixth. In addition to being smaller than Khufu’s, these two pyramids are less precise in their construction, less craftsmanlike, and simpler, with less complicated tunnels and internal chambers.
    Pyramid building continued in the Fifth (2465-2323 B.C.), Sixth (2323-2150 B.C.), and Seventh-Eighth dynasties (2150-2134 B.C.), but only one of the structures exceeded Menkaure’s in size—and Menkaure’s pyramid was but a fraction of the size of Khufu’s. Likewise, the workmanship comes nowhere near what was exhibited at Giza. The high point had passed, and as in the Roman Empire depicted by Edward Gibbon and embellished by Hollywood, it was all downhill from there.

THE KINGS WHO WOULD BE GODS
    There is more to the pyramids than the pyramids themselves. Surrounding the pyramids were complexes of temples, subsidiary tombs, causeways, walls, courtyards, and other structures. The pyramids and their ancillary structures were the centers of cult activities supported and