Pyramids More Than 4000 Years Old At Memphis, Saqqara And Giza
25 July 2008: Memphis, founded around 3,100 BC, is the legendary city of Menes, the King who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Early on, Memphis was more likely a fortress from which Menes controlled the land and water routes between Upper Egypt and the Delta. But there is little left of the City today, at least that can be seen. Originally, the city had many fine temples, palaces and gardens.
But today, other than the scattered ruins, most of the city is gone, or lies beneath cultivated fields, Nile silt and local villages.
On our way to Memphis, we saw donkeys pulling carts.
The small museum which houses the 10 m high Colossus Of Ramses II
Ramses II is often regarded as Egypt’s greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh. He died when he was about 90 years old. He had outlived many of his wives and children and left great memorials all over Egypt, especially to his beloved first queen Nefertari.
This oblong shape enclosing several Egyptian hieroglyphs on the wrist of the Ramses statue is known as a cartouche. A cartouche is an oblong inclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. Only pharaohs could have a cartouche.
Ramses’ name is enclosed in this cartouche
The open-air museum in Memphis
The Alabaster Sphinx
Here in Saqqara lies the world’s oldest standing step pyramid. It is more than 4600 YEARS OLD! It was designed by Imhotep for King Djoser (c.2667-2648 BC).
The funerary complex of Djoser
Man seeking baksheesh (tipping) outside the complex
This is graffiti left behind by someone from more than 3000 years ago!
These are ancient artifacts uncovered in the site of Saqqara and now housed in the Imhotep Museum.
Well-preserved statues of Ptahhotep found in his tomb
Remarkably preserved balls of cheese (?) found in the tombs!
Nuts found in the tombs too!
Stopping by a shop which sells papyrus paintings
Here comes the Great Pyramid of Giza (also called the Khufu’s Pyramid, Pyramid of Khufu, and Pyramid of Cheops). It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for Fourth dynasty Egyptian King Khufu (Cheops in Greek) and constructed over a 20 year period concluding around 2560 BC.
It is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis.
This is the Pyramid of Khafre. Note that the top of the pyramid is still covered by the original highly polished white limestone.
The Great Pyramid is no longer covered by the original white limestone, but some of this casing stone can still be seen around the base of the pyramid (you can see the white stone in this picture). In AD 1301, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which were then carted away by Bahri Sultan An-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din al-Hasan in 1356 in order to build mosques and fortresses in nearby Cairo.
The Great Pyramid consists of more than 2.3 million limestone blocks. The Egyptians shipped the limestone blocks from quarries all along the Nile River.
The Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years.
The Three Pyramids
The Great Sphinx
The Great Sphinx is the largest monolith statue in the world. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians between 4000-5000 years ago.
This Sphinx was partially buried beneath the desert for thousands of years, abandoned and forgotten.
The entire Sphinx was finally excavated in 1925.
The Giza pyramid complex is not in some remote part of the Egyptian desert as some might envision. There are run-down residential buildings around. There’s even a Pizza Hut and KFC. This is the view of the Great Pyramid from inside the Pizza Hut!
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