It’s over 4,500 years old. It took 35,000 men, 2.3 million limestone blocks and two decades to build. It reaches 138.8 metres into the Egyptian sky and has an estimated mass of about 5.9 million tonnes. It’s visible from space, and is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the World to still stand substantially intact. It’s not, in short, called the Great Pyramid of Giza for nothing.

What is it?

The Great Pyramid of Giza is an instantly recognisable sight; perhaps the most famous and iconic structure in all of ancient history. But what is it exactly?

The Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for kings and queens, and also as focal points of ongoing religious activity. The Great Pyramid is believed to have been erected as the final resting place of Fourth Dynasty Egyptian king Khufu, who reigned from approximately 2589 to 2566 BC. It’s his name that gives the Great Pyramid its other well-known titles – Khufu’s Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Cheops (Greek for Khufu).

It stands in the desert of Giza, just west of Cairo, next to the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure – thought to be the tombs of Khufu’s son and grandson respectively – and the Great Sphinx, in an area known as The Giza Necropolis. Various other smaller structures also surround the Great Pyramid too: two mortuary temples, three smaller pyramids for Khufu’s wives, an even smaller “satellite” pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples and some small mastaba tombs for nobles. There was once even a small town adjacent to the Great Pyramid for the workers of Giza, which included a cemetery, bakeries, a beer factory and a copper smelting complex.

Building the Great Pyramid

A man evidently not troubled by modesty, Khufu ordered construction of his gigantic, spectacular and staggeringly expensive (as much as £17 billion at today’s prices) tomb just a few years into his rule, in around 2580 BC. The architect is thought to have been Khufu’s vizier Hemon (or Hemiunu). It took as much as 20 years to build, and was finished in about 2560 BC, around six years after Khufu’s death.

What took so long? It’s hard to even know where to start. Those 2.3 million limestone blocks weren’t easy to come by for starters. They had to be hewn from various quarries up and down the Nile, cut into shape, loaded onto boats and transported to Giza, then finally dragged to the building site (some experts argue the stones could realistically have been cast nearer by, but this seems unlikely).

On a flat square bedrock base, the stones were placed horizontally with meticulous precision and patience, level by level. It seems certain that ramps were used to get them up there, yet a major bone of archaeological contention is what form these ramps took – it can’t be proven conclusively whether they sloped straight up to the sides of the pyramid or spiralled or zigzagged around it.

There has been some debate in the past too about what kind of labour force did all this back-breaking work, but a consensus seems to have been reached on that one. The idea that huge gangs of slave labourers were forced to build the Great Pyramid – as suggested by Greek writers, and lazily latched onto by Hollywood movie-makers – is a myth: much more likely skilled Egyptian labourers traveled from all over the kingdom to lend their hand to a project of immense prestige, in exchange for a wage or tax break. Aliens had nothing to do with it either, despite what all those wild-eyed ufologists might try and have you believe.

The Chambers

Once completed, the Great Pyramid stretched 230.5 meters wide at each side and stood 50 stories high. It was the tallest man made structure in the world for 3,800 years, until the 160 meter-tall spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed around 1300. But what was inside?

From the entrance way, a corridor leads 18 meters before splitting in two directions. The lower route leads to an unfinished subterranean chamber, which was possibly built as an insurance policy in case Khufu died early. The upper passage leads to the so-called Grand Gallery, before splitting two ways again – in one direction towards the Queens Chamber (a small chamber with an undefined purpose) and in the other towards the main Kings Chamber.

The largest of the rooms in the Great Pyramid, the Kings Chamber is the most likely intended location of Khufu’s interment. Yet while it does contain an empty granite sarcophagus, it is unclear if it has ever been used – certainly Khufu’s mummy has never been recovered. Could there be another, as yet undiscovered chamber, somewhere within the structure?

Exploring the Great Pyramid

Even in ancient times, thieves and souvenir hunters were a problem, so the pyramids were often built with security safeguards in place, such as passageways plugged with impassable granite blocks and secret, hidden rooms and decoy chambers. This has slowed exploration of these structures over the centuries.

It was a team investigating on behalf of the curious Arab Caliph Abdullah Al Manum that in 820 AD accidentally discovered the doorway to the pyramid, while attempting to burrow into the structure, in the process dislodging a block on the other side. After further exploration, they found most of the chambers known today, yet no body and no treasure.

Grave robbers may have got their first, but many modern archeologists still suspect there is another room somewhere within the Great Pyramid. Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, is one such expert – he bases his theory, as many do, principally on the existence of mysterious narrow shafts snaking away from the Queens Chamber towards an unknown location within the structure. Two investigations since the early 90s using miniature robots have found the shafts to be blocked with copper-handled wooden doors. It’s hoped that a new robot investigation – planned to start as early as the summer of 2009 – may be able to get past what is believed to be the final door and find out what lies behind.

The Jewel of the Nile

The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of Egypt’s top tourist hot spots, and attracts millions of visitors every year. Not bad considering it’s actually in a pretty scruffy state compared to its former glory.

Visibly all that remains today is the underlying step-pyramid core structure - originally the Great Pyramid was surfaced by white “casing stones”, slant-faced, flat-topped blocks of highly polished white limestone, which would have made the whole thing shine like a great jewel in the Egyptian sun. Sadly, in 1301 AD a massive earthquake loosened many of these stones; they were then carted away by Bahri Sultan An-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din al-Hasan in 1356 to build mosques and fortresses in Cairo (many of which can still be seen today). Additionally, the pyramid has shrunk by almost ten meters due to erosion and the loss of its pyramidion capstone.

While it may still look staggering, the Great Pyramid of Giza today actually offers only a tantalising hint as to the true scale and majesty of this wonder at its peak.

Great Pyramid of Giza picture top by Milos Novakovic; Great Pyramid of Giza Picture (bottom) by Mark Jackson. All rights reserved.

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About The Author

Malcolm Jack (follow me: e-mail or )

Last three pieces by this author:

10 Reasons Why Socrates is Still Relevant Today | Top 10 Ancient Greek Philosophers | Interview: Bettany Hughes on The Hemlock Cup and Bringing Ancient History Into the 21st Century

Malcolm Jack is a freelance arts and entertainment journalist based in Glasgow, Scotland. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2004 with an MA Honours Degree in History.