Khafre's Pyramid in Giza - Essay Example

Khafre ´s pyramid Khafre, the second son to King Khufu, built the second pyramid at Giza. Khafre built his pyramid at Giza, which is a short distance from his father’s monument in the south. Djedefre, the brother to Khafre, who had reigned for only eight years after succeeding his father on the throne, had also opted to build his pyramid on the northern region of Abu Roash. Khafre´s monument, however, seemed to be the most unique because of the impressive background of the Great Sphinx, which is situated close to the causeway. The Great Sphinx is also considered to be part of the pyramid structure. The pyramid had two passageways: a single subsidiary chamber and one burial chamber. The complex mortuary temple had many sculptures of the king that were about 52 in number (Lehner109). The mortuary was an improved enhancement of the previous pyramid built by his father, king Khufu. Khafre ´s pyramid had a steeper angle of slope and was built on a rising ground; thus, giving the perception that his pyramid was actually bigger than that of his father. The pyramid’s actual dimensions constituted a height of 143.5m and a base of 215m; this automatically proved that the monument was actually smaller than that of his father. Astonishingly the pyramid was preserved to full height by casing stones mounted at the apex. In 1816, Belzoni became the first person to step into the pyramid in modern history. He revealed that the underground chambers and upper entrances existed. While excavating the valley temple Auguste Mariette in 1860 found seven sculptures of Khafre (Varner 78). He also found a magnificent diorite statue of the king being guarded by a Horus falcon. The diorite statue is believed to be one of the greatest Egyptian sculptures and is currently in a museum in Cairo. The pyramid’s core was constructed on a leveled terrace that had irregular rough limestone blocks. The blocks were left behind when Tura limestone blocks were eroded in antiquity. Just below the casing that remained, there were traces of regular shaped stones; however, the lower side of the southern region of the outer skin of the pyramid was still made up of red granite. The northern section of the pyramid had two entrances that included the upper entrance and the lower entrance. The first entrance had a height of about 11.5 metres, which led to a corridor that straightened to join another passage that was from the lower entrance. Currently the lower entrance is still used to access the structure at the ground level. The passage leads to an unfinished chamber through a lower corridor that is divided into two sides (Mark 55). The lower gallery was established on the bases that the pyramid would be built further and the two entrances provide the evidence. The lower passageway ascends to meet the entrance hallway from above and continues straight to the burial chamber. The burial chamber was constructed on bedrock and vertically across the pyramid. Panted limestone blocks made up the roof’s chamber for the purpose of relieving the weight of the stone. The same architecture was also used in the pyramid constructed by Khufu. In the 12th century, Khafre’s red granite tomb was discovered in the burial chamber and was slightly sunk in the floor. The cover, however, was broken and a nearby pit was found around containing the canopic chest. A limestone pavement separated the east section of the pyramid from the enormous mortuary temple (Mark 66). Von Sieglin and Holscher excavated the temple in 1910 and discovered the presence of offering hall, storerooms, entrance hall, five statue, courtyard and chapels. Unfortunately, Egyptians of the ancient days quarried the structure to acquire the stone. The traces remaining, however, show the innovative and unique construction method. The method involved used huge core chunks of limestone covered with fine quality stone with red granite lined inside. The open courtyard was characterized by huge sculptures of the king. Later on, five ancient boat pits were discovered in the mortuary temple, which had been plundered. The ruined passageway led from the mortuary to the valley temple southwards a distance of about 495m. Khafre’s valley temple is to up- date the most well preserved valley temple remarkably. It was also constructed from enormous limestone monoliths and granite. In 1852, Mariette discovered the temple and mistook it to be the temple of the sphinx. Lintels and pillars were formed by massive blocks of Aswan granite thus making the structure to be spectacular. Out of the twenty-four diorite sculptures of the King, only one survived and was preserved in a Museum in Cairo for people to see (Wilkinson 99). The function of the valley temple is still not yet clear but the assumption is that it was used to preserve rites before the funeral ceremony of a king. To prove these in 1995 traces of purification tents were discovered near the temple together with underground tunnels and two ramps. The great causeway Archaeologists presume that the great causeway was most likely a corridor that was enclosed and built of pure limestone and having pink granite locks on the exterior region. The causeway stretches for about forty six meters interconnecting the great sphinx with the mortuary valley temple. Since the valley temple had been constructed inconsistently with the mortuary temple the great sphinx and the causeway then the possibility of running eastwards of the pyramid temple was impossible. The rock was also cut to provide a corridor that separated the great sphinx and the ruined causeway thus explaining further why the causeway did not extend eastwards (Varner 87). The most fascinating section about the causeway was that it was decorated using reliefs. The Great Sphinx The great sphinx was carved from bedrock situated at Giza plateau. The massive blocks used to construct the valley temple were extracted from stones that were from the upper regions. Extensive study by Thomas Aigner a geologist indicates that the layers of the sphinx were very closely related to the building and quarrying of the Khafres complex. Hemiunu is believed to be the architect behind the marvelous construction of the great pyramid. He was a relative of Khufu and the son of Nefermaat. Archaeologists recognized him as the Vizier and master of works. His tomb is located next to Khufus pyramid and is characterized by the reliefs of his image. Some of his stones are marked with dates indicating they existed during Khufus reign (Lehner 108). The magnificent levels of skills showcased in the construction of the pyramid were so high that people imagined the pyramids were divine creations created by god. A huge debate has recently heated up about the pyramids and which of the pyramids is still the most fascinating. The pharaohs in the fourth dynasty are assumed to be the outcome of an extremely dramatic and rapid rise to supremacy in Egypt. This was because of a unification that occurred over 60,000 years ago. The domination seemingly initiated the establishment of several sophisticated skills in the way. The construction of the heliopean pyramids happened during this period which was also characterized by the immigration of people from the east who were also known as the shepherd folks (Sylvan 55). The national geographic estimates that around 20,000 to 30,000 laborers were used to construct the pyramids but slaves were never used. The lion in the sphinx was a symbol that was highly regarded as royal by the Egyptians. The symbol acted as a symbol of horizon interconnected with the sun. The fusion of head of the pharaoh with the powerful animal was an iconic image that was largely respected and used widely in Egyptian history. In front of the sphinx was a temple specially constructed specifically for the worship of the cult. Astonishingly little is known about the temple since no text in the Old Kingdom refers to the temple of sphinx. The temple is almost similar to Khafre’s mortuary and the central backyard has granite pillars that form a colonnade (Wilkinson 98). Uniquely enough it had two sanctuaries one on the west and the other on the east presumably to interconnect with the setting and the rising the sun. Khafre’s pyramid is the second largest monument in Egypt, after his father’s pyramid. The most spectacular thing about the pyramid is on the Sphinx or the temple complex. The fact that the sphinx was extracted from the pyramid’s base or the bedrock is still a marvel to many. And most probably the stones acquired were used to build the spectacular pyramid. The whole pyramid is assumed to an architectural phenomenon, thus making it a major tourist attraction in Egypt (Mark 56). Being the second largest pyramid in the plateau, it takes the advantage of stealing the limelight in the famous plateau. Although people destroyed it during the search for precious stones, Khafre’s pyramid reveals the architectural creativity that was applied in its construction. Works cited Lehner, Mitchel .The Complete Pyramids – Solving the Ancient Mysteries. Amsterdam: Academic press, 2009. Print Mark, Lavin .The Complete Pyramids – Solving the Ancient Mysteries. Chicago: University of Chicago press, 2011. Print. Sylvan, Barnet. A short Guide to Writing about Art .Upper Saddle River: Tufts University press, 2010. Print Varner, Marvin. The Pyramids – Their Archaeology and History. Cambridge, MA: MIT press, 2010. Print. Wilkinson, Richard. The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University press, 2008. Print. Read More