Cairo - Day Four

There are about 110 pyramids currently known in Egypt, many in a state of great disrepair and almost unrecognizable. Some were built as burial places for kings and others for queens. A pyramid also may have represented a stairway for the king to ascend to the heavens. Another possibility is that it was symbolic of the primeval mound on which the sun god/creator was born.
The largest pyramid ever built was the Great Pyramid at Giza southwest of modern Cairo. Built for king Khufu, this pyramid was completed around 2550 BC. It is estimated that the pyramid contains approximately 2,300,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2.5 tons each and some up to 15 tons. Its sides measure 230 meters in length. The structure would have towered about 146.6 meters high, but it is now a little shorter owing to the outer casing having been removed to build many of Cairo's buildings during the Middle Ages.
The Giza Plateau also is home to two other large pyramids for the subsequent kings, Chephren and Menkaura. As with the Great Pyramid, both of these pyramids have valley temples and mortuary temples connected by causeways. However, next to Chephren's valley temple is the famous 73-metre long Sphinx and its associated temple. Despite controversy over its age, most Egyptologists believe that the Sphinx was carved from a rocky outcrop at the same time as Chephren's pyramid.