THE GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU
We begin our tour of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in Egypt. The
oldest Wonder and the only one still standing is the Great Pyramid of Khufu,
built in 2560 B.C. presumably to serve as a tomb for the Pharaoh. This
Wonder is often thought of as a sandy golden color, but for the first 3,000
years of its existence it was white. In 820 A.D. the Arab Caliph Abdullah
Al Manum decided to search the pyramid for the fabled treasure of Khufu, and
when he did not find it his men stole the limestone covering instead. When
it was built, the Great Pyramid was 145.75 m (481 ft) high. It ranked as
the tallest structure on Earth for more than 43 centuries, only to be
surpassed in height in the Nineteenth Century A.D.. It was covered with a
casing of limestone to smooth its surface. The sloping angle of its sides
is 51 degrees and 51 minutes. Each side is carefully oriented with one of
the cardinal points of the compass -- North, South, East, and West. The
horizontal cross section of the pyramid is square at any level, with each
side measuring 229 m (751 ft) in length. The maximum error between side
lengths is astonishingly less than 0.1%. It has been said that even today
it would not be possible to rebuild the Great Pyramid to this level of
precision.
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