The Pyramids of Giza Were Originally White

When the pyramids were originally finished, they were plated in and outer layer of white
casing stones. These casing stones were cut with astounding precision to give a smooth slope
to the pyramids, unlike how they appear today with the outer stones more or less forming very
large steps.
The original casing stones were made of highly polished Tura limestone, meant to reflect the
suns rays, and were accurate within 1/100th of an inch. All total, they were around five feet
long, five feet high, and six feet deep and weighed around 15 metric tons each once the face
angle was cut, being around 40 metric tons before that for the full block.
So what happened to these casing stones? Many of them were cut loose and carried off to be
used on various other structures, such as when Bahri Sultan An-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din al-Hasan
used the polished stones from the Great Pyramid in building mosques in Cairo, some of which
are still standing with these stones still intact.
Most of the rest of the stones were worn away, being loosened by earthquakes and eventually
creating piles of rubble around the pyramids, which have relatively recently been cleared away.
Although, a few of the stones are still there, such as around the base of the Great Pyramid.
Bonus Facts:

The Great Pyramid is made up of around 2.3 million limestone blocks. There are also
large granite stones in the pyramid, such as in the Kings chamber. These granite stones
can weigh upwards of 70 metric tons. Astoundingly, these granite stones were
transported from around 500 miles away, from Aswan. All total, around 8,000 metric
tons of granite, 6 million metric tons of limestone, and half a million metric tons of
mortar were used to build the Great Pyramid alone.

The Great Pyramid was constructed in less than 20 years around 2500 BC. For just under
4000 years, it remained the tallest man made structure in the world at around 500 feet tall
(around 145 meters). It was finally beat by the Lincoln Cathedral, which is 160 meters
tall (520 feet) and completed in the year 1300.

Around 800 metric tons of stone were added to the Pyramid every day during its
construction with around 200-300 of these mammoth blocks being put in place daily. Its
no surprise that archeological evidence suggests that spine and bone problems were
prevalent among those who worked on the pyramids.

Contrary to popular belief, it is no longer thought that the pyramids of Giza were built by
slaves. Archeological evidence shows that the workers town comprised of whole
families, not just men as would have been the case if they were slaves. Further, the
people were extremely well taken care of including the highest quality health care

available at the time and they were also extremely well fed. These and other such hints
from the past, relatively recently discovered, seem to indicate that the laborers were there
of their own volition.

One method the Ancient Egyptians used for cutting blocks of stone to eventually be
shaped and polished and the like was to chisel holes in the stone and then pound large
wooden wedges into the holes. Theyd then soak these wedges in water, which would
cause them to expand and eventually form cracks in the rock. These cracks could then be
exploited to remove large blocks from the quarries, which would then be processed
accordingly and eventually shipped off to the pyramid being built, generally by boat on
the Nile River.

How accurate was the building of the Pyramids? As an example, the stones of the Great
Pyramid were cut so precisely that no one side differs in length from another side by
more than 58 millimeters (around 2 inches). Further, the four corners align within four
minutes of the actual cardinal compass points, with north pointing to true north, not
magnetic north. In addition to that, the swivel door to the Great Pyramid weighed around
20 tons, yet was so well balanced that it could be opened from inside by one person with
minimal force applied. From the outside, the door was nearly undetectable due to the cut
being so precise as to have nearly no crack between itself and the surrounding pyramid.
The crack was also sufficiently thin to make it impossible to be used for prying the door
open from the outside.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only more or less intact member of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World. It is believed to have been built for the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu.

The word pyramid comes from the Greek words pyra (fire/light) and midos
(measures).

The word Pharaoh derives from the Hebrew version of per-aa, meaning great house.

It is believed the pyramids were meant to be mechanisms to allow the entombed to reach
the heavens. Towards this end, there is a shaft running through the entire body of the
Great Pyramid that points to the darkest part of the night sky. The Ancient Egyptians
believed this dark region of the night sky was the gateway to the heavens. The pyramid
then serves as a sort of launching platform for the soul of the Pharaoh. Further, the soul
itself was thought to only be able to survive as long as the body was preserved. As such,
the Pyramids aided in preserving the body by sealing it away.

To date, there are around 140 pyramids that have been discovered in Egypt.

The earliest known pyramid to date is the Pyramid of Djoser, which was designed by the
famed Ancient Egyptian architect, Imhotep (who the character on the Mummy movies
was extremely loosely based off of and is considered the father of architecture,

engineering, and medical practitioners). His latter treatise on medicine was noted for
being completely devoid of magical references.

Imhotep was officially the Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after
the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High
Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor, and Maker of Vases in
Chief He was also a well thought of poet and philosopher of his day, all combined
making him one of the most prolific polymaths in history. All this earned Imhotep the
privilege of becoming one of the very few commoners to be given divine status after he
died. He eventually became the god of medicine and healing.

Imhotep also designed his own tomb, which to date has still not been found as it was well
hidden on construction.

Giza is currently the third largest city in Egypt with a population of around 2.7 million
people within the city itself and a total of 6.3 million people including the surrounding
suburbs.