Top 10 Interesting Facts About Pyramids

Submitted by Sean Williams

The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Image Credit - Merkur*

Think you know all there is to know about these goliaths of the ancient world? Heritage Key picks out ten key facts aboutpyramids.

1. There are actually 118 pyramids in Egypt. Sure, you might have heard of Khufu's, or Khafre's – or even Djoser's incredible StepPyramid at Saqqara, the first known pyramid ever built. But what about the ones which don't grab the headlines: Amenemhat III's Black Pyramid of Dashur looks more like Ayer's Rock than an Egyptian tomb, and Sahure's fine mausoleum in Abusir once stood 47m high.

2. The 118th pyramid was unearthed by Egypt's most famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass, as he and his team uncovered the 4,300-year-old tomb of the 6th Dynasty queen Sesheshet in November last year. The team had been searching for the impressive Old Kingdom pyramid for over two years, and it's the third known 'subsidiary' tomb of Sesheshet's husband, Pharaoh Teti.

Pyramid of Djedefre, Egypt. Image Credit - AhlyMan

3. Millions of people know about the Giza necropolis, but have you ever heard of the Pyramid of Djedefre? This largely ruined pyramidEgypt's northernmost, and was commissioned by the son of Khufu, the pharaoh who constructed the largest pyramid in the world. Some have speculated that it was once as tall as Menkaure'spyramid, the third largest of the great triumvirate at Giza.

4. Khufu's Great Pyramid may be, well, great - but it's also the only surviving ancient wonder of the world, and the oldest at around 4,600 years old. Other staggering numbers for the monument are that it includes 2.3 million limestone blocks and weighs 5.9 million tonnes. Oh, and it held the title of tallest man-made structure for around 4,000 years at 146m, until Lincoln Cathedral (160m) surpassed it in 1311.

According to Herodotus, 100,000 people built Khufu's Great Pyramid - more than the population of any city at the time

VIDEO: Exploring the Step Pyramid, Ancient Egypt's "Stairway to Heaven" - Dr. Zahi Hawass

5. Staying on Khufu's masterpiece, up to 100,000 labourers built the behemoth according to Greek historian Herodotus. This is more than the entire population of the world's biggest cities at the time, and many think Herodotus may have been a bit overexcited - he was going on the words of friends; and lived almost 2,000 years after thepyramid was built. Modern experts place the number nearer 20,000 – still a large enough number of builders in one place.

6. Even the builders had tombs: When an American tourist was thrown from her horse in Giza in 1990, a stone the horse stumbled on turned out to be the tip of an enormous builders' necropolis. Zahi Hawass' team would subsequently unearth over 600 tombs. One of them, the 'egg dome' tomb, is now an attraction in its own right.

The Bent Pyramid, Egypt. Image Credits - a rancid amoeba

7. One of King Sneferu's three pyramids, at the royal necropolis of Dashur, is significantly bent from around halfway up at a shallower angle. It creates a unique shape for the empire, and experts think it may have been done simply because the existing angle began to weaken the building. Other think it may have been hurried, as Sneferu's death was approaching. Its name today? The BentPyramid, of course.

8. Pyramid building spread southwards in the later years of Egypt's cultural zenith: just look at the Nile-based Kushite capital of Meroe, located some hundred miles north-east of Khartoum, Sudan. Its own beautiful network of small, steep pyramids was created between the 4th century BC and 3rd century AD. Kushite kings ruled Egypt throughout its 25th Dynasty.

9. Pyramids don't stop at the Sahara. The step pyramids of the Mayas in Central America are some of the world's most recognisable and breath-taking mad-made monuments, and recent years have seen the alleged 'discovery' of an 

Mayan Pyramid, Chichen Itza. Image Credit - Mananetwork

alternative Valley of the Pyramids in Bosnia. If deemed to be a pyramid, the BosnianPyramid of the Sun would become the largest such structure of the ancient world, eclipsing Khufu's opus by some way.

10. The excavation of pyramids doesn't stop with dusty shirts and beaten trowels – robots are making some of the biggest strides in Egypt today. A Japanese model has been searching inside theOsiris shaft below Khafre's pyramid, whereas a University of Leeds-developed 'RoboScarab' (copyright Ann) is making its way through the mysterious shafts of Khufu's Great Pyramid.