How Much Would It Cost to Build the Great Pyramid Today?

How Much Would It Cost to Build the Great Pyramid Today?
Even with cranes, helicopters, tractors and trucks at our disposal, it would be tough to construct the Great Pyramid of Giza today. Its construction 4,500 years ago is so astounding in some people's eyes that they invoke mystical or even alien involvement. But the current theory of the building of the Great Pyramid — the notion that it was assembled from the inside out, via a spiraling internal ramp — is probably still

the best construction plan.

Following that plan, we could replicate the Wonder of the Ancient World for a cool $5 billion.

First, let's look at the blueprint: The pyramid is 756 feet long on each side, 481 feet high, and composed of 2.3 million stones weighing nearly 3 tons each for a total mass of 6.5 million tons. Legend has it that the structure was erected in just 20 years' time, meaning that a block had to have been moved into place about every 5 minutes of each day and night. That pace would have required the (slave) labor of thousands. While traditional theories hold that the pyramid was built via a long external ramp, such a ramp would have had to wind around for more than a mile to be shallow enough to drag stones up, and it would have had a stone volume twice that of the pyramid itself.

 

Australia’s Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Located in the National Park forest of the Hunter Valley, 100 km north of Sydney, these ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs have been a part of the local folk lore for years. The hieroglyphs were first discovered in the early 1900′s and contains over 250 glyphs.
You would think that the Australian government would protect this site for its historic value, but that is not the case. Because this site is NON-ABORIGINAL, the Australian government has no desire to protect this site.
Egyptologist Ray Johnson, who has translated extremely ancient texts for the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo, eventually was successful in documenting and translating the two facing walls of Egyptian characters. Which he believes is from the Third Dynasty.
Here is his translation below from the book “THE OZ – EGYPTIAN ENIGMA” – By Paul White
The rock walls chronicle a tragic saga of ancient explorers shipwrecked in a strange and hostile land, and the untimely death of their royal leader, “Lord Djes-eb”. A group of three cartouches (framed clusters of glyphs) record the name of “RA-JEDEF” as reigning King of the Upper and Lower Nile, and son of “KHUFU” who, in turn, is son of the King “SNEFERU”.This dates the expedition just after the reign of King Khufu (known in the Greek as “Cheops” reputed builder of the Great Pyramid) somewhere between 1779 and 2748 BC. Lord Djes-eb may have actually been one of the sons of the Pharaoh Ra Djedef, who reigned after Khufu.The hieroglyphic text was apparently written under the instruction of a ship’s captain or similar, with the corner glyph on the wall displaying the title of a high official or chief priest. The scribe is “speaking for his Highness, the Prince, from this wretched place where we were carried by ship.” The expedition’s leader, as mentioned before is described in the inscriptions as the King’s son, “Lord Djes-eb”, who came to grief a long way from home. The hieroglyphics sketch his journey and his tragic demise:”For two seasons he made his way westward, weary, but strong to the end. Always praying, joyful, and smiting insects. He, the servant of God, said God brought the insects…Have gone around hills and deserts, in wind and rain, with no lakes at hand… He was killed while carrying the Golden Falcon Standard up front in a foreign land, crossing mountains, desert and water along the way. “…….”He, who died before, is here laid to rest. May he have life everlasting. He is never again to stand beside the waters of the Sacred Mer.”…MER meaning “love”. There was a moat around the pyramid called the “waters of Mer” .The second facing wall, which was much more seriously eroded, details the tragedy further. This wall begins with the badly eroded glyph of a snake (Heft), with a glyph of jaws (to bite) and the symbol for “twice”……”The snake bit twice. Those followers of the diving Lord “KHUFU”, mighty one of Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Adzes, not all shall return. We must go forward and not look back. All the creek and river beds are dry. Our boat is damaged and tied up with rope. Death was caused by snake. We gave egg-yolk from the medicine-chest and prayed to AMEN, the Hidden One, for he was struck twice.” Burial rituals, prayers and preparations are described… “We walled in the side entrance to the chamber with stones from all around. We aligned the chamber with the Western Heavens.” ….The three doors of eternity were connected to the rear end of the royal tomb and sealed in. We placed beside it a vessel, the holy offering, should he awaken from the tomb. Separated from home is the Royal body and all others. “…. The extraordinary 5,000 year-old story of the death and burial of “Lord Djes-eb” one of the sons of the Pharaoh Ra Djedef.

Eye of Horus

The Eye of Horus (previously wadjet and the Eye of the Moon; and afterward as The Eye of Ra) is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power from deities, in this case from Horus or Ra. The symbol is seen on images of his mother, Hathor, and other deities associated with her.

In the Egyptian language the word for this symbol was "wadjet" It first was the eye of one of the earliest of Egyptian deities, Wadjet, who later became associated with Bast, Mut, and Hathor as well. Wadjet was a solar deity and this symbol began as her eye, seeing everything. In early artwork Hathor is depicted with this eye as hers also.

Horus was an ancient Egyptian sky god in the form of a falcon. The right eye represents a peregrine falcon's eye and the markings around it, including the "teardrop" marking sometimes found below the eye. As the wadjet (also udjat or utchat), it also represented the sun, and was associated with his mother, Hathor, and with Wadjet another goddess, both early sun deities who became associated as aspects of one another, as well as the sun deity Ra (Re) whose cult arose last. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon and the god Tehuti (Thoth).

The ancients believed this symbol of indestructibility would assist in rebirth. The Eye of Horus was found under the twelfth layer of bandages on the mummy of Tutankhamun, an eighteenth dynasty pharaoh.

Hieroglyph

Seven different hieroglyphs are used to represent the "eye"-(human body parts). One is the common usage of the verb: 'to do' , 'make' , or 'perform' . The other frequently used hieroglyph is the Wadget, a sacred protective symbol, called the 'Eye of Horus' after his cult rose to prominence as the son of Hathor.

In arithmetic

In the Ancient Egyptian measurement system, the Eye Of Horus defined an Old Kingdom rounded off number one (1) = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + 1/64, by throwing away 1/64. The Eye of Horus statements created 6-term rounded off numbers. The Old Kingdom definition had dropped a 7th term, a remainder 1/64, that was needed to report exact series. During the Middle Kingdom that included the eleventh through fourteenth dynasties, exact series definitions and applications were written by creating 7-terms, or more, written as Egyptian fraction series, often scaled to 1/320 hekat. For example, the Akhmim Wooden Tablet, dated to 2000 BC near the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, wrote quotients in the Eye of Horus 6-terms, while writing 7th term remainders as Egyptian fractions, scaled to 1/320 of a hekat. The metaphorical side of this information linked the Old Kingdom six fractions, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64 to separate parts of the eye, as noted by:

• 1/2 was represented by smell, symbolized by the right side of the eye in a form of the nose. The pyramid text says: "Behold [the fire] rises in Abydos and it comes; I cause it to come, the Eye of Horus. It is set in order upon thy brow, O Osiris Khenti-Amenti; it is set in the shrine and rises on thy brow."
• 1/4 was represented by sight or the sensation of light, symbolized by the pupil. The pyramid text says: "Perfect is the Eye of Horus. I have delivered the Eye of Horus, the shining one, the ornament of the Eye of Ra, the Father of the Gods."
• 1/8 was represented by thought, symbolized by the eyebrow. The pyramid text says: "...the Eye of Horus hath made me holy...I will hide myself among you, O ye stars which are imperishable. My brow is the brow of Ra."
• 1/16 was represented by hearing, symbolized by the left side of the eye in the form of an arrow pointing towards the ear. The pyramid text says: "That which has been shut fast/dead hath been opened by the command of the Eye of Horus, which hath delivered me. Established are the beauties on the forehead of Ra."
• 1/32 was represented by taste, by the sprouting of wheat or grain from the planted stalk, symbolized by a curved tail. The pyramid text says: "Come, the Eye of Horus hath delivered for me my soul, my ornaments are established on the brow of Ra. Light is on the faces of those who are in the members of Osiris."
• 1/64 was represented by touch, symbolized by a leg touching the ground, or what can also be thought of as a strong plant growing into the surface of the earth. The pyramid text says: "I shall see the Gods and the Eye of Horus burning with fire before my eyes!"

In the Middle Kingdom the 1/64 symbol denoted 'rest' and 'healing' as connected to the hekat, with the word dja being attached.

The 'Eye of Horus' fractions were further discussed in the Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll following elementary definitions that built the Egyptian fraction system. Weights and measure subunits of a hekat were also connected to Eye of Horus numbers in the quotient, and as an exact remainder, the remainder including an Egyptian fraction and a ro unit, correcting the Eye of Horus 1/64 round off error. The ro unit, 1/320 of a hekat was cited in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and as applied in the medical texts, like the Ebers Papyrus. A precise mathematical derivation of ro is found in the Akhmim Wooden Tablet.

KV-63 ~ Newly Discovered Tomb

Valley of the Kings

Valley of the Kings - Luxor

Tomb of Tutankhamun

Valley of the Kings - Luxor

Valley of the Kings, Egypt

KV-63 ~ Newly Discovered Tomb


KV-63 is located in the Valley of the Kings approximately 14.5 meters from the south edge of KV-62, the Tomb of Tutankhamun.

Dr. Zahi Hawass officially pronounced the newly discovered tomb, KV-63 on 10 Febru

ary 2006. However, the initial shaft was discovered a few days before the end of 2005 excavation season.

KV-63 is the first tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings since 1922.
it is now believed to have been a storage chamber for the mummification process.

The chamber contained seven wooden coffins and many large storage jars. All coffins have now been opened, and were found to contain only mummification materials, with the jars also containing mummification supplies including salts, linens, and deliberately broken pottery.

Some clay seal impressions contain text, such as the partial word 'pa-aten,' part of the name used by Tutankhamun's wife, Ankhesenamun. This inscription, the architectural style of the chamber, and the form of the coffins and jars all point to an Eighteenth Dynasty date, roughly contemporary with Tutankhamun, whose tomb is nearby.

Abydos Desert Site

English: Details of enclosure of Peribsen, showing associated offerings and Khasekhemwy enclosure behind

Nearby Abydos (temple of Osiris pictured), after ceding its political rank to Thinis, remained an important religious centre.

Abydos Desert Sites

The area between the modern villages at Abydos and the desert which stretches westwards to the limestone mountain contains the captivating remains of the ancient Egyptian civilisation dating from the Predynastic period to Christian times. The mountain has a curious crescent shape surrounding the villages and in its centre is a gap (known as Pega-the-Gap) believed by ancient Eg

Tomb of King Den

Shunet el-Zebib

Tomb of King Khasekhemwy

There are numerous animal cemeteries in the desert at Abydos, including dogs, falcons and ibis. An Egyptian archaeological mission at Abydos announced in 2002 the discovery of an important cemetery of Horus. Large earthenware sarcophagi containing mummified falcons (some wearing gold masks) have been found in the tombs along with falcon eggs. It has been dated to the Ptolemaic era.

yptians to lead directly to the kingdom of the dead. Perhaps this was why the Thinite kings chose this area as their burial place from earliest times. From the beginning of the Old Kingdom the area was the sacred centre of the cult of Osiris.

Broken pottery at Umm el-Gab
The earliest significant remains are the tombs of Protodynastic and Early Dynastic rulers whose names have been found on stelae at the tomb entrances. Pilgrims would later come from all over Egypt to pay their respects at the ‘Tomb of Osiris’ – a case of mistaken identity for the tomb of Djer of Dynasty I. Offerings of little pots would be smashed on the sandy hills surrounding the tomb and so the area later became known as Umm el-Qa’ab or ‘Mother of Pots’. This pottery still litters the desert at Abydos today making it difficult to walk in some places without crushing it.

Egyptologists have taken a great interest in Abydos since the earliest excavations in the 19th century, but it is not until recently that more scientific investigations have filled in the gaps in the history of the area. In 1977 the area was re-excavated by the German Archaeological Institute and one of the first finds was an ivory label bearing the name of Narmer which confirmed the king’s victory over the people of the Delta and the final events of the unification of Egypt. They also discovered that kings were buried at Abydos before our known Dynasty I.


The desert is divided up into several cemetery areas. The German team uncovered a new tomb in the area known as cemetery U which contains hundreds of graves and offering pits. Tomb U-j, an elaborate brick-lined structure containing 12 chambers, was by far the largest of its date found in Egypt and has been attributed to an important chieftain or king of the Predynastic period. At the beginning of Dynasty I the royal tomb consisted of a mound of rubble or sand which covered a deep rectangular brick-lined chamber. With each generation the tombs became more elaborate and were often surrounded by subsidiary burials of wives, servants and pets.

Some of the early royal tombs to be identified at Abydos belong to kings Djer, Djet, Den, and Queen Mer-Neith of Dynasty I, and Peribsen and Khasekhemwy of Dynasty II. The tomb of Den is currently being reconstructed and the retaining walls of the mound can still be seen. The largest and latest royal tomb to be built at Abydos is that of King Khasekhemwy, which has recently been undergoing re-excavation.


Associated with each of the royal tombs was a ‘palace of eternity’ or funerary enclosure which are currently thought to be mudbrick prototypes of the earliest pyramids. The enclosure of Khasekhemwy is the only one of these structures which is clearly visible today. It is locally called Shunet el-Zebib (Shuna = storehouse and Zebib may come from Pa Hib, meaning ibis) and it was used as a repository for thousands of mummified ibis in the Late Period. The early structure however has double walls 11m high with the inner ones similar to the niched façade which encloses the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. The enclosure measures an impressive 122m from north to south and 65m from east to west, with its massive inner walls 5.5m thick. There are few clues within the structure to how it was used in ancient times, but recent excavations have uncovered a low mound in its centre which is thought to be of religious significance. There have also been 14 boat pits, discovered since 1991, containing the world’s oldest boats, surrounding the enclosure of Khasekhemwy. This remarkable find is being painstakingly excavated and is revealing new evidence about the wealth, power and technological prowess of the earliest periods of Egyptian history. The vessels, which date to around 3000 BC, have been found to predate Khasekhemwy’s funerary enclosure and are thought to be viable boats intended for the use of the king in his afterlife. Two of the pits excavated contain wooden boats which were filled in with brickwork, each shaped like a boat itself. The American excavation team, directed by Dr David O’Connor and conducted under the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities hope to find more evidence for dating the boats and also hope to gain a better understanding of the early Egyptian royal fleet by further investigation and conservation of the remains. The remaining mudbrick walls of another Dynasty II enclosure can be seen nearby and was re-used to contain the 7th century AD Coptic church of Deir Sit Daminia, now used as a village. Shunet el-Zebib and the Coptic village can be found to the north-west of Beni Mansur.

A cemetery in the north of the Abydos desert area near Shunet was the main burial place of Middle Kingdom elite which was used continuously through to Graeco-Roman times.

Kom es-Sultan

Kom es-Sultan is another impressive mudbrick structure to the east of Shunet el-Zebib which has been dated to the Middle Kingdom. Apart from surrounding the site of the earliest Temple of Osiris (or Khenty-Amentiu) in Abydos, little is known about the structure itself, although the only known statue thought to be Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza was found here. A good part of the walls are still standing but only a few blocks now remain to give us a glimpse of the temples they contained. Huge numbers of stelae have been plundered or excavated from this area which have provided a great deal of information on the cult of Osiris. Adjoining the enclosure is a recently excavated portal temple, built by Rameses II. To this day a wide beaten path through the desert leads from Kom es-Sultan to Umm el-Qa’ab, indicating the route of pilgrims over the millennia.


Walking the desert to the north and west of Abydos the visitor cannot help but feel the antiquity of the area. Low sand-covered mounds everywhere hide tombs and shrines of early pharaohs, much of it still unexcavated, while vast tracts of smashed pottery attests to the millions of ancient Egyptians who performed their pilgrimage to this sacred place to fulfil their obligations to Osiris.

Sinki Pyramid

Remains of a small step pyramid, known as the Sinki Pyramid, found about 8km south of Abydos near the village of Naga el-Khalifa, have been investigated by Nabil Swelim and Gunter Dreyer in recent years. The pyramid, which was constructed of limestone and mortar, now reaches a height of 4m. The structure includes remains of mudbrick ramps which reached up to the second level and were presumably used to bring in building materials. This is one of nine small pyramids dating to the earliest dynasties of Egyptian history found along the Nile Valley, but their purpose is as yet unknown. The pyramid had been robbed of its stone over the millennia and although, like the others of its kind, there is no burial chamber or associated chapels, there have been 14 secondary graves dating to the Old and the New Kingdom found nearby.

— at Egypt,Abydos.

Bait-el-Wali

Zum Hemispeos von Bait-el-Wali führt eine lange und beeindruckende Prozession von Geschenken, die die Nubier Ramses II. bringen. Man erkennt Giraffen, Geparde, Affen, Löwen, Antilopen und Rinder, dazu Felle, Fächer und Möbel. Unser Führer erklärte, dies wären nur die Abgüsse, die Originale befänden sich in London, mein Buch behauptet das Gegenteil. Die verschiedenen Tiere waren begehrt im Neuen Reich und angeblich waren Raubkatzen als Haustiere wohlhabender Persönlichkeiten nicht selten. Ramses II. besaß wahrscheinlich einen Löwen als Haustier, der sich auf verschiedenen Darstellungen findet. Die bunte Prozession führt direkt in den Felsentempel

Der Erbauer des Tempels ist Ramses II. und wo immer er auftaucht, tut er das nicht anonym. Aber so sehr er sich bei jeder Gelegenheit beweihräuchern lässt, bleibt er doch bei einem der Grundideale seines Reiches: Ordnung und Gerechtigkeit, verkörpert durch die Göttin Maat, die er hier dem Staatsgott Amun überreicht.
Im Innenbereich des Tempels haben sich die Malereien, die im Außenbereich abgewaschen wurden, sehr schön erhalten. Es sind wieder diverse Szenen mit diversen Göttern zu erkennen: links erhält Ramses Leben von Chnum, dem Gott des ersten Katarakts. Rechts ein weiteres Portrait von Horus.
Das Land Ägypten war groß und vielerorts herrschten lokale Gottheiten, deren Gunst Ramses gegenüber klargestellt werden musste. Hier handelt es sich um Anuket, die Herrin der Nilinsel Sehel, die Ramses mit ihrer göttlichen Milch nährt.

In der Nische des Felsens dann Ramses im Kreise seiner Freunde, der Götter. In diesem Fall handelt es sie wieder um die Lokalgrößen Chnum und Anuket.

Gerf Hussein und Kertassi

Gerf Hussein

Wieder einmal ein Ramsestempel, der neben ihm selbst noch Ptah, Ptah-Tatenen und Hathor geweiht war. Es gibt hier nicht mehr viel zu sehen, denn von dem von vornherein mehr alten als bewundernswerten Bau wurde hier nur ein geringer Teil wieder aufgestellt. Die Fragmente vermitteln keine Ähnlichkeit mit der ursprünglichen Anlage, die Berichten und alten Fotos zufolge gewirkt hat wie ein Vorentwurf zu Abu Simbel. Aber für wirklich wertvolle Plastik fehlten sowohl gutes Material wie auch hochklassige Künstler und Handwerker. Ob also die nicht hierher gebrachten Teile noch irgendwo existieren weiß ich nicht, aber die große Ramsesstatue im Nubischen Museum könnte von hier stammen.
Man besichtigt die Tempelreste zusammen mit Kalabscha, dem Kertassi-Kiosk und dem Tempel von Bait-el-Wali, die alle beieinander neu aufgestellt wurden.

Der Kiosk von Kertassi

Der Kertassikiosk steht bei den anderen Tempeln und Tempelfragmenten in Sichtweite von Assuan und erfüllt jetzt wahrscheinlich ausschließlich dekorative Funktion. Jedenfalls geben meine Bücher zu ihm fast gar nichts her. Kertassi war seinerzeit ein römischer Posten in Nubien, das damals als Pufferstaat gegen Schwarzafrika diente. Vielleicht war dieser Bau mit den beiden Hathorsäulen ein Barkenhaus wie man es auch als sogenannter Trajanskiosk auf Philae findet.

Der Mandulis-Tempel in Kalabscha

Kalabscha ist der Haupttempel eines wenig bekannten Gottes: Mandulis. Mandulis wird häufig zweifach dargestellt: als junger Mann (teils noch mit Kinderlocke wie links im Bild) und als älterer Mann. Manche Autoren wollen ihn auch einmal als Mensch und König, einmal als Gott erkennen. Man findet Mandulis hier praktisch überall, im Bild unten opfert ihm ein Pharao, dessen Namen ich nicht lesen kann - vermutlich handelt es sich um den römischen Kaiser Augustus, der den Tempel in seiner jetzt sichtbaren Form über älteren Fragmenten von Thutmosis III., Amenophis II. und Ptolemaios VIII. erbaut hat.
Mandulis ist eine Lokalgottheit, der für manche Autoren Verbindungen zu Horus, Osiris oder auch dem Ba-Vogel hat. Aber zumindest im Zusammenhang mit den beiden ersten ist Isis nie weit, der dieser Tempel in der Tat auch gewidmet ist. Hier werden ihr vom König zwei Lotosblüten verehrt.

Auch dieser Tempel ist nie fertiggestellt worden, die pharaonische Kultur befand sich schon zu weit im Niedergang. Ein Zeichen dessen ist auch die griechische Inschrift, die die (moslemischen) Touristenführer besonders gern zeigen: Hier wurden die Gläubigen aufgefordert, dem Tempel mehr Respekt zu zollen und insbesondere davon abzusehen, in seinen Mauern Schweine zu hüten. Wenn schon uns das gruselt - wie müssen sich erst Moslems bei dem Gedanken fühlen?

Der Herr links ist relativ einfach zu identifizieren: der Hängebusen und der halbe Sumpf auf dem Kopf identifizieren ihn als den Nilgott Hapi. Der Herr rechts fiel mir auf, weil ich Löwenköpfe mit Hasenohren darauf noch nicht so oft gesehen hatte und der Sache einmal nachgehen wollte. Des Rätsels Lösung: es sind gar keine Hasenohren, es sind Federn. Und an diesen kann man dann auch erkennen, dass es sich hier um eine andere Darstellungsform des Luftgottes Schu handelt.