Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids» Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids News

Barriers To Stop Pyramid Climbers at Giza

Vincent — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:30:27 +0000

No Climbing sign on the Pyramid of Khafre

Shortly after I posted the story of the eye-witness video of the removal of the man from the top of the pyramid of Khafre I received a report from another traveller on the Giza Plateau that day. Kassy sent in some photos of the incident as she watched the Egyptian Military helicopter remove the man.

Since then I have been chatting on Twitter with Andrew, who is currently living and working in Cairo.

I had heard that a fence of some sort has been erected around the pyramid of Khafre, apparently in response to the incident to prevent others from climbing the pyramid. So I asked Andrew if he was able to confirm this.

He travelled to Giza the next day and responded that both the northern and eastern sides of the pyramid have rope strung between metal bollards that have been cemented into the bedrock. Guards with walkie-talkies can be seen sitting around the pyramid…waiting.

The northern face of Khafre's pyramid showing rope strung between bollards

Guards positioned around the pyramid look out for anyone attempting to climb the pyramid

These are not new additions though, these bollards have been here for some years now and can also be seen around Khufu’s pyramid. It does seem as though they might have increased the number of guards positioned around the pyramid.

On the western side of Khafre’s pyramid, however, a new metal fence has been erected. This western barrier appears to be a new addition, perhaps a result of the recent climbing of the pyramid. Andrew was kind enough to take a batch of photos especially for Talking Pyramids readers.

Photo of the metal barrier on the western side of the Khafre's pyramid with a close up inset

Andrew’s photos are used with permission. Some rights reserved.
No Climbing photo by Jay Bergesen. Some rights reserved.

Photos: Military Helicopter Rescue at Giza

Vincent — Sat, 01 May 2010 02:04:13 +0000

Following on from the story a couple of weeks ago of the removal of a man from the top of the pyramid of Khafre at Giza, a recent visitor Kassy Humphreys has sent in some photos that she snapped of the event.

Military remove man from the top of Khafre's pyramid after a night at the top

Kassy explains:

“We heard that he was an Egyptian man who got stuck up there and had to spend the night at the top. According to one of our armed escorts, the army took him away and they think that he will spend a few months in jail.”

Considering the remaining casing stone that still caps the top of the pyramid it is difficult to imagine how he made it to the very top of the pyramid.

“From what we could see, he was right at the top. We too were quite perpelexed as to how he managed to get all the way up there as there is a bit of an overhang which looked near impossible to get around!”

I could imagine the thought of looking down at all the smooth limestone casing after having made it to the top, wondering how to get down with the realisation that one wrongly place foot could send you falling to your death.

As a result of this incident the pyramid is now surrounded by new fencing.

View more photos of the pyramid of Khafre on the Pyramid of Khafre page.

Friday Photo: A Room With a View

Vincent — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:24:15 +0000

“I’d like a room with a view of the pyramids with a splash of palm trees please.”

A Room With a View

Some have it tough.

A Room With a View by Jay Bergesen. Some rights reserved.

Friday Photo: Khufu and the Gold Ring

Vincent — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:35:58 +0000

Last week we looked at Khufu’s Horus name, Medjedu. This week we have a gold signet ring bearing the name of Khufu’s birth name.

What is interesting about this ring is that it does not date to the 4th Dynasty, the reign of Khufu as was previously thought. Instead, the inscription tells us that it belonged to Neferibre, a priest in the cults of Isis and the deified Khufu, some 2000 later.

Gold Signet ring bearing the cartouche of Khufu

Medium: Gold
Possible Place Collected: Giza, Egypt
Dates: ca. 664-404 B.C.E.
Dynasty: XXVI Dynasty-XXVII Dynasty
Period: Late Period
Dimensions: 13/16 in., 0.5 lb. (2.1 cm, 0.2kg) Bezel: 11/16 x 15/16 in. (1.8 x 2.5 cm)

Photo from the Brooklyn Museum collection. Some rights reserved.

Friday Photo: Khufu’s Horus Name

Vincent — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:28:24 +0000

The names of ancient Egyptian places, gods and kings are often obscured by the fact that they’ve come down to us via the Greeks, who had a habbit of making up their own versions of the words. And so Iunu became ‘Heliopolis’, Heru became ‘Horus’, … and Khufu, became ‘Cheops’.

Khufu’s full birth name, however, was Khnum-Khufu, meaning ‘Khnum protects me’.

'Khnum protects me'

To complicate matters further, in addition to thier birth name, kings of ancient Egypt also had a Horus name. Khufu’s Horus name was Medjedu and is seen here contained in a serekh.

Khufu's Horus name, 'Medjedu'

This granite slab with Khufu’s Horus name was found in Bubastis and can now be viewed in the British Museum. It is thought that it may have originally been part of Khufu’s mortuary temple, located on the east side of his pyramid.

Photo of the Granite Slab With Name Of Khufu by CaptMondo, some rights reserved.

Further reading: Studies in the Archaeology of the Near East II: Some Fact Concerning the Great Pyramids of El-Giza and their Royal Constructions, by Alan Rowe.

Friday Photo: Khufu’s Mortuary Temple

Vincent — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 06:14:49 +0000

The black basalt pavement on the east side of the Great Pyramid

In it’s original form a pyramid traditionally had a mortuary temple on it’s east side, which was connected via a long causeway to it’s valley temple. Today’s photo, taken from the top of satellite pyramid G I-a, shows the black basalt that can be found on the east side of the pyramid. This is all that remains of the floor of the open court area of Khufu’s mortuary temple.

In the image below you can see what was once the mortuary temple, surrounded in a black rectangle. The causeway is also marked in black:

The remains of Khufu's Mortuary Temple on the east side of the pyramid

You can get an idea of how thick the stones are from this shot by Prof. Mortel and view an on-the-ground perspective in this 360 QTVR panorama taken by Peter der Manuelian from Giza Archives.

Next week we’ll take a look at something else from Khufu’s mortuary temple.

Photo by Jon Bodsworth.

Ancient Egyptian Art – the Menkaure Triad

Vincent — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:28:42 +0000

Some of you might have followed Leena’s last painting, Cleopatra & Caesarion from the back wall of the temple of Hathor at Denderah.

Leena at work on Cleopatra & Caesarion

Utelising the power of the Internet, every few days Leena would share her latest developments with us by posting photos on her blog, Ancient Egyptian Art. Some of the difficulties experienced and the different techniques used were described which gave us insight into the painting process.

It was fun to watch over the artist’s shoulder as the work progressed over the weeks. Observers soon became involved, I was finding photos of the subject taken by past travellers and sending them to Leena and making use of Twitter to attract more attention. Another follower, Hans also sent some photos which were used as references for the piece. One interested reader, Barry even travelled to the temple for Leena specifically to take photographs of the parts of the relief that were not clear on existing photos.

In case you missed it you can read all the posts starting from here and follow it all the way to the end here.

If you have been keeping an eye on the “Breaking News” section on the right side of this blog you’ve probably already noticed Leena has started a new artwork. This time the paints have been put aside in exchange for graphite & a scraper board and she is now tackling the Old Kingdom statue of Menkaure, Hathor and goddess of the Diospolis Parva nome. The graywacke statue dates to the Fourth Dynasty, 2720 BC and is currently housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Leena describes how she started this piece:

I have to admit I could not resist – I got my scraping board and started working on the Menkaure triad already.

First the sketch: First it had to be drawn, then transferred to the scraper board (by coloring the back of the drawing with graphite and re-drawing with a sharp pen so that the drawing transferred to the board). And because graphite may wear off while I work on this, I had to use the scalpel to do tiny nicks along the lines.

Watch the slideshow below to see the art grow…

Show picture list

[Show as slideshow]

Here is a photograph of the subject:

The Menkaure Triad in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

You can continue following the development of the Menkaure Triad as Leena keeps a journal of her progress on her blog, Ancient Egyptian Art.