Pyramid of Khafre
Name of Pyramid:
‘Great is Khafre’
Period: 2520-2494 BC, 4th Dynasty
Base: 215 metres
Height: 143.5 metres
Volume: 2 211 096 cubic metres
Slope: 53 deg 10′
Status: Open to the public: 9:00am – 5:00pm. LE30 entry (students: LE15). Tickets on sale at 8:00am & 1:00pm.
Khafre’s Pyramid
The pyramid next to Khufu’s with it’s ’snow-topped’ peak belong’s to Khufu’s son, Khafre. It looks larger but this is a deception caused by the fact that Khafre built on ground that was 10 meters higher. It was also built with slightly steeper sides. Perhaps learning from the difficulties experienced during the construction of his father’s pyramid, Khafre’s internal design is much simpler, with all the chambers on or below ground level. If you look closely a slight twist can be discerned near the top as the pyramid’s side were corrected so that they’d meet at the apex.
With a simpler internal design more attention could be paid to the external stonework and the first course of stone casing was not the soft limestone used by Khufu but the much harder granite from the quaries of Aswan. The rest of the pyramid was covered in polished Turah limestone and some of this still remains at the top to form the appearance of what I call it’s ’snow-topped’ peak.
Inside the pyramid
Khafre made the seemingly strange design choice of having two entrances, thereby doubling the chance of robbers locating a way into the pyramid. The passage system is not located on the east-west centerline but is instead 39 feet to the east of center. A small chamber with a pented roof lies to west of the lower passage and is cut entirely from the bedrock. It has been suggested that this was origianlly intended as a serdab, a chamber designed for a ka statue or simply as a convenient storage room for offerings.
The Satellite Pyramid
Khafre’s pyramid has one satellite pyramid that can easily be missed.
GII-a
Located on the south side and on the same axis as Khafre’s pyramid, this satellite pyramid has almost entriely disappeared due to theft by stone robbers.
Photographs kindly provided by Jon Bodsworth, Todd & Kairoinfo4u.
