Talking Pyramids

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.

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Tags: Khufu

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