WONDEREST OF WONDERS

At the age of 4,600 years, it is the oldest but the only one of the Seven Wonders of Ancient World that still stands; initially at 146.5 meters (481 feet), it remained the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,300 years, that is, till the 160-meter (520 feet)-tall  spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed CE 1300; at  5.9 million tonnes mass, it remains till date the most massive structure in the world; accuracy of its workmanship is such that the four sides of the base have an average error of only 58 mm (2.3 in) in length,  the base is horizontal and flat to within ±15 mm (0.6 in), the sides of the square base are closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within four minutes of arc) based on true north, and the finished base is a near perfect square (a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc); the ratio of perimeter to height is 2π + 0.05%; the conclusion is that “although the ancient Egyptians could not precisely define the value of π, in practice they used it"; its dimensions are within 0.025% of the Golden Ratio, phi; - all in all, it truly is the wonderest of wonders.

It is the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt.

There is more.

The pyramid used about 2.3 million blocks. The granite blocks weighing three to fifteen tons were brought from the quarries in Aswan, 934 km to the south. How were these brought and how were these lifted up?

Originally, the pyramid had an outer-most layer of white, highly polished, Tura limestone – the “casing stones” – that shone in reflected sunlight.  The “casing

stones” were cut with a precision of 1/100^th of an inch to give a smooth slope to the pyramid. Each stone weighed 40 tons before the face angle was cut and 15 tons after that. In 1303 CE, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which were then carted away for building mosques and other structures. The pyramids today have the outer stones forming very large “steps”.

The great pyramid has three known chambers inside. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was unfinished. The Queen's Chamber and the King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure. To go to these chambers one has to be fit – climb for about 30 minutes half-bent – and free from claustrophobia. I didn’t try it but my daughter did.

All in all, visit to the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt, is awe inspiring.