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GIZA
Khafre Pyramid
Khafre (or Khafre) was a pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty and ruled for 27 years, from 2558 until 2532 BCE. For more information check the the Encyclopaedia: Khafre.
Khafre was the son of Khufu, and of course he tried to outdo his father's funerary complex. And well, he did succeed. Not by erecting a bigger pyramid, his became 3 metres shorter and 15% smaller in volume. But he placed the pyramid on a mound 10 metres higher than the ground of Khufu. So that is the reason why his looks bigger.
Khafre's pyramid might appear to us as a perfect structure with the exception of the stolen casing. But there has been the discovery of some interesting errors from the construction. As the engineers started to climb toward the top, they discovered that the four corners would not meet at the apex. Hence the top twists just a little bit. Also the top casing was not perfectly fitted, and the transition between stones has deviations of a few millimetres. It is assumed that the stones were cut on the ground before being put into place.
But this does not change the fact that Khafre's pyramid challenges his father's as one of human history's greatest achievements. But it does illustrate what a great challenge the ancient Egyptians took upon themselves when building the pyramids.
Optical errors in my camera emphasizes what is lost to the human eye: The casing stones do not flush, but have deviations of a few millimetres.
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