The Pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, Giza
The pyramid erected by Khafre is almost equal in size to that built by his father Khufu. Its location on a bluff of the Giza plateau, some 10 metres above the site of the great pyramid, creates the optical illusion that it is in fact taller than Khufu’s monument. In fact, it is just 3 metres shorter in height. Although the pyramid has suffered at the hands of stone pillagers, the top quarter of the outer casing remains remarkably intact.
Standing as a foreboding sentinel for the pyramid complex of Khafre, and for that matter the entire Giza necropolis, the statue of the Sphinx has continued to beguile visitors from ancient times down to the present day. The Sphinx is the Egyptians’ first known attempt at monumental stone sculpture. It presents the head of Khafre, replete with royal insignia, such as the uraeus, nemes-headcloth and a false-beard, atop the body of a lion. It was, without doubt, an important solar symbol and a grand statement to promote the divine powers of the king.
There are telltale signs that, at the time of his death, Menkaure left an incomplete mortuary complex behind. It appears that the king’s pyramid was almost finished – its upper sections dressed finely in the traditional casing of smoothly polished Tura limestone. However, the lowest 16 courses of masonry had been unusually clad with pink granite blocks. Located in the south-west corner of the Giza cemetery, Menkaure’s pyramid is but a fraction of the scale of its more illustrious neighbours. In fact, its mass is just 10 per cent of that of the Great Pyramid. Yet the complex stands at an important juncture in the development of royal funerary architecture. For whatever reasons, greater emphasis was now being diverted from the building of pyramid – the superlative advert for the royal tomb. With the advent of Menkaure, much more energy and resource was being channeled into the construction of more grandiose funerary temples. Not only were these institutions fundamental to the survival of the king in the afterlife, but they could also provide the gods with abundant endowments.
Date of Construction: 4th Dynasty, reigns of Khafre (c. 2437- 2414 B.C.) and Menkaure (2414 -2396 B.C.)
Highlights:
Interior of Khafre’s Pyramid
Valley Temple of Khafre
The Sphinx
- Introduction to the Pyramid of Khafre - 1:02
- The Interior of the Pyramid - 1:58
- The Mortuary Temple and Causeway - 1:23
- The Valley Temple - 1:31
- The Sphinx - 3:34
- An Introduction to the Pyramid of Menkaure - 1:31
- Interior of Menkaure's Pyramid - 0:49
- The Funerary Complex of Menkaure - 1:21
