60 Fun Facts About Pyramids

Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the only one still largely intact?

It is also the oldest of the seven, predating the others by roughly two thousand years.

How tall was the Great Pyramid when it was completed?

Erosion and the loss of its casing stones have trimmed it to about 138 metres today.

For roughly how long did the Great Pyramid remain the tallest human-made structure on Earth?

It was finally overtaken by the spire of Lincoln Cathedral in England in the 14th century.

Roughly how many large stone blocks were quarried to build the Great Pyramid?

Together the blocks weigh an estimated 6 million tonnes.

The white limestone that once cased the Great Pyramid was shipped from which quarry?

Granite for the King's Chamber came much farther, from Aswan, in blocks weighing up to 80 tonnes.

Which Abbasid caliph is said to have tunnelled into the Great Pyramid in AD 832?

Legend adds that he found an emerald jar of coins that exactly covered the cost of the digging, which some suspect he planted to placate his disappointed workers.

The Diary of Merer, a Great Pyramid supply logbook, was found in 2013 at which Red Sea site?

It refers to the monument dozens of times by its original name, Akhet Khufu.

Writing around 450 BC, Herodotus claimed the Great Pyramid took how long to build?

He also claimed a workforce of 100,000 labouring in three-month shifts; modern estimates are far lower.

Modern historians estimate roughly how many year-round workers built the Great Pyramid?

Excavations of a nearby workers' village show they were fed bread, beer and beef, not the slave gangs of Hollywood legend.

The lower 'air shafts' Waynman Dixon opened in 1872 lead from which part of the Great Pyramid?

Both the upper and lower chambers have a pair of these narrow shafts, whose purpose is still debated.

What technique found the hidden cavity above the Great Pyramid's Grand Gallery in 2017?

The team nicknamed it the Big Void; muons are cosmic-ray particles that pass through rock at different rates depending on its density.

The Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Egypt's first pyramid, was built for which Third Dynasty king?

It reopened to visitors in March 2020 after a 14-year restoration.

How many tiers does the Step Pyramid at Saqqara have?

It originally stood 62.5 metres tall and was clad in polished white limestone.

Which royal official, later worshipped as a god, is credited with designing Egypt's first step pyramid?

He is one of fewer than a dozen non-royal Egyptians ever deified, and his tomb has never been found.

The partially collapsed monument at Meidum is known in Egyptian Arabic by a nickname meaning what?

It was Egypt's first straight-sided pyramid, and its collapse may have prompted the change of angle on the Bent Pyramid.

The Bent Pyramid rises at about 54°, but its upper section was finished at what shallower angle?

The change is usually explained as an emergency fix after the structure began to show signs of instability.

Sneferu's Bent Pyramid stands at which royal necropolis about 40 km south of Cairo?

It was the second of the pyramids Sneferu built, and it still keeps much of its smooth outer casing.

Egypt's first successful smooth-sided 'true' pyramid, built by Sneferu, is known by which colour name?

Its name comes from the rusty tint of its exposed core; it was originally clad in white limestone like the others.

Sneferu, builder of the Bent Pyramid, was the first pharaoh of which Egyptian dynasty?

His son Khufu went on to build the Great Pyramid at Giza.

Why does the pyramid of Khafre look taller than the Great Pyramid next to it, even though it is shorter?

Its bedrock sits about 10 metres higher, and it also keeps a cap of original casing stones near its summit.

Which of the three main pyramids at Giza is the smallest?

It originally stood about 65.5 metres, less than half the height of its largest neighbour.

The builder of the smallest Giza pyramid died before it was done; which successor finished it?

The granite casing was abandoned at sixteen to eighteen courses, and some blocks were left rough.

How long is the Great Sphinx of Giza from paw to tail?

It is 20 metres high, and is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt.

A popular but false story blames whose troops for shooting off the Great Sphinx's nose?

Examination of the face shows the nose was deliberately removed with rods or chisels long before 1798.

The Great Sphinx has the head of a human and the body of which animal?

Unlike the winged, woman-headed sphinx of Greek myth, Egyptian sphinxes are usually male and wingless.

In his Dream Stele, the pharaoh Thutmose IV refers to the Great Sphinx as which solar deity?

The name means 'Horus of the Horizon', Hellenised as Harmachis; the statue's original Old Kingdom name is unknown.

The Pyramid Texts, the oldest Egyptian funerary spells, were first inscribed in which Fifth Dynasty king's pyramid?

Gaston Maspero entered the chambers in 1881; the tradition later evolved into the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead.

Which country has more surviving pyramids than any other?

It has around 220 extant pyramids, built by the Kushite kingdoms of Nubia over several centuries.

The Nubian pyramids of the Nile Valley were built by the rulers of which ancient kingdom?

Its capital moved over the centuries from Kerma to Napata and then further upstream.

The last Nubian pyramid, and the last pyramid built in Africa, went up around AD 350 at which site?

The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its steep, narrow tombs inspired a Roman magistrate's pyramid tomb.

The earliest Nubian royal pyramids, dated to 751 BC, were built at which cemetery of the Napatan kings?

Later burials moved 26 km upstream to Nuri, starting with the pharaoh Taharqo.

The tradition of royal pyramid burial in Nubia is believed to have originated with which Kushite king?

He is also known as Piye, the conqueror of Egypt who founded the 25th Dynasty.

Tlachihualtepetl at Cholula, the world's largest pyramid by volume, stands in which Mexican state?

At first glance the overgrown mound looks like a natural hill.

According to Guinness, the world's largest pyramid has a total volume of over how many cubic metres?

That is nearly twice the roughly 2.5 million cubic metres of the taller Great Pyramid in Egypt.

The overgrown 'constructed mountain' at Cholula was undisturbed in the 19th century except for what on its summit?

The pyramid was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl and was built in four stages between the 3rd century BC and the 9th century AD.

El Castillo at Chichen Itza was built as a temple to which feathered-serpent deity of the Yucatec Maya?

The god is closely related to Quetzalcoatl of central Mexico; archaeologists formally label the building Structure 5B18.

Counting the top platform as a step, El Castillo's four stairways at Chichen Itza total how many steps?

Each side has roughly 91 steps, though the south stairway is badly eroded.

Around the equinoxes, late-afternoon shadows on El Castillo at Chichen Itza create the illusion of what?

Thousands gather to see it each spring, though the effect is visible for several weeks and may not have been deliberate.

A red throne shaped like which animal was found in the inner temple inside Chichen Itza's El Castillo?

The throne was studded with materials chosen for ritual value, and two rows of human bone were set into a back wall nearby.

Who gave the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan its name?

They visited the city centuries after it was abandoned; the name its builders used is unknown.

The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacan stand along which grandly named thoroughfare?

At 75 metres high the larger pyramid is just over half the height of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

The Pyramid of the Magician is the tallest structure in which Maya city of the Puuc region?

The city's name means 'thrice-built' in Mayan, a nod to the many construction layers of its great pyramid.

The stepped, flat-topped temple towers of ancient Mesopotamia are known by what name?

They were built by Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians and Assyrians, with cores of sun-baked brick.

Which architect designed the glass pyramid that serves as the main entrance to the Louvre?

Critics at the time complained that a Chinese-American architect was too unfamiliar with French culture for the job.

In what year was the Louvre Pyramid completed?

It was part of the Grand Louvre project announced by President François Mitterrand in 1981.

Rumour says the Louvre Pyramid has 666 glass panes; how many does the museum say it has?

The 666 story began with an official brochure printed during construction that cited the number twice.

In what year did the pyramid-shaped Luxor resort open on the Las Vegas Strip?

It was built by Circus Circus Enterprises for $375 million and opened with 2,526 rooms.

The beam projected from the tip of the Luxor pyramid in Las Vegas holds what distinction?

The 30-storey pyramid beneath it also holds the world's largest atrium by volume.

The Pyramid of Cestius, built around 18–12 BC as a magistrate's tomb, stands in which city?

Its steep profile copies the pyramids of Nubia, which Roman forces had attacked in 23 BC.

The pyramid tomb of Gaius Cestius was completed in how many days?

Its survival owes much to being built into the Aurelian Walls; a larger 'pyramid of Romulus' nearby was demolished in the 16th century.

The 48-storey Transamerica Pyramid, completed in 1972, is a landmark of which US city?

At 853 feet it was the city's tallest building until 2017 and the eighth tallest in the world when it opened.

Which architect designed the Transamerica Pyramid?

He also designed the Geisel Library in San Diego and much of the master plan for Irvine, California.

The Pyramid Fields of Memphis, including Giza, joined the World Heritage list in which year?

The listing covers 16,000 hectares of the ancient Memphis necropolis.

At least how many pyramids have been identified in Egypt?

Roughly 80 more were built in the Kingdom of Kush, in what is now Sudan.

Who produced the first modern list of pyramids in 1842, counting 67?

His 'Headless Pyramid', number 29 on the list, was lost under desert sand again and only relocated in a 2008 dig.

On which side of the Nile do all of Egypt's pyramids but one stand?

The lone exception is the small Third Dynasty pyramid at Zawyet el-Maiyitin; the rest cluster in pyramid fields.

The mostly ruined pyramid at Abu Rawash, Egypt's most northerly, was built for which son of Khufu?

Once thought never finished, it is now believed to have been completed at about the size of Menkaure's pyramid.

Which site, with fourteen pyramids of low-quality local limestone, was the main royal necropolis of the Fifth Dynasty?

The drop in construction quality after the Fourth Dynasty may signal weaker royal power or a less vibrant economy.

When large pyramids returned in the Middle Kingdom, what replaced stone as the main material?

Pyramid building had largely ended by the close of the Sixth Dynasty before the Middle Kingdom revival.

The builders of Senusret II's pyramid at El Lahun saved labour by using what as its core?

It is the southernmost royal-tomb pyramid in Egypt, and its formal name was 'Senusret Shines'.