60 free Pyramids trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Pyramids are the one building type almost every ancient civilisation seems to have arrived at independently, and this quiz treats them that way. It starts at Giza, with the Great Pyramid's original height, its 2.3 million blocks, the caliph who tunnelled into it, the papyrus logbook that names it, and the hidden void found with cosmic-ray detectors. Then it works back through the experiments that made it possible: Djoser's six-tier Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the collapsed 'false pyramid' at Meidum, the Bent Pyramid's emergency change of angle, and the Red Pyramid that finally got it right. From there it heads south to Sudan, which has more pyramids than Egypt, and across the Atlantic to the Great Pyramid of Cholula, the largest by volume anywhere, El Castillo's 365 steps and equinox serpent, Teotihuacan's Avenue of the Dead and Uxmal's Pyramid of the Magician. The last stretch covers the copies and homages: Rome's Pyramid of Cestius, I. M. Pei's glass entrance at the Louvre and its 666-pane rumour, the Luxor's sky beam and San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid. The easy questions suit anyone who has seen a photograph of Giza; the expert tier reaches Shepseskaf, Piankhy and the Diary of Merer. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the individual monuments, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question. If you want to go deeper on the biggest one, there is a separate Great Pyramid of Giza quiz.
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Q 01Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the only one still largely intact?
Great Pyramid of Giza
It is also the oldest of the seven, predating the others by roughly two thousand years.
Q 02How tall was the Great Pyramid when it was completed?
About 146 metres (481 ft)
Erosion and the loss of its casing stones have trimmed it to about 138 metres today.
Q 03For roughly how long did the Great Pyramid remain the tallest human-made structure on Earth?
More than 3,700 years
It was finally overtaken by the spire of Lincoln Cathedral in England in the 14th century.
Q 04Roughly how many large stone blocks were quarried to build the Great Pyramid?
About 2.3 million
Together the blocks weigh an estimated 6 million tonnes.
Q 05The white limestone that once cased the Great Pyramid was shipped from which quarry?
Tura
Granite for the King's Chamber came much farther, from Aswan, in blocks weighing up to 80 tonnes.
Q 06Which Abbasid caliph is said to have tunnelled into the Great Pyramid in AD 832?
al-Ma'mun
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.
Q 07The Diary of Merer, a Great Pyramid supply logbook, was found in 2013 at which Red Sea site?
Wadi al-Jarf
It refers to the monument dozens of times by its original name, Akhet Khufu.
Q 08Writing around 450 BC, Herodotus claimed the Great Pyramid took how long to build?
20 years
He also claimed a workforce of 100,000 labouring in three-month shifts; modern estimates are far lower.
Q 09Modern historians estimate roughly how many year-round workers built the Great Pyramid?
20,000 to 30,000
Excavations of a nearby workers' village show they were fed bread, beer and beef, not the slave gangs of Hollywood legend.
Q 10The lower 'air shafts' Waynman Dixon opened in 1872 lead from which part of the Great Pyramid?
Queen's Chamber
Both the upper and lower chambers have a pair of these narrow shafts, whose purpose is still debated.
Q 11What technique found the hidden cavity above the Great Pyramid's Grand Gallery in 2017?
Muon radiography
The team nicknamed it the Big Void; muons are cosmic-ray particles that pass through rock at different rates depending on its density.
Q 12The Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Egypt's first pyramid, was built for which Third Dynasty king?
Djoser
It reopened to visitors in March 2020 after a 14-year restoration.
Q 13How many tiers does the Step Pyramid at Saqqara have?
Six
It originally stood 62.5 metres tall and was clad in polished white limestone.
Q 21Which of the three main pyramids at Giza is the smallest?
Menkaure's
It originally stood about 65.5 metres, less than half the height of its largest neighbour.
Q 22The builder of the smallest Giza pyramid died before it was done; which successor finished it?
Shepseskaf
The granite casing was abandoned at sixteen to eighteen courses, and some blocks were left rough.
Q 23How long is the Great Sphinx of Giza from paw to tail?
About 73 metres (240 ft)
It is 20 metres high, and is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt.
Q 14Which royal official, later worshipped as a god, is credited with designing Egypt's first step pyramid?
Imhotep
He is one of fewer than a dozen non-royal Egyptians ever deified, and his tomb has never been found.
Q 15The partially collapsed monument at Meidum is known in Egyptian Arabic by a nickname meaning what?
The false pyramid
It was Egypt's first straight-sided pyramid, and its collapse may have prompted the change of angle on the Bent Pyramid.
Q 16The Bent Pyramid rises at about 54°, but its upper section was finished at what shallower angle?
43°
The change is usually explained as an emergency fix after the structure began to show signs of instability.
Q 17Sneferu's Bent Pyramid stands at which royal necropolis about 40 km south of Cairo?
Dahshur
It was the second of the pyramids Sneferu built, and it still keeps much of its smooth outer casing.
Q 18Egypt's first successful smooth-sided 'true' pyramid, built by Sneferu, is known by which colour name?
Red
Its name comes from the rusty tint of its exposed core; it was originally clad in white limestone like the others.
Q 19Sneferu, builder of the Bent Pyramid, was the first pharaoh of which Egyptian dynasty?
The Fourth
His son Khufu went on to build the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Q 20Why does the pyramid of Khafre look taller than the Great Pyramid next to it, even though it is shorter?
It stands on higher bedrock
Its bedrock sits about 10 metres higher, and it also keeps a cap of original casing stones near its summit.
Q 24A popular but false story blames whose troops for shooting off the Great Sphinx's nose?
Napoleon's
Examination of the face shows the nose was deliberately removed with rods or chisels long before 1798.
Q 25The Great Sphinx has the head of a human and the body of which animal?
A lion
Unlike the winged, woman-headed sphinx of Greek myth, Egyptian sphinxes are usually male and wingless.
Q 26In his Dream Stele, the pharaoh Thutmose IV refers to the Great Sphinx as which solar deity?
Hor-em-akhet
The name means 'Horus of the Horizon', Hellenised as Harmachis; the statue's original Old Kingdom name is unknown.
Q 27The Pyramid Texts, the oldest Egyptian funerary spells, were first inscribed in which Fifth Dynasty king's pyramid?
Unas
Gaston Maspero entered the chambers in 1881; the tradition later evolved into the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead.
Q 28Which country has more surviving pyramids than any other?
Sudan
It has around 220 extant pyramids, built by the Kushite kingdoms of Nubia over several centuries.
Q 29The Nubian pyramids of the Nile Valley were built by the rulers of which ancient kingdom?
Kush
Its capital moved over the centuries from Kerma to Napata and then further upstream.
Q 30The last Nubian pyramid, and the last pyramid built in Africa, went up around AD 350 at which site?
Meroë
The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its steep, narrow tombs inspired a Roman magistrate's pyramid tomb.