Photo by Galen C. Dalrymple, copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Note what appears to be a large entrance toward the top left side of the image. That was a false entrance, designed to confuse potential grave-robbers. The line of people below that and toward the right just a bit is entering at the real entrance into the pyramid (and yes, I did go in!). I can only assume that the real entrance was at one time covered over with huge blocks of stone to hide it.
For the last two days, I’ve posted pictures of the Temple of Luxor. I’m not done with posting photos from there, but I think I’m going to jump around and not post photos of the same place day after day until I’ve exhausted one subject matter. As a result, today’s photo is one I shot of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Let me say this: there’s a really big problem with the pyramids. Don’t panic, it’s not like they’re suddenly going to collapse, the problem is simple this: they’re too big!!!! It is only possible to get the entire pyramid into an image if you are far away from it and take the photo.
I knew that the pyramids were big. I’d seen hundreds, if not thousands of photos of them over my lifetime. But nothing prepares you for how big the Great Pyramid really is. It takes one’s breath away.
Let’s get some perspective here: the Great Pyramid is now 454.4 feet high (originally it was 481 feet high). Each side of the pyramid is 756.4 inches long (picture over 2-1/2 football fields. The slope of the sides if 51.5 degrees. No one has bothered to count them (nor could you), but it is estimated to contain 2.3 million large blocks, weighing an average of about 2.5 tons each. The total weight of the pyramid is estimated to be 6 million tons. Note that the dimensions are showing fractions of feet. The amazing thing is that the sides of the pyramid are so precise that each side is almost EXACTLY the same length with less than an inch of variation between the four sides.
The pyramid is over 4600 years old and was the tallest structure in the world for nearly 3200 years until it was eclipsed by Lincoln Cathedral in England. It is the only surviving member of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. As someone once cleverly commented, “Man fears time, but time fears the pyramids.” So true!
So, how does one adequately photograph the pyramid to convey its immensity? I don’t think you can. At least I couldn’t. Therefore, the pictures of share of the Great Pyramid pay homage to its hugeness and magnificence but fall far short of being able to convey the scale of the great monster.
Please forgive my feeble attempts to show you this beast. While it isn’t pretty in the same sense as the tomb paintings of the incredible temples, it is perhaps the thing that most left me spellbound. I could have sat for hours on one of the blocks staring at it and never grown weary of such a creation. Truly mind-blowing.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1988, a sudden hailstorm prompted fans at a soccer match in Kathmandu, Nepal, to flee. The resulting stampede killed at least 70 people and injured hundreds more.
Approximately 30,000 people were watching the game between the Nepalese home team, Janakpur, and Muktijoddha, of Bangladesh, at the National Stadium. A storm approached quickly, and hail stones began pelting the spectators. When the fans panicked and rushed to the exits, they found the gates locked, apparently to keep people without tickets from entering the stadium. As fans continued to push forward toward the exits, there was no space for them to go. The victims of the stampede, unable to breathe, were literally crushed to death.
The stampede in Nepal seemingly did little to prevent similar disasters. A year after the tragedy at National Stadium, 96 people were crushed to death at a game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Sheffield, England. Another 18 months later, more than 40 people were trampled to death at a game in Orkney, South Africa.
Hail on its own can also be deadly. There are several recorded instances of hail crushing people’s skulls due to its size and force. In 1923 in Kostov, Russia, 23 people were killed in a single hailstorm as they attempted to save their livestock. Twenty-two were killed in Greece in 1930 from hail the size of eggs.
Nepal suffered an even worse disaster later the same year when an earthquake struck in August, killing 1,200 people and leaving thousands homeless. – The History Channel
TRIVIA FOR TODAY: Even though George Lucas wanted Christopher Walken or Kurt Russell to play Han Solo, he ultimately decided on Harrison Ford, after he hired him to merely feed lines to auditioning actors.
Twolfgcd's Blog (Galen Dalrymple) 