WONDERS OF THE WORLD
THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA
Egypt
The Original World Wonder
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the wonder by which all other wonders are measured. It's old: nearly 4600 years old. It's so old that it was older to the Romans than the Colosseum is to us. It's big: 139 meters, even with millennia of erosion. It's so big that it took 3800 years for another building to top it.
In this episode, we talk about how pyramids came to be, built as a dramatic tomb for Khufu, also known as Cheops, Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom. The Egyptians who built the massive structure weren't slaves, and they weren't aliens.
While exploring the pyramid, and the other pyramids and temples of the Giza Necropolis, just outside of Cairo, we eat koshari, the vegetarian-friendly national dish of rice, pasta, tomato sauce, and more.
Sources:
Romer, John and Elizabeth, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: a History of the Modern Imagination
Reynolds et al, The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Monuments and How They Were Built
Hart, George, Pharaohs and Pyramids: a Guide Through Old Kingdom Egypt
Jackson, Kevin and Jonathan Stamp, Building the Great Pyramid
Murnane, William, The Ancient Egypt Guide
The Lonely Planet Guide to Egypt
Photo by Emőke Dénes on wikicommons