Next Stop: The Pyramids of Giza
The only remainding structure of the Ancient Seven wonders to be
still standing today.
The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of
Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments is located some
eight kilometres (5 mi) inland into the desert from the old town of
Giza on the Nile, some 25 kilometres (12.5 mi) southwest of Cairo
city centre.
This Ancient Egyptian necropolis consists of the Pyramid of Khufu
(also known as the Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Cheops;
coordinates 295831.3N, 310752.7E), the somewhat smaller
Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren; coordinates 295842.6N,
310805.0E), and the relatively modest-size Pyramid of
Menkaure (or Mykerinus; coordinates 295819.8N,
310743.4E), along with a number of smaller satellite
edifices, known as "queens" pyramids, causeways and valley
pyramids, and most noticeably the Great Sphinx. Associated with
these royal monuments are the tombs of high officials and much
later burials and monuments (from the New Kingdom onwards),
signifying the reverence to those buried in the necropolis.
The most active phase of construction here was in the 25th century
BC.
The ancient remains of the Giza necropolis have attracted visitors
and tourists since classical antiquity, when these Old Kingdom
monuments were already over 2,000 years old. It was popularised in
Hellenistic times when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of
Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
