Archaeologica.org

From the News Page

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/890/heritage.htm

An interesting point.
The GP has eight sides!
I don’t ever remember hearing this before.

Lots of Pi and Phi stuff.
Reminds me of the Da Vinci Code

i noticed that in the article too. The explanation that it was to support the casing stones seems plausible, but i don't know that concave surfaces are more aesthetically pleasing.

Curious. Could it be an aesthetic device? Somehow it reminded me of hearing that the parthenon has all sorts of deliberate perspective enhancing bulges.

Who knows?
I don’t recall ever even a written description of the GP with it’s outside layer intact let alone any photos.
How long ago was it “mined” for it’s stone?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10112007/ne ... htm?page=0

Originally, the structure was encased in a layer of more than 500,000 tight-fitting, polished slabs that weighed 20 tons each. In the 14th century, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer polished casing stones, which were then removed and used to build mosques in nearby Cairo.

14th century?
You would expect then some kind of tourist, or engineering, description of it with the cladding intact.

Oddly enough, the Romans were not impressed by the pyramids. There is a famous comment by a man named Frontinus who basically said "what good are they compared to my aqueducts which bring water to millions."

Frontinus was in charge of the aqueducts and, like all bureaucrats, thought his department was Numero Uno.

Minimalist wrote:http://www.nypost.com/seven/10112007/ne ... htm?page=0

Originally, the structure was encased in a layer of more than 500,000 tight-fitting, polished slabs that weighed 20 tons each. In the 14th century, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer polished casing stones, which were then removed and used to build mosques in nearby Cairo.

When I was there local guides told me Cheops' outer layer was used as construction material to build Cairo's city walls. In the 9th century...

Frontinus' quotation.

"Will anybody compare the Pyramids, or those useless though renowned works of the Greeks, with these aqueducts?"

—Frontinus, Roman Water Commissioner, 1st century AD