Classroom lesson 路 Pyramids of Giza馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt

The Pyramids of Giza

The last surviving wonder of the ancient world, built 4,500 years ago

The Great Pyramid of Giza against a clear blue sky

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The Pyramids of Giza are three giant stone pyramids on the edge of the Sahara, just outside Cairo. The biggest is called the Great Pyramid. It was built about 4,500 years ago and was the tallest building in the world for 3,800 years - a record no other building has ever beaten.

Tell me more

The Great Pyramid is made from around 2.3 million stone blocks. Each block weighs roughly the same as two cars. People built the whole thing by hand, with ramps and ropes, long before there were any wheels with spokes, any metal tools we'd recognise, or any cranes.

It used to be even more dazzling than it is today. The whole outside was once covered in smooth white limestone that shone like a mirror in the sun. From far away, the pyramid would have looked like a giant white triangle catching the morning light.

Egyptians built the pyramids as homes for their kings and queens, who were called pharaohs. Inside are stone passageways and chambers, and treasures the pharaohs wanted to keep with them. The pyramids were designed like enormous time capsules - meant to last forever.

Three pyramids stand close together at Giza, plus several smaller ones nearby. The biggest belongs to King Khufu. The second to his son Khafre. The third, smaller one to his grandson Menkaure. A pharaoh family, in giant stone, on the desert horizon.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01How could a group of people build something this big without any modern machines?
  2. 02Why might a king want to be remembered with a giant building rather than, say, a giant statue?
  3. 03The Great Pyramid held the 'tallest building' record for 3,800 years. Why do you think nothing was built taller for so long?
Try this

Classroom activity

Each pair of pupils gets ten sugar cubes (or building blocks). Build the biggest pyramid you can without it toppling. Now imagine doing it with 2.3 million blocks weighing two cars each. As a class, work out: if it took 100,000 workers, how many blocks each? How many a day if they built it over 20 years?