Pyramid of Giza - Voluntary Service

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Khufu’s Last Wish Three monolithic structures stand in testament to great kings of old in the vast necropolis of Giza. Known to us as pyramids, they were built in 2560 BC, known to us it stands at 140 meters tall, known is that upon completion these colossal structures were incased within an integument of limestone. Unknown however is why the Egyptians had built this monument to their God incarnate king. It was initially believed that the Pyramids were constructed with a plethoric assembly of slaves, In fact Herodotus wrote of seeing 100 000 slaves straining themselves at the mercy of a whip man, this group would be relieved by another group every annual quarter. This recount however is rife with discrepancies as King Khufu - 4th Dynasty ruler of Egypt - the royal responsible for the commissioning of the Great Pyramid, did not have a vast body of slaves at his disposal, and even if he had, there was no way that 100,000 could work simultaneously on one pyramid. All archaeologists have their own methods of calculating the number of workers employed at Giza, but most agree that approximately 4,000 primary workers built the Great Pyramid. They would have been supported by 16-20,00 secondary workers such us ramp builders, tool-makers, mortar mixers and those providing back-up services such as supplying food, clothing and fuel). This gives a total of 20-25,000, labouring for 20 years or more. Effectively, it seems, the pyramid served both as a gigantic training project and - deliberately or not - as a source of 'Egyptianisation'. The workers who left their communities of maybe 50 or 100 people, to live in a town of 15,000 or more strangers, returned to the provinces with new skills, a wider outlook and a renewed sense of national unity that balanced the loss of loyalty to local traditions. The use of shifts of workers spread the burden and brought about a thorough

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