Quezi

Khafre dominates the horizon - courtesy Dale Gillard - CC-BY

Is the Pyramid of Kufu (the Great Pyramid of today) really one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?

Actually, no.

It was the Pyramid of Khafre, the second largest pyramid at Giza which was the Great Pyramid of the Seven Wonders, even though smaller in both height and volume than the Great Pyramid of Kufu.  The Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Today it is the only one of the ancient Wonders still in existence.  That remains true whether one considers the Kufu Pyramid or the Khafre Pyramid as the true Great Pyramid.

While, due largely to nineteenth-century images, the pyramids of Giza are generally thought of by foreigners as being in a remote, desert location. They are located in what is now part of the Cairo suburbs, the most populated city in Africa. As a result, urban development reaches right up to the perimeter of the pyramid site, to the extent that in the 1990s, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants opened to feed tourists before that obligatory camel ride. (for many, a disastrous timing of events with a visit to the pyramids now including seasickness in the sands)

Because it is located on an elevation about 10 meters (roughly 40 feet) higher than Kufu’s Pyramid, and rises at a steeper angle, Khafre’s Pyramid usually appears to be the largest of the three Great  Pyramids of the Giza Plateau from most any angle.  It, and its remaining casing stone near the top, dominate most any view.  It also had the most complete temple complex (which became the standard for most all future Royal cult complexes), the Sphinx, and a riverside location.  The Nile has moved several miles to the east since ancient times.  When completed, the Khafre Pyramid stood on the banks of the river, with the Sphinx and the Valley Temple having their own docking areas.  At the time of Antipater’s listing, the Khafre Pyramid would have been the most spectacular and imposing of the three.

The Khafre pyramid is also the one pyramid on Giza that had “great” as part of its name.  Its name is “Khafre is Great,” while the name of Kufu’s Pyramid is “Kufu’s Horizon.”  Khafre came to the Egyptian throne in the 4th Dynasty, as Khafkhufu.  Khufu (Kufu) being part of that name may have also added to the confusion.  Much of the description of the Great Pyramid by Herodotus and Antipator’s work listing the Seven Wonders, points more to the Khafre Pyramid than to the Great Pyramid of Kufu.   The list of the Seven Wonders was changed in the Middle Ages, with the Walls of Babylon being dropped and replaced with Pharos, the Lighthouse of Alexandria.  This is about the time the appellation “Great” became associated with the Kufu Pyramid and likely the time the confusion between the Khafre and Kufu Pyramids came about as to which was actually on the ancient list.  There is also the fact some versions of the ancient list use the word “pyramids,” plural, (as in this reference) which may indicate that the whole Giza complex was considered a “Wonder” and not just a single structure.

The Khafre Pyramid is still the center of social activity at Giza, rather than the Great Pyramid itself.

The above is considered “alternative history” by some,  rather than orthodox archaeological thinking.  But there are many of us who believe an historic error has evolved in this case,  and will continue to suggest:  “The Pyramid of Khafre and not Kufu, is the Great Pyramid of the Seven Wonders.”

For more information about Egyptian Pyramids