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The Great Pyramid Of Cheops is the largest of the three Pyramids of Giza, is commonly known as the Great Pyramid of Giza, and stands at 481 feet high. It is thought to have been completed in 2570BC, 2000 years before the other six wonders of the world, and has outlasted all six by a further 1500 years. It also towers above its tallest rivals in this respect, the Colossus of Rhodes (110ft) and the Lighthouse of Alexandria (380ft). Its height is the equivalent of 55 storeys and being of over 100m tall, it is still officially classified as a skyscraper and as such is part of a surprisingly small group of buildings in this category. It stood as the tallest building in the world for over 4 millenia until finally beaten by the Minster of Strasbourg in 1439, which was built about 6ft higher deliberately to exceed it. However, it's height is not the most impressive thing about it. The pyramid is constructed of limestone and granite blocks each weighing between 2 and 4 tons, giving it a total weight of 7 million tons. The acuracy of construction is almost beyond belief - the pyramid is a perfect square to within a quarter of an inch of its 775ft sides, which are orientated exactly along the north/south and east/west axis even though the compass had not yet been invented.

Inside the pyramid there are two main chambers, both of which were looted long before archeologists discovered them. In the King's chamber there is a light shaft which points exactly to Orion's belt. This is thought to be because the Egyptians believed the Pharaoh's spirt would take the form of one of the stars, and wanted it to be an important one. One of the galleries (smaller chambers) in the pyramid has an intricate roof of blocks so precisely laid that it is said you could not get a piece of paper between any one of them. Little is known about the Pharaoh Cheops himself as there are few incriptions in the pyramid that have been discovered, and it was one of the first pyramids to be built. In 2002 a robot climbed a tiny long passage which was discovered and drilled a small hole in the door at the end, but only found another closed door behind it.

Other frankly astonishing facts about the great pyramid:

- The pyramid's four walls each measure 9131 inches, for a total of 36524 inches. Modern science tells us that the length of a solar year is 365.24 days. Coincidence? Could be.

- With a circle, circumfrence = 2 x pi x radius. Therefore pi = circumfrence /(2 x radius). As above, the pyramid has a 'circumfrence' of 36524 inches. It's height is 5812.98 inches. 36524 /(2 x 5812.98) = 3.14159, which is pi exactly to five decimal places. Coincidence? Hmmm.

- Today the average land height above sea level (with the Himalayas being the highest and Miami being the lowest) has been calculated using satelites. It just happens to be 5813 inches. Heard that number before? It's the exact height of the pyramid.

- The Pyramid is located at the exact center of the Earth's land mass. That is, its East-West axis corresponds to the longest land parallel across the Earth, passing through Africa, Asia, and America. Similarly, the longest land meridian on Earth, through Asia, Africa, Europa, and Antarctica, also passes right through the Pyramid.

So, either those Egyptians discovered America before Columbus or they were very good at guesswork. Also, the Ancient Greeks are credited with discovering pi as 22/7 (3.142) in about 600BC but it was not until 300BC that Archimedes is credited with discovering pi to 5 decimal places. Remember that by the time of the Ancient Greeks the Egyptians were already ancient history. Did the Egyptians already know such an exact value of pi?

All these coincidences have lead to many theories about previous life on earth having been more inteligent than us. It's something to think about anyway...

With grateful thanks

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.