|
You can't learn to "walk like an Egyptian" until you ride a
camel in the desert
of Egypt. Only after this
experience will you understand the meaning of the phrase that The Bangles
popularized in their musical one-hit wonder from 1986. The Egyptians themselves
will back me up on this one, but don't just take my word for it. Try it for yourself.
A galloping camel in the desert
of Egypt is quite an experience.
As you gallop towards Egypt's pyramids, you can't help
but wonder how these incredible structures were built. So why don't they tilt
like the Leaning Tower of Pisa?
After all, Egypt's
pyramids sit entirely in sand. They're even older than Italy's leaning
landmark. Well, if you've ever fallen behind on your taxes, you're on your way
to understanding the history of the pyramids. Yes, that's right, khenmes (friend). One theory about the
construction of the pyramids is that the ancient Egyptians built them to reduce
their tax debt.
Maybe I'd be happier with the IRS if I knew I could
contribute to building something as wonderful as the world's first famous
engineering feat, the Great Pyramids of Giza. Building these pyramids was no
easy task. A substantial workforce was required to ensure that the work was
completed during the fourth dynasty. Although estimates vary, somewhere between
18,000 and 300,000 workers were needed to construct Giza's glorious pyramids. That's a lot of
people who owed a lot of taxes!
Still, Egypt's
perfectly-pointed pyramids were built with a purpose other than tax relief. As
the structure of choice for protecting the remains of royalty, each pyramid has
a point which symbolizes a king's journey to the sky to join Ra, an Egyptian
god. It's also been said that a triangle is the strongest shape. As
archaeologists have learned, the pyramids of Giza
contain tombs for Khufu, a Pharaoh of ancient Egypt's
Old Kingdom; and for Khufu's wives, father,
and successor.
Triangles are strong, but the people who built the pyramids
must have been ripped! Using muscle power and minimal technology, they built
the pyramids in just 20 years. The Great Pyramid alone required at least 2
million stones! To put this in perspective, one website claims that the blocks
of stone in the three pyramids combined could be used to build a "10 feet high,
1 foot thick wall around France."
These building blocks weren't lightweight skipping stones, khenmes. A stone's weight ranged
anywhere from 1.5 to 60 tons. Oh, did I mention that there were times when stones
had to be transported over a distance of 500 miles or more? Maybe building a
pyramid to pay off your back taxes isn't so appealing anymore.
I hope you've enjoyed visiting Egypt's amazing engineering accomplishment
in style. Did you manage to avoid being shot by camel spit? Now hold on tight!
If you thought that galloping was bumpy on the way up, wait until you have to
gallop down these sand dunes. We'll both be walking like an Egyptian in no
time.
Next Stop…Let's Take a Holiday to Easter Island
Resources
http://travel.howstuffworks.com/pyramids-of-giza-and-the-great-sphinx-landmark.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza
http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/pyramid.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/builders.html
http://www.hotelmanagement-network.com/projects/fairmont/images/4-pyramids-giza.jpg
| 
Re: How Exactly Do You Walk Like an Egyptian?
