The Great Pyramid of Giza

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Built by Pharaoh Khufu some 4,500 years ago, the Great Pyramid was the first ancient wonder to be built and is the only one still standing. Towering above the Giza Plateau, this stone behemoth was to be Khufu's tomb, the place from which he would travel to the afterlife.

For this episode, Dan is joined by broadcaster and historian Bettany Hughes, author of 'The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World'. She explains how the Great Pyramid was built, what this awesome structure would have looked like at the time, and what it would have meant to the ancient Egyptians.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	All this week on the podcast I'm delving into the mystery and legacy of ancient Egypt.
0:07.2	Discover how this mighty empire grew from nomadic settlers on the banks of the Nile
0:12.8	through its downfall at the hands of the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans.
0:17.2	Learn just how the Egyptians built the awe-inspiring pyramids at Giza
0:22.3	millennia ago and decide if Ramesses the second
0:25.1	really was as great as he thought he was or whether he was a shameless self-promoter.
0:30.6	All this and more.
0:32.2	Listen to Dan Snow's history hit on Spotify or if you hear your
0:36.0	podcast. I could teach Ramesses a thing or two about shameless self-perotion. What do you get when you mix bicycle helmets,
0:45.0	Langerie, and vegan ice cream. Well, workspace, actually, with 4,000 of London's most original businesses already calling Workspace Home, whatever it is you do,
1:06.0	there's a space for you here.
1:08.0	It all happens at Workspace.
1:10.2	Search Workspace. co. UK.
1:17.9	Hi everybody. Welcome to Dan Snow's history here. Today we're going to be talking about the most famous building in the entire world.
1:21.2	It's always nice when you can use a superlative that you're pretty confident
1:24.5	might actually be true. I think it's the most recognizable building in the world. It was the tallest
1:30.4	building in the world for nearly 4,000 years. I'm of course talking about the
1:36.0	great pyramid of Giza just outside Cairo in Egypt. It was built in around 2,500 BC, making it 4,500,000 years old. It was the oldest,
1:49.1	the so-called Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and it's the only wonder that has remained largely intact.
1:55.3	But that's probably because a pyramid is a naturally, incredibly sturdy structure, that's why
2:00.8	they built them, and it is made out of 2.3 million large stone blocks.
2:08.0	It's basically just a huge cone of stone weighing about 6 million tons in total so it's quite harder damage to steal or to take
	...

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