The definite purpose of the Great Pyramid of Egypt is unknown to any living person, but many scholars have speculated on the purpose and on the many other mysteries associated with the Egypt-ian pyramids. Thousands of articles and books, both scholarly and popular, have been written about the Egyptian pyramids. After all, "the Pyramids of Egypt are immensely large, immensely ancient, and by general consensus, extremely useless" (Mendelssohn 9). Towering above them all, the Great Pyramid of Khufu stands alone, unique in both size and proportion. Its base covers 13 acres, or 7 midtown blocks of the city of New York. Over this large area, over two-and-a-half million blocks of limestone and granite, some weighing as much as 70 tons, as high as a modern forty-five story building (Tompkins 1). The Pyramid continually captivates the minds of scholars and sparks the imagination of nearly everyone who dis-covers it.
Many unanswered questions contribute to the intrigue of the Great Pyramid. How were the ancient Egyptians able to transport fifteen-ton slabs of granite across the Nile river? How did they happen to incorporate the transcendental mathematical figure, pi[1], into its dimensions, when historical data reveals they knew only a rough approximation of the value a millennium after the Pyramid's construction (Mendelssohn 64)? These and many other questions baffle pyramid scholars and laymen alike.
Probably the most controversial topic among pyramid scholars today, however, is the simple question: why did the Egyptians devote themselves to the construction of such a seemingly useless monument? Perhaps the Egyptians were merely complying with their religious beliefs, which directed them to build an eternal resting place for their divine rulers (Mendelssohn 9). Perhaps the Egypt-ians acted similarly to the Hebrews of the Bible, who said:
"Let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach into heaven" (Genesis 6:4). Yet another th...