Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Pyramids


The Pyramids are the only one of the seven ancient wonders that is still standing. It's also the oldest of them which says something about the power of Egyptian engineering. Also something about the benefit of using simple shapes during building. It was the tallest man made structure for thousands of years, until it was replaced by the Lincoln Cathedral in England.
There is widespread (though not conclusive) belief that the Pyramids were built as tombs. Alternate theories (*cough* crackpots *cough*) suggest that they were built by some unknown advanced civilization. This is probably the most mystical of the Ancient wonders or at least the most important to the New Age movement.

The best approximate equivalent? The wonder of the Pyramids is the sheer size and manpower needed to create them. The only other structure that really compares to them is the Great Wall of China (blogged about here).

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