Pyramids at Giza

This passage discusses the pyramids built at Giza in Egypt and why they are important.

Lexile Level: 1040L

Categories: History People & Places

The Egyptian pyramids at Giza are a marvel in design and construction. The pyramids were built as burial places for kings and queens of Egypt. It was important to preserve kings' bodies because the king was believed to have duties even after death. Therefore, the king's body was kept in a beautifully designed stone structure known as a pyramid. The pyramids at Giza are the most well-preserved of the pyramids from ancient Egypt. It took many hundreds of workers to build these large structures, and often big pyramids took as many as twenty years or more to complete. Workers were often farmers of nearby land who came to carry the large slabs of rock to the building site. The largest pyramid was built for King Khufu and is known as the Great Pyramid. His son's pyramid is also nearby but smaller in order to not overshadow the father's pyramid.