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And as you can see reconstructed in the “No wonder they thought their rulers were
Smithsonian video at the top, one of those gods.” Or did ancient Egyptians see the
artisanal tasks was to polish the monu- Great Pyramid as a masterpiece of human
ment’s outer limestone to a gleaming white engineering, built with the skill and sweat of
finish that reflected “the powerful Egyptian thousands of their compatriots?
sun with a dazzling glare.” Once the pyr-
amid was completed, “it must have truly Who can say. But it’s likely that 19th-cen-
added to the impression of Giza as a mag- tury European explorers and artists might
ical port city, bathed in sunlight,” says ar- have characterized things differently had
chaeologist Mark Lehner in the clip. the Great Pyramid still scattered the sun
over the desert like an ancient beacon of
light instead of sitting “dumb,” as Mel-
ville wrote, stripped of its facade, waiting
to have all sorts of mysterious meanings
wrapped around it.
In addition to its glowing, polished lime-
stone sides, “the structure would have like-
ly been topped with a pyramidion, a cap-
stone made of solid granite and covered in
a precious metal like gold,” writes Kottke.
source: http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/what-the-great-pyramid-of-giza-wouldve-looked-like-when-first-built.html
