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Secondary sourcePhotograph

Pyramids of Cheops and Chephren and the Sphinx at Giza

A sepia photograph of the Giza pyramids, including Khufu's Great Pyramid, with the Sphinx and ruins nearby.

This photograph documents Khufu's Great Pyramid alongside later royal monuments at Giza.

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Sepia albumen photograph of the Giza pyramids of Cheops and Chephren, with the Sphinx and the Valley Temple ruins in the foreground, and robed men with camels standing to the right. Caption printed in white script along the bottom.
Photograph, Piramides van Cheops en Chefren, de sfinx en de tempel van Chefren bij Gizeh. Rijksmuseum, Netherlands.

About this source

What it is

This sepia albumen photograph, held by the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, shows the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren together with the Sphinx and the ruins of the Valley Temple at Giza. It comes from a travel album of 80 photographs of Egypt.

Why it matters

The Great Pyramid, built for Khufu, stands here alongside the pyramid of his successor Chephren and the Sphinx, showing the scale of royal building projects of the Fourth Dynasty. Travel photographs like this one shaped how people outside Egypt imagined these ancient monuments.

Look closer

  • What can you tell about the scale of the pyramids from the people and camels shown in the photo?
  • Why might a photographer in this period choose to include local people and animals in the foreground?
  • What does this image not tell you about who built these structures or how?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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A large limestone pyramid with a smooth-edged stepped outer surface rises against a clear blue sky over pale desert sand. Small figures stand at the lower left, and rubble and low stone blocks lie at its base.Artifact

Primary source

Great Pyramid of Giza

c. 2560 BCE

Vintage postcard showing the Great Pyramid of Giza in grey tones against a pale sky, with a large dark tree in front, two palm trees at left, a camel and rider at lower left, and the caption 'La Grande Pyramide Cheops'. Handwriting and a stamp are on the right.Photograph

Secondary source

La Grande Pyramide Cheops

1903

A small ivory statuette of a seated figure wearing a tall royal crown, with hands resting on the lap, on a clear acrylic base set against a blue cloth. Dark encrusted patches mark the chest and arm.Sculpture

Primary source

Khufu Statuette

c. 2600–2494 BCE (possibly later, 664–525 BCE)

The Khufu ship, a large ancient Egyptian wooden solar barque displayed in a museum gallery. Its long hull is supported by a criss-crossed framework of metal and wooden struts, and visitors stand along the walkways and balconies around it under a curved, illuminated ceiling.Artifact

Primary source

Khufu ship

Royal shipwrights of Khufu · c. 2566 BCE

Photograph of a papyrus manuscript covered in dense rows of brown and black hieratic script, with red-ink lines and section markers. Several light patches and damaged areas are visible on the papyrus surface.Book

Secondary source

Westcar Papyrus

c. 1800 BCE

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