When Were the Pyramids of Giza Built?

The three great pyramids of Giza were built as royal tombs during the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, in the Fourth Dynasty, roughly between 2600 and 2500 BCE. The largest, the Great Pyramid, was built for Pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops) and completed around 2560 BCE. It originally stood about 146.6 metres tall and was constructed from an estimated 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing on average 2.5 tonnes. It was the tallest human-made structure in the world for nearly 4,000 years, until the construction of European cathedrals in the Middle Ages. The second pyramid was built for Khufu son Khafre, and the third, smaller one for Menkaure. The nearby Great Sphinx was likely built during Khafre reign. Contrary to popular myth, the pyramids were not built by slaves but by tens of thousands of skilled and seasonal Egyptian workers who were housed, fed, and paid. Exactly how the massive blocks were moved and lifted with such precision remains a subject of research and admiration for their engineering genius.