3 ms·
The article states "smooth layer of fine white limestone on the outside" and that the current outer rough surface is due to "hundreds of years of pollution and
by pedalpete 7y ago
The article states "smooth layer of fine white limestone on the outside" and that the current outer rough surface is due to "hundreds of years of pollution and weathering".
It was my understanding that the outer surface was polished marble, and that it was removed by looters, not natural degradation. But I haven't been able to find a good source, aside from https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/cxgj96/what_happened_to_the_marble_casings_and_gold/ https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/cxgj96/what_happen...
- ken 7y agoIt only states that it's "colored a dark sandy brown from hundreds of years of pollution and weathering". Maybe I'm being too literal, but I don't interpret this to mean that weathering and pollution are the only causes of all of its changes in the past 4500 years.
- ahazred8ta 7y ago"In AD 1303, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which in 1356 were carted away by Bahri Sultan An-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din al-Hasan to build mosques and fortresses in nearby Cairo."
- caf 7y agoIt seems like earthquakes did for most of the other "seven wonders of the ancient world", too. The others far more completely than the great pyramid, though.
- there_the_and 7y agoCasing stones still exist on the Giza pyramids: https://www.google.com/search?q=pyramid+casing+stones&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=pyramid+casing+stones&source...
- caf 7y agoI believe "marble" when used for sculpture/construction is a term that includes limestone, so that isn't inconsistent.