Pharaoh Khufu

• Also known by his Greek name, Cheops, the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, famous for building the Great Pyramid at Giza.
• Khufu’s full name was Khnum-Khufwy, which means ‘[the god] Khnum protect me’. He was the son of Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres I, and is believed to have had three wives.
• Khufu was the first pharaoh to build a pyramid at Giza. The sheer scale of this monument stands as testament to his skills in commanding the material and human resources of his country.

source: ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/khufu.shtml )

Sphinx of Giza

• The Sphinx is a limestone statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx (a mythical creature with a lion’s body and a human head) that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the face of the Pharaoh Khafra/Khafre.

Great Pyramid of Giza

• 482-foot high Great Pyramid at Giza built by Pharaoh Khufu, who reigned around 2550 B.C.
• An epic project that took nearly 20 years to complete, the Great Pyramid was constructed by peasants conscripted for labor during the Nile flood season, when work in the fields ceased.
• The builders hauled massive limestone blocks weighing two and a half tons each that had been quarried upriver and floated down the Nile on barges.
• The stunning monuments at Giza reflected an obsession with the afterlife that characterized Egyptian culture through the centuries.