Mountains of the Pharaohs [antikvár]

ntroduction Tlie year is c. 2609 B.C. Looking back across the sands of time, we can see the newly crowned king, Khufu, accompanied by his chief architect, Hemiunu, high on the empty, windswept expanse of the Giza Plateau. They stand together, a little distance from the large retinue of personal attendants that accompany them wherever they go, and take in the vista that surrounds them. To the west, stretching to the horizon where the sun god dies each night, is the golden yellow of the high desert savanna, still teeming with wild animals to be hunted. To the south, far in the distance, is the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, who ruled three-quarters of a century before and inaugurated the era of monumental building in stone to which they are now heir. Farther to the south, dwarfed by distance, are three of the pyramids built by Khufu's father, the great King Sneferu. At the foot of the plateau to the east is a narrow band of low desert bordering the sudden and intense green of the floodplain. Through this runs the wide, silver-blue ribbon of the Nile. Far in the distance is the eastern horizon, where the sun is reborn each morning. This is the perfect place, Khufu decides, standing on the spot