The World's Largest Pyramid Cannot Be Seen

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The last blog entry -- "The World's Tallest Non-Metal Structures; You've Never Heard of Them" -- pointed out that the Great Pyramid of Giza (aka the Pyramid of Khufu or Pyramid of Cheops) was built around 2560 BCE, and that its original height, 146.5 m (481 ft) made it the tallest building of any kind in the world for about 4,000 years. It stands to reason, therefore, that since it was the tallest building in the world, the Great Pyramid must also be the largest pyramid ever built (before modern construction materials). Well, it does still stand, but not to reason after all: There have been larger stone pyramids built (and still stand!); you just don't know about them.

Of course, this depends on what we mean by "large" when referring to pyramids. The Great Pyramid certainly was the tallest, but what about its ground surface area? What about its volume? Hadn't you thought about that? Let's look at the Great Pyramid:

Height: 146.5 m
Base: 53,084 m2 (230 m x 230 m)
Volume: 2.5 million m3

. . .

There are quite a few other pyramids in Egypt that top 100 m in height, but there are pyramids that are larger, if not taller than any in Egypt.

. . .



More:
http://newundersol.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-worlds-largest-pyramid-cannot-be.html

Although you won't see much of it. Every 56 years (I believe), the Aztecs destroyed their buildings and would build anew on top of the ruins. When the Spanish invaded, a church was built on top of the pyramid at Cholula, and nature eventually overtook the pyramid, but archaeologists tunneled through the "hill", and you can walk through these from one side to the other and see the different pyramids/levels from every time it was destroyed. Other parts at the bottom of the hill include sacrificial areas and an area for gatherings with interesting sound properties were halfway excavated before funding ran out.

TlalocW

I learned about the Egyptian pyramids from my mummy.

It ought to be on everybody's bucket list. Best to see it when you're young and healthy. Went there on my honeymoon as part of a Mexico trip. Going up and down those stairs takes work. Of course on acid we were running up and down with no problem. The whole city is amazing. The Pyramid of the sun is aptly named. The story we got is that it was built to view the sunrise and the hearts were torn from prisoners of war to make sure it rose. The architecture allows for sound to be targeted so that whoever is at the top can hear conversations from those at street level. There's also a performing area with a stone stage in the middle with acoustics that allow everyone to hear whatever is on that stage. It also appears that wherever you're seated is the closest seat to that stage. Original working toilets, too. You're allowed to marvel at them but not use them. It's all real close to Mexico City. Getting there is no problemo.

In high school, there was an interchange with kids in my school (small Kansas farming community) and those in Puebla (about 50 miles from Mexico City). I was the only guy on the trip either way. Anyway, one of the first places they took us was Teotihuacan, but they did it on a day that was a federal/bank holiday, minor church holiday, AAAAAND ancient Aztec holiday so it was packed with people - primarily families, Aztec performers, and also people form various "cults" who would stand on top of some of the smaller structures in different patterns to get some sort of mystic energy. The Pyramid of the Sun was packed. There was literally no movement on the main staircase, so one of the American girls and I climbed the walls which weren't that steep, and there were always rocks jutting out within reach of whatever position we were at to make the climb easier, although we needed help to be pulled up onto the very top.

In college, it was completely different. We were one of two groups of fewer than 10 people each in the park so we were swarmed by the vendors wanting us to buy their stuff. View from the Sun was great - got to see it from all points, and I got to go up the Moon as well, which was scarier than the Sun as it was steeper and the steps were smaller (I'm told that the steps were small so that you would always have to approach at an angle, which was respectful since the tops were holy places). It was pretty terrifying coming down - I came down on my butt, letting myself down a step at a time. One of the pictures shows the Moon now has a hand rail. I could have used that back then.

TlalocW