this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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Actually, that thing with Kleopatra is only to the Great Pyramid.
Cleopatra (69 BCE-30 BCE) was born well AFTER the LAST pyramid was built in 2611 BCE.
? The last pyramid in Egypt (other cultures like the Nubians built their own) was built by Ahmose I in the mid to late 16th c. BCE, IINM. Not sure what you're thinking of for 2611 BCE, even the Giza pyramids are within the hundred years after that.
My Google research shows the Egyptian pyramids being built 2589 - 2611 BCE.
So you mean the oldest pyramid, not the last? The pyramids in Egypt were built starting around ~2660 BCE up until ~1530 BCE, with the 3 in Giza through 2600 to 2530 BCE, roughly. All dates give or take maybe 10 years. The dates you have would likely be a range for the first of the 3 pyramids in Giza.
But ~500 years is less than ~2000 years.
Incorrect.
Cleopatra lived from ~70BCE to ~30BCE.
The iPhone was released in September of 2007, slightly over 2037 years after her death.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, tomb of Khufu, was built ~2600BCE, making it some 2530 years old when Cleopatra was born. So the statement "Cleopatra was closer in time to the iPhone than the construction of the Great Pyramid" is correct. But, the Great Pyramid is the largest and heaviest, but not the oldest, of the ancient Egyptian pyramids. So, the same can be said for the dozen or so pyramids built before, to include the Bent and Red pyramids of Dahshur, the Meidum pyramid, and Djoser's stepped pyramid.
You've also got 500 years after the Great Pyramid as well, which covers the rest of the Giza necropolis (with the possible exception of the Sphinx), right on up to Pepi II with room to spare. There are some pyramids newer than ~2000BCE but they're smaller, not as well built, most are ruined.
What's wild is how short the pyramid construction craze was. Both pyramids ad Dahshur and the pyramid of Meidum, and their complexes, were built during the reign of Sneferu, partially simulteneously. Djedefre and Khafre were brothers, so they're pyramids were constructed either simultaneously or in very quick succession. The entire Giza necropolis including the two largest pyramids ever built was done start to finish in approximately 85 years. One human could have lived to watch the whole thing. The Great Pyramid itself was built in 20 years. And they did it with human muscle and copper chisels.
If we go to something like the discovery of electricity or the founding of the United States, we can say without qualifications that event was closer to Cleopatra's life than the construction of anything we would call an "Ancient Egyptian Pyramid."
What about the Not-as-great pyramid?
Which is all of them; the Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest pyramid ever built by man, and I'm pretty sure it was the single heaviest structure built by humans until certain hydroelectric dams built in the 20th century.
The second largest pyramid is only a couple hundred feet away, Khafre's pyramid. Khafre's pyramid is the middle of the three Giza pyramids, it's the one that has some of its casing stones left on the top. It is somewhat smaller, the base isn't as wide and it's at a slightly shallower angle, so it isn't as high. To partially compensate for this, it was built uphill from Khufu's pyramid to hide the size difference somewhat, and since antiquity several courses of stones have been removed from the peak of Khufu's pyramid, slightly shortening it, but Khufu's pyramid still stands higher above sea level than Khafre's pyramid.
The third Giza pyramid, Menkaure's pyramid, is much smaller, though about a third of its height was cased in granite rather than limestone. Something incredibly stupid happened to Menkaure's sarcophagus. You've probably seen a picture of what's left of Khufu's sarcophagus, a plain, partially ruined granite box with the lid entirely missing. Khafre's sarcophagus is intact, almost mysteriously so, it was set into the floor and the lid had a locking mechanism that apparently wasn't defeated, yet the lid stands open. Menkaure's pyramid used to contain a beautifully carved basalt sarcophagus, but in the 1800s the British decided to take it back to England, and then the ship wrecked and it was lost to sea.