Giza Pyramids
Site, Cairo and Giza · also called Giza Plateau, Giza Necropolis, Pyramids of Giza, Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx
The three pyramids of Giza are almost bare of writing, but the tombs of the royal family and officials around them are full of hieroglyphs. Here you see Old Kingdom writing at its cleanest: names, titles and offering formulas from the courts of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.
The Giza plateau holds the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, built c. 2560 to 2500 BC, with the Great Sphinx and hundreds of tombs. The kings are named mostly by others: their officials and family wrote the royal names into their own titles and into the names of estates.
The writing is in the cemeteries. Around the Great Pyramid lie streets of mastabas, stone tombs for princes, queens and officials. Their chapels have false doors with the owner's name and titles, and the offering formula asking for bread, beer and cattle for the dead.
At Giza Pyramids
Great Pyramid of Khufu
The Great Pyramid, built for Khufu c. 2560 BC, has no ancient texts in the rooms visitors see. Its writing is hidden: workers' marks with Khufu's name above the King's Chamber, and a hieroglyphic text from 1842 above the entrance.
MonumentGreat Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx carries no inscription of its own, but between its paws stands the Dream Stela of Thutmose IV, the most famous text at Giza. It tells how the Sphinx, as the god Horemakhet, promised a prince the throne.
MonumentTomb of Meresankh III
The rock-cut chapel of Queen Meresankh III, granddaughter of Khufu and wife of Khafre, has the best-kept painted hieroglyphs at Giza. Her names and titles fill the walls, and a text at the door records when she died and when she was buried.
What to see and read
Great Pyramid of Khufu
No ancient writing in the rooms visitors see. Above the entrance is a hieroglyphic text carved in 1842 by a Prussian expedition.
Great Sphinx and the Dream Stela
Between the Sphinx's paws stands the Dream Stela of Thutmose IV, telling how the Sphinx promised him the throne in a dream.
Tomb of Meresankh III
A rock-cut chapel with bright painted reliefs and a door text dating the queen's death and burial. Open in rotation.
Mastaba fields
The Western and Eastern Cemeteries hold the tombs of the court. Look for false doors with the owner's name on every jamb, and offering lists in neat grids.
Names you can find here
Signs to look for
- Placenta Aa1ḫ The placenta (kh) starts Khufu's name, ḫwfw, in the titles of his officials.
- Quail chick G43w The quail chick (w) appears twice in Khufu's name.
- Sun rising over a hill N28ḫꜥ The rising sun (kha) opens Khafre's name, also inside officials' names.
- Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Bread on a mat starts the offering formula, ḥtp-dj-nsw, on every false door.
- Sedge M23sw The sedge (nsw, 'king') follows: 'an offering that the king gives'.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- Ask at the ticket office which mastabas are open, and whether they need a separate ticket.
- Visit tombs early, when side light shows the carving best.
- On weathered false doors, trace over your photo in Hiero Lens: it beats the live camera on worn stone.
Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Are there hieroglyphs inside the Giza pyramids?
Not in the rooms you can visit. Kings only began writing texts inside their pyramids with Unas at Saqqara, about two centuries later.
Do the Giza tombs need a separate ticket?
Some do. The tombs open in rotation, so ask at the ticket office which are open on the day you visit.
Who built the Sphinx?
It is usually attributed to Khafre, because it sits beside his causeway and valley temple. No ancient text on it names its builder.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.