One Entrance, Two Paths: The Noble and Service Routes in the Great Pyramid
On proceeding forty stadia from the city, one comes to a kind of mountain-brow; on it are numerous pyramids, the tombs of kings, of which three are noteworthy; and two of these are even numbered among the Seven Wonders of the World, for they are a stadium in height, are quadrangular in shape, and their height is a little greater than the length of each of the sides; and one of them is only a little larger than the other. High up, approximately midway between the sides, it has a movable stone, and when this is raised up there is a sloping passage to the vault. The Geography of Strabo, Book XVI [Loeb Classical Library, 1932, pp 90-93]
Actually, for the smaller stones, 2.5 tons avg. the
shadouf with a sliding counter weight might have been
possible. Be interesting experiment.
