38.
We follow the cobbled road on its
gently sloping uphill climb through the northern edge of the Giza Plateau. In
the desert darkness, the three pyramids loom over us not like huge, triangular
piles of seventy-ton blocks of solid Aswan limestone, but instead, sheer
mountains that dominate the landscape. Hooking a right, Sameh drives off-road
and heads across the flat desert past some rectangular ruins of what was once a
temple and beside it, a settlement constructed for the Egyptian workers who
were conscripted to build the great pyramids. Moments later we arrive at
Menkaure’s tomb.
As promised, there are two guards
watching over the pyramid’s entrance.
They occupy a piece of ground about
ten feet in front of the tomb door. It’s protected by a small wall-less hut
constructe
