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WonderHistory fact

Cleopatra lived closer in time to the first Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza. About 2,500 years separate her from the pyramid, and about 2,000 from Apollo 11.

Historical chronology

History

The story behind the card

The Great Pyramid was built for the pharaoh Khufu and completed around 2560 BCE. Cleopatra VII, who died in 30 BCE, was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek-speaking family descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals, which had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries. By her time the pyramids were already sights for travellers: the Greek historian Herodotus had visited Egypt about four centuries earlier and recorded what local guides told him about their builders. The Great Pyramid remained the tallest structure on Earth for some 3,800 years, until the spire of Lincoln Cathedral overtook it around 1311. Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969.

Türkçe oku
Kleopatra'nın yaşadığı dönem, insanın Ay'a ilk ayak basışına, Giza'daki Büyük Piramit'in yapılışından daha yakındır. Kleopatra'yı piramitten yaklaşık 2.500 yıl, Apollo 11'den ise yaklaşık 2.000 yıl ayırır.

Büyük Piramit, firavun Keops (Hufu) için yapıldı ve MÖ 2560 dolaylarında tamamlandı. MÖ 30'da ölen VII. Kleopatra, Mısır'ı yaklaşık üç yüzyıl yöneten Ptolemaios hanedanının son hükümdarıydı; Yunanca konuşan bu aile, Büyük İskender'in komutanlarından birinin soyundan geliyordu. Onun zamanında piramitler çoktan gezginlerin görmeye geldiği yerlerdi: Yunan tarihçi Herodotos, Mısır'ı yaklaşık dört yüzyıl önce ziyaret etmiş ve yerel rehberlerin piramitlerin yapıcıları hakkında anlattıklarını yazıya geçirmişti. Büyük Piramit, 1311 dolaylarında Lincoln Katedrali'nin kulesi onu geçene kadar, yaklaşık 3.800 yıl boyunca dünyanın en yüksek yapısı olarak kaldı. Apollo 11 ise 20 Temmuz 1969'da Ay'a indi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Cleopatra
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The Great Pyramid of Giza was built for the pharaoh Khufu around 2600 BC. When the Greek historian Herodotus wrote about it, around 450 BC, it was already more than 2,000 years old.

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