Case file · Folklore / legend
Al-Ma'mun's tunnel into the Great Pyramid
The Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun is said to have forced a tunnel into the Great Pyramid around 820. Later Arabic tellers said his men found treasure, or a stone sarcophagus holding a body in golden armour.
820 CE · 29.98, 31.13 · status: legend
The sceptical view
The forced passage exists, but its date and author are uncertain, and the treasure stories are later embellishments.