# Pub Quiz Question - Where is the largest pyramid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335 "2005-04-27T07:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gaius.Cornelius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gaius.Cornelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaius.Cornelius)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/1 "2005-04-27T07:34:39Z")
At a pub quiz last night, one question was “Where is the largest pyramid?” The official answer was “Mexico”, is that right? ---
**Author:** ![shefDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@shefDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shefDave)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/2 "2005-04-27T07:38:57Z")
[Guiness World Records agrees](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=49729) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/3 "2005-04-27T07:54:35Z")
Its also called “The Pyramid of the Sun.” The new world pyramids are different than the ones in Asia. Most are solid, being built over a mound of dirt. There is one at Chichen Itza, that does have some tunnels through it, but they are just that tunnels around the dirt mound. Another difference is that they are built according to the position of the sun. The one at Chichen Itza casts a shadow at noon on the spring Equinox that looks like the feathered serpent, Quetzalcóatl. Ok, you may carry on now… ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/4 "2005-04-27T08:03:39Z")
Well, that’s a new little factoid for me! I did a quick search trying to find a picture of this edifice, and found that you could argue the point - the Cholula pyramid is mostly destroyed, and looks like a hill more than anything else. This has some nice pics of pyramids in Mexico - the Cholula “pyramid” is the tree-covered hill with a church on top. [http://www.crystalinks.com/mexico.html](http://www.crystalinks.com/mexico.html) This has a decent photogallery of the site, with a pic of a model in the museum showing what the pyramid would originally have looked like: [http://www.delange.org/Cholula2/Cholula2.htm](http://www.delange.org/Cholula2/Cholula2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/5 "2005-04-27T12:58:48Z")
> [@Gaius.Cornelius](#): > > At a pub quiz last night, one question was “Where is the largest pyramid?” The official answer was “Mexico”, is that right? BIG QUIBBLE: The official answer is right but wrong. IMHO The 'Pyramids of Latin America are mounds of dirt and rock whether natural or man made with a facade of cut stone. The Great Pyramid of Egypt is an out and out man made structure of cut and hewn stone siting on a leveled flat base/foundation of bed rock! ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/6 "2005-04-27T14:42:23Z")
> [@](#): > > The new world pyramids are different than the ones in Asia. What are the ones in Asia? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/7 "2005-04-27T14:59:53Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > The new world pyramids are different than the ones in Asia. > [@sqweels](#): > > What are the ones in Asia? 😕 [Ziggurats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat). Though in Mesopotamia there were not as many as in Egypt, which is nowadays considered to be in Africa (but not necessarily in Ancient times, Greeks often referred to Nile river as continental border). [Over 100 pyramids in Egypt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids). Anyway, more proper would be to talk about Old World pyramids. ---
**Author:** ![Gaius.Cornelius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gaius.Cornelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaius.Cornelius)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/8 "2005-04-27T16:36:00Z")
Thanks for all the replies, it seems the official answer, Mexico, was the right one even though the pyramid in question is mostly an mound of earth. Gotta love the pub quiz: beer and education! ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/9 "2005-04-27T17:18:27Z")
> [@Eurograff](#): > > [Ziggurats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat). Though in Mesopotamia there were not as many as in Egypt, which is nowadays considered to be in Africa (but not necessarily in Ancient times, Greeks often referred to Nile river as continental border). [Over 100 pyramids in Egypt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids). Anyway, more proper would be to talk about Old World pyramids. There are also pyramids in [China](http://www.crystalinks.com/pyramidchina.html). ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pub-quiz-question-where-is-the-largest-pyramid/301335/10 "2005-04-28T14:36:30Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > BIG QUIBBLE: The official answer is right but wrong. IMHO > The 'Pyramids of Latin America are mounds of dirt and rock whether natural or man made with a facade of cut stone. > The Great Pyramid of Egypt is an out and out man made structure of cut and hewn stone siting on a leveled flat base/foundation of bed rock! I believe that’s true of the larger Aztec pyramids (which I still think are pyramids regardless of construction method), but my understanding of most Mayan pyramids is that they were stone on stone foundations. The Copan complex , for example, is believed to be built upon the foundations of an earlier city. The Mayans appear to have been taking down parts of their cities and building them up according to cycles in their calendar. The Moche and Olmec appear to have used adobe and mud bricks in constructing their pyramids. The huge pyramid Tlachihualtepetl at Cholula, which may have been the one referenced in the quiz Q, certainly has some stone construction at the base (not sure to what degree this is foundational) and was covered with dirt to “hide” it from the Spanish (who stuck a church atop it in any event.)