EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS

FIRST PYRAMID….. AROUND 2630 BC, KING DJOSER ASKED IMHOTEP, A ARCHITECT, PRIEST AND HEALER, TO DESIGN A FUNERARY MONUMENT FOR HIM. THE RESULT WAS THE FIRST MAJOR STONE BUILDING: THE STEP-PYRAMID AT SAQQARA, NEAR MEMPHIS.

JUST A MONUMENT?? ARE THE PYRAMIDS JUST A MONUMENT CREATED FOR AND BY KINGS, SO THAT THEY WOULD BE REMEMBERED? OR ARE THEY SOMETHING MORE?

WHY A PYRAMID? BURIAL CUSTOMS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIANS DEVELOPED OVER TIME. STARTED WITH A SHALLOW PIT GRAVE TOPPED WITH A MOUND OF ROUGH STONES BUILT OVER IT AS A MEMORIAL OR LANDMARK. THE WEALTHY ELITE DEVELOPED THIS INTO A MORE IMPRESSIVE TYPE OF TOMB, CALLED A MASTABA. THIS WAS ORIGINALLY SINGLE STOREY STRUCTURE MADE OF MUD BRICKS.

DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES…. MASTABA TOMBS EVOLVED TO CONTAIN AN UNDERGROUND BURIAL CHAMBER. THE UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS WERE GRADUALLY CUT DEEPER UNTIL THEY PASSED INTO THE BEDROCK.

THESE WERE FURTHER DEVELOPED INTO EXTENSIVE SUBTERRANEAN COMPLEXES, REACHED BY A STAIRWAY, AND CONTAINING MANY OTHER ROOMS. KING HOR-AHA OF THE FIRST DYNASTY BUILT A MASSIVE UNDERGROUND MASTABA TOMB COMPLEX IN HONOUR OF HIS MOTHER.

THE DJOSER STEP PYRAMID IS THE NEXT STEP IN THIS SEQUENCE. IT BEGAN AS A FLAT-ROOFED MASTABA TOMB. IT CONSISTED OF THREE PARTS: THE CHAPEL, THE PASSAGE, AND THE SEPULCHRAL VAULT. THE MONUMENT WAS EXPANDED IN A SERIES OF STAGES THAT RESULTED IN ITS PRESENT APPEARANCE IF A PYRAMID CONSISTING OF 6 STEPS, DECREASING IN SIZE. THE HEIGHT OF THIS MONUMENT IS 62M.

THE CHAMBERS THAT WERE BUILT UNDERGROUND WERE HIDDEN IN A MAZE OF TUNNELS WHICH WERE DESIGNED TO DISCOURAGE TOMB ROBBERS. THE TUNNELS TOTAL NEARLY 6KM IN LENGTH AND CONNECT TO A CENTRAL SHAFT 7M SQUARE AND 28M DEEP. THE CHAMBERS PROVIDED ROOM FOR THE KING’S BURIAL, THE BURIAL OF MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE STORAGE OF GRAVE GOODS AND OFFERINGS.

THE BIGGEST… THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA BUILT FOR EGYPTIAN PHARAOH KHUFU. BELIEVED TO HAVE TAKEN 10 – 20 YEARS AROUND 2560BC. IT WAS ORIGINALLY 146.5M TALL. THE TALLEST STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD FOR OVER 3,800 YEARS.

ORIGINALLY THE PYRAMID WAS COVERED IN CASING STONES THAT FORMED A SMOOTH OUTER SURFACE. WHAT WE SEE TODAY IS THE UNDERLYING CORE STRUCTURE. SOME CAN BE SEEN AROUND THE BASE. EACH BASE SIDE WAS 440 CUBITS, 230.4M LONG. THE MASS OF THE PYRAMID IS 5.9 MILLION TONNES. THE VOLUME OF THE PYRAMID IS ESTIMATED AT 2,500,000 CUBIC METERS.

EXTREMELY DEDICATED…… BASED ON THESE ESTIMATES, BUILDING THIS IN 20 YEARS WOULD INVOLVE INSTALLING APPROXIMATELY 800 TONNES OF STONE EVERY DAY. SINCE IT CONTAINS AN ESTIMATED 2.3 MILLION BLOCKS, COMPLETING THE BUILDING IN 20 YEARS WOULD INVOLVE MOVING AN AVERAGE OF MORE THAN 12 OF THE BLOCKS INTO PLACE EACH HOUR, DAY AND NIGHT.

SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. THE PYRAMID AT GIZA IS THE ONLY WONDER OF THE ANCIENT WORLD THAT IS STILL HERE TODAY.

LINK TO THE GODS WHY WOULD THOUSANDS OF MEN WORK DAY AND NIGHT TO CREATE A MONUMENT LIKE THIS?? THEY BELIEVED THAT THEIR KING OR PHARAOH WAS A LIVING GOD WHO LINKED THEIR LIVES WITH THOSE OF IMMORTALS. NOT JUST A SYMBOL OF REGAL POWER BUT A VISIBLE LINK BETWEEN EARTH AND HEAVEN.

THE SUN THE SHAPE OF THE PYRAMID IS THOUGHT TO BE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DESCENDING RAYS OF THE SUN. MOST WERE ALSO FACED WITH POLISHED, HIGHLY REFLECTIVE WHITE LIMESTONE, IN ORDER TO GIVE THEM A BRILLIANT APPEARANCE FROM A DISTANCE. ALL EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT ON THE WEST BANK OF THE NILE, WHICH AS THE SITE OF THE SETTING SUN WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE REALM OF THE DEAD IN EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY.

STILL BEING FOUND AS RECENTLY AS 2008, THEY ARE STILL FINDING PYRAMIDS. SOME PYRAMIDS ARE IN SUCH A BAD STATE THAT THEY APPEAR TO BE MOUNDS OF RUBBLE DUE TO POOR PRESERVATION OR BECAUSE THEY ARE SIMPLY BURIED IN SAND.

GREAT-PYRAMID?M=528E394DA93AE&S=UNDEFINED&F=1&FREE=FALSE GREAT-PYRAMID?M=528E394DA93AE&S=UNDEFINED&F=1&FREE=FALSE US-BUILDING-THE-PYRAMIDS?M=528E394DA93AE&S=UNDEFINED&F=1&FREE=FALSE US-BUILDING-THE-PYRAMIDS?M=528E394DA93AE&S=UNDEFINED&F=1&FREE=FALSE VIDEO SHOWING POSSIBLE CONSTRUCTION METHODS: QKNJM&FEATURE=IV&ANNOTATION_ID=ANNOTATION_98966 VIDEO SHOWING POSSIBLE CONSTRUCTION METHODS: QKNJM&FEATURE=IV&ANNOTATION_ID=ANNOTATION_98966