Pyramids Of The Egypt
Overview
Built during a time when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world, the pyramids—especially the Great Pyramids of Giza—are some of the most magnificent man-made structures in history. Their massive scale reflects the unique role that the pharaoh, or king, played in ancient Egyptian society. Though pyramids were built from the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the close of the Ptolemaic period in the fourth century A.D., the peak of pyramid building began with the late third dynasty and continued until roughly the sixth (c. 2325 B.C.). More than 4,000 years later, the Egyptian pyramids still retain much of their majesty, providing a glimpse into the country’s rich and glorious past.
Did You Know?
Ancient
Egyptians believed that when the king died, part of his spirit (known as “ka”)
remained with his body. To properly care for his spirit, the corpse was
mummified, and everything the king would need in the afterlife was buried with
him, including gold vessels, food, furniture, and other offerings. The pyramids
became the focus of a cult of the dead king that was supposed to continue well
after his death. Their riches would provide not only for him, but also for the
relatives, officials and priests who were buried near him.
The Great
Pyramid of Giza
No pyramids
are more celebrated than the Great Pyramids of Giza, located on a plateau on
the west bank of the Nile River, on the outskirts of modern-day Cairo. The
oldest and largest of the three pyramids at Giza, known as the Great Pyramid, is the only surviving structure out of the
famed Seven Wonders of The Ancient World. It was built for Pharaoh
Khufu (Cheops, in Greek), Sneferu’s successor and the second of the eight kings
of the fourth dynasty. Though Khufu reigned for 23 years (2589-2566 B.C.),
relatively little is known of his reign beyond the grandeur of his pyramid. The
sides of the pyramid’s base average 755.75 feet (230 meters), and its original
height was 481.4 feet (147 meters), making it the largest pyramid in the world.
Three small pyramids built for Khufu’s queens are lined up next to the Great
Pyramid, and a tomb was found nearby containing the empty sarcophagus of his
mother, Queen Hetepheres. Like other pyramids, Khufu’s is surrounded by rows of
mastabas, where relatives or officials of the king were buried to accompany and
support him in the afterlife.
Who Built The
Pyramids?
Though some
popular versions of history held that the pyramids were built by slaves or
foreigners forced into labor, skeletons excavated from the area show that the
workers were probably native Egyptian agricultural laborers who worked on the
pyramids during the time of year when the Nile River flooded much of the land
nearby. Approximately 2.3 million blocks of stone (averaging about 2.5 tons
each) had to be cut, transported and assembled to build Khufu’s Great Pyramid.
The Ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that it took 20 years to build and
required the labor of 100,000 men, but later archaeological evidence suggests
that the workforce might actually have been around 20,000.
The End of the Pyramid Era
Pyramids
continued to be built throughout the fifth and sixth dynasties, but the general
quality and scale of their construction declined over this period, along with
the power and wealth of the kings themselves. In the later Old Kingdom
pyramids, beginning with that of King Unas (2375-2345 B.C), pyramid builders
began to inscribe written accounts of events in the king’s reign on the walls
of the burial chamber and the rest of the pyramid’s interior. Known as pyramid
texts, these are the earliest significant religious compositions known from
ancient Egypt.
The last of
the great pyramid builders was Pepy II (2278-2184 B.C.), the second king of the
sixth dynasty, who came to power as a young boy and ruled for 94 years. By the
time of his rule, Old Kingdom prosperity was dwindling, and the pharaoh had
lost some of his quasi-divine status as the power of non-royal administrative
officials grew. Pepy II’s pyramid, built at Saqqara and completed some 30 years
into his reign, was much shorter (172 feet) than others of the Old Kingdom.
With Pepy’s death, the kingdom and strong central government virtually
collapsed, and Egypt entered a turbulent phase known as the First Intermediate
Period. Later kings, of the 12th dynasty, would return to pyramid building
during the so-called Middle Kingdom phase, but it was never on the same scale
as the Great Pyramids.
The Pyramids Today
Tomb robbers
and other vandals in both ancient and modern times removed most of the bodies
and funeral goods from Egypt’s pyramids and plundered their exteriors as well.
Stripped of most of their smooth white limestone coverings, the Great Pyramids
no longer reach their original heights; Khufu’s, for example, measures only 451
feet high. Nonetheless, millions of people continue to visit the pyramids each
year, drawn by their towering grandeur and the enduring allure of Egypt’s rich
and glorious past.