The+Egyptian+Pyramids

The Construction of the Egyptian Pyramids During the Old Kingdom
By : Marcus Miller



“This Pyramid has shimmered in the world’s imagination since the days of its creation. To Europe and the West it was an archetypal symbol of forgotten wisdoms standing at the edge of the known world, a thing so ancient and so perfect that it seemed, like God Himself, to measure out both time and space.” (Romer 2007 p. 13) Of all the ancient wonders on the planet, perhaps none are more mesmerizing than the Egyptian Pyramids. Is there anyone who stand at their base and not marvel in awe at their size and scope? One must use all of their imagination to try to comprehend the amount of manpower and energy that has gone into the creation of these grandiose structures. Perhaps the most famous of all pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is the largest of all the pyramids of the old kingdom. It is the one remaining wonder of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Why was it built? What purpose did it serve? To comprehend Giza though, it important to understand the pyramids that preceded it.

The first thing that must be done to understand the pyramids is to understand the importance of death in Egyptian culture. Death was just as important as life; it was just another part of the grand cycle. It's almost ironic that so much of life was spent preparing for the afterlife. The pyramids were just part of this preparation. Pyramids were elaborate tombs built to prepare Pharaohs for the afterlife. They were specifically for the social elite. Peasants and normal civilians were not given this kind of elaborate burial. Everything about them was made to help this fact. The internal corridors of the pyramid would allow the spirit of the pharaoh to rise and communicate with his fellow gods in the heavens. (Smith 2004 p. 45) Inside the pyramid, chambers would be elaborately decorated and filled with goods ranging from food to furniture. Special vents were used to make sure that the structures were always in line with the north star, which is where heaven was believed to be located.  It’s thought that the pyramids were built in tribute of Benben, the mound that rose from the waters and on what the world was formed. Mastabas were first made to mimic this, and then gradually this gave rise to the shape of the pyramids. The triangular shape of the structures is supposed to mimic the rays of the sun. (Metropolitan 1999, p. 30-31). The pharaoh would ascend on these rays like a set of stairs; they would be the first step in the journey of the afterlife. The pharaoh would have to reunite his Ba and Ka in the heavens. Everything about the pyramids was carefully planned, the artistic merit of them cannot be denied.

Mastabas
 Before the pyramid, there was the mastaba. Mastabas are flat roofed structures with outward sloping sides that are typically rectangular. Used mainly in the 2nd dynasty, like pyramids, they were used to bury the social elite. Mastabas were typically made of mud dried bricks. The area surrounding the Nile was the source of most of these bricks. Mastabas served a similar religious purpose in comparison to pyramids. They were probably built to imitate the ordinary dwellings of the archaic period. (Stewart 1971, p. 35) These structures are frequently found in the area’s surrounding larger pyramids. Several can be found around the Step Pyramid. Also like the pyramids, mastaba had underground passages where the body of the pharaoh would be placed after mummification. This could also be the start of the tradition of leaving a room filled with goods that would help the deceased with their afterlife.

The Step Pyramid
The first known pyramid is the tomb of the Pharaoh Djoser. It was built during the 3rd dynasty under the rule of Djoser. His rule lasted between nineteen and twenty-nine years. The structure originally started out as a Mastaba but was expanded during construction. It is believed that it was expanded a total of six times, one for each step. (Romer 2009, p 245) In its final form, it stood at a height of two hundred feet. It was made up of six separate mastabas of decreasing size stacked on each other. This is what gives the structure its name “The Step Pyramid”. The pyramid is inside an elaborate enclosure, which is just as much of an architectural foot as the pyramid itself. The entire complex is made primarily of limestone, and is one of the first examples of complex stone architecture in human history. The complex has the largest amount of underground tunnels of any of the pyramids. It’s not clear if the if the structure was originally was intended to be a pyramid, although the fact that the original mastaba was square instead of rectangular indicates that it’s a possibility that it was planned from the beginning. **The primary designer of the step pyramid is thought to be Imhotep, although it’s interesting that he is never actually credited in Egyptian history as the architect. This may be because of the fact that Egyptians did not see art as the work of a singular person. (Romer 2009, p. 246) The complex would be the precursor to the pyramids that would be built during the 4th, 5th, and 6th dynasties. Unfortunately the complex has never been seen by the western world in its full glory. By the time it was seen by Napoleon in 178 it had already been robbed of most of its limestone. The sketches that appear in his chronicle //History of the Expedition // show the Step Pyramid as it appears today. (Smith 2004, p. 60) Many of the buildings surrounding the pyramid have been dismantled and there has been significant erosion on the structure itself. 

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The Three Pyramids of Sneferu
The Step Pyramid would be the first and biggest step in the direction of the large and smooth sided pyramid that we commonly think of. Following on the lead that Imhotep set, the pharaoh Sneferu would begin work on not one, but three separate pyramids. Almost 8 million tons of stone were used in the construction of these three pyramids. (Romer 2007, p. 264) This is one of the largest stone projects to have ever taken place in human history. The first of these projects would be the Medium Pyramid. Located thirty five miles south of the Djoser Step Pyramid, it is named after the small town it is located near. Like the Djoser Pyramid, it would also be constructed of layered mastabas. Unlike Djoser, there was not a large complex of buildings built around the feature. The pyramid was built without the plan for an enclosure, which made expansion much easier. It had a total of eight steps, and reached a height of two hundred and seventy feet. The project took roughly fifteen years to complete. It’s debated whether construction of the site was started by Huni, but as his name doesn’t appear anywhere on the site, most Egyptologists attribute the building to Sneferu. The next pyramid to be built would be the Bent Pyramid. Unfortunately, a few unforeseen fundamental flaws would keep the structure from ever being completed. It would also happen to be an extremely innovative and would influence the future of all constructed pyramids. The weight of the pyramids and the shifting sands underneath would cause uneven pressure to be placed up on the base. This caused sinking along the base. Measures were taken to try to save the structure, and these would help in the planning and execution in the building of the Great Pyramid. This pyramid is most well known for it’s bent shape. The architects found that the pyramid was built at too sharp of an angle and tried to lessen it to spread out the weight of the object. This gave the pyramid a slanted shape at it's top, which is it's strongest identifying feature. The third pyramid built under the rule of Sneferu would be the Red pyramid. The amazing thing is that it was built in roughly eleven years. It was a culmination of all the skills learned from building the Medium and Bent Pyramids. It was slanted at forty five degrees to allow even pressure to be spread out upon a wide base. It’s estimated that forty thousand workers worked on the Red Pyramid when it first started construction.

The Great Pyramid
The largest and perhaps most famous of all the pyramids is The Great Pyramid. It is the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World. It is a masterwork of architecture and construction. It is the culmination of what was learned in all the previous pyramids. The pyramid is estimated to weigh 5.9 million tons. At it’s completion it stood just short of five hundred feet tall. Due to erosion though, it now is only roughly four hundred and fifty feet. It was the tallest structure in the world for almost four thousand years. (Romer 2007, p. 256). Work on the pyramid was commissioned by the Khufu, who was a pharaoh of the 4th dynasty. It’s interior was a unique design choice, unseen in previous pyramids. Instead of a descending chamber that went beneath the structure, it is the first pyramid to have a chamber that was built into the very heart of it. It is also impressive how the pyramid was astronomically aligned. It was perfect in its placement in relation to the heavens. It required an extremely good understanding of the concepts of geometry and architecture. It’s location was carefully chosen for the hard ground underneath. The pyramid would have no chance of suffering the same fate as the second project of Sneferu. The Great Pyramid also goes to show how far along Egypt had developed societal. To feed and managed over two hundred thousand workers is no easy task. Workers would work for salary or a means to pay taxes. (Steward 1971, p. 187) Entire camps were set up along it’s base during it’s construction, and people would migrate from all over to take part in the construction of the feature. It’s a commonly held misconception that slave labor was the primary source of labor in its construction. The pyramid was surrounded by a myriad of buildings, some as tribute to the pharaoh, others as facilities and homes for the workers.

Conclusion
The pyramids are a testament to the will of men. They are a showing of the power of society, of the will of complexity. They stand ominous in the desert sands, forever guarding the souls of the men once buried inside of them. Ever since their discovery by the Western World they have been almost a site of pilgrimage. One must stand in amazement at the amount of resources that went into the building of these. This paper only briefly covers a few of the more famous pyramids. There have so far been one hundred and eighteen discovered. (Egypt Pyramid Index). They show the level of complexity that was prevalent in Egyptian culture. They just go to show that the world is only as complex as the technology that is present, and that the true weight of a society rest in the hands of its people and rulers. It’s almost too easy think of them as standing forever, as everlasting as the gods they protect, forever against the shimmering desert sands. The modern world may ask why build such a thing, but the answer is simple. "There is no intrinsic profit in building a pyramid, of course, other than the act of building in itself, in which the power of government is made manifest. [The pyramid] was made larger because the increasing efficiency of the state building force could make it so; quite simple, the tendency of the early pyramid-makers to build ever larger monuments reflect the growing efficacy of the state's systems of supply; that, and the longevity of a few pharaohs." (Romer 2007, pg 269-270).

Works Cited > 3. Romer, John. //The Great Pyramid Ancient Egypt Revisited//. New York: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print. 4. Smith, Craig B. //How The Great Pyramid Was Built//. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2004. Print. 5. Steward, Desmond. //The Pyramids And Sphinx//. New York: Newsweek, 1971. Print.
 * 1) Art, Metropolitan Museum of. //Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids//. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, 1999. Print.
 * 2) Egypt Pyramids Index." //Egypt// //Travel, Tours, Vacations, Ancient Egypt from Tour Egypt//. Web. 09 Dec. 2009. .