The Egyptian Dream, the pyramids (Explorer)

THE PYRAMIDS

Mankind has always sought a way to become immortal. How can we surpass time ? How can we remain in people's memory for ever ? The Egyptians found a solution thousands of years ago. Who has never heard of the Egyptian pyramids ? Who has never seen them in picture or reality ? Nobody, for sure. Those gigantic buildings were built to last for eternity. That way, their pagan culture would be transmitted through years and remains in memories. Stories about the pyramids have also survived with its mysteries and real facts...

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First pyramid

The first known pyramid is the step pyramid of Saqqara which was pharaoh Djoser's tumb. It has been built by Imhotep, Djoser's architect. After having built the pyramid and the necropolis that surrounded it, Imhotep entered into the history of Ancient Egypt for ever. It's not a wonder that Imhotep was soon considered as a god. The step pyramid is the oldest stone building on this planet and it shows clearly that the Egyptians were really more advanced than any other civilization on Earth. This sudden leap in the construction technology led to many legends and stories that are still being debated today.

Saqqara

The pyramid was built during the reign of Djoser, pharaoh of the third dynasty who ruled in the period between 2700 and 2600BC. The main difference with other pyramids lies its shape (see picture). The pyramid was surrounded by a 555 by 227 meter wall. Though the whole complex is now about 4500 years old, it's still very well preserved.

A French architect called Philippe Lauer has spent about 70 years of his life to restore the necropolis. He came there as a young architect (when he was 25 years old) with his wife and immediately fell in love with Egypt's oldest building, the pyramid of Djoser. He's now too old to continue his work but he still comes 6 months a year in Saqqarah to keep an eye on the pyramid.

Between 2600 and 1800 BC, nearly each pharaoh built his own pyramid. Though the most famous pyramids are located in Giza and Saqqara, we have inherited 89 pyramids from the ancient Egyptian civilization. They're all located along the Nile river on more than 60 miles.

Each pyramid was supposed to reflect the power of a pharaoh and with a quick look, you can rapidly deduce that the pyramids which crumbled down belonged to unknown pharaohs.

Here is an overview of other well-preserved pyramids:

Giza

Those pyramids in the world are among the most famous. From left to right you can see the pyramid of Mycerinos, then the pyramid of Kheops (biggest pyramid of Egypt) and then the pyramid of Khephren. All those pyramids were built between 2625 and 2500 BC, 4th dynasty.

Dashur, Sneferu

The first pyramid is the pyramid of Dashur with its strange shape and the second one is the pyramid of Sneferu. (4th dynasty)

Meaning of the pyramid

When the pharaoh is dead, the sun extends its ray to reach the ground and create a kind of path to the sky. Pyramids were built to help the pharaoh to reach the sky, they were considered as steps that the pharaoh would climb until he reaches the sky. The pyramids are also the symbol of the original hills that came out of the water during the creation of the world. The sun god appeared there for the first time.

There are several theories about the function of the complex surrounding the pyramids. One of the most popular today is that those complexes were built as a ritual palace for the god pharaoh. They would fulfill the pharaoh's needs in the beyond. It appears now that the mummification of the dead pharaoh was made outside of this complex.

One of the most controversial question about pyramids today is how they have been constructed. If we have a closer look at the biggest pyramid in Egypt (Kheops), we are obliged to admit that the ancient Egyptian really mastered some technology that has never been equalled by any other civilization later on. The pyramid of Kheops has a height of 146 meters and a baseline of 230 meters. In total, about 2,3 millions blocks of stone were used to built it and the pyramid was built with an equal angle of 51°52 for each of its sides. This pyramid has been built 4500 years ago so this facts led to the most fantastic stories about the construction of the pyramids. On this site, you will find 2 theories. The first one is the theory coming from most archaeologists and the second one is the theory of Hancock and Beauval (see my page about it).

According to a majority of archaeologists, the heavy stone blocks used for the pyramids were brought by boat along the Nile river. Near each pyramid, a haven was contructed and there workers would unload the ships. It's obvious that thousands of workers were needed to build such a building, they were all under the responsibility of one single person who obeys the pharaoh. A kind of very long slope made of sand was built around the future pyramids were the heavy stones blocks would be pushed. When the pyramid top was reached, the building was nearly totally surrounded by sand slopes which were later on removed. Lots of calculations have been made around that theory but there are still some questions about the construction which have remained unanswered. It seems that the ancient Egyptian have taken their secrets into their tombs.

Construction

First possibility, step 1:

A stable ground structure is built upon the sand. A sand hill is built to bring the first rocks on the base structure of the building

Step 2:

A huge workforce is needed to pull the heavy stone on the growing sand hill.

Second possibility:

For a step pyramid like in Saqqara, the rocks would have been pulled along the sides of the pyramids. A sand hill was built on each floor of the pyramid. Of course, such a building also required a huge workforce.

Third possibility

In this case, the sand hill surrounding the whole pyramid is growing with the pyramid. The pyramid is then totally covered by sand when it is completed. When looking at the size of the pyramids, you can wonder how much sands was needed to create those artificial hills.

What can we find inside a pyramid ? Let's examine Cheops' pyramid. On the picture, you can see black, brown and red lines. Black lines represent the pyramid itself. The brown lines are very long corridors leading to the chambers. The red lines are the chambers or very small corridors leading to the outside. The lowest chamber, below the pyramid groundlevel, is an uncompleted funeral chamber, archaeologist believe it was built to represent the beyond. The highest chamber is the pharaoh's funeral chamber, the place where is buried in his sarcophagus. The walls were decorated by hieroglyphes summarizing the pharaoh's life. Two very small corridors were built to let the pharaoh's soul escape from the pyramid. A German engineer conceived a robot capable of moving in those corridors, he wanted to see where those corridors where leading. The corridors from the pharaoh's chamber led the robot to the outside of the pyramid. The engineer tried to explore the same small corridors from the Queen's chamber (below the pharaoh's chamber) and he discovered that the corridors were blocked just before they led out of the pyramid. This is still a mystery because nobody knows why the Queen's corridors were blocked. The second picture shows the inside of the pyramid of Sneferu

Inside a pyramid