The ancient Egyptian pyramids
Are some of the most impressive structures built by humans in ancient times . Many of the pyramids still survive today for us to see and explore .
Why did they build the pyramids?
The pyramids were built as burial places and monuments to the Pharaohs .
As part of their religion , the Egyptians believed that the Pharaoh needed certain things to succeed in the afterlife .
Deep inside the pyramid the Pharaoh would be buried with all sorts of items and treasure that he may need to survive in the afterlife .
Types of Pyramids
Some of the earlier pyramids , called step pyramids , have large ledges every so often that look like giant steps .
Archaeologists think that the steps were built as stairways for the pharaoh to use to climb to the sun God .
Later pyramids have more sloping and flat sides .
These pyramids represent a mound that emerged at the beginning of time .
The sun god stood on the mound and created the other gods and goddesses .
How big were the pyramids?
There are around 138 Egyptian pyramids . Some of them are huge .
The largest is the Pyramid of Khufu , also called the Great Pyramid of Giza .
When it was first built it was over 480 feet tall . It was the tallest man-made structure for over 3800 years and is one of the seven wonders of the world . It’s estimated that this pyramid was made from 2.3 million blocks of rock weighing 5.9 million tons .
How did they build them ?
How the pyramids were built has been a mystery that archaeologists have been trying to solve for many years .
It is believed that thousands of slaves were used to cut up the large blocks and then slowly move them up the pyramid on ramps .
The pyramid would get slowly built , one block at a time . Scientists estimate it took at least 20,000 workers over 23 years to build the Great Pyramid of Giza .
Because it took so long to build them , Pharaohs generally started the construction of their pyramids as soon as they became ruler .
What’s inside the pyramids?
- Deep inside the pyramids lays the Pharaoh’s burial chamber which would be filled with treasure and items for the Pharaoh to use in the afterlife .
- The walls were often covered with carvings and paintings .
- Near the Pharaoh’s chamber would be other rooms where family members and servants were buried .
- There were often small rooms that acted as temples and larger rooms for storage .
Narrow passageways led to outside .
- Sometimes fake burial chambers or passages would be used to try and trick grave robbers .
- Because there was such valuable treasure buried within the pyramid , grave robbers would try to break in and steal the treasure .
- Despite the Egyptian’s efforts , nearly all of the pyramids were robbed of their treasures by 1000 B.C .
Fun facts about the Great Pyramids
- The Great Pyramid of Giza points very precisely to the north .
- The pyramids of Egypt are all built to the west of the Nile River . This is because the western side was associated with the land of the dead .
-The base of a pyramid was always a perfect square .
-They were built mostly of limestone .
-There were traps and curses put on the tombs and the pyramids to try and keep robbers out .
Comments
Post a Comment