The Egyptian Pyramids

The people of Egypt willingly labored to build these monuments for their rulers, believing that, as gods, the pharaohs had to be properly provided for in their afterlife. The Step Pyramid was built around 2630 B.C. It exhibited a radical new shape never before used, and it was so new the Egyptians used its silhouettes as the hieroglyphic for “primeval mound”, the first piece of earth to emerge from the soup of creation (Malek 90). King Djoser's chief architect for his pyramid was Imhotep. It is thought that King Djoser's stone tomb started out having the standard shape of a mastaba.

Egyptian architecture is characterized by it’s huge scale, heavy walls and supports. Those characteristics, as well as its simple cubic masses, sense of weight, solidity, and permanence were the building blocks of our modern architecture. The pyramid of Khufu, for example, it contains over 2,300,000 stones and has a base of 7 city blocks, or 568,500 sq. ft. One of the sides of the base is equal to more than two football fields and weights 6.5 million tons. Each stone weighs approximately 2.5 tons and is 481 feet tall.

Their belief was that the top point of the pyramid was the gate for the soul to travel to the afterlife and return to earth if chosen. These tombs were built which line up with planets and certain stars. One of the greatest cultural successes of Ancient Egypt was certainly in their architecture related with religion. Fumeaux mention, "Temples, tombs and pyramids - all have witnessed this earth for thousands of years. What better than to say that these architectural achievements show us that Egypt's greatest virtue lay in its architecture"[1] "The Egyptian sun god Ra, considered the father of all pharaohs, was said to have created himself from a pyramid-shaped mound of earth before creating all other gods.

Stone was, therefore, the material from which temples and tombs were built, the finest and most graters examples are the construction of the pyramid. These two factors, belong to the religious and architecture of ancient Egypt, do nothing else but prove its greatness of what we have this days. "...the Egyptians made their complex hierarchy of Gods, and their strange religion. In the service of that religion they made their architecture" (Romer: 75, 1982). These pyramids were built to protect the bodies Of Egyptian kings and other royalty but before the pyramids became the standard for burials, tombs were used for Egypt's early rulers, nobles, and other high

The first know pyramid is the Step Pyramid. A step pyramid has very large edges that look like giant steps(Ancient). Archeologist say that the steps were used by pharaohs to climb to the sun god.The first pyramid was made by the pharaoh Djoser in 2630 B.C.(Logan). Many ask why the pyramids were built and there are many different ways to explain, but the best way is simply that they were stone tombs in which the body of the pharaoh(ruler of Egypt) could live in the afterlife(Sen)(Barrow). The pyramids have changed since the first step-pyramid was built.

Eventually, during the period of the New Kingdom (2628-1638 BC), Pharaohs were buried in tombs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes, Egypt. In the Old and Middle Kingdoms Pharaohs were buried in pyramids. As of now, there are about fifty royal pyramids that have survived from thieves. In these royal pyramids, the tomb walls were completely filled with paintings that illustrated scenes of the deceased personal life. Pyramids of ancient Egypt are the most famous tombs up to this day.

Ancient Egyptian Religious Architecture One of the greatest cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt was undoubtedly in their architecture associated with religion. "Temples, tombs and pyramids - all have witnessed this earth for thousands of years. What better than to say that these architectural achievements show us that Egypt's greatest virtue lay in its architecture" (Fumeaux:11, 1964) When one travels to Egypt, what does he/she see - pyramid after temple after tomb, each standing the test of time. One stands out - they are all associated with religious beliefs, they all have stood unmoving for thousands of years, and they all involve mechanical genius- the moving of colossal stones without the use of the wheel. The finest example such mechanics is shown in the construction of the revered pyramid.

Snefru was a major pharaoh that constructed the process of building his pyramid known as the Bent pyramid. This pyramid, which was previously stated, had a case design instead of a step pyramid (Hill, 2008). This pyramid reflected how much work and craft went into the pyramid because of how much the Egyptians looked up to the pharaoh/king and gods. Khufu was a king that ruled over the Egyptians from 2551 to 2528 BC and his pyramid was most commonly known as Pyramid Giza (Smith 2004, 86). Since his pyramid was the biggest pyramid ever built, with an area of 53,000 square meters and 146.6 meters high, he must have been a major king who did a lot while he reigned over Egyptian society (Smith 2004, 86).

The man being portrayed, King Khafre, ruled Egypt for approximately thirty years, during which he commissioned the single most recognizable monuments of Egypt, the a fore mentioned Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. These monuments of symmetry and solidity characterize the focus of popular architecture and sculpture from the Old Kingdom in Egypt. Two main devices used in Egyptian art from the fourth dynasty, that also help classify it, are a strive for naturalism and the use of sculpture in the round. In addition to the large burial monuments being built, portraiture became quite popular at this time in history. Paintings featuring humans used their own form of "sculpture in the round" by painting in ... ... middle of paper ... ...ars after Khafre’s reign, the fourth dynasty was just the beginning.

The Pyramids of the Ancient Egyptians Pyramids, large structures with four triangular sides that meet in a point at the top, directly over the center of the pyramid’s square base. Ancient peoples in several parts of the world built pyramids, but the Egyptians constructed the biggest and most famous pyramids, with which this essay deals. The ancient Egyptians built more than 90 royal pyramids, from about 2630 BC until about 1530 BC. During this time, the pyramid form evolved from a series of stepped terraces that resembled the layers of a wedding cake to most of the world, sloped pyramidal shape. The first pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Şaqqārah, was constructed during the reign of King Djoser (2630 BC-2611 BC).