Pyramid Power Building the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt

Zoe McQuinn (Royal Ontario Museum, U of T, WLU)

Diodorus Siculus

Library of History I. 62.5.

These Pyramids, which are situated on the side of Egypt which is towards Libya, by the immensity of their structures and the skill shown in their execution they fill

the beholder with wonder and astonishment.

Who built the Pyramids?

Alien Evidence

Archaeological Evidence

Egyptian Pyramids

* Statement of Pharaonic Power

* Represent religious concepts that are

fundamental to Egyptian psyche

* Stairway to heaven (PT Spell 267)

* Ladder to the sky (PT Spells 271, 305)

* Sun's rays (PT Spells 508, 523)

Building to the Pyramids

The Evolution of Egyptian Royal Funerary

Architecture

Early Dynastic Royal Tombs at Abydos

Architecture as Statement

of Royal Power

• Serekh and the palace-façade

o Recessed niches used to decorate the exterior façade of royal palace

o Symbol of royal authority

• Royal Burial

o Mortuary complex major building project of each reign of Early Dynastic Period

o Conflicting factors of Remoteness and Visibility

Early Dynastic Royal Tombs at Abydos

Narmer

Aha

The Royal Tomb

Early Dynastic Royal Tombs at Abydos

Royal Funerary Enclosures at Abydos

Interpretations:

• Open Court for royal display

• Mortuary tent

Mortuary Temple of Peribsen at Abydos • 108m x 55 m

• Three entrances

• Shrine 12.3 m x 9.75 m SE

Shunet el-Zebib: Enclosure of Khasekhemwy

• 124 m x 56 m

• Chapels, benches,

incense and beer jars

• 12 Boat pits (19-29m)

Archaic Mastaba of Saqqara • the Arabic, 'bench‘ • the massive

rectangular structures found above tombs

• often have rooms for offerings inside

• structures decorated with a housepalace facade

• Usually one or more shafts lead from the mastaba core to the burial chamber

Mastaba 3504 at Saqqara

Tomb of Hemaka

Mastaba 3038 at

Saqqara

First Pyramid Steps of Imhotep

Step Pyramid Complex

Step Pyramid of Djoser Netjerikhet

Architect: Imhotep

The Great Court

Heb-Sed Court

House of the North and House of the South

House of the

North

House of the South

North Court

Northern Temple

Serdab

Serdab

Step Pyramid of

Netjerikhet

Leaning Accretion Layers

Rough Shaped Stones and Layers of Tafla

Step Pyramid of

Netjerikhet

Scene from Step

Pyramid of Netjerikhet

The South Tomb

Reconstruction

since 1992

Sekhemkhet

Zakaria Goneim 1952

Mysterious Small Step

Pyramid of Huni at

Elephantine

Greatest Pyramid Builder

Snefru and his Great Experiments

Meidum Pyramid: Sneferu

Meidum Pyramid

65m (93.5m)

51°

Bent Pyramid • 101.1 m

• 54° (lower)

• 43° (upper)

Red Pyramid of Dahshur (104m, 43°)

Pyramids at Giza Icons of Egypt

Standard Pyramid Complex

1: Valley Temple

2: Causeway

3: Boundary Wall

/Enclosure Wall

4: Pyramid Temple

/Mortuary Temple

5: Pyramid

6: Satellite Pyramid

Herodotus, Histories Book II. 123-124

• (Snefru)Egypt was in all ways well governed and greatly prospered,

• (Khufu) brought the people to utter misery

oHe shut up all the temples, so that none could sacrifice there;

ohe compelled all Egyptians to work for

him building pyramids

oThey worked in gangs of 100 000 men, each gang for three months.

Herodotus, Histories Book II. 123-124

• 20 years

• like a stairway with tiers or steps.

• the workmen used levers made of short wooden

logs to raise the stones;

• The upper part of the pyramid was the first finished off then the next below it and last of all

the base and the lowest part

Herodotus, Histories Book II. 125-127

• And he prostituted his daughter to pay for it:

oAnd so evil a man was (Khufu) that for lack of

money he made his own daughter to sit in a

chamber and exact payment

o She, they say, doing her fathers bidding, was minded to leave some memorial of her own,

and demanded of everyone who sought

intercourse with her that he should give one

stone to set in her work; and of these stones

was built the pyramid that stands midmost of the three, over against the great pyramid;

each side of it measures 150 feet.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu • 146.5 m, 52°

• 3΄6˝ off true north

• 2.1 cm within level

Ramp Theories and Building Experiments

The NOVA documentary Secrets of Lost Empires:

Pyramid (WGBH/Boston Science Unit and BBC-TV, WHBH Educational Foundation, 1997

The Great Pyramid of Khufu • 146.5 m, 52°

• 3΄6˝ off true north

• 2.1 cm within level

Pyramid of Khufu

Pyramid of Khufu

Pyramid of Khufu

Abu Rowash

Djedefre: Unfinished Pyramid?

Sphinx of Hetepheres II at Abu Rowash: First Sphinx?

Khafre’s Pyramid

• 143.5m height, 53°

• 215.5 length

Khafre’s Pyramid

5 standard elements of

later mortuary temples:

• an entrance hall

• a columned court

• five niches for statues of the pharaoh

• five storage chambers

• an inner sanctuary

Valley temple of Khafre

Sphinx 57m long and 6m wide

20m high

Nova Special: Riddles

of the Sphinx

http://video.pbs.org/video/1390312942/

Pyramid of Menkaura

65.5 m height, 52° 103.4 m length

Triad Statues of Menkaura

Pyramid Builders of Giza

Wall of the Crows:

Heit el-Ghourab

(200 m long,

10m tall)

Gate Way: 7m tall, 2.6

m wide

Pyramid Town • Mark Lehner AERA

• http://www.aeraweb.org/

Egyptian Beer Jar Inscribed Sealing

Bakery in A7 at Giza

Giza Bakeries Mixing Vats Bedja Bread Molds

Galleries

Royal Administrative Building at Giza

(45m x35m)

Pyramid Workers Cemetery

• Upper and Lower

Cemeteries

Pyramid Workers΄Cemetery

Tomb of Nefer-Theith Curse of Petety:

“ Listen all of you! The priest of Hathor will beat twice any one of you who enters this tomb or does harm to it.

The gods will confront him because I am honored by his Lord. The gods will not allow anything to happen to me. Anyone who does anything bad to my tomb, then (the) crocodile, (the) hippopotamus, and the lion will eat him”

After Giza Shortcuts and Austerity Measures

Shepseskaf • Shepseskaf brother

of Menkaure

• Reign 4 years

• Mastabat el’

Fara’un

• 99.6m long

• 74.4 m broad

• 2 steps

Architecture and Traditions in the Fifth

Dynasty: Pyramid Complexes

• The bad quality of the rubble core used in all the Abusir pyramids has left them in poor

condition

• All of the fine blocks of the outer casing

have been plundered

• The pyramid complex of Nyuserra

incorporated the earliest known example of

a “pylon”

Pyramid of Unas • 1881 Gaston Maspero discovered text in walls of

burial chamber

• 43m high, 57.75m base, 56°

Ankhtifi of Mo’ alla

Cult Temple of

Mentuhotep II

Nebhepetra

Pyramid of Senusret II at Il- Lahun

• New Traditions in pyramid building

• Inner core made

largely of mud-brick

Tomb of Senussert III At Abydos

Nubkheperre Intef VII at Dra Abu el-Naga,

Thebes Tomb robbed in 1827

Found by Egyptologists 1881

Rediscovered in 2001, DAI

Daniel Polz

New Kingdom Royal Tombs: Valley of the Kings

Non-Royal Tomb Plan from Deir el Medina

Nubian Pyramids

Pyramid fields at El Kurru, Nuri and Meroë 6 to 30 metres Base 8 metres distinct 4 horse chariot burial Angle 70 Offering chapel abutting pyramid

Pyramids stand the test of time!