Pyramids

The Mysterious Pyramids

The Pyramids of Giza are the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt. These massive stone structures were built around 4500 years ago on a rocky desert plateau close to the Nile. But the intriguing Egyptian pyramids were more than just tombs for kings. The mysteries surrounding their symbolism, design and purpose have inspired passionate debate. It is likely that many of these mysteries will never be solved....

The pyramids epitomize ancient Egypt, yet the biggest were constructed during a short span of time early in a civilization that was to last almost three millennia.

The first large Egyptian pyramid was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, built during the third dynasty of the Old Kingdom to protect the body of the king Djoser who died around 2649 BC. It was this feat that heralded the short age of the gigantic stone pyramids of ancient Egypt.

The greatest achievements of the pyramid builders were the Pyramids of Giza, built near the capital city of Memphis for the fourth dynasty kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure who ruled through 2589-2504 BC. But pyramid building soon waned as the power and prosperity of the kings of Egypt weakened with the end of the Old Kingdom.

Unfortunately, the pyramids became obvious targets for tomb robbers. The Giza Pyramids were plundered long ago of the bodies and anything entombed with them, despite the almost superhuman efforts of the Egyptians to protect the remains of their kings.

The remarkable size and precision of the Pyramids of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest of the pyramids of ancient Egypt, and was regarded by the ancient Greeks as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Khufu (Cheops to the Greeks) ruled about 2589-2566 BC when the Old Kingdom of Egypt was nearing a peak of prosperity and culture. After his death, he was entombed in a pyramid that is astonishing for both its size and mathematical precision.

It is often said that the Great Pyramid of Khufu contains 2.3 million stone blocks, although some now question this figure. The four sides of the pyramid are accurately oriented to the cardinal points of the compass. The base has sides 230 meters long, with a difference between them of only a few centimeters. The pyramid was originally 146 meters high until it was robbed of its outer casing and capstone.

What was the purpose of the Egyptian pyramids?

The people of ancient Egypt believed that death on Earth was the start of a journey to the next world. The embalmed body of the king was entombed in a chamber either underneath or within the pyramid to protect it and allow his transformation and ascension to the afterlife, and a place among the gods.

Each of the Giza Pyramids had an adjoining mortuary temple where rituals for the dead king's spirit and for the Egyptian gods may have been carried out. This was linked by a causeway to a valley temple near the Nile floodplain that acted as an entrance to the complex. The Giza necropolis also includes pits for funerary boats, smaller subsidiary pyramids and numerous other tombs for the royal family and high officials.


The Great Sphinx and Pyramid of Khufu. The mysterious Great Sphinx presides over the Giza necropolis. Its age and purpose are debated, but it was probably part of Khafre's Pyramid complex.

The pyramid shape may have represented the sun's rays which the dead king would use as a ramp to the celestial realm. Alternatively, it may have represented the primordial mound from which the Egyptians believed the god Re created the world.

Inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu
The Ascending Passage inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.

The Grand Gallery inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.


The empty sarcophagus in the King's Chamber
of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, Egypt.

How were the pyramids built?

It seems likely that the Pyramids of Giza were not built by slaves but by paid laborers motivated by a faith in the divinity and immortality of their kings. Exactly how the pyramids were built is unclear. It is likely that a sloping embankment was built up to or around the pyramid. The huge blocks would then have been hauled on sledges with the aid of rollers, papyrus ropes and levers. Although most stone was quarried at Giza, some had to be transported to the site along the Nile..