Egyptian pyramids

INTRODUCTION TO PYRAMIDS



During Egypt's Old Kingdom (time line), the pharaohs established a stable central government in the fertile Nile Valley. Perhaps the greatest testaments to their power were the pyramids and other tombs built to shelter them in the afterlife.



Kings of the Dead



Ancient Egyptians believed that when the pharaoh died, he became Osiris, king of the dead. The new pharaoh became Horus, god of the heavens and protector of the sun god. This cycle was symbolized by the rising and setting of the sun.



Some part of a dead pharaoh's spirit, called his ka, was believed to remain with his body. And it was thought that if the corpse did not have proper care, the former pharaoh would not be able to carry out his new duties as king of the dead. If this happened, the cycle would be broken and disaster would befall Egypt.



To prevent such a catastrophe, each dead pharaoh was mummified, which preserved his body. Everything the king would need in his afterlife was provided in his grave—vessels made of clay, stone, and gold, furniture, food, even doll-like representations of servants, known as ushabti. His body would continue to receive food offerings long after his death.



Tombs Fit for Kings



To shelter and safeguard the part of a pharaoh's soul that remained with his corpse, Egyptians built massive tombs—but not always pyramids.



Before the pyramids, tombs were carved into bedrock and topped by flat-roofed structures called mastabas. Mounds of dirt, in turn, sometimes topped the structures.



The pyramid shape of later tombs could have come from these mounds. More likely, Egyptian pyramids were modeled on a sacred, pointed stone called the benben. The benben symbolized the rays of the sun; ancient texts claimed that pharaohs reached the heavens via sunbeams.



Who Built the Pyramids?



Contrary to some popular depictions, the pyramid builders were not slaves or foreigners. Excavated skeletons show that they were Egyptians who lived in villages developed and overseen by the pharaoh's supervisors.



The builders' villages boasted bakers, butchers, brewers, granaries, houses, cemeteries, and probably even some sorts of health-care facilities—there is evidence of laborers surviving crushed or amputated limbs. Bakeries excavated near the Great Pyramids could have produced thousands of loaves of bread every week.



Some of the builders were permanent employees of the pharaoh. Others were conscripted for a limited time from local villages. Some may have been women: Although no depictions of women builders have been found, some female skeletons show wear that suggests they labored with heavy stone for long periods of time.



Graffiti indicates that at least some of these workers took pride in their work, calling their teams "Friends of Khufu," "Drunkards of Menkaure," and so on—names indicating allegiances to pharaohs.



An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 workers built the Pyramids at Giza over 80 years. Much of the work probably happened while the River Nile was flooded.



Huge limestone blocks could be floated from quarries right to the base of the Pyramids. The stones would likely then be polished by hand and pushed up ramps to their intended positions.



It took more than manual labor, though. Architects achieved an accurate pyramid shape by running ropes from the outer corners up to the planned summit, to make sure the stones were positioned correctly. And priests-astronomers helped choose the pyramids' sites and orientations, so that they would be on the appropriate axis in relation to sacred constellations.



From stone pusher to priest, every worker would likely have recognized his or her role in continuing the life-and-death cycle of the pharaohs, and thereby in perpetuating the glory of Egypt.
 

History of Ancient Egypt

Misr, Egypt's official Arabic name, is of Semitic origin, probably meaning 'country' or 'a state'. Egypt name has its origins in the Latin word Aegyptus derived from ancient Greek Αἴγύπτος "aiguptos, which in turn is derived from the ancient Egyptian phrase ḥwt-k3-PTH (Hut ka Ptah"), the name of a temple of the god Ptah at Memphis . [citation needed]

The regularity and richness of the Nile overflows and isolation caused by some eastern and western deserts, have led to the development of one of the most important civilizations of antiquity. Nile Valley, close between high and rocky shores, has forged several millennia before our era an ancient Mediterranean civilization of the world, that of Ancient Egypt. She shows us the oldest country in the world, above all others, endowed with an administration, a tax, justice and the army were comparable to those born later in countries on all continents, before and after our era. But the world of ancient Egypt has conceived a brilliant spiritual culture that admired the ancient Greeks and Romans and wondered where the crowds of tourists are now to contemplate the temples, pyramids and obelisks erected by the Pharaohs and their subjects.
First UK was founded by King Menes, around 3200 BC, was ruled by many dynasties almost three millennia. Pharaoh Ramses Under Tutmes and by the conquest of Africa and Asia, Egypt becomes an empire. The last native dynasty fell under the domination of the Persians in 595 BC and then conquered by Alexander the Great in 320 BC Sphinx and Pyramid of Cheops at Giza
Egyptian art and monuments not only attracted by huge and mysterious beauty of their beauty and enigmatic ancient Greeks and Romans as we, today, travelers would come to find culture, especially in Egypt, "Egyptian wisdom" that they knew a Thales, Pythagoras, Herodotus, Plato, Solon, Licurg or Plutarch.
The Arabs conquered Alexandria in 641 and 646 completing the Muslim conquest of Egypt and ending 975 years of Greco-Roman rule over Egypt.