Pyramids Of Egypt
In my report, I will discuss how the
pyramids were built, what purpose they
served, the three pyramids at Giza,
some messages found on the stones that were
used to build pyramids, and what
a mastabas is. Pyramids are tombs built for
Egypt's pharaohs. Pyramids
are large structures with four sides that are the
shape of a triangle, that
meet at the top to form a point. The ancient Egyptians
used the pyramids as
tombs for the pharaohs and temples for their gods. The
pyramids have one or
two little temples attached to them, which holds their
relatives and
servants. A few pyramids still stand today, and are great
attractions for
tourists. The pyramids were built by taking blocks of granite to
the
workshop, measuring the blocks down to size, shaping the blocks, and
placing
the blocks into the body of the pyramid. The core of the structure is
now
completed. Then, you place the limestone blocks on the top of the
structure
(they started putting the blocks on top and then worked their way
down). They
left two empty rooms to place the pharaoh and his belongings in.
They sealed the
pyramids so well, it took four hundred years for two robbers
to figure out how
to get in. The pyramids were built by free citizens,
drafted for public work,
not by slaves of any sort. The pyramids were built
by four thousand expert stone
sculptors all year round. An extra work group
of about ninety-five thousand men
worked on the pyramids during the four
month period of the inundation (the time
of enforced idleness for farmers,
since the field were covered with the Nile
water flood ). The pyramids were
built between the year 1600 B.C. and the year
2700. Many scholars believe
that the reason why the pyramids were built in a
triangular form is because
it has a religious meaning to the Egyptians. The
slanting side might have
reminded the Egyptians of the slanting rays of the sun,
that the pharaoh's
soul could climb to the sky and join the gods. In the
pyramids they buried
the pharaoh's body. There was a chamber for the body. There
was also a
chamber for treasures of gold and other priceless items for the
pharaoh's
afterlife. Sometimes a boat is placed inside so the pharaoh would have
a way
to transport himself into his afterlife. In Pharaoh Cheopses
pyramid,
therewas his mummy, caskets full of jewels, furniture inlaid with
ivory and
gold, silver and alabaster bowls and vessels, chests filled with
clothing and
precious ornaments, and jars filled full of food and wine. You
must think that
the pyramids must have been large to hold all of that, and as
a matter of fact
the base of the pyramid covers enough area to hold ten
football fields. The
three pyramids at Giza stand on the west bank of the
Nile River,outside of
Cairo. They are the largest and best preserved
pyramids. The largest of the
three was for Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops). The next
to largest was for Pharaoh Khafre.
The smallest (yet not small at all)
was for Pharaoh Menkaure. The first known
pharaoh to have a pyramid was
Pharaoh Zoser,in the year 2650 B.C. Imhotep built
it for him. If you ever see
something that looks like a pyramid, except it's
smaller than one, and has a
flat top, don't mistake it for a pyramid, it's a
mastabas. In the mastabas
the king's relatives and servants are buried. Some
blocks had marks on them
to show where they belonged. Others had messages like
" this side up ", "
vigorous gang", or even " how drunk
the king is ". In conclusion, the
pyramids were built by free, drafted,
citizens. Pyramids were used to bury
the pharaohs. The messages on the stones
were decoded. The three pyramids at
the Giza were the largest, and a mastabas is
not a pyramid.