Egypt Pyramid: Why the Egyptians Built Pyramids

In Egypt pyramids were used as monumental tombs, whereas in Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, and South America they were temple platforms. It's commonly accepted that pyramids were intended to protect the pharaoh's body buried inside. Pyramids served to house this paraphernalia of eternity.

The Pyramids of Egypt are among the largest structures ever built and constitute one of the most potent and enduring symbols of Ancient Egyptian civilization. The construction of Egypt pyramids was carried out in layers, where fill was placed around each layer, with reasonable slopes, thus acting as scaffolding for the next layer. Huge limestone blocks could be floated from quarries right to the base of the Pyramids.

The shape of Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound from which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. Most likely, Egyptian pyramids were modeled on a sacred, pointed stone called the benben. The shape is also thought to be representative of the descending rays of the sun, and most pyramids were faced with polished, highly reflective white limestone, in order to give them a brilliant appearance when viewed from a distance. Pyramids were often also named in ways that referred to solar luminescence. All Egyptian pyramids were built on the west bank of the Nile, which as the site of the setting sun was associated with the realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.

An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 workers built the Pyramids at Giza over 80 years, and priests-astronomers helped choose the pyramids' sites and orientations, so that they would be on the appropriate axis in relation to sacred constellations. The arly pyramids tend to tbe largest, best preserved ones. Over time, as authority became less centralized, the ability and willingness to harness the resources required for construction on a massive scale decreased, and later pyramids were smaller, less well-built and often hastily constructed.

Giza is the location of the Pyramid of Khufu (also known as the "Great Pyramid" and the "Pyramid of Cheops"); the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Kephren); the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinus), along with a number of smaller satellite edifices known as "Queen's pyramids"; and the Great Sphinx. All of the major pyramids at Abu Sir were built as step pyramids, although the largest of them — the Pyramid of Neferirkare Kakai — is believed to have originally been built as a step pyramid some 70 metres in height and then later transformed into a "true" pyramid by having its steps filled in with loose masonry. Despite its relative obscurity, the Red Pyramid is actually the third largest pyramid in Egypt — after the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre at Giza.

Whether they were an observatory, a magical temple, a work by aliens or work by the people of the fabled Atlantis, they are there: magnificent, and challenging human knowledge and technology.