Download The Amazing Pyramids In Egypt Essay, Research Paper Eleven

The Amazing Pyramids In Egypt Essay, Research Paper
Eleven years ago my family and I went on vacation to Egypt. The Sphinx, the three
Pyramids of Giza, and the Step Pyramid of Pharaoh Zoser towered more than two
hundred feet above the golden Egyptian sands like mountains. The sight took my breath
away, and that of course was one of their purposes. To a three foot tall, six year old the
buildings seemed to be as big as the world. I nearly broke my neck when I tried to glance
at the top. When the people of Egypt first looked upon these colossal monuments, they
probably trembled just as I did. Now that I am older the sight not only amazes, but the
craftsmanship that was used to build these wonderful gravestones, fills my mind with
sheer perplexity. The pyramids were designed to impress Egyptians with their ruler?s
godlike strength and to give the ruler eternal life.
The Sphinx is a figure having the body of a lion and the head of a man. The three
pyramids of Giza are the work of 4,000 stonemasons and as many as 100,000 laborers
working under conditions of forced servitude and given rations consisting in large part of
onions and garlic. The pyramid of Pharaoh Zoser that Imhotep erected at Sakkara was the
world?s first large stone structure, a tomb copied in stonework from earlier brickwork
piles (Peck). In its most common form, a pyramid is a massive stone or brick structure
with a square base and four sloping triangular sides that meet in a point at the top
(Pyramids 810). However, the pyramids are anything but simple. Pyramids have been
built by different people at various times in history. Hundreds of thousands of men were
used to construct these massive monuments and they took many years. The pyramids
were tombs for the pharaohs (Gardner 140).
The pharaohs in Egypt wanted their people to know how powerful they were. Therefore,
they ordered people to build these massive tombs for them. When Egyptians first looked
upon these giant tombs more than forty-six centuries ago, they were probably filled with
astonishment. These colossal monuments first started rising from the golden Egyptian
sands around 2630 BC. At the time they were the biggest and finest masterpieces ever
built; indeed they were the world?s largest buildings (Brommer 14).
The ruins of thirty-five pyramids still stand near the Nile River in Egypt. Each was built
to protect the body of an Egyptian king. The Egyptians thought that man?s body had to
be preserved and protected so his soul could live forever (Millard 41). The Egyptians
mummified their dead. To do this they would dry the body out and then wrap it with
cloths. They then hid the mummies in the large pyramids or tombs. They buried the
king?s body inside or beneath a pyramid in a secret chamber that was filled with treasures
of gold and precious objects (Roberts 14).
The Egyptians had no complicated machines to help make their jobs easier. They had no
cranes or pulleys. All their monuments were erected by using ramps of pebbles and sand.
Teams of men dragged the rocks up these. Rollers were placed under the blocks to make
them move more easily. Blocks were laid one layer at a time (Millard 41). Stones for
building were transported by river. They waited for the Nile to overflow and then moved
the giant rocks to where they needed them (Fairservis 85).
Nearby limestone quarries provided the blocks that made up the body of the pyramid.
Stone carvers cut these blocks to size. Each was next levered onto a sled pulled by
animals or gangs of men over wooded rollers. As the pyramid rose higher a ramp of brick
was constructed to give access to the upper levels. In order to provide a gentle slope the
ramp had to be lengthened as the height increased. Once the blocks were brought to their
positions they were again levered into place. When all was finished, the ramp was
dismantled and the final facing of white limestone laid into position. This finishing stone
was probably brought by barge from quarries farther up the Nile. Some of them had small
blocks of stone and rubble inside, while others had only mud bricks. To build the tomb,
the Egyptians marked the plan on the ground. Then they laid in position the column bases
and the first layer of blocks for the walls. The spaces between the blocks were filled with
sand, giving a flat surface over which to pull the nest layer of stones. An ever-growing
ramp was used, which the blocks were dragged to the top. When each layer was in place,
more sand was added to give a flat surface again. This went on until the roof was in
place. The sand was then removed and decorations could be completed at the same time
(Millard 41).
Funeral ceremonies were performed in temples that were attached to the pyramids. Most
pyramids had two temples connected by a long stone passageway. One temple stood next
to the pyramid and the other stood beside the river. Inside the pyramid, corridors and
shafts lead to various subterranean chambers, most of which are unfinished. In almost the
exact center is a room called the King’s Chamber where there is an empty stone box,
called a sarcophagus, which was meant to hold the king’s coffin. This room is reached by
an ascending corridor in the midst of which is a magnificent gallery 153 feet long and 28
feet high.
The pyramid builders attempted to hide these passageways from thieves and vandals by
covering them with stone slabs. The passage to the King’s Chamber, for instance, was
closed by a granite plug, which made the entrance look just like the surface blocks of the
pyramid. So well concealed was the entrance that when 3000 years later, the Caliphs of
Cairo tried to get inside, they had to dig tunnels in the rock.
These details emphasize what a colossal task it must have been to construct this great
monument. Nevertheless, there is a general agreement on some things. When the
architects looked for the right place to situate the pyramid, they decided to use a large
rock mass that appeared on the plateau as an inner core for the building. Having done that
they leveled the ground all around so as to have a flat base.
The ancient Egyptians sought eternal life above all else. The Egyptians thought that if
they could but satisfy the hundreds deities who regulated every event; if they could
preserve their bodies as permanent shelters for their souls; then, surely, they would live
forever. They would be able to live free from illness and harm, continuing the colorful
existence they enjoyed along the fertile banks of the Nile. To Egyptians after life meant
that the soul left the body at death, but it was expected to return to it throughout eternity.
That is why the Egyptians mummified their dead, to preserve the body from decay.
Although they needed to preserve the bodies and tried very hard to hide the tombs, few
rich burials survived even a relatively short time.
There have been many tomb robbers. Egypt could not protect the temples and tombs, then
or now, against the greed of robbers or the dedication of archeologists. Another large
problem came about with trying to preserve the tombs. Travelers from all over came to
visit Egypt, including archeologists. Everyone wanted a little souvenir to take home with
them. Small trinkets from the ancient tombs, and using parts of mummies and of other
artifacts for medicine, became a fad. There was no care taken in retrieving these articles.
More was probably destroyed in the process of retrieving artifacts, than was actually
found.
One century afterwards, during the 21st dynasty the priests of Thebes and other
authorities had to go to the Valley of the Kings and rescue what they could, because tomb
robbery was so great. They took the mummies they could save and rewrapped what was
left to them. These mummies along with what was left of their funeral possessions were
put in a mass burial in an abandoned tomb.
341