Ancient World :: History

Ancient World In the beginning of this chapter it discusses 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. Free citizens, drafted for public work, not by slaves of any sort, built the pyramids. Four thousand expert stone sculptors built the pyramids 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 p yramids 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, there was 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.