Pyramids today stand as a reminder of the ancient Egyptian glorification of life after death, and in fact, the pyramids were built as monuments to house the tombs of the pharaohs. Death was seen as merely the beginning of a journey to the other world. The embalmed body of the king was entombed in a chamber either underneath or within the pyramid to protect it or allow his transformation and ascension to the afterlife, and

Above is the Step Pyramid Complex. Pyramids were not built as stand alone structures but were part of a complex that consisted of standardized components. We refer to the Step Pyramid of Djoser as the Step Pyramid Complex. This complex existed within an enclosure wall and was elaborate in its design and layout. This pyramid complex is surprisingly intact and allows us to glimpse into the some of the intentions of its builders.

When looking at the design of Khufu, the precision with which the pyramid was executed is often the source of marvel and speculation. It is likely that the attention to this precision was related to the many structural problems encountered in previous pyramids. To minimize many of the previous errors, it is said that the attention to precision produced a pyramid whose base is level within 2.1 cm (less than 1inch!), with the only difference in the length of the sides being 4.4 cm (1.75in). The base covers an area of 13 ½ acres. The blocks used in the pyramid are large as mentioned earlier an average of 2.5 tons. Many blocks are indeed smaller than this, the blocks toward the top decrease in size. Some of the casing stones at the base are very large, weighing as much as 15 tons. The heaviest blocks are granite blocks used to roof the king’s chambers and the weight relieving chambers above the king’s chamber. These are estimated to weigh from 50 to 80 tons each(Edwards, I.E.S. The Pyramids of Egypt).

Some topics in this essay:
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