When were the Egyptian Pyramids built?

The prototype of the pyramid was built during the period between 2680 and 2565 BC. C., then they built the Step Pyramid at Saqqara in 2620 B.C. C., and each pharaonic king built a special pyramid to keep his embalmed body out of the eyes of the people.

What’s on Top of the pyramids?

It is known that in the Pyramid of Dahshur, by Sneferu, father of Cheops, the top of the pyramid was pyramidally made of gold and electrum (electrum was a type of natural gold that contained 20% silver, it was very used in ancient times). Given this discovery, it is believed that the other pyramids were finished at the top similarly.

What Does a Pyramid look like inside?

The pyramids of Giza are major archaeological landmarks, but there is debate about what is inside them and what was discovered inside the other pyramids of ancient Egypt.
The pyramids of Giza are mostly solid blocks of stone with very little space inside. Like many ancient Egyptian pyramids, the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure have passages at their base

that lead to small underground burial chambers under each pyramid. The pyramid of Khufu also has underground tunnels, but the burial chamber is located in the center of the structure,

accessed through a narrow inner passage. Contrary to what one might expect, there are no hieroglyphic texts, treasures, or mummies in any of the Giza pyramids, as the decoration

inside the pyramids began several centuries after the construction of the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.

How were the pyramids built?

The techniques used in constructing the Egyptian pyramids have baffled and puzzled many historians and scientists for countless years. Many controversial hypotheses were introduced regarding the construction of the pyramids. The general theory is based on the belief that the huge stones were carved from the quarries using copper chisels. Then, these blocks were dragged and lifted into position. However, the method regarding the movement and placement of these stones is under great dispute.

The form of the workforce is also under considerable debate. It is believed that the pyramids were constructed using slave labor, and another theory suggests that the pyramids were built by tens of thousands of free skilled workers that worked for a salary.

What is certain is that the workforce was highly organized and managed to the highest level by following an organized and planned process that consisted of three phases

3 Phases of Building the Pyramids

The workforce depended on a specific process to build the pyramids perfectly, following three essential steps: choosing the perfect building site, site preparation, and raising the blocks.

Phase 1: Choosing the perfect building site

The first step in building a pyramid was to choose a suitable site. This had to be on the west side of the Nile where the Sun would set, considering that Ancient Egyptians believed that wherever the sunset was the portal to the afterlife.

The pyramids also needed to be situated on high ground, away from the danger of flooding at the time of the Nile’s inundation. However, it could not be too far away from the Nile bank because the river would transport blocks of fine-quality limestone for the outer casing from Tura on the other side of the Nile.

The site chosen would be at a point on the desert plateau that would be proved a firm rock base capable of supporting the great weight of the pyramid without any risk of cracking, considering that some of the most fantastic pyramids weigh around 2.5 tons.

The site chosen for the construction of each pyramid was also considered based on the distance of the pyramid to the respective king’s residence, as the King would need to inspect the development of his burial chamber regularly.

Phase 2: Preparing the site

No plans for constructing the pyramids were ever found, but the construction of pyramids was not a haphazard affair, and the measurements used were accurate to a high degree.

The workers had to prepare a firm foundation by removing the loose sand from the rock. Then, the rock base had to be made flat.

The workers may have built low mud walls around the base and cut channels in a grid pattern over the surface. Then, they would fill the channels with water and mark the level the water would reach.

After the water had drained away, protruding rock would have been cut back to the level indicated, and any depressions filled with stones to make a perfectly level surface.

Each side of the pyramid had to face one of the cardinal points. The builders probably established true north first and worked out the other directions from that. They may have found true north by sighting a star in the northern sky. They would then observe the rising and setting of the star and mark its appearance and disappearance on an artificial horizon.

By bisecting the angle thus made, they would obtain a north-south line. They had instruments for drawing right angles, so; they would then have been able to find east and west. Next, they had to make the base perfectly square. All four sides have the same length and corners at perfect right angles.

Phase 3: Raising the blocks

Sometimes rocky outcrop was used as the pyramid’s core to save the work. The inner chambers and passages would have been constructed independently, and the actual pyramid built around them.

Some of the royal pyramid builders seem to have changed their minds about their preferred location of the burial chambers. The inner pyramid would then be built of limestone cut from the desert plateau.

When the main structure was finished, the pyramid was completed by encasing it in blocks of finely cut and dressed limestone from Tura. Sometimes granite was used for the lower courses.

The stones used in the building of the pyramids were not little bricks. The bricks in the pyramid vary in size. However, the largest can be found in the King’s chamber.

These particular stones differed from the regular limestone blocks and were instead made of granite.

The precise method of raising the pyramids is not known. Pulleys were not invented until Roman times. However, the Greek historian Herodotus tells of levers used to raise the blocks from one level to the next.

It has also been suggested that team workers used a ramp to haul the blocks into position as the pyramid grew; the ramp would have been raised to enable the workers to reach the next level.

The main problem with this is that the ramp would eventually have been tremendous as the pyramid itself and would have reached an immense distance into the desert.

No trace of such a structure has been identified at any pyramid site. Another idea is that the ramp would have gone around the pyramid and was dismantled when the pyramid was completed.

Construction methods are still hotly debated and are one of the greatest mysteries of Ancient human civilization.

Why built the pyramids in this hierarchical shape?

They also believed ancient Egyptian, according to some of their writings and religious texts, that the pyramid helps the deceased’s soul reach the sky with the deity Ra.

Additionally, we can sometimes see the sun’s rays among the clouds, which also take the shape of a pyramid, and it was also one of these many means that can help them ascend to heaven.

In southern Egypt, there are a few tiny graves for people and obelisks that have been shaped like pyramids at their summits. Even when the kings of the New Kingdom considered building their tombs

on the western mainland in the Valley of the Kings and dug them into the mountain’s interior to protect them from theft; they did not abandon the pyramid shape,

which was naturally represented at the top of the mountain itself.

Why is it illegal to climb the pyramids?

This a very common question from people or travelers who always look for Egypt on the internet, especially this question. Why is it not possible to climb the pyramids in Egypt?

Indeed it is impossible to do this for the reasons of security and privacy for Egyptian history and to save the Egyptian monuments from collapse.

Also, it is illegal, so it is not advisable to try to sanctify them according to the Egyptian constitution.

To seize the opportunity to discover the pharaonic history of Egypt for the first time and the greatness of our pharaohs, don’t miss the moment to take a look at our offers for an Egypt Classic Tour!

Interesting facts and information about the Great Pyramids of Giza

1. The three pyramids at Giza; are the most famous pyramids, and in fact, about 140 pyramids were discovered in ancient Egypt, and it is believed that the oldest Egyptian pyramid is the pyramid of “Zuser”, which was built in the cemetery of “Saqqara” during the 27th century BC.
2. The original height of the Great Pyramid of Khufu is 146.5 meters (481 feet), while its current height is 138.8 meters (455 feet).
3. The Great Pyramid of Giza consists of 2,300,000 stone blocks, and the weight of one block ranges between 2 and 30 tons, but some blocks weigh more than 50 tons.
4. Historians disagreed about determining the number of workers who participated in building the pyramids, but the least estimate for the number of these workers is 100,000 people.
5. All Egyptian pyramids were built on the west bank of the Nile, and this was associated with the world of the dead in Egyptian mythology.
6. The three pyramids were not built in one way, as the techniques used to build them differed and developed during their construction period. The average construction period for one pyramid is 20 years, knowing that more than one pyramid was built simultaneously.
7. The temperature outside the pyramids remains variable according to the general climate, while the temperature inside the pyramids remains relatively constant, within 20 degrees Celsius.
8. The Great Pyramid was the most extended man-made structure for 3871 years until Lincoln Cathedral was built in England in 1311.
9. In the 12th century, al-Aziz, the Kurdish ruler, and the second Ayyubid sultan of Egypt agreed to demolish the pyramids and ultimately destroy them. However, they abandoned this agreement because it became clear that the task was enormous and arduous. However, the effects of the vandalism were evident in the pyramid of Menkaure, where a large vertical crack was observed. The northern side.
10. The stones of the pyramids were originally covered with a cover made of polished white limestone, as these stones reflected sunlight, which made the pyramids shine like a jewel.
11. One of the wonders of the pyramids that may surprise you is that you are in the very hot summer weather or the harsh winter weather. When you enter the pyramids from the inside, the temperature remains constant at 20 degrees Celsius in all year’s seasons.
12. The Great Pyramid is located precisely in the middle between the five continents. The front part of the Great Pyramid faces the basic directions (north-south-east-west), not any north, specifically the magnetic north and not the geographical north, and this is not a simple matter, which reveals the secret of this design; the corridor entering the Great Pyramid refers to the North Star, while the inner vestibule refers to Sirius, which are types of stars in the sky, which raises questions about whether the Great Pyramid is an observatory.
13. The tombs of workers and builders were discovered in 1990 after a horse-riding tourist stumbled on a stone, and it turned out to be a cemetery, after which 600 other tombs were found.