In my report, I will discuss 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. The pyramids were built by free citizens, drafted for public work,
not by slaves of any sort. The pyramids were built by four thousand expert stone
sculptors 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 pyramids 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,
therewas 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. You must think that
the pyramids must have been large to hold all of that, and as a matter of fact
the base of the pyramid covers enough area to hold ten football fields. The
three pyramids at Giza stand on the west bank of the Nile River,outside of
Cairo. They are the largest and best preserved pyramids. The largest of the
three was for Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops). The next to largest was for Pharaoh Khafre.
The smallest (yet not small at all) was for Pharaoh Menkaure. The first known
pharaoh to have a pyramid was Pharaoh Zoser,in the year 2650 B.C. Imhotep built
it for him. If you ever see something that looks like a pyramid, except it's
smaller than one, and has a flat top, don't mistake it for a pyramid, it's a
mastabas. In the mastabas the king's relatives and servants are buried. Some
blocks had marks on them to show where they belonged. Others had messages like
" this side up ", " vigorous gang", or even " how drunk
the king is ". In conclusion, the pyramids were built by free, drafted,
citizens. Pyramids were used to bury the pharaohs. The messages on the stones
were decoded. The three pyramids at the Giza were the largest, and a mastabas is
not a pyramid.