Prymis: pyramid | architecture | Britannica

pyramid | architecture | Britannica

pyramid of Khafre

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Snefru
Richard Lepsius
Userkaf
Neuserre
Zahi Hawass

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ancient Egypt
ancient Egyptian architecture
ziggurat
talud
tablero

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Summary

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pyramid, in architecture, a monumental structure constructed of or faced with stone or brick and having a rectangular base and four sloping triangular (or sometimes trapezoidal) sides meeting at an apex (or truncated to form a platform). Pyramids have been built at various times in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, western Asia, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, India, Thailand, Mexico, South America, and on some islands of the Pacific Ocean. Those of Egypt and of Central and South America are the best known.

Learn about the hieroglyphics and the pyramids of ancient Egypt and their contribution to the Egyptian civilization

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Discover the inner structure of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, one of the Pyramids of Giza

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The pyramids of ancient Egypt were funerary edifices. They were built over a period of 2,700 years, ranging from the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the close of the Ptolemaic period. But the time at which pyramid building reached its acme, the pyramid age par excellence, was that commencing with the 3rd dynasty and ending at roughly the 6th (c. 2686–2325 bce). During those years the pyramid was the usual type of royal tomb. It was not, as such, an isolated structure but was always part of an architectural complex. The essential components, at least during the Old Kingdom, were the pyramid itself, containing or surmounting the grave proper and standing within an enclosure on high desert ground; an adjacent mortuary temple; and a causeway leading down to a pavilion (usually called the valley temple), situated at the edge of the cultivation and probably connected with the Nile by a canal. Scores of royal pyramids have been found in Egypt, but many of them were reduced to mere mounds of debris and long ago plundered of their treasures.

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The prototype of the pyramid was the mastaba, a form of tomb known in Egypt from the beginning of the dynastic era. It was characterized by a flat-topped rectangular superstructure of mud brick or stone with a shaft descending to the burial chamber far below it. Djoser, the second king of the 3rd dynasty, employing Imhotep as architect, undertook for the first time the construction of a mastaba entirely of stone; it was 8 metres (26 feet) high and had a square ground plan with sides of about 63 metres (207 feet) each. Once completed it was extended on the ground on all four sides, and its height was increased by building rectangular additions of diminishing size superimposed upon its top. Thus Djoser’s original mastaba became a terraced structure rising in six unequal stages to a height of 60 metres (197 feet), its base measuring 120 metres (394 feet) by 108 metres (354 feet). This monument, which lies at Ṣaqqārah, is known as the Step Pyramid; it is probably the earliest stone building of importance erected in Egypt. The substructure has an intricate system of underground corridors and rooms, its main feature being a central shaft 25 metres (82 feet) deep and 8 metres (26 feet) wide, at the bottom of which is the sepulchral chamber built of granite from Aswān. The Step Pyramid rises within a vast walled court 544 metres (1,785 feet) long and 277 metres (909 feet) wide, in which are the remnants of several other stone edifices built to supply the wants of the king in the hereafter.

A structure of peculiar shape called the Bent, Blunted, False, or Rhomboidal Pyramid, which stands at Dahshūr a short distance south of Ṣaqqārah, marks an advance in development toward the strictly pyramidal tomb. Built by Snefru, of the 4th dynasty, it is 188 square metres (2,024 square feet) at the base and approximately 98 metres (322 feet) high. Peculiar in that it has a double slope, it changes inclination about halfway up, the lower portion being steeper than the upper. It comes nearer than Djoser’s terraced tomb to being a true pyramid. A monumental structure at Maydūm, also ascribed to Snefru, was a true pyramid, though not originally planned as such. The initial structure was gradually enlarged until it became a gigantic eight-terraced mass of masonry; then the steps were filled in with a packing of stone to form a continuous slope. The entire structure was eventually covered with a smooth facing of limestone; a geometrically true pyramid was the final result. In its ruined condition, however, it has the appearance of a three-stepped pyramid rising to a height of about 70 metres (230 feet). The earliest tomb known to have been designed and executed throughout as a true pyramid is the Red Pyramid at Dahshūr, thought by some to have also been erected by Snefru. It is about 220 metres (722 feet) wide at the base and 104 metres (341 feet) high. The greatest of the Egyptian pyramids are those of the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkure at Giza (see Pyramids of Giza).

Among American pyramids the best known include the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacán in central Mexico, the Castillo at Chichén Itzá, and various Inca and Chimú structures in Andean settlements. American pyramids were generally built of earth and then faced with stone, and they are typically of stepped form and topped by a platform or temple structure. The Pyramid of the Sun, with base dimensions of 220 by 230 metres (722 by 755 feet), rivals in size the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, which measures 230 square metres (2,476 square feet).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Letricia Dixon.

Pyramid – World History Encyclopedia

A pyramid is a structure or monument, usually with a quadrilateral base, which rises to a triangular point. In the popular imagination, pyramids are the three lonely structures on the Giza plateau at the edge of the Sahara Desert but there are over seventy pyramids in Egypt stretching down the Nile River Valley and, in their time, they were the centers of great temple complexes. Although largely associated exclusively with Egypt, the pyramid shape was first used in ancient Mesopotamia in the mud-brick structures known as ziggurats, and continued to be used by the Greeks and Romans. Pyramids are also found south of Egypt in the Nubian kingdom of Meroe, in the cities of the Maya throughout Central and South America, and, in a variation on the form, in China.

Egyptian Pyramids

Known as ‘mr’ or ‘mir’ by the Egyptians, the pyramid was a royal tomb and considered the place of ascent for the spirit of the deceased pharaoh. From the top point of the pyramid, it was thought, the soul would travel to the after-life of the Field of Reeds and, if it so chose, could easily return to earth (the high pinnacle of the pyramid, or a life-like statue of the king, serving as a beacon the soul would recognize). Early on, the simple mastaba served as a tomb for the common people and royalty alike but in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) the pyramid design was developed under the reign of Djoser of the Third Dynasty (c. 2670-2613 BCE).

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Djoser’s chief architect Imhotep (c. 2667-2600 BCE) decided to try something which had never been attempted before: to build a colossal monument entirely of stone. Instead of the simple mastaba tomb, he designed and engineered a process whereby the earlier mud-brick mastabas would be built of limestone block and would be placed on top of one another, each level a little smaller than the one beneath, to create a pyramid. This series of large, stone, stacked mastabas, carefully built in a graduated design, became the first pyramid in Egypt – the famous Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Djoser’s pyramid rose 204 feet (62 meters( high and was composed of six separate ‘steps’. The base of this pyramid was 358 by 411 feet (109 by 125 meters) and the ‘steps’, or layers, were faced with limestone. The pyramid was built in the center of a grand complex of temples, houses for the priests, and administrative buildings which covered 40 acres (16 hectares) and was encircled by a wall 30 feet (10.5 meters) high. In designing this pyramid and complex, Imhotep created the tallest structure in the world at that time which instantly became Saqqara’s leading tourist attraction.

The first pyramid, as we would recognize the structure today, appeared in the 4th Dynasty in the reign of Snofru who completed two pyramids at Dashur.

The first pyramid, as we would recognize the structure today, appeared in the Fourth Dynasty in the reign of Snofru who completed two pyramids at Dashur as well as finishing the work begun on his father’s pyramid at Meidum. These pyramids also made use of the gradation of stone blocks of limestone but the blocks were cut smaller as the structure rose, providing a smooth outer surface instead of the ‘steps’ which was then covered in limestone. The most outstanding example of pyramid building in Egypt was the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, with a base covering thirteen acres and composed of 2,300,000 stone blocks. Known as the Horizon of Khufu in ancient times, the pyramid was positioned for precise astrological alignment.

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Mesoamerican Pyramids

The pyramids of Mesoamerica follow this precise design even though there is no evidence of cultural exchange between Egypt and cities such as Chichen Itza or Tikal or the great city of Tenochtitlan. The great pyramids of the Mayan civilization, and other indigenous tribes of the region, are thought to represent mountains which symbolized man’s attempt to reach closer to the realm of the gods. The pyramid known as El Castillo, at Chichen Itza, was specifically designed to welcome the great god Kukulkan back to earth at the spring and autumn equinoxes. On those dates, the sun casts a shadow which, owing to the construction of the pyramid, appears to be the serprent god descending down the stairs of the pyramid to the ground.

Chichen Itza

Dennis Jarvis (CC BY-SA)

Other Pyramids

Evidence of pyramid-building in Greece exists in archaeological excavations at Hellenicon and in the works of the ancient writer Pausanius who recorded seeing two pyramids in Greece. The Grecian pyramids function remains mysterious in that the ruins at Hellenicon are not as well preserved as the pyramids of Egypt and there exist no records by the Greeks mentioning pyramid-building.

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Pausanius’ accounts seem to indicate the pyramids were monuments to fallen heroes and, perhaps, some were; but the fact that the ruins at Hellenicon have a door in the base which can only be locked from the inside has led some scholars to speculate that perhaps pyramids were used as watchtowers (rising in pyramid shape but without the pinnacle). As the top of the pyramid at Hellenicon is long missing, however, and as there are no accounts of it from antiquity, this must remain speculation.

Meroe Pyramids Reconstruction

Fabrizio Demartis (CC BY-SA)

In Roman times the pyramid returned to the Egyptian use as a tomb and the Pyramid of Cestius still stands today in Rome near the Porta San Paulo. Built between 18 and 12 BCE, the pyramid was the tomb of the magistrate Gaius Cestius Epulo and rises 125 feet from a base of 100 feet. There is some disagreement over whether the Romans took the pyramid shape from Egypt or from Nubia, as the shape and interior design of Cestius’ pyramid could be interpreted as either but not definitively as one or the other. The pyramids of the Kingdom of Meroe (south of Egypt in modern-day Sudan) are identical to those of Egypt though seem to be lacking the intricacy of interior chambers.

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Conclusion

In every culture which made use of them (and, of course, as mentioned, there were pyramids also in China, throughout Mesoamerica, in India and, later, throughout Europe) the pyramid was the centerpiece of a surrounding complex. Today the Great Pyramid at Giza sits between the two smaller pyramids and other recently excavated Mastabas but, originally, would have risen above terraces and walks and buildings dedicated to the spirit of the deceased or to the gods of that particular place. Worker’s villages once rose on the plateau of Giza which gave rise to shops and and trade centers. These workers were not foreign slaves but Egyptians who were either recruited for labor as a religious sacrifice, volunteered as community service, or were paid for their time and talents. Archaeological excavations have found no evidence of forced labor on the pyramids at Giza nor on any of the other monuments of Egypt. The popular impression of Hebrew slaves toiling under the lash to build the pyramids comes from the biblical Book of Exodus and nowhere else save fictions and films which have popularized the story. The Giza plateau was no slave quarter where people were forced to work against their will but a thriving community of Egyptians who lived, worked, and worshipped there. The positioning of the Sphinx at Giza, as well as recent archaeological finds there and elsewhere in Egypt, support the theory of Pyramid Complexes as centers of worship, work, commerce, and social life rather than lone tombs erected on empty plains.

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• From point Atos, Neuperlach

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• From point Atos, Neuperlach

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• From point S Aubing, Aubing

  53 min

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• From Zum Alten Wirt, Obermenzing

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• From Pflanzen-Kölle Gartencenter GmbH & Co.

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  The closest stations to Primis Admin Service are:

  • Geisenhausenerstraße is 252 meters away, 4 min walk.
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  • Aidenbachstraße is 673 meters away, 10 min walk.
  • Kistlerhofstraße is 892 meters away, 12 min walk.

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  These Train lines stop near Primis Admin Service: RB57, RB58, S20, S7.

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  These Metro lines stop near Primis Admin Service: U3.

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  Nearest bus stop near Primis Admin Service in Obersendling is a 4 min walk.

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  the Geisenhausenerstraße stop is closest to the Primis Admin Service in Obersendling.

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PRIMIS GROUP, LLC in Kazan, Daurskaya, 1: phone, working hours

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