The Egyptian Pyramids

Thomas Thomas
With over twelve years dedicated to sourcing, studying, and curating authentic Egyptian-inspired decor, he brings deep, niche-specific expertise to every recommendation.

1. Pharaohs: Mediators between gods and humans in Ancient Egypt

During the Third and Fourth Dynasties of the Old Kingdom, Egypt enjoyed significant economic prosperity and stability. Pharaohs held a unique position in Egyptian society. Somewhere between human and divine, they were believed to have been chosen by the gods themselves to serve as mediators on Earth.

For this reason, it was in everyone’s interest to preserve the king’s majesty, even after his death, when he was believed to have become Osiris, the god of the dead. The new pharaoh, in turn, became horus, the falcon god who served as protector of the sun god, Ra.

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The smooth, sloped sides of the pyramid symbolized the sun’s rays and were designed to help the pharaoh’s soul ascend to the heavens and join the gods, particularly the god Ra.

Ancient Egyptians believed that upon the pharaoh’s death, a part of his spirit (called the “ka”) remained with his body. To properly care for his spirit, the corpse was mummified, and everything the king would need in the afterlife was buried with him, including gold vessels, food, furniture, and other offerings.

The pyramids became the center of a cult for the deceased pharaoh, which was intended to continue long after his death. Their riches would provide not only for his needs but also for those of his family members, officials, and priests who were buried nearby.

2. The first pyramids

A) The mastaba

From the beginning of the dynastic era (2950 BC), royal tombs were carved into the rock and covered with flat-roofed rectangular structures called “Mastabas,” which were the precursors to the pyramids.

B) The pyramid of the Egyptian king Djoser: The step pyramid

The oldest known pyramid in Egypt was built around 2630 BC in Saqqara for the ancient king of Egypt, Djoser, of the Third Dynasty. Known as the “step pyramid,” it began as a traditional mastaba but became much more ambitious.

According to history, the pyramid’s architect was Imhotep, a priest and healer who, some 1,400 years later, would be deified as the patron saint of scribes and physicians.

; Imhotep

During Djoser’s reign, which lasted nearly 20 years, pyramid builders assembled six stepped layers of stone (as opposed to mud brick, like most earlier tombs) that reached a height of 62 meters; it was the tallest building of its time.

The step pyramid was surrounded by a complex of courtyards, temples, and shrines where Djoser could enjoy his afterlife.

After Djoser, the step pyramid became the standard for royal burials, although none of those planned by his dynastic successors were completed (likely due to their relatively short reigns).

C) The Red Pyramid of Dahshur

One of the three funerary structures built for the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, Sneferu (2613-2589 BC), owes its name to the color of the limestone blocks used to build the core of the pyramid.

; Pharaoh Sneferu ; Bent Pyramid of Dahshur

3. The Pyramids of Giza

No pyramid is more famous than the Great Pyramids of Giza, located on a plateau on the west bank of the Nile, on the outskirts of modern-day Cairo. The oldest and largest of the three pyramids of Giza, known as the Great Pyramid, is the only structure remaining from the famous Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

A) Pyramid of Khufu

It was built for Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops, in Greek), successor to Sneferu and the second of the eight kings of the Fourth Dynasty. Although Khufu reigned for 23 years (2589-2566 BC), relatively little is known about his reign beyond the grandeur of his pyramid. The sides of the pyramid’s base measure an average of 230 meters, and its original height was 147 meters, making it the largest pyramid in the world.

B) Queens’ pyramids

Three small pyramids built for Khufu’s queens are lined up next to the Great Pyramid, and a tomb was found nearby containing the empty sarcophagus of his mother, Queen Hetepheres I.

Like the other pyramids, Khufu’s is surrounded by rows of mastabas, where the king’s relatives or officials were buried to accompany and support him in the afterlife.

C) The Pyramid of Khafre

The middle pyramid of Giza was built for Khufu’s son, Pharaoh Khafre (2558-2532 BC). The pyramid of Khafre is the second tallest pyramid in Giza and contains the tomb of Pharaoh Khafre.

A unique feature built within the Khafre pyramid complex was the Great Sphinx, a guardian statue carved from limestone with the head of a man and the body of a lion. It was the largest statue in the ancient world, measuring 73m long and 20m high. During the 18th Dynasty (c. 1500 BC), the Great Sphinx came to be worshipped itself as the image of a local form of the god horus.

D) Pyramid of Menkaure

The southernmost pyramid of Giza was built for Menkaure, the son of Khafre (2532-2503 BC). It is the shortest of the three pyramids and a precursor to the smaller pyramids that would be built during the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties.

4. The mystery of pyramid construction

Although some popular versions of history have claimed that the pyramids were built by slaves or forced foreign laborers, skeletons excavated in the region show that the workers were likely indigenous Egyptian agricultural laborers who worked on the pyramids during the time of year when the Nile River flooded much of the nearby land.

Approximately 2.3 million stone blocks (averaging about 2.5 tons each) had to be cut, transported, and assembled to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that it took just over 20 years to build and required the labor of 100,000 men, but later archaeological evidence suggests the workforce may have actually been around 20,000 men.

5. The end of the pyramid era

Pyramids continued to be built throughout the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, but the general quality and scale of their construction declined during this period, along with the power and wealth of the kings themselves.

In later Old Kingdom pyramids, starting with that of King Unas (2375-2345 BC), pyramid builders began inscribing written accounts of events from the king’s reign on the walls of the burial chamber and the rest of the pyramid’s interior. Known as the Pyramid Texts, these are the earliest significant religious compositions known from Ancient Egypt.

Burial chamber of King Unas

The last of the great pyramid builders was Pepi II (2278-2184 BC), the second king of the Sixth Dynasty, who came to power at a very young age and ruled for 94 years. By the time of his reign, the prosperity of the Old Kingdom was waning, and the pharaoh had lost some of his quasi-divine status as the power of non-royal administrative officials grew.

The pyramid of Pepi II, built at Saqqara and completed about 30 years into his reign, was much shorter (53 meters high) than others from the Old Kingdom. With the death of Pepi, the kingdom and the strong central government virtually collapsed, and Egypt entered a turbulent phase known as the First Intermediate Period. Later, the kings of the 12th Dynasty returned to pyramid building during the so-called Middle Kingdom phase, but it was never on the same scale as the Great Pyramids.

; Pepi II Pyramid

6. The pyramids today

Tomb robbers and other vandals from ancient and modern times have removed most of the bodies and funerary objects from the Egyptian pyramids and looted their exteriors. Stripped of most of their smooth white limestone casing, the Great Pyramids no longer reach their original height; Khufu’s, for example, is only 138m high. Nevertheless, millions of people continue to visit the pyramids every year, drawn by their imposing grandeur and the enduring allure of Egypt’s rich and glorious past.

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