AN EXCURSION TO THE PYRAMIDS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Join us on a tour of Egypt’s famous and not so famous pyramids. We’ll learn how they were made and why they were so important to the ancient Egyptians.

On our trip today, we’ll start in Saqqara to the south of Cairo to visit a mastaba tomb and King Djoser’s step pyramid. From there, we will travel to Medium to see one of the first true pyramids. Our next stop will be at Dahsur where we will examine the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid of Pharaoh Snefru. Finally we will see one of the seven wonders of the ancient world --- the Great Pyramids of Giza.

WELCOME TO SAQQARA

As we approach Saqqara, it is certainly obvious that we are in a desert. We are definitely interested in the pyramid structure you see here, but first we will look at an early tomb.

We are approaching the remains of a mastaba tomb. In a mastaba tomb, a deep shaft was dug into the ground. At the end of the shaft, workers dug out a burial chamber to hold the coffin. At ground level, a rectangular structure of mud-brick was constructed.This building was designed to hold the many items the tomb’s owner would need in the after life. In Arabic, “mastaba” means low bench, thus the name of this type of tomb.

Many of Egypt’s nobles and government workers of the Old Kingdom were buried at Saqqara in mastaba tombs. Let’s take a peek in one.

Meet Mereuka. He was a noble who married one of the pharaoh’s daughters. It was important that his image be preserved in his tomb because the Egyptians believed that the soul came back to rest each night in its tomb. It had to be able to recognize which tomb to go to and could only do this by seeing a representation of its living body.

Egyptians painted the walls of tombs with pictures of daily life. They also included many hieroglyphs telling of the deeds of the deceased.It was very important that a person’s name appear or his soulwould disappearand he would neverreach the after life.

ACTIVITY

Follow the link below and find out how to write your name in hieroglyphs.

Hieroglyphic Typewriter Egyptian Hieroglyphic Name Translator alphabet writer

DJOSER’S STEP PYRAMIDLet’s move on to Saqqara’s most visited site --- the step pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser. This tomb, one of the first “pyramids,” was designed by the architect, Imhotep.

Under this structure was much more than a simple burial chamber. A maze of passageways and rooms held the many grave goods this pharaoh would need to enjoy the after life.

As we round the corner of the pyramid, we will come to the entrance to Djoser’s tomb. Unfortunately, thieves have long emptied the tomb and tourists aren’t allowed inside.

But a look at Djoser’s Funerary complex is well worth our time. This huge walled area contained temples and altars for worship and for performing funeral rites for the pharaoh. This wall is around 30 feet high. There is only one entrance as you can see, but there were many false entrances.Many archaeologists believe these false entrances were for the pharaoh’s soul to use as it moved back and forth between this life and the after life.

A guide will point our way down the entrance corridor . . .

. . . and through the hypostyle hall made up of 40 columns. This is the oldest hypostyle hall in the world.

Note: a hypostyle hall is just a hall with a flat roof that is supported by columns.

Only the two bottom layers of the grand buildings that once stood here remain. We really have to put our imaginations to work to try to visualize what this area must have once looked like.

Before we leave this area, we’ll take a look at the Serdab, something many tourists miss. A serdab is simply a chamber inside a tomb that holds a statue of the dead person.

MEET DJOSER

ACTIVITY

Let’s sit for a moment in the shade, and check out a video to review a bit of what we’ve seen and help us picture what was once there.

The Step Pyramid at Saqqara in Egypt – YouTube

MEIDUM We’ve now travelled

about 30 miles south of Memphis to reach Meidum. This is the site of the first real pyramid with smooth sides.

This pyramid was built by Pharaoh Snefru and was about 300 feet high.

The entrance is on the north side.

This pyramid long ago collapsed. The Egyptians had not quite yet become skilled pyramid builders. Next Stop . . .

DASHUR

Welcome to Dashur’s Red Pyramid, so named because of the red stone it is built from. This is Egypt’s second largest pyramid. Only the Great Pyramid at Giza is larger. This pyramid was also built by Pharaoh Snefru. Luckily for us, tourists are allowed inside. Let’s go.

A scramble up some steps on the north side (pyramid entrances were always on the north) takes us to a pretty claustrophobic corridor leading us deep inside the pyramid.

We’ve passed through two rooms to reach this point. It was hoped by the pyramid builders that tomb robbers would never realize there was a third. This stairway leads to the third room, the actual burial chamber for the pharaoh.

Here we see the walls of the actual burial chamber. They aren’t much to look at today, but must have been very impressive at one time.

The Bent Pyramid is our last site at Dashur. This pyramid was also built by Snefru and is the one he was actually buried in.As you can see the builders of this pyramid changed the angle of the slope part way up.

We don’t know why the slope was changed. Maybe they were afraid the pyramid would collapse, or maybe they were just in a hurry to finish it because the pharaoh had died.Whatever the case, this is the only bent pyramid ever built.

Here we see the remains of a small pyramid near the Bent Pyramid. It is called a satellite pyramid. It is believed that this was built for the ka of the Pharaoh. The ka was a part of the soul that continued to live in this world. The Egyptians also believed in what they called the ba. This was a part of the soul that crossed the Nile to dwell on the western shores in the after life.

THE GREAT PYRAMIDS

We have arrived at our final destination: Giza.Here three pharaohs of the Old Kingdom built magnificent tombs that amaze us even today.The large pyramid in front of us belongs to Khufu, behind it is Khafre’s and behind that is Mankaure’s.

Do you see the small fourth pyramid in the backgroung? This was built for one of Mankaure’s queens.

Take a moment to examine this diagram of the Khufu’s great pyramid before we take a closer look and venture inside.

We are headed for the north side of Khufu’s pyramid where we will be able to enter.

We are in the grand gallery you saw on our diagram on the way to the king’s chamber.We are in the world’s largest pyramid. Over two million stone blocks were used to make it. The average weight of these blocks was two and half tons!

This is the king’s chamber. Khufu’s sarcophagus is in the corner.

These granite beams above the king’s chamber hold up an upside down “V.” The purpose for this structure is to help distribute pressure so that the king’s chamber doesn’t collapse under the weight of all the stones on top of it.

As we leave the great pyramid, try to imagine constructing this wonder with no machinery at all. Huge blocks of stone were brought to Giza by boat. The pyramid was built from the bottom up. The stone blocks were dragged into place by moving them up earthen ramps. Mud and water was used to slide the stones into place. When the pyramid was finished, laborers worked backwards. They added the smooth finishing stones from the top down, and removed the earthen ramps as they went along.

The great pyramid has been explored by thieves, archaeologists, and tourists for the past 6,000 years.Yet, it may still hold some surprises. In 1993 a team of scientists discovered a new chamber. We don’t believe anyone has been in it since the time of Khufu.However, a passage will have to be made to reach it. At this point, we do not know if it will ever be opened.

ACTIVITYThanks for coming on the tour of Egypt’s pyramids.

On your flight home, try your hand at the Pyramid Challenge.

Link to the sight below to begin.

BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: Pyramid Challenge