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During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, pyramids were built to house the pharaohs’ bodies after death.
Some were 40 stories high, built of stone blocks that weighed three tons or more each. The Egyptians’ only tools were ropes, levers, wedges, and a few stone and copper hand tools. They had no wheels or any hoisting tools to move the stones. How did they do it? The hard way—with muscle power. For three or four months a year, while the Nile flooded, the pharaohs made farmers and laborers work on building projects. The largest was the pyramids.
◀ A pyramid took decades to complete, so a pharaoh made workers start on his long before he expected to die. Here, artists lay out decorations for the walls of the tomb chapel. Masons and basket-boys are at work on a passageway.
◀ Gold, jewels, and other precious items were buried with a pharaoh. To prevent robbers from breaking into their tombs, New Kingdom pharaohs had hidden tombs cut into the cliffs near Thebes. Even so, tomb robbing was common. This gold leopard head is from King Tutankhamen’s tomb. It is one of very few tombs that thieves never found.
The first pyramid was built for King Zoser around 2630 B.C. It is in the desert at Saqqara. Called a step pyramid, its shape suggests a giant stairway that the pharaoh’s spirit could climb to join the Sun god. ▶
Building a Pyramid
To cut blocks of limestone for the pyramids, workers jammed wooden wedges into grooves cut in the quarry walls. Then they soaked the wedges with water. As the wedges expanded, they split off blocks of stone.
◀ The Great Pyramid of King Khufu at Giza is the biggest stone structure in the world. It is also Egypt’s most famous pyramid. Its more than 2.5 million stone blocks weigh on average three tons each. The pyramid covers more than 12 acres. It took more than 4,000 workers 20 years to build the Great Pyramid.
