Free
During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, pyramids were built to house the pharaohs’ bodies after death.
Some were 40 stories high, constructed of stone blocks that each weighed three tons or more. The Egyptians’ only tools were ropes, levers, wedges, and a few stone and copper hand tools. They lacked the wheel or any hoisting equipment to move the stone. How did they do it? They did it the hard way, with muscle power. For three or four months each year, while the Nile flooded, the pharaohs put farmers and laborers to work on building projects. The largest of these projects was the pyramids.
◀ Because a pyramid took decades to complete, a pharaoh had workers start on his long before he expected to die. Here, artists are laying out the decorations for the walls of the tomb chapel. Masons and basket-boys are at work on a passageway.
◀ When a pharaoh was buried, gold, jewels, and other precious items were buried with him. To prevent robbers from breaking into their tombs, New Kingdom pharaohs had hidden tombs cut into the cliffs near Thebes. Despite this, tomb robbing was common. This gold leopard head is from King Tutankhamen’s tomb, one of very few that thieves never found.
The first pyramid was built for King Zoser in the desert at Saqqara around 2630 B.C. Called a step pyramid, its shape suggests a giant stairway by which the king’s spirit could join the Sun god. ▶
Building a Pyramid
To quarry limestone for the pyramids, workers put wooden wedges into grooves cut in the quarry walls. Soaked with water, the wedges expanded and split off blocks of stone.
◀ The Great Pyramid of King Khufu at Giza is the world’s largest stone structure and 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 20 years and more than 4,000 workers to build the Great Pyramid.
