Introduction
A pyramid is a structure made by stacking stones or bricks on a quadrangular base with triangular sides, with each side meeting at one vertex to form a spindle shape. It is mainly monumental in nature. In some cases, the sides are trapezoidal and the top is flat, while in others, the sides are shaped like steps. It was built over several periods in various regions and was mainly excavated in ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, East Asia, Mexico, South America, and the Mediterranean coastal area. Only sites that are currently being excavated or that are presumed to be traces of structures have been excavated. There is also. Of these, the pyramids of Egypt, Mexico, and South America are the best known.
The pyramid of ancient Egypt was a type of tomb for kings, queens, and royal families, and its etymology comes from the Greek word “pyramis.” The ancient Egyptians called the pyramids’mer’, and in Arabic, the plural of ‘Ahram’ is ‘Ahramat’. There are currently 80 known Egyptian pyramids, most of which are dotted in the desert on the West Bank of the Nile, about 90 km north to south, from Abu Rawash to el-Lahun, west of Cairo. . However, many of them have collapsed and only have the form of mountains made of bricks or stones, or even traces, so there are surprisingly few that remain. The most representative of the pyramids in Egypt are the pyramids of the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure at Giza, which are the largest.
Egypt
The Egyptian pyramid is a symbolic building of ancient Egyptian civilization and was continuously built from the Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Currently, there are more than 80 reported pyramids remaining in Egypt, and some scholars believe there are 112. Most pyramids are distributed north to south along the west bank of the Nile River. The pyramid was not an independent structure but part of an architectural complex. Pyramids themselves function as tombs or are built on top of tombs, and next to them are funeral halls used for funerals and rites, and most are built so that a canal extends to the riverside.
The period when pyramid construction was most active was during the 3rd to 5th dynasties, and this period is also called the “Pyramid Age.” Afterwards, pyramid construction gradually decreased, and from the 18th Dynasty onwards, most royal tombs took the form of rock-cave tombs. The oldest existing pyramid is the “Step Pyramid” of the 2nd pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty, Djozer (estimated to reign 2630 BC–2612 BC), located in Saqqara, and is known to have been designed by Imhotep, an architect and vizier. there is. The Step Pyramid of Saqqara was initially a stone mastaba (a type of early Egyptian tomb, meaning a rectangular structure in Arabic) measuring 63 meters on a side and 8 meters high, with a central pit 28 meters deep. It started with digging a hole and creating a burial chamber underneath it. However, the construction was expanded, and eventually a step pyramid, shaped like six mastabas stacked on top of each other, with a base of 109 x 126 m and a height of 62 m, was completed. The lower part of the pyramid consists of underground corridors and rooms, and under the central passage, which is 25m deep and 8m wide, is an underground burial chamber made of granite from Aswan.
Religiously, the Step Pyramid of Saqqara is the result of the worship of the sun god, which had existed since ancient times around Heliopolis, combined with the belief on the other side, and the stairs can be thought of as being for the dead king to ascend to heaven. The connection with the sun god became even closer with the later appearance of the orthodox pyramid. The pyramid itself is a facility to protect the king’s mummy. However, a place was also needed to hold ancestral rites by displaying food and various items. Therefore, a funeral hall was built on the north side of the pyramid; a shrine, a small shrine, and a central hall for performing the Sade ritual were built on the east; and a large hall with an altar was built on the south. They were 10 meters high and oriented east to west. It was surrounded by a square main wall measuring 277 m by 545 m from north to south, forming a magnificent tomb. This is what a typical “pyramid complex” looks like.
The orthodox pyramid
The orthodox pyramid with flat sides appeared in the 4th Dynasty. The first pharaoh, Sneferu (reigned 2612 BC–estimated 2589 BC), built three pyramids. Among them is the “Bending Pyramid” built in Dashur, south of Saqqara, with a height of 97.5 m, a base of 189 m, and a slope angle of 54°32 “at the beginning and 43°21″ in the middle. Unusually, the slope changes along the middle, with the bottom being steeper than the top. It has a shape closer to a four-pointed horn than Djoser’s Step Pyramid. The pyramid of Meidum, also built by Snephro, currently remains in the shape of a two-tiered tower, but it was originally built as an eight-tiered step pyramid, and the tiers were filled with stones and then covered with limestone to form a pure four-sided pyramid. It was. One theory says that it was started by Pharaoh Huni, the previous king of Snefru, at the end of the 3rd Dynasty and was completed by Snefru. The height is 92m, the base is 144m, and the slope angle is 51°52”. However, the first pyramid known to have been designed and constructed as a four-sided pyramid from the beginning is at Dahshur and is called the “North Pyramid” or “Red Pyramid.” It is known as “Pyramid.”. It has a height of 97.5m, a base of 213m, and a slope angle of 43°36″, so the slope is gentle. With the arrival of the 4th Dynasty, the Funeral Hall was moved from the north to the east of the pyramid, and a new Hagok Shrine was built on the desert side, both of which were connected to the worship road.
The next pharaoh, Khufu (reigned 2589 BC–estimated 2566 BC), built the largest pyramid at Giza, located 15 km southwest of Cairo. It is called the Great Pyramid or the First Pyramid and has a height of 146.5m (currently 137m), a base of 230m, and a slope angle of 51°52″. Each ridge points to the north, south, east, and west, and the maximum error is only 5°30″. It was extremely elaborate, and according to Fitri, it was made up of 2.3 million stones weighing an average of 2.5 tons. As the world’s largest stone building, its grand scale and simple beauty cannot be found anywhere else. The internal structure was complex, and according to Germany’s Borhardt, the plan was changed twice. If you enter the entrance slightly above the ground on the north side and go down, you will reach a room located underneath the bedrock. This is the burial chamber of the first plan, and the commonly known “Queen’s Room” above it is the burial chamber of the second plan. And the pyramid was completed according to the third plan.
To the southwest of the First Pyramid is the Second Pyramid of Pharaoh Khafre (estimated reign: 2558 BC–2532 BC). It has a height of 136 m, a base of 216 m, and a 450 m long worship path that extends from Jangjejeon to the east, reaching Hagok Shrine. The famous Sphinx is located on the north side of the pilgrimage road, close to Hagok Temple. Giza also has the Third Pyramid of Pharaoh Menkaure (reigned 2532 BC–2504 BC) and six smaller pyramids believed to belong to queens or royal families. Among the Pyramids of Giza, only the Pyramid of Khafre still retains some of the limestone that covered the granite and smoothed the surface, allowing us to guess its original appearance. During the 5th and 6th dynasties, the size of the pyramid became smaller. The pyramids of the 5th and 6th dynasties at Abu Sir and Saqqara have a base of 65 to 80 m. Among them, it is known to belong to Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty. Those of Pepi I, Merenla, and Pepi II of the 6th Dynasty have various incantations, or so-called “pyramid texts,” engraved on the walls of the burial chambers to pray for the king’s happiness after death. After King Ibi of the 7th Dynasty, the pyramid disappeared temporarily but reappeared in the 11th Dynasty. El-Rahun, belonging to Amenemhat I (reigned 1991 BC–1962 BC) and Senusret I (reigned 1971 BC–1926 BC) of Lisht, belonged to the 12th Dynasty. Famous are those of Senusret II (reigned 1897 BC–1878 BC) in el-Lahun and those of Amenemhat II (reigned 1860 BC–1814 BC) in Hawara.. However, because it was small and built with sun-dried bricks, it was severely damaged.
The most difficult aspect of building the pyramid was transporting the heavy stones to the required height. Although it is not known exactly how the stones were transported at the time, many scholars estimate that a ramp was built at a right angle to the side of the pyramid, and the stones were transported on sledges. At a certain height, core materials, interior materials, warping materials, and exterior materials were stacked in that order, and as the pyramid grew higher, the slope also increased. In this case, the slope of the ramp must be constant, so the length gradually increases. Once everything was built to the top, the exterior was completed from the top, and the ramp was gradually lowered to complete it. The exterior was constructed with great care, and the stones were stacked with such precision that not a single piece of paper could fit through them. Regarding the time it took for the completion of the “Pyramids of Giza”, Herodotus wrote that it took 20 years, but it is actually thought to have been shorter.
Latin america
It is thought that the earliest pyramids in Latin America appeared in places such as La Venta, the center of the Olmecan civilization in Mexico. The Pyramid of La Venta has a base measuring 80 x 140 m and four side walls made of hardened clay. The date is thought to be the 5th century BC. A little further down, the stone pyramid of Cuicuilco appeared in Mexico’s central plateau, and in the religious city of Teotihuacan, which blossomed in the early AD, huge pyramids dedicated to the sun, moon, and Quetzalcoatl were built one after another. The largest of these three is the ‘Pyramid of the Sun’, with a base of about 200m and a height of 65m. Additionally, groups of pyramids were formed in Monte Alban and Caminaljuyu, which were influenced by Teotihuacan.
In Mayan culture after Kaminalhuyu, pyramids, in particular, became an important part of building temples. At El Tahin on the Gulf of Mexico, a pyramid decorated with many niches was built. The pyramids were later passed down to the Tolteki and Aztec cultures, and it is recorded that even the conquerors, Spaniards, admired the Great Pyramids built in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), Tlatilco, and Cholula, the centers of the latter. Remains.
The pyramids of Central America had the strong character of large foundations to protect temples where rites and worship were performed. However, as seen in the discovery of the ‘Law Pyramid’ of Palenque in Mayan culture, it was not uncommon for high-ranking figures to be buried inside the pyramid as a foundation.
In the Andes region, the development of pyramids was mainly limited to the period of cultural enlightenment several hundred years before and after AD, called the Classical Period. Although there are pyramids from the beginning of agriculture, such as Las Aldas on the central coast of Peru, the construction of the Great Pyramids made of full-scale mud bricks was popular during the cultural enlightenment period in many valleys on the north coast of Peru, centered on the Mochica culture. Around the same time, pyramids made of earth also appeared in the Tiaunaco culture of the southern Andes.
Stone pyramids are rarely seen in Peru. Also, during the final Inca period, not many pyramids were built, only the great temple of Pachacamac in the coastal region. The pyramids of the Andes also seem to have seen justice and worship at the top.
Conclusion
The oldest surviving record of the pyramids is in Book 2 of the History of the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC). He writes about the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, which was built over 20 years by 100,000 people in 3-month shifts. Some records from the Middle Ages also remain. In modern times, fanciful and mystical interpretations, such as the astronomical grand theory and the warehouse theory, were also added, but from an academic perspective, the “Egyptian Journal,” written by a survey team during Napoleon’s expedition, stands out. Since the end of the 19th century, scientific explanations have been achieved through investigations by Pittri, Borhard, Reissner, and others.
In Sudan, there are also pyramids in Napata and Meroe. The former is believed to be from the Kush Dynasty from the 8th to 7th centuries BC, with 18 pieces, and the latter is believed to be from the Axum Dynasty from the 3rd century BC and has about 50 pieces. They were all built as tombs and are characterized by a very steep slope angle.
Among the pyramids of Central and South America, the most famous are the Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon at Teotihuacán in central Mexico, the Castillo at Chichen-Itza, and other remains of the Inca and Chimu civilizations in Andean villages. It is a ruin. Pyramids in the Americas are usually made of earth and covered with stones, are typically stepped, and feature a pedestal or temple on top.