The Old Kingdom in Egypt
In old history, there was a time period in which pyramids were being built. This is known as the Old Kingdom. Pharaoh reigned securely, while peasants farmed the land and built pyramids. Before this, the Mesopotamian people built ziggurats, which were rectangular shaped towers, which were sometimes surmounted by a temple. The first large pyramid was built by Pharaoh Zoser. It was called a 'step pyramid' which may have been modeled after the ziggurats.
The largest of all pyramids was the Great Pyramid at Giza. The reason for this pyramid was that is would be used for a tomb for Pharaoh Cheops, who may also have been Khufu. It took twenty years to complete the building of this pyramid, and was worked on by one hundred thousand men, continually. They worked for three months until a new crew would relieve them. The pyramid was very heavy to build. Each block weighed about 2.5 tons, and the pyramid was made up of at least 2,300,000 blocks! That was a lot of work. No wonder it took twenty years to finish!
There was a lot of thought that went into building a pyramid. One clue that we have is that it is probable that when they were built, those who were having it built for them were planning on using it as a way of entering the after-life. Lots of valuable items were buried with the pharaoh to assist in his journey to the afterlife. And more time was spent on building the pyramids than was spent on building their own homes! We can still see the pyramids today, as they were very well built and sturdy.
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