Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - History Other pyramids research paper pyramids research paper When most people mention Ancient Egypt the first thing that comes to mind are the Pyramids. To construct such monuments required a mastery of art, architecture and social organization that few cultures would ever rival. The pyramids are said to have built Egypt by being the primary force that knit together the kingdom's economy. Their creations were so substantial, that the sight of these vast pyramids would astound you. Today, the valley of the Nile has an open-air museum so people can witness these grand monuments. Obsessed with the afterlife, Egypt's rulers of 4,500 years ago glorified themselves in stone, thereby laying the foundation of the first great nation. A Pyramid is an enormous machine that helps the king go through the wall of the dead, achieve resurrection and live forever in the happiness of the gods. The start of the Old Kingdom is said to be the building of the Djoser's monument. The construction of Step Pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser began around 2630 BC and was designed to awe the ancient Egyptians, to impress them with their ruler's godlike strength. It was the world's first great construction project, and the world's largest building. Djoser, the second king of the 3rd dynasty, hired the skilled architect Imhoptep to construct the first tomb made completely of stone. Imhoptep is considered the prominent genius of the Old Kingdom. He assembled one workforce to quarry limestone at the cliff of Tura, across the Nile, another to haul the stone to the site where master carvers shaped each block and put it in place. The Step Pyramid is a terraced structure rising in six unequal stages to a height of 60 meters, its base measuring 120 meters by 108 meters. The substructure has a system of underground corridors and rooms. The main feature of the step pyramid is a central shaft that runs 25 meters deep and 8 meters wide. The step pyramid rises within a vast walled court which spreads 544 meters long and 277 meters wide, in which are the remnants of several stone edifices built to supply the desires of the king in the here after. Towering limestone columns were shaped to mimic the sway and droop of leafy plants. Immovable doors hung on great-carved hinges. Facades (also called false doors) through which the pharaoh's kA, or vital force, was presumed to pass, lay recessed within walls. The interiors of dummy temples were packed with rubble. The Step Pyramid was an actual ladder, by which the soul of a dead ruler might climb to the sky, where he would join the gods in immortality. No one knows the true logic and reasoning behind the Ancient Egyptian’s traditional form of burial and means for an afterlife. Some archaeologists speculate that it derived from an Old Kingdom belief that a work of art, or symbolic building, had the power in the afterlife in direct proportion to its futility in the real world. In this perspective, it was believed that each false door, and dummy temple worked precisely in the afterlife because it could not function in reality. On the north side of the pyramid is a small stone cubicle, with a pair of tiny holes in its facade. When you look through these holes, you see two eyes returning your stare, the blank gaze of a life size statue of Djoser sitting on the throne. The holes are there for the pharaoh to look out, perhaps at the stars in the northern sky, which were called the Imperishables because they never set. Many believe that the building of Djoser's complex pyramid, which was accomplished by hundreds of workers from across the land, served to join those provinces into the world's first nation-state. During the Old Kingdom, which began around 2700 BC and lasted some 550 years, each pharaoh after Djoser marshaled a vast portion of his country's manpower and wealth to build his own tomb and ensure his immortality. To build such outstanding monuments required precise architecture, and years of endless labor from many Egyptians. The kingdom developed a funerary tradition around the worship of their divine pharaohs, both living and dead. Every aspect of life was affected. The Egyptians dug a network of canals off the Nile to transport stone for the pyramids and food for the workers, and a simple, local agriculture became the force that knit together the kingdom's economy. The need to keep records of the harvest may have led to the invention of a written language. Yet after five and a half centuries this flourishing civilization collapsed, plunging Egypt into disorder. Perhaps the seeds of the collapse were planted in the soil of the civilization that, for all its grandeur, seemed obsessed with the idea that its dead rulers must live forever. The daily life of the workers constructing the pyramids was one of repetitive toil. On wooden sledges across the hot sands, workers hauled the largest granite blocks weighing as much as seventy tons to build the pyramids. Egypt created a vast agricultural empire, yet all the irrigation was done by hand. Farmers filled two heavy jars from the canals then hung them from a yoke over their shoulders. Recent excavation of the graves of pyramid workers reveals that some of the workers were missing limbs or had damaged spines. The human cost of a national compulsion to glorify gods and deify the souls of kings. Two generations after Djoser's reign, the center of the Old Kingdom moved north to the barren plateau of Giza. Three fourth of the dynasty pyramids were erected here; they are included among the Seven Wonders of the World. The northern most pyramid, and oldest of the group of four was called the Great Pyramid. It was created and built for Khufu, the second king of the 4th dynasty. It is the largest of the three pyramids. The length of each side starting at the base averaged 775 3/4 feet and reaches a height of 481 2/5 feet. The middle pyramid was created and built for Khafre, the fourth of the eight kings of the 4th dynasty. Khafre’s structure measures 707 3/4 feet on each side, and had originally reached a height of 471 feet. The southernmost and last pyramid to be built was that of Menkaure the sixth king of the 4th dynasty. Each side measures 356 ½ feet, and the structure reaches a total height of 218 feet. Each monument originally consisted of not only the pyramid itself (which housed the body of the deceased king) but also an adjoining mortuary temple and a sloping causeway temple near the Nile. Close to each pyramid was one or more subsidiary pyramids used for the burials of members of the royal family. To the south of the Great Pyramid near Khafre's valley temple lies the Great Sphinx. Carved out of a knoll of rock, the Sphinx has the facial features of King Khafre, but the body of a recumbent lion; it is approximately 240 feet long and 66 feet high. The sphinx guards Khafu's valley temple and causeway. Halfway through the Old Kingdom, around 2465 BC pyramids suddenly lost popularity and became less important to the pharaohs. No one is certain why, but many scholars have suggested that after Khufu's pyramid (which took roughly 23 years to build) the kingdom grew weary with each pharaoh's effort to outdo his predecessor. Several pharaohs died before their pyramids were completed, perhaps a cause of embarrassment or even horror among the populace. Never again would a king build his pyramid on a truly colossal scale. Instead, the religious focus shifted from the pyramid itself toward the mortuary temple that stood just east of it. The funerary culture was growing more sophisticated, even as the pharaoh's unlimited power was beginning to erode. The ancient Egyptian pyramids will always be a constant reminder of the vast architectural accomplishments of Egypt's Old Kingdom. A mystical gateway for a pharaoh's leap to immortality, a pyramid drew resources from throughout the king's domain. Bibliography: Word Count: 1333
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