Pyramids - egypt

موضوع: Pyramids - egypt الإثنين فبراير 11, 2008 5:29 pm

Pyramids are large structures with square bases and four smooth, triangular-shaped sides that come to a point at the top. Several ancient peoples used pyramids as tombs or temples. The most famous pyramids are those built about 4,500 years ago as tombs for Egyptian kings. These Egyptian pyramids are among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Egyptian pyramids

The ruins of 35 major pyramids still stand near the Nile River in Egypt. Each was built to house the body of an Egyptian king. The Egyptians thought that a person's body had to be preserved and protected so the soul could live forever. The Egyptians mummified (embalmed and dried) their dead and hid the mummies in large tombs. From about 2700 to 1700 B.C., the bodies of Egyptian kings were buried inside or benh a pyramid in a secret chamber that was filled with treasures of gold and precious objects. Many scholars believe that the pyramid shape had a religious meaning to the Egyptians. The sloping sides may have reminded the Egyptians of the slanting rays of the sun, by which the soul of the king could climb to the sky and join the gods.

Funeral ceremonies were performed in temples that were attached to the pyramids. Most pyramids had two temples connected by a long stone passageway. Sometimes a smaller pyramid for the body of the queen stood next to the king's pyramid. Egypt has at least 40 smaller pyramids that were used for queens or as memorial monuments for kings. The king's relatives and officials were buried in smaller rectangular tombs called mastabas, which had sloping sides and flat roofs.

The first pyramids. Imhotep, a gr architect and statesman, built the first known pyramid for King Zoser in about 2650 B.C. Zoser's tomb rose in a series of giant steps, or terraces, and is called the Step Pyramid. This pyramid still stands at the site of the ancient city of Memphis, near Saqqarah.

The first smooth-sided pyramid was built about 2600 B.C. It still stands at Medum. It began as a stepped pyramid, and then the steps were filled in with casing stones to give the building smooth, sloping sides. Other pyramids built during a period of Egyptian history called the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.) can be seen at Abusir and Dahshur. During the Middle Kingdom (2052-1786 B.C.), pyramids were built at Hawara, Illahun, Lisht, and Dahshur--near what is now Cairo. The remains of these pyramids are still impressive.

The Pyramids of Giza (Al Jizah) stand on the west bank of the Nile River outside Cairo. There are 10 pyramids at Giza, including three of the largest and best preserved of all Egyptian pyramids. They were built for kings in about 2600 to 2500 B.C. The largest was built for King Khufu (called Cheops by the Greeks). The second was built for King Khafre (Chephren), and the third for King Menkaure (Mycerinus). A huge statue of a sphinx, called the Gr Sphinx, was probably built for Khafre. It stands near his pyramid.

The pyramid of Khufu, called the Gr Pyramid, contains more than 2 million stone blocks that average 2.3 metric tons each. It was originally 147 metres tall, but some of its upper stones are gone now and it stands about 140 metres high. Its base covers an area of about 5 hectares.

A study of the Gr Pyramid shows how these gigantic structures were built. The ancient Egyptians had no machinery or iron tools. They cut big limestone blocks with copper chisels and saws. Most of the stones came from quarries nearby. But some came from across the Nile, and others came by from distant quarries. Gangs of men dragged the blocks to the pyramid site and pushed the first layer of stones into place. Then they built long ramps of earth and brick, and dragged the stones up the ramps to form the next layer. As they finished each layer, they raised and lengthened the ramps. Finally, they covered the pyramid with an outer coating of white casing stones. They laid these outer stones so exactly that from a distance the pyramid appeared to have been cut out of a single white stone. Most of the casing stones are gone now, but a few are still in place at the bottom of the Gr Pyramid.

The burial chamber is inside the Gr Pyramid. A corridor leads from an entrance on the north side to several rooms within the pyramid. One of the rooms is called the Queen's Chamber, although the queen is not buried there. The room was planned as the king's burial chamber. But Khufu changed the plan and built another burial chamber, called the King's Chamber. The Grand Gallery, a corridor 47 metres long and 8.5 metres high, leads to Khufu's chamber. The Gr Pyramid is considered a marvel of ancient architecture.

No one knows how long it took to build the Gr Pyramid. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said that the work went on in four-month shifts, with 100, workers in each shift. Scholars now doubt that account and believe that about 100, men worked on the pyramids for three or four months each year. Farm labourers built the pyramids. They worked on the tombs during periods when floodwaters of the Nile covered the fields and made farming impossible.

Thieves broke into most of the pyramids, stole the gold, and sometimes destroyed the bodies. Later Egyptian kings stopped using pyramids, and built secret tombs in cliffs. But some kings of the Kushite kingdom in Nubia, south of Egypt, built pyramids long after they were no longer used in Egypt.

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urz faithfully

SeCrEt AnGeL

موضوع: رد: Pyramids - egypt الجمعة فبراير 15, 2008 8:24 pm

Thanz my deer

موضوع: رد: Pyramids - egypt السبت فبراير 16, 2008 2:02 am

welcome all for our information sis

موضوع: رد: Pyramids - egypt الأحد مارس 09, 2008 4:07 am

thnxz sis for the information

ma wihes and regards to u

موضوع: رد: Pyramids - egypt الإثنين مارس 10, 2008 12:34 pm

ur welcome darlin

thnxz 4 passin by

ma wishes to u all