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The pyramids of ancient Egypt are among the most famous structures ever built. The word “pyramid” comes from the Greek for “Hippopotam,” a Greek name for the Egyptian goddess Isis. The original pyramids built for pharaohs were made of stone, but later models incorporated wood and various other materials. Architectural elements were also layered to create different shapes, including triangles, squares and hexagons. The purpose of the ancient Egyptian pyramids has long been a source of fascination for people around the world.
The earliest pyramids were primarily tomb monuments. In ancient Egypt, tombs were known as “ mastabas ” and were usually rectangular in shape. The outside was smooth, while the inside was elaborately decorated with exquisite artworks and murals. Inside the tomb was an open sarcophagus where the dead person would rest awaiting resurrection. Later, when embalming became an art form, pyramid tombs became more elaborate and distinctively shaped. As time passed, however, most ancient Egyptian pyramids became shrouded in legend and lost their original function.
The primary purpose of an Egyptian pyramid originally was to house a burial chamber for the pharaohs within it. Each limestone layer of a pyramid would represent one year of the pharaoh’s life so that his death would coincide with his resurrection at Passover time in Judaeo-Christian tradition. Another purpose for an Egyptian pyramid was solar worship— to align the structure toward Egypt’s sun god Ra so that it would cast no shadow on his birthday month of August or on other solar festivals such as Corpus Christi day in June or Maundy Thursday in March or April. Some scholars believe that some of Egypt’s earliest solar worship structures included rounded shapes because they looked like eggs at sunrise— an association with fertility since eggs denote new life . If a solar worship structure had a flat top instead of a dome , then it could be used to hold burning torches during festivals such as coronation ceremonies when Pharaohs were crowned king . The torches would continue to burn all night under a starry sky as a reminder that all Pharaohs would become kings under God.
Pyramids were also used for many purposes other than just housing mummies or holding funerary offerings for deceased pharaohs such as grisly rituals or storing objects deemed sacred by various religions such as Judaism’s Torah scrolls or Christian books like the Bible . Over time— possibly centuries — tremendous effort went into creating gigantic stone structures that could stand forever without support from mortar or scaffolding . A famous example is Egypt’s Great Pyramid at Giza , which still stands today after over 2200 years despite being damaged by weathering wind and sand erosion over several millennia. Modern technology has brought us back into sync with our past when we now understand how to keep monumental structures standing using building materials that are more stable than stone such as concrete and steel girders supported by pilings driven deep into solid bedrock.
While some argue that early Egyptians didn’t know how to construct true pyramids since they only knew tomb monuments , there is evidence that contradicts this claim since later models incorporated wood and various other materials Besides being teaching tools , some believe that ancient Egyptians purposely designed their pyramids so that their construction methods could be applied to other projects such as bridges . Whatever their original function may have been, modern applications — either as tomb monuments or engineering feats — are still applicable today withstood by modern construction methods using steel girders supported by concrete piers driven into solid rock.
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