The Pyramids
Jan 11th, 2007 by Lee (admin)
There were around eighty pyramids built during the times of ancient Egypt.
The three largest, best-preserved and well-known of these are situated at the Giza Plateau, near Cairo and date back to the beginning of the Old Kingdom.
The most well-known of these pyramids was built for the pharaoh Khufu and is known as the Great Pyramid.
From around c.2400 BC until 1889 it stood as the tallest building in the world.
PYRAMIS
The word ‘pyramid’ is in fact Greek and is derived from ‘pyramis’ which means ‘wheat cake’.
The Greeks applied this to the huge structures they saw in Egypt as they reminded them of point-topped wheat cakes.
The ancient Egyptians actually referred to their pyramids as “Mer”.
Egyptologists have a couple of theories as to why a pyramid shape was chosen as a burial complex for the pharaohs.
Firstly it could be symbolised as a great set of steps leading upwards to the sky (and eternal life) or secondly, it could be symbollic of the the sun’s rays descending from the heavens back down to earth.
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