underwent changes in design over time. It appears to have
begun as a simple mastaba, a fl at-roofed tomb with sloping
sides. Later it was enlarged, and tiers of stone were added. At
one time there were only two tiers, then four, and later six.
Although historians do not know much about Djoser,
they do know a fair amount about the person who designed
and oversaw the construction of the Step Pyramid. His name
was Imhotep, and in later centuries he came to be regarded as a
legendary fi gure, one who was almost godlike. It is known that
he was Djoser’s principal adviser as well as a scientist, physi-
cian, astrologer, sage, and poet. He founded a school of archi-
tecture that transformed Egyptian building from a collection
of crude huts made of mud brick and thatch into a nation of
lavish temples and palaces that were designed to last forever.
His work provided the inspiration for Fourth Dynasty build-
ers to construct the pyramids. An ancient Arab proverb states,
“All things dread Time, but Time dreads the Pyramids.”
Th e Step Pyramid consists not just of the pyramid itself. It
also includes a complex of structures. Th e complex was origi-
nally surrounded by a limestone wall 34 feet high and 5,397
feet in length. Th is wall contained an area of about 37 acres
with a number of buildings, terraces, and carved facades. In
fact, many of the architectural elements of the complex are
the fi rst known examples of these elements. Th ey include its
colonnades (row of columns), porticoes (porches), hypostyles
(t he roofl ines of a building resting on a row of columns), life-
sized statues, and various types of moldings and cornices (the
ornamented crowns of a structure, such as a column). Th e
Step Pyramid itself is 197 feet tall and was constructed with
almost 12 million cubic feet of stone and clay.
Other early pyramids include the pyramid for King Sne-
feru at Dashur, which was built around 2600 b.c.e. Th is pyra-
mid is oft en referred to as the Bent Pyramid because about
midway up there is a bend that makes it look as though the
pyramid is bulging out. Th is bend was probably the result of
a construction mistake, showing how diffi cult it was to make
the sloped sides of a pyramid meet precisely at the top. Th e
pyramid at Meidum is also attributed to King Snefru. Al-
though this pyramid is slightly less than 300 feet tall, it sits
on elevated ground, so it can be seen for miles around.
THE PYRAMIDS AT GIZA
Th e most prominent of the pyramids are those at Giza, built
on a 1-mile-square plateau about 10 miles west of Cairo. From
the top of nearly any building in Cairo, one can see this clus-
ter of six pyramids, three large and three small. Th e ancient
Greeks regarded this group as one of the Seven Wonders of
the World. Over a period of perhaps 10 to 20 years during the
25th century b.c.e., King Khufu (sometimes referred to as
Cheops, the name ancient Greek historians gave him), built
the largest of the pyramids, the Great Pyramid. His successor,
King Khafre (written as Chephren by the ancient Greeks) had
a somewhat smaller pyramid built, though from a distance it
looks as large as the Great Pyramid because it sits on higher
ground. Th e third large pyramid was built by King Menkure
(or Mykerinos to Greek historians). Menkure had the three
smaller pyramids at Giza erected for his queens.
Th e Great Pyramid at Giza is an architectural wonder. It
occupies a site of some 13 acres—about seven city blocks—and
it is level to within a small fraction of an inch. It was construct-
ed of two and a half million stone blocks ranging in weight
from 2 tons to 70 tons, with an average of 2½ tons. It is esti-
mated that the Great Pyramid weighs 6.5 million tons. Over
the period of construction, 100,000 blocks per year, or 275 per
day, had to be cut, smoothed, and put in position—no mean
feat, given that the pyramid consists of 201 levels that rise to a
height of 485 feet. Originally, the Great Pyramid, covered with
limestone, had a smooth, polished appearance. During the
14th century, however, the limestone was stripped off for use
in buildings in Cairo; many of these buildings, made in part
with limestone from the Great Pyramid, still stand.
Th e Great Pyramid appears to be solid, but in fact it con-
tains a labyrinth of passageways and rooms. One passageway,
called the “descending passage,” enters the pyramid about
halfway up and leads down to a chamber 600 feet directly be-
neath the apex. Angling off from this passageway is another,
the “ascending passage,” that leads up to the Grand Gallery, a
room that is 28 feet high and 157 feet long. Th is gallery leads
to the King’s Chamber, where an empty sarcophagus (coffi n)
was found in the ninth century. Th e ceiling of this chamber
consists of just nine stone blocks that together weigh about
400 tons. Another passageway leads to what is called the
Queen’s Chamber, so called because its ceiling is peaked, a
common feature in queens’ tombs during this era.
Considerable mystery has surrounded the question of
why the pyramids at Giza were built. Th e usual explanation
is that they were built as tombs for the pharaohs. No bodies
or other objects typically included in tombs have been found
in them, because over the centuries treasure hunters looted
the pyramids. Nonetheless, most archaeologists agree that
the principal purpose of the pyramids was to provide a home
during the aft erlife for the pharaohs. Th e Egyptians believed
deeply in the concept of the aft erlife. Th ey believed that in
addition to the physical body each person had a ka, a kind
of replica or double of the body (not to be confused with the
ba, or soul). According to the pharaohs, the ka did not die
with the body—or at least it did not have to. It could survive
if the deceased’s body was protected from hunger, violence,
and decay. To avoid decay, the body was mummifi ed, that is,
cleaned, wrapped, and treated with chemicals, and then bur-
ied in a human-shaped coffi n. Th e function of the pyramids
was to protect the body from hunger and violence. Because
the pyramids were so tall and massive, with a complex sys-
tem of shaft s and chambers, they protected the body from
intruders. Further, the chambers in the pyramids could be
fi lled with jars of water, food, tools, and other objects to help
the deceased on his or her journey into the aft erlife.
Some historians, though, off er competing theories about
why the pyramids were built. Th ey believe that the pyramids
were constructed for political purposes. Th e pharaohs saw thearchitecture: Egypt 57