Pyramids and the Old Kingdom

Egypt's Old Kingdom (about 2700 to 2200 BC) was the age of the pyramids. The first was built for King Djoser at Saqqara, about 2630 BC: a step pyramid of six stacked platforms, designed by his official Imhotep. It grew out of the mastaba, a low, flat-topped tomb, stacked smaller and smaller. Within a century, builders had learned to make true pyramids with smooth sloping sides.

At Giza stand three great pyramids, for Khufu, his son Khafre, and Menkaure, built about 2600 to 2500 BC. The Great Pyramid of Khufu was about 146 meters tall when finished, built of some two million limestone blocks, and it was the tallest building on Earth for thousands of years. Each pyramid had a temple at its foot, joined by a causeway to a valley temple near the Nile.

Key idea

The pyramids of Giza (about 2600 to 2500 BC) were royal tombs. The Great Sphinx, probably made for Khafre, lies beside the causeway to his pyramid.

Why it works

A pyramid was more than a big grave. Its shape may echo the sun's rays slanting down to earth, and the mound from which, in Egyptian belief, the world first rose. The king was buried inside, with temples for offerings so that his spirit would be cared for forever.

The pyramids of Giza, about 2600 to 2500 BC.

Looking closely: The pyramids of Giza. Three huge, simple shapes rise from the desert, with smaller pyramids for queens beside them. The sides once had a smooth casing of fine white limestone, polished to shine in the sun; most of it was stripped away for building stone in later centuries, leaving the stepped core you see. The pyramids are aligned closely to north, south, east and west. Their power comes from geometry, size and plainness: no ornament at all on the outside.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, about 2500 BC, with a pyramid behind.

Looking closely: The Great Sphinx. A lion's body lies stretched out with a king's head wearing the striped royal headcloth. It is carved out of the bedrock itself: the builders left a knob of rock while quarrying around it and shaped it into a guardian. Most Egyptologists date it to Khafre's reign; a few argue for his father, Khufu.

Worked example: Who built the pyramids?

A movie shows enslaved crowds whipped as they drag stones. What does the evidence say?

Archaeologists found a workers' town at Giza, with bakeries, storerooms and housing.
Workers were buried in tombs near the pyramids, with goods for the afterlife: an honor, not something given to slaves.
Most Egyptologists now think crews of skilled builders and rotating teams of laborers did the work, fed and housed by the state.

Answer: Organized, paid-in-food crews, not slaves, according to most Egyptologists.

Common mistake

Thinking slaves built the pyramids. The idea goes back to the Greek writer Herodotus, 2,000 years after the fact. Evidence from the workers' town and tombs points to organized crews who were housed and fed. Check what kind of evidence supports a claim: a story told much later, or finds from the site itself?

The Egyptology Ladder's grid lesson and its history course go deeper into the Old Kingdom.

Pyramids and the Old Kingdom

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