T is for Tombs (or Pyramids)
OK, so I'm being a little cheeky with this one, but the pyramids were built to be tombs, so I figure it's allowed.
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| Taken from here |
- The tombs were designed to protect the Pharaoh's mummified body, and the belongings he would need for the afterlife.
- Many of the pyramids are on the western side of the Nile, just into the desert. This made it easier to get the blocks to the pyramid using the river.
- Other ancient civilisations built pyramids (the Mayans, for example) but the ancient Egyptian ones are the most well known.
- Ancient Egyptian pyramids often contain multiple chambers and passageways, including storage rooms and courtyards. Many also had traps designed to catch tomb robbers.
- Tomb robbers targeted many of the royal tombs, and most were robbed eventually. One tomb left largely intact was the tomb of Tutankhamun, which was located in the Valley of the Kings.
- Pyramid construction was abandoned during the Middle Kingdom, as pyramids were too easy for tomb robbers to find.
- Cities known as 'pyramid cities' grew around pyramids during their construction. There lived the people whose job it was to build the pyramids. These cities still existed after the pyramid was built.
I find is amusing that they stopped with pyramids not because they were too expensive or big, but because they were too obvious :).
ReplyDeleteTasha
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The pyramids are such massive structures, feats of engineering and devotion, they are incredible.
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Pyramids do rather stick out in the desert - easy to spot.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex--these are such a distinctive part of the Egyptian landscape. I don't think you get pyramids anywhere else in the world, do you? You'd think such a relatively simple structure would be duplicated in other cultures, but as far as I know, it hasn't. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteThere was a docu-drama produced by the BBC about 10 years ago called "Egypt." It's 6 episodes long, and each episode traces a different aspect of archeological exploration in the region. One episode is on the Rosetta Stone, another on Tutenkhamun, all dramatized, with flashbacks into Ancient Egypt. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. I think you'd enjoy it. Here's the IMDB info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483603/?ref_=nv_sr_6
I didn't know pyramids had courtyards in them, which is pretty cool. And I can't help but wonder at whoever was in charge of setting up traps in there. Was it an ongoing process of developing new (and exciting) traps to stump thieves, or was there just one go-to trap that was tried and tested?
ReplyDeleteIncredible structures that makes you wonder about the people who built them as well as those who rested or still, hopefully there still are some who rest in them.
ReplyDeleteAmazing how many full-lives it took to build one pyramid for one person. :)
ReplyDeleteIt might be cheeky of you, but I think it's allowed. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, pyramids are a wee bit obvious. How could you miss them? No wonder robbers targeted them.
Really interesting. I'm curious about those traps now!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to live in a city built around a pyramid. Cool!
ReplyDeleteDeb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com
I would love to walk through a Pyramid. With an experience guide tour, of course. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou dont get tombs like that these days. . . . . . . I dont know what they must think in the afterlife when we turn up in a cardboard coffin with plastic handles.
ReplyDeleteThe amazing thing is the arrogance of those long ago rulers to design something for themselves. Well, the construction is amazing. And the things we've learned from them. And, well, they are amazing. Thanks for the fun facts.
ReplyDeleteThis is where I want to be buried when I die!
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine living in a society where this kind of elaborate preparation was the norm for burial?
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I would love to visit the pyramids one day. Actually, I just read The Lost Sisterhood, about a woman who studies the amazons and the book jumps around different historical sites- anyway, it totally made me wish I had become an archaeologist!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that tombs gave rise to cities.
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