The pyramids of Giza did not suddenly drop from the sky. Name an earlier Egyptian site, describe its mortuary architecture in a few words, and explain how this fits into the pattern of....

Question

The pyramids of Giza did not suddenly drop from the sky. Name an earlier Egyptian site, describe its mortuary architecture in a few words, and explain how this fits into the pattern of architectural development.

Answer 1

This question is asking you to consider how earlier architecture in Egypt provided the cultural, technical, and inspirational basis for the famous pyramids build at Giza. You would first want to figure out when the pyramids of Giza were built and understand a bit about their construction, then you can look up the same information for a few older tomb sites and piece together a picture of the history of this type of structure in Ancient Egypt.

The pyramids of Giza were built during the Old Kingdom, around 2600BC, and include three main large pyramids as well as a few smaller ones. These were built as tombs for pharaohs and queens according to Old Kingdom (and broader Ancient Egyptian) beliefs about the divinity of pharaohs and the importance of preserving bodies for the afterlife.

It is important to understand how these pyramids would have looked when they were built. Today, the pyramids at Giza look rough on the outside, but this is because they have experienced several thousand years of wear and history. Their sides would have originally been smooth and covered in limestone capstones, which you can still see in spots like at the top of Khafre's pyramid. How these structures were designed and built was part of a history that relied on architectural experience based on the work of previous generations, combined with innovations added incrementally as new pyramids were built.

There were many pyramids built before those at Giza, but none were as large and the smooth sides were a later invention. The first Egyptian pyramids, like the Pyramid of Djoser, were step pyramids with several distinct layers leading up from the base. You can see this step element of pyramid architecture in the queen's pyramids at Giza. The Meidum Pyramid built shortly after Djoser's was also a step pyramid, but built as a tower-like structure that formed the base for a pyramid that has since largely collapsed. The Bent Pyramid, built shortly before the Great Pyramid at Giza, has a different steepness in its upper half than its lower half, which is thought to have been caused by a change to the architectural plans, possibly because the angle of its based was originally unstable. Later pyramids generally looked like those found at Giza.

Step pyramids were preceded by a different type of mortuary structure, a mastaba, which was a rectangular monument that served a similar purpose to later pyramids. Mastabas continued to be used by many people even during the time when well-developed pyramids like those at Giza were being constructed, so the evolution of architectural styles in Ancient Egypt didn't always go in a single direction. The great size that made pyramids so impressive also made them easy for grave robbers to find, which is why the pyramids at Giza are largely empty now, even though they would have been filled with extravagant goods the pharaohs wished to take with them into the afterlife. Later tombs, including the famous tomb of Tutankhamun, were often built to be less conspicuous.