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Chapter Three Tombs of the pharaohs. Part 3- Big Chesses of the Old Kingdom. The 4 th Dynasty took pyramid building to a whole new level. Unfortunately, the angles were wrong. His second pyramid is appropriately called the Bent Pyramid.
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Part 3- Big Chesses of the Old Kingdom The 4th Dynasty took pyramid building to a whole new level
Unfortunately, the angles were wrong. His second pyramid is appropriately called the Bent Pyramid After completing a pyramid from a previous pharaoh at Medium, Sneferu (4th Dynasty) had an idea for a perfectly triangular pyramid
Snefru also made pyramids and tombs for his family and advisers
However, the third time’s the charm, and he built the first triangular pyramid, the Red Pyramid. It once was white, but its outer layer was stripped of its casing stones during the Middle Ages, revealing the red limestone underneath.
The next pharaoh went above and beyond anything conceived before. It was a marvel of engineering, still striking awe in people and making some people think humans couldn’t have done it: it had to be aliens. It was the tallest structure in the world for over 4,000 years…until the Eiffel Tower finally beat it out in the late 1800’s. It is…
The Great Pyramid of Khufu(4th Dynasty) In it’s day, it was 480 ft. tall, about the height of a 32-story building.
The Pyramids were not built by slaves, but by workers and farmers (during the flood period). They were paid in beer, food and lodging, as well as an opportunity to be buried in the necropolis beside the pyramid they built. It took over 20 years to complete.
The King’s Chamber, instead of being below ground was actually inside of the pyramid, like his father’s tomb. The tomb and sarcophagus were made of pink granite. The tomb held many treasures, which are long gone, due to thieves or uprisings. The question is whether or not they found his mummy? Was the room a decoy?
Khufu was succeeded by his son, Khafre (4th Dynasty), who built another grand pyramid—the one in the middle of Giza. Out of respect for his father, it rumored he said it would stop it ten feet short of the height of his father’s pyramid; however, he built it on ground that was 20 feet taller, thus making it look bigger. He is also known for the Sphinx, which is believed to have had his face.
It appears the people began to get restless with pyramid building. Menkaure (4th Dynasty), Khafre’s son, has a pyramid only half the site of the other two at Giza, and that pyramid appears to be the last elaborate tomb for a pharaoh. The age of the great pyramids was over.
At the end of the 6th Dynasty, problems arose between a growing number of wealthy nobles, priests of Ra and the pharaoh. The pharaoh ended up losing the throne and for a period there was no ruler in Egypt (the 1st Intermediate Period). Two scrolls from this time reveal what life must have been like: 1st: I show thee a land topsy-turvy…I show thee the son as foe, the brother as an enemy, and a man killing his father…” 2nd: The high-born are full of lamentation but the poor are jubilant. Every town sayeth, “Let us drive out the powerful.” … The splendid judgment hall has been stripped of its documents…The public offices lie open and their records have been stolen. Serfs have become the masters of serfs…Behold, they that had clothes are now in rags… Squalor is throughout the land: no clothes are white these days… The Nile is in flood yet no one has the heart to plow…The dead are thrown in the river…Laughter had perished. Grief walks the land. It is theorized that during this time, the people took revenge on the bodies of the ancient pharaohs. They were no longer sacred.
Part 4. Mummy Time! The Egyptians embalmed many bodies of the dead in a very elaborate process lasting over 40 days. Why is this?
Pharaohs believed that the next world would be very much like their own. They needed treasures, food, clothing and servants. They also needed their bodies… Egyptians believed their bodies were divided into two parts: the ka and ba. The ka was the intellectual power of the person. It followed them like a shadow throughout life, and stayed with their bodies at death. The ba was like a messenger between this world and the next. It would go out every night in the form of a bird to the valley of the other world and return to the body in the morning. But it had to recognize the body! If it did not, it would roam the desert: a lonely ghost for all eternity.
How could the ba recognize the body if it was a bag of bones? Amenhotep, is that you? Is that you, Amenhotep? Mummifying kept the facial features and body preserved, so the ba could find it. Oh, Amenhotep. There you are!
The gory details: The brain was moved with a hook and thrown away. Four organs--the liver, intestines, lungs and stomach—were put in special jars, called canopic jars. The heart was left inside the body. The body was hardened was a special salt called natron for 40 days. Then the open cavities were filled with sawdust and rags. Oil was rubbed against the body to create softness and then wrapping began, using over 500 yards of linen. It was quite a process…
At the end of these stages, you would have a beautiful mummy. Also, in case the ba got confused, they would decorate their coffins to also look like the person. Sometimes raiders would destroy the bodies, so the pharaoh’s ka could not take haunt them.
