Pyramids The Prodigious Prodigy
Uploaded by srheric on Apr 25, 2007
Pyramids: The Prodigious Prodigy
How old are the pyramids? Who built them and what do they stand for? Why can’t the pyramids be reconstructed, today, in the same fashion as they were built thousands of years ago? The pyramids of ancient Egypt are phenomena that cannot be explained exactly. Many people have perceived different understandings for the way a pyramid was built, how many men it took to build one, and what its purpose was.
The tradition of pyramid building started in Ancient Egypt as a knowledge of the idea of a mastaba or “platform” covering the royal tomb. Later, several stacked mastabas were used (Ashmawy). Around 2780 B.C., King Djoser’s architect, Imhotep, built the first pyramid by placing six mastabas, each smaller than the one beneath, in a stack to form a pyramid rising in steps (The Egyptian Pyramid). The transition from the Step Pyramid to a true smooth-sided pyramid took place during the reign of King Snefru, founder of the Fourth Dynasty (2680- 2560) B.C. The largest and most famous of all the pyramids, The Great Pyramid at Giza, was built by Snefru’s son, Khufu, known also as Cheops, the later Greek form of his name (The Egyptian Pyramid). The construction of this pyramid took over twenty years. The Great Pyramid was built by the Egyptian pharaoh, Khufu, around the year 2560 B.C. to serve as a tomb for when he died (Ashmawy).
The Great Pyramid is the oldest structure in existence, and is the sole remnant of the Seven Wonders of the World. It rises about 450 feet (having lost about 30 feet off the top over the years) and covers around13 acres. “It is thirty times larger than the Empire State Building; the Pyramid’s features are so large they can be seen from the Moon. A highway lane eight feet wide and four inches thick could be built from San Francisco to New York and put inside the Great Pyramid” (Zajac).
Only a solid stone mountain could withstand the Pyramid’s immense weight. In fact, a flat solid granite mountain happens to be located just beneath the surface of the ground directly below the Pyramid. Like 20th century bridge designs, the Pyramid’s cornerstones have balls and sockets built into them; this would help the Pyramid withstand expansion and contraction movements due...