Egyptian Pyramids Facts
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The age of the pyramids occurred during the Old Kingdom of Egypt from 2575 - 2150 B.C. All of the pyramids were commissioned for construction during the Old Kingdom. The pharaohs were treated like gods that took the human form of an Egyptian and placed on Earth to rule the people. It was their power over the people that allowed the pharaoh to commission the construction of a pyramid. The pyramid was the tomb that would ultimately shelter the mummified body of the pharaoh so that he would be able to pass on from his human life into the afterlife as Osiris, the king of the dead.
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The pyramids were a gradual transition from mastabas structures carved into a rock face. These mastabas had a flat roof top and no where as high as the pyramids that we see today. The final resting place for the pharaoh would be underground below the mastaba to safeguard the pharaoh and his belongings from tombe theives. Eventually the mastabas were layered on top of each other into tall mound. A structure with this characteristic would be the Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara. Eventually the pyramids final shape would be based off these mounds. The original mastabas mounds would not have a triangle point at the peak, but the pyramids had a pointed stone. This pointed stone was called the benben. It symbolized the rays of a sun and the ancient hieroglyphics would explain that when the pharaoh transformed into a god it would travel to the heavens on the rays.
The pyramids contrary to most movie depictions was not constructed from slave labor nor did the aliens build it. A portion of the workforce was permanent employees for the pharaoh. The other workforce were drafted by the pharaoh to work on the pyramid construction for a period of time; sometimes it was for a few months and sometimes it was for a few years. Most Egyptologists stated that the majority of the workforce was men. Although there were some skeletal remains of females excavated from the pyramid sites that do show signs of laboring caused by heavy objects. The pyramids built at Giza required 20,000 men to build. Every step of the construction process was difficult and required the full effort of the team to accomplish.
An excavation near the Egyptian pyramids uncovered villages. These villages were likely the areas setup to provide shelter and an eating commons for the workforce. There was also a healthcare facility in this village to provide medical help to the workers injured during the construction. The villages were managed by the pharaoh's supervisors. There was also inscriptions found at the villages that showed that the pyramid workers had deeply rooted allegiances with the pharaoh or were friends with the pharaoh. These magnificent pyramids were constructed with a lot of human ingenuity and were a testament to the hard work and intelligence of the Egyptians.
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Egyptian Pyramids Facts
