PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT
(Houses of Eternity)
Presented by,
Abhijeet Bhosale (G04103)
Nikhil Prabhudeva (G0412)
"To speak the name of
the dead is to make
him live again"
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE OF PYRAMID
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
CONSTRUCTION OF EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS
INTRODUCTION
The word “PYRAMID” is derived from the
Latin word “PYRAMIS” meaning wheat cake
which were pointy topped.
Pyramids are the tombs of Egyptian kings
called “PHAROHS” and are one of the world’s
greatest Historical Monuments.
They were built in 24th century before Christ.
PURPOSE OF BUILDING PYRAMIDS
The Egyptians believed in life after death.
They believed that Pharoh was their living
God and after burying him in the pyramid, he
would rule them again.
The pyramid was stacked with riches like
gold,silver,jewels,servants and pharaoh's
belongings to continue his journey afterlife.
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA AND RIVER NILE
POSITIONING OF PYRAMIDS
The entire kingdom was suffering from severe draughts.
Once in a year there used to be floods in the Nile valley
and the land on either side of the valley depended on it.
They believed milk way galaxy as celestial Nile.
They saw Orien constellation resembling “CYRUS”, The
messenger of God and thought that he was blessing them
through continuous rainfalls.
On comparing the positions of these three pyramids and
the position of Orion constellation we can come to know
that the egyptians were trying to build the image of their
god cyrus on the earth.
INSIDE THE KHUFU PYRAMID
SCRIPT ON THE INNER WALLS OF
PYRAMID
MUMMIFICATION
The body of the dead Pharoh was wrapped
with white cloth and placed inside the coffin.
The face of the dead Pharoh was covered by
the mask of King “CYRUS”.
This was done because the Egyptians believed
that in afterlife, their souls would need to reuse
their body and organs .
SPHINX
Construction of Pyramids
MASTABA
Mastaba tombs were low rectangular brick or stone structures. Like the
pyramids, they were built on the west side of the Nile (symbol of death,
where the sun falls into the underworld).
In the mastabas, lavish tombs with all necessary possessions would be
prepared for the Phaorahs
The pyramids evolved from the mastabas.
Inside the Mastaba
Internally, a Mastaba
consist of three parts- a
burial chamber, a
serdab and a chapel
The burial chamber
was located 30’ below
ground
Connected to burial
chamber above ground
through a shaft
place for the burial of
the dead person
During the early Old
The Step Pyramid Kingdom (2680 BCE),
King Zoser
commissioned Imhotep
at Saqqara to build him a memorial
tomb that would remind
future generations of his
brilliance and power
Imhotep took the idea of
the mastabas and
stacked six of them one
on top of the other >
creating a stairway to
Heaven
This became the world’s
first building made
completely of stone
Steps in the pyramid
were to enable the
pharaoh to take his place
among the star gods
Attempts at Pyramid Building
Pharaoh Snefru made
two attempts at
pyramid construction
1st pyramid, the Bent
pyramid at Dashur had
a square plan with a
height of 102m
The pyramid had a
change of angle
midway, leading to its
being called the bent
pyramid
Attempts at Pyramid Building
Snefru’s 2nd
pyramid--north
pyramid--is place
he was buried
Low pitch of 43°
instead of 52°
making it look
stunted
A true pyramid has
an incline angle of
52°
The Pyramids at Giza
Construction of a true
geometrical pyramid
achieved during reign
of Cheops (Khufu), son
of Snefru
Located at Giza
Called Great Pyramid
because of size
The pyramid is 482’
high on a plan 760’
square
The Pyramids at Giza
Two additional
pyramids built at Giza
2nd largest in the center
built by Chefren
(Khafra), the son of
Cheops
3rd and smallest built
by Mykerinus, son of
Chefren
The three together are
referred to as the
Pyramids at Giza
THE VARIOUS POSSIBLE
METHODS OF PYRAMID
CONSTRUCTION
The Various Possible Methods of Pyramid
Construction
A major problem facing the builders of the Ancient Egyptian
Pyramids, was that of getting the Large stone blocks to the
height they required.
The method shown above, is the only one proven to have been
used.
The ramps were built on inclined planes of mud brick and
rubble.
It is likely that for the construction of each pyramid, several
ramps were probably used.
The arrangement of the ramps used for building is
in much dispute. Assuming that the step pyramid
was built before the outer structure, and then the
packing blocks were laid on top, the ramps could
have run from one step to another.
The internal construction of most true pyramids consists of
a series of buttress walls surrounding a central core. The
walls decrease in height from the center outwards. The
internal arrangement added stability to the structure.
Packing blocks filled the "steps" formed by the faces of the
outermost buttress walls and casting blocks (often
Limestone) completed the structure of the true pyramid.
Some of the pyramids indicate an accurate
understanding of Pi, but the mathematical
knowledge of the Egyptians did not include the
ability to arrive at this by calculation. It is
possible that this could have been arrived at
"accidentally" through a means such as
counting the revolutions of a drum.
THANK YOU…