The remains of such platforms have been preserved near some pyramids.

This complex was built by the architect Imhotep.

It is characteristic that in the period of the Ancient Kingdom for the first time the architect acts not as an unnamed craftsman, but as a person who occupies a high social status and to whom the rulers of Egypt show the highest respect – associate his name with the building.

Even higher than the pyramid of Djoser – more than 100 m – the pyramid of Pharaoh Snofra in Dashur. Its volume consists of truncated and complete pyramids. Science considers the pyramids of Djoser and Snofra to be intermediate forms between the mastaba and the pyramids themselves, the development of which went by increasing the size and simplifying the shape.

Each pyramid created a memorial complex or was an integral part of it. An example of a typical complex is the Sahura Pyramid near Abusir. Its main parts:

the valley temple on the bank of the Nile (the mummy of the pharaoh was brought here by a ritual royal boat); a covered "ascending" road, the continuous overlap of which had openings for light; a memorial temple and a ritual yard, separated from the inner area by its own wall.

It was probably the pyramid of the king’s wife. The height of the main pyramid is almost 50 m, the height of the satellite pyramid is about 12 m.

During the construction of pyramids and other structures, heavy stone blocks were lifted by workers with the help of simple aids. These are first of all cradles-swings on which blocks were put, using thus unequal levers. Long stone blocks were lifted as follows: first, two pointed prisms were passed under them, closer to the center of gravity; then pressed on one of them, as a result of which the weight was moved to the other.

Under this second prism, which was just being released, stone slabs were placed; then transferred the weight of the block to the second prism and placed a stone slab under the first; this operation was repeated as many times as necessary.

The mentioned wooden "cradles" were placed under the blocks with approximately the same sides, which made it possible to swing them from side to side, after which the raised part was supported by wooden wedges. Wooden (and maybe metal) poles were also used as levers.

If you add more wooden rollers and runners for moving goods, then this exhausts the list of mechanical means of the ancient Egyptians.

Such devices were placed either directly on individual steps of the pyramid, or on an inclined platform near its wall. The remains of such platforms have been preserved near some pyramids.

Pyramidal forms were also dominant in the so-called solar temples-sanctuaries, which were not directly related to the afterlife. They were dedicated to the sun god Ra and appeared during the Ancient Kingdom. From the pier on the banks of the Nile, a covered corridor with overhead lighting led to the terrace. Next to the terrace stood a boat made of bricks; it was to depict a boat in which the sun god Ra was floating in the sky.

The rectangular sacrificial courtyard with a giant altar had an axial composition, which was completed by a colossal stone obelisk. It consisted of a massive truncated pyramid that served as a pedestal and a large obelisk, the pyramidal top of which was upholstered in copper and shone dazzlingly in the sun. By the way, the name "pyramid" is derived from the Greek word "pores" which means "fire" (because the flame has the appearance of a pointed pyramid).

The construction of pyramids, and not only royal ones, lasted more than 1500 years in Egypt. About seventy pyramids have survived to the present day, and about one hundred and twenty archaeologists have surveyed present-day Sudan. There, following the example of the Egyptian pyramids, they built tombstones and Nubian kings.

The fields of the pyramids exist in Saqqara, Abusir, Dashur, Medum … They are always located on the west bank of the Nile, because it is in the west, where the last ray of the sun goes out, lies the land of the dead.

All known pyramids are oriented around the world with almost absolute accuracy. The deviation of the north-south axis is almost zero: the pyramids lined up like military units in a parade.

The largest pyramids of the Ancient Kingdom were built by the pharaohs Cheops, Khafre and Mycerinus in Giza.

At that time, the pyramids had a completely different look than today. They shone in the sun like giant monoliths, with the white surface of polished limestone slabs, adorned by the columned halls of the memorial temples, from which led long paved roads to the temples in the valley above the Nile. Next to the royal pyramids stood small pyramids of wives and members of the royal family; they were all surrounded by high, luxuriously decorated walls.

Around them were then hundreds of tombs of high dignitaries, priests, military leaders, treasurers, governors, who wished to remain with their ruler and god after death. So the pyramids revolved around the center of the great "City of the Dead" – the living had access only to the memorial temples. Next to the valley temple of the Pyramid of Khafre – a statue of the Great Sphinx – monsters with the body of a lion and the head of this pharaoh. There is no statue in the world that would exceed its size (length – 57.3 m, height – 20 m). So, this is not only the largest, but also the oldest monumental statue in the world.

The idea of ​​unlimited superhuman possibilities is most vividly embodied in the huge pyramid of Cheops, which was considered the first of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The incredible size of the pyramid (side length – 230, height – 146.8 m), which stunned a man, seemed even larger when compared with the size of the surrounding mastaba. The pyramid evoked a sense of awe and gave the impression that a colossal tomb had been created by supernatural forces. The smallest block from the pyramid of Cheops weighs 2000 kg, and the largest – 40,000 kg! The builders had very primitive equipment. Hundreds of thousands of slaves, who received no pay and lived on starvation, under the leadership of the architect Hemiun in 20 years built a huge monument to slavery.

All the pyramids, and therefore Cheops, were built in one way. The surface of the base was leveled, apparently, as follows: the square area was fenced with a wall and filled with water, which was supplied by a canal; the water level was marked on the fence and the ground was leveled according to these marks. In the middle of the pyramid had a core of broken stone, on which rested slightly inclined layers of blocks of local limestone (the inclination of the layers ensured the stability of the building). At the end of the pyramid itself, its surface was lined with slabs of granite and fine-grained limestone.

The royal chamber in the pyramid of Cheops is small. Its floor consists of five monolithic stone slabs, which separate the unloading chambers, the latter in which has a ceiling of two inclined stone blocks (see detail in Fig. 2.13). In this way, the floor of the royal chamber was unloaded from the pressure of the layers of masonry that lay above.

The pyramids at Giza form the ensemble of the necropolis – the City of the Dead, which has the right planning. The sides of the pyramids and the mastaba that surround them are parallel to each other and strictly oriented around the world. The distance between the centers of the pyramids in the south-north direction is the same and is equal to 1.5 a, where a is the length of the side of the base of the pyramid of Cheops. The south-eastern corners of the foundations of all the royal pyramids lie on one line.

In the Middle Kingdom, due to the weakening of the political power of the pharaohs, the pyramids began to be built much smaller and not always carefully performed construction work, and later they stopped building altogether. The last such pyramids belong to the end of the New Kingdom.

During the Ancient Kingdom, the Egyptian temple also began to form. In addition to the Sun Temples, we have since known "funeral" (or "memorial") temples built near the pyramids.

Such temples were ruled by a kind of monumental vestibule, from which, after a long public ceremony, the mummy was brought into the pyramid. Such was the funerary temple of Khafre. Its premises, as well as parts of the residential complex, are located sequentially along the longitudinal axis. Among the largest rooms are a rectangular courtyard with a bypass and an entrance hall – an early example of a https://123helpme.me/argumentative-essay/ riser-beam structure made of stone. Rectangular columns covered with heavy rectangular beams served as a support for the ceiling slabs.

Both majestic tombs and temples were created in honor of the pharaohs, gods and eternity. The graves of artisans, farmers and simple builders are not found in the cities of the dead. But the planning of ordinary Egyptian cities also reflects the class stratification of a society created by the labor of slaves and the common people.

Rich estates, palaces of the nobility and pharaohs, temples, administrative buildings were located in the cities quite freely, were surrounded by greenery. The poor huddled in small cramped neighborhoods away from city centers.

The quarter of the poor in Akhetaton of 74 houses of the same type occupies almost the same area as the 4 rich estates on the other side of the wall. Each cell without greenery and windows housed hay, a common room and a tiny bedroom and kitchen, and sometimes the steps led to a flat roof where you could relax in the evening.

Temples of the Middle Kingdom continue to develop axial compositions. The memorial temple of Mentuhotep I consisted of two stepped terraces surrounded by covered colonnades. From the center of the temple grew a pyramid on a massive plinth with a base of 21×21 m, with a stone frame filled with small blocks and gravel and lined with slabs of white limestone. The pyramid ruled over this fantastic multi-column temple, but it was only a cenotaph – that is, a tombstone built outside the burial place of the deceased – the burial chamber was cut down at the foot of the rock massif; the sanctuary and the memorial temple were built in front of its hewn and aligned walls.

The memorial temple in honor of Queen Hatshepsut, which was built at the beginning of the New Kingdom, also had an axial composition. It consisted of three huge terraces.

The main motif of the architecture of this complex, as in the temple of Mentuhotep I, are open colonnades. The columns of the porticos had a rectangular cross section. Colonnades on the facade of the building became important news – in the ancient kingdom of monuments, where open porticos would be the main motif of the architecture of the whole complex, did not exist.

During the Middle Kingdom, the pharaohs began to bury in underground tombs, which, to avoid their looting, were located in secret places of deserts. In contrast to the rectangular pillars of the temples of Mentuhotep and Hatshepsut, the pillars of the portico are already octagonal.