Everything Egypt
Transcript of Everything Egypt
-
8/12/2019 Everything Egypt
1/1
The Valley of the KingsPharaohs feared no one in life, but death was another story. All it took was a singlesneaky tomb robber ransacking a kings resting place deep inside a pyramid to
jeopardize his godly afterlife. Risking cruel punishments if caughtincluding deathby impalementtomb robbers raided all the pyramids in ancient times.
New Kingdom pharaohs sought a safer spot for their tombs and grave goodies.Corridors and burial chambers were cut into the cliffs of a secret valley near the capital of Thebes inEgypt. The tombs in this Valley of the Kings were laced with traps and dummy passages to confouSecurity guards patrolled the cemetery looking for thieves. Despite these measures, nearly all of thtombs were robbedsometimes by the very workers who built them.
Pyramid Schemes
AT THE DAWN OFTHE OLD KINGDOM, a brilliantEgyptian architect named Imhotep
had a big idea. Unhappy with the bor-
ing brick structures that marked the
tombs of previous Egyptian rulers, he
designed a grave that gave his king a
leg up to the afterlife. His Step Pyra-
mid was a stack of six brick boxes
that dwindled in size as they rose 200
feet into the sky. Created for King
Djoser of the 3rd dynasty, it was the
largest building in the world.
The Step Pyramid inspired subse-
quent rulers to build
bigger and better
tombs. A 4th-dynasty
king named Khufu outdid everyone
with his Great Pyramid at nearby Giza.
Nearly half as tall as the Empire State
Building when finished, Khufus pyra-mid took more than 20 years to build
with a workforce of 20,000. It held
the title of worlds tallest building for
nearly 4,000 years.
More than a hundred pyramids
were built after Khufus, including
neighboring tombs for his heirs and
wives. By the Middle Kingdom, pyra-
mid construction had become shoddy,
and these expensive tombs soon fell
out of fashion. Still, Imhoteps big
idea had spawned ancient Egypts
most awe-inspiring monuments. By
the Middle Kingdom era, Imhotep
was worshipped as a god of wisdom
and healing. Tomb Tale OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, THE G
The Great Pyrencased in a dlimestone andcapstone. Thelong ago as bu
ExplorersCorner
King Djosers StepPyramid (above
left) inspired thestraight-sided
design of the BentPyramid (below
left) 30 years later.Pyramid building
achieved toweringperfection with
Khufus GreatPyramid at Giza.
A sacred stone calledthe benben,which repre-sented the suns rays,may have inspired thepyramids shape.
26 NGK EVERYTHING