Pyramids : Set in Stone

Set in Stone

The World Beyond

Many ancient Egyptian stone monuments still stand in the desert today. Although moisture, wind, sandstorms and tourists have damaged them, the pyramods, tombs, temples and colossal statues tell us much about the ideas, beliefs and technology of the people who built them.

These incredibly complicated projects required expert skills and a huge work force. Astronomers studied the stars to determine the best sites, mathematicians and architects calculated the measurements, stonemasons shaped the blocks, and overseers organized the teams of several thousand laborers. Craftsmen worked soft stones with bronze and copper chisels. The pounded harder rocks with balls of dolerite, then rubbed the surface smooth with quartz sand. The Great Pyramids at Giza were faced originally with gleaming white Tura limestone and may have been capped with gold.

Shipping the Stone

Carpenters built cargo vessels at the Nile shipyards to carry stone blocks from the quarries to the building sites.

The pyramids of Giza

Khufu's Great Pyramid, the biggest of three massive pyramids at Giza, is the largest stone building in the world. It is 479 feet high and contains nearly two-and-a-half million blocks of limestone.

Building measurements on the pyramids are very precise. The stone slabs on the outside of the Great Pyramid fit so snugly side by side that a hair cannot be pushed into the joints between them.

A Pyramid set in ice. Photo by Elena.

The Pyramids and the Stars

We know from hieroglyphs on the pyramid walls that the ancient Egyptians likened their gods to the stars. Some scientists think that the arrangement of the three Great Pyramids on Earth matches Orion's belt in the sky. The buildings are placed in a line with the smaller one slightly to the left, just as the three stars in the constellation are aligned.

The Giza Sphinx

This huge sphinx, cut from rock, guarded the pyramids at Giza. The statue had a human head (representing intelligence) on a lion's body (a sign of strength). Together they symbolized royal power.

False Door

Tombs had false doors decorated with prayers and the owners' names. They were sacred places for the living to leave offerings for the dead.