Macaulay - Pyramid

Copyright 1975 by David Macaulay

All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Macaulay, David.

Pyramid.

SUMMARY: Text and black-and-white illustrationsfollow the intricate step-by-step process of thebuilding of an ancient Egyptian pyramid.

1. PyramidsConstructionJuvenile literature.[1. Pyramids. 2. EgyptCivilization] I. Title.
DT63.M25 690'.6'8 75-9964

ISBN 978-0-395-21407-7 hardcover

ISBN 978-0-395-32121-8 paperback

eISBN 978-0-547-34839-1
v2.0315

To My Parents

Special thanks to Janice, without whose help this book wouldnever have been finished, and to Ed Brovarski, Curatorial Assistantof the Egyptian Department at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,for time freely given and encouragement gratefully received.

Life in ancient Egypt was fairly simple. Most people were farmers. For eight or nine months of the year they tended their small plots of land along the Nile river, growing wheat, fruit, and vegetables. Others raised cattle, sheep, and goats. They tried to feed themselves, pay their taxes, and store enough food to last through the annual inundation. This was the time between July and November when the river rose and flooded most of the farmland. The water eventually receded, leaving a new layer of rich and fertile earth.

Between 3000 and 1100 BC the country was ruled by a long line of kings called pharaohs. Under the pharaohs were members of the royal court, governors of the provinces into which the land was divided, and commanders of the army. Priests and priestesses who officiated at religious ceremonies and attended the many gods that the Egyptians worshiped also served under the pharaohs.

Egypt consisted of two narrow strips of farmland which lined both banks of the Nile from Aswan in the south to the Delta in the north. East and west of the farmland lay hundreds of square miles of desert. This geography created a dependence on the river that insured efficient communication throughout the land and made complete control by the pharaoh and his army a relatively easy task.

Death in ancient Egypt was considered the beginning of a new life in another world. This life, assuming certain precautions were taken, would last forever. Because life on earth was relatively short, the Egyptians built their houses of mud. They built their tombs of stone since life after death was eternal.

The Egyptians believed that besides a physical body everyone had a soul called a ba and a spiritual duplicate of themselves called a ka. When the body died an individuals ba continued to live here on earth, resting within the body at night. His or her ka, on the other hand, traveled back and forth between the earth and the other world. Eternal life depended or both the ba and the ka being able to identify the body. For this reason corpses were preserved by the process of mummification.

The tomb into which a body was placed had two main functions. It was designed to protect the body from the elements and from thieves who might try to steal the gold and precious objects placed in and around the coffin and it also had to serve as a house for the ka. The more important the person, the greater his tomb. Since at death pharaohs became gods, their tombs were the largest and most elaborate of all.

Between 2700 and 2200 BC royal tombs were surrounded by a complex of temples and smaller tombs called mastabas. The burial chamber of the king was protected by a manmade mountain of stone called a pyramid. Its four triangular sides spreading below a single peak represented the rays of the sun shining down over the pharaoh, linking him directly and for all time to Re, the god of the sun. A temple containing a false door through which the ka traveled was built against the east side of the pyramid. All burial grounds were located on the west bank of the Nile since it was in the west that the sun set, beginning its nightly journey into the other worldthe same journey that the ka had to make.

The pyramid and complex of surrounding temples and tombs in this story are imaginary. They are, however, based closely on several of the pyramids and remnants of temples still standing in Egypt. It is generally agreed that earth ramps were used in the construction process but there is a difference of opinion as to where those ramps were constructed in relation to the pyramid. I have included the two most popular theories in the way that I see them most satisfactorily employed. Although the pyramids failed, in fact, to protect their burial chambers from robbers they succeeded in making their creators immortal. The pyramids continue to serve as a tribute to those who so skillfully organized the efforts of thousands of people in an attempt to deny the finality of death and the limitations of time by leaving behind something that would last forever.

In 2470 BC a new pharaoh of upper and lower Egypt was crowned. The coronation took place in Memphis, the city from which he would rule for thirty-one years. Earlier pharaohs, including his father, had established the supremacy of Egypt over her neighbors. The military and spiritual supremacy of the pharaoh at home was unquestioned. His soldiers traveled the length of the Nile collecting taxes and keeping a watchful eye over the local governors.

Within two years the pharaoh began preparing for the end of his life on earth and the beginning of his eternal life as a god. Accordingly, he instructed Mahnud Hotep, his architect and best friend, to design a tomb for him that would stand for all time.

Even before the plans were complete, a site was chosen on the west bank of the Nile. It was a high plateau overlooking the valley. A few miles to the south stood the great funerary complex at Giza where the pyramids of three earlier pharaohs could be seen. Out of respect to Khufu, the builder of the largest of the Giza pyramids, the pharaoh decreed that his pyramid should be only 470 feet highten feet lower than Khufus. He compensated for his generosity, however, by choosing a site twenty feet higher than the plateau at Giza.

Within two months a plan for a complex similar to Giza was finished and presented to the pharaoh. The largest structure was the pyramid, which covered the tomb. To the east stood the mortuary temple in which the pharaohs ka would sometimes dwell. Extending from both sides of the mortuary temple and enclosing the area around the base of the pyramid was a wall called the temenos wall. Farther to the east on the banks of the river stood the valley temple to which the body of the pharaoh would be first brought. The temples were connected by an enclosed passage called the causeway. Large oblong pits were also shown in which the pharaohs funerary boats were to be buried.

The pyramid itself had three main parts. The innermost section was the step-like central core. Only the facing blocks of each sloping band of the core were carefully finished. Second were the packing blocks, which rested on the steps around the core. They were carefully cut and fitted. Third were the outer casing blocks laid against the packing stones. These were of the highest quality and were cut with greater care and precision than any of the others. All three parts were constructed simultaneously, one course or layer at a time.