The pyramids of Egypt - a unique architectural monument, left in the centuries thanks to mysterious builders who managed to create structures so strong that no natural disasters and devastating wars could completely destroy these ancient Egyptian necropolis .The riddle of the pyramids has not yet been solved: it is impossible to speak with confidence about the method of their construction, nor about who acted as the main labor force .Now in Egypt there are about 118 pyramids, the largest of which were built during the reign of the III and IV dynasties of the pharaohs, that is, during the period of the so-called Ancient Kingdom .Pyramids are of two types: stepped and regular shape .The oldest are the structures of the first type .For example, the pyramid of the pharaoh Joser, dating from 2650 to n .e .

What do we know about the pyramids of Egypt?

For the first time the pyramids were recognized thanks to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. Traveling through Egypt, he was struck by the famous pyramids of Giza and immediately ranked one of them, dedicated to Cheops, to the seven wonders of the world. Moreover, it was Herodotus who created the legend of how these buildings were built. As soon as the pyramids became the object of research of scientists, and this happened only two hundred years ago, this legend immediately became a historical truth, the reliability of which was refuted not so long ago.

Until now, in safety and integrity, not so much has gone as we would have liked .Numerous vandals who robbed the pyramids for the sake of hidden treasures, and local residents who broke stone blocks for the construction of palaces and mosques, destroyed part of the external and internal appearance..So, the Pink or Northern Pyramid from Dahshur (26 km south of Cairo) got its name because of the color of the stone, pink in the rays of the setting sun .However, it was not always such .Previously, the structure was covered with white limestone, which was fully used for building houses in Cairo .

Architecture and internal arrangement of pyramids

Pyramids were only part of the ritual-funeral complex .Near each of them were two churches, one nearby, and the other much lower, so that its foot was washed by the Nile waters .Pyramids and temples were linked together by alleys .An analogue of the alley of such a plan can be seen in Luxor .Famous Luxor and Karnak temples were combined partly surviving to our time alleys of sphinxes .Pyramids of Giza almost did not preserve their temples and alleys: only the lower temple of Khafre, the pharaoh of the IV dynasty, which for a long time was considered to be the temple of the Great Sphinx, was left - $ .

The internal arrangement of the pyramids implied the presence of a camera where the sarcophagus with the mummy was located, and the cut passages to this chamber. Sometimes religious texts were placed there. Thus, the internal premises of the pyramids in Sakkara, an Egyptian village 30 km from Cairo, contained the oldest surviving works of the rest of the world.

Modern Egyptologists suggest that the construction of the pyramids was conducted in several stages .And sometimes the size of the tomb in the process of creation increased several times in comparison with the original project .Pharaohs built their burial vault for many years .Only land works and leveling of the site for the future construction required at least ten .Pharaoh Cheops for the construction of the largest pyramid today took twenty years .The workers who built the tombs were not tortured to death by slaves at all .Moreover, archaeological excavations have shown that they were kept in fairly decent conditions, treated and fed normally .However, until now it is not known exactly how the huge stone blocks fell to the very top .Obviously, only that the technique of construction has changed over time, and later structures are constructed differently than the first .