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Evolution of the Pyramids
Early forerunners
There are in the First Dynasty some tombs at Saqqara with a small hill or pyramid shaped structure over the burial chambers. These hill shaped structures are built in all cases inside a mastaba. They would not have been visible when the monument was complete. If intended as symbolic elements, rather than representing just a construction phase, they might have been copied from lost religious structures, perhaps the superstructure at the royal tomb.
The step pyramids
King Djoser built the first step pyramid. His funerary complex is surrounded by a niched wall (277 x 544 m). At the centre of it is the step pyramid, which is 70 m high. The pyramid has seven steps and is built from limestone blocks.
Click here to see a web site on Djoser's funerary complex
All kings of the Third Dynasty built similar step pyramids. These kings ruled only a few years each . As a result none of these step pyramids was finished.
The dummy pyramids |
The first true pyramid |
Pyramid texts |
Pyramids in the Middle Kingdom |
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