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Pyramid areas of Cairo
The pyramids area around and south of Cairo is where nearly all pyramids were built more than four thousand years ago.
Apart from some smaller pyramids, all were built during the Old Kingdom which lasted from the4th to the 6th dynasty (about 2613-2181BC).
They are located in and around the old capital Hwt-ka-Ptah (Memphis). South of To-She (Fayoum) there is only found a handful of pyramids, and then only very small pyramids.
The most known pyramids are of course the three main 4th dynasty pyramids of Giza where the pyramid of Kufu (Cheops) are the largest and most referred to. Name of Kufu's pyramid is the "Pyramid which is the Place of Sunrise and Sunset" and it had an original height of 146 meters (479ft).
Above is a photo of the pyramid as seen from Mena House garden, and under a nearly hundred year old photo taken from same place.
We will come back with a full presentation of the Giza plateau with its three main pyramids as we today will take you into two tombs.
If you go to the pyramids area before this, please don't forget to visit the Solar-ship museum! Not only is it the oldest remaining boat in the world, but it's a true 43 meters (141ft) long beauty which show you how the pharaohs of ancient Egypt travelled the Nile in style, gods as they were.
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The Step-Pyramid of Zoser with remains of Unas Valley Temple in the foreground.
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The first pyramid in Egypt was built for the 3rd dynasty Pharaoh Zoser (about 2667-2648BC). This is a step-pyramid and we even know the person behind the construction, the legendary Imhotep. He was vizier and chief architect of Zoser but had knowledge about far more than architecture. Astronomy and medicine being among the other areas he is renown for.
This lead to an unusual event in ancient Egypt as Imhotep 2000 years after his death was deified as a god of medicine and the Greeks came to identify him with Aesculapius. In late pharaonic period there was a cult centre for Imhotep in Sakkara where pilgrims came with mummified animals, especially the representation of the God of wisdom, the ibis bird.
The pyramid is built on the idea of mastabas, the form of the pre-pyramid tombs. This was done in several stages and one can still see remains from one stage which had four mastaba-forms on top of each other (one smaller than the other as they rose upwards). Later this was extended and the final pyramid has six mastabas or steps.
Around the pyramid was a large wall 545 meters long and 277 meters (1788x908 ft) wide. The wall had 14 entrances but 13 of these had only false doors, so the only open entrance to this pyramid complex is the door in the south east corner.
Zoser's pyramid complex is the earliest stone structure of its size in the world.
Allow us this time to take you inside two mastaba-tombs and show you some unique relief's from the daily life in Egypt, more than four thousand years ago.
First say hello to the guard of the mastaba of Ptah-Hotep, and then we are ready to enter the tomb.
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Text & photo, Arnvid Aakre
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