Ancient Egypt Home Page

Home

The Pyramids are the most famous landmarks in Egypt. These Pyramids were built around 4500 years ago on a very rocky desert plateau very close to the Nile. But the Egyptian Pyramids were more then just tombs for kings . They were storage rooms for all the pharaohs' royal things. The pyramids have brought up many debates on how they were built and their purpose.Perhaps many of these mysteries will never be solved.

Osiris

Tutankhamen

Seth

FUN FACTS!

The first pyramid was built between 2686 BC and 1650 BC imagine that!!

The first step pyramid was built in 2630 BC at Saqqara.

The pyramids took around 20 - 30 years to build! That could be most of an Ancient Egyptian's life!

The British Museum has a story which tells us how they were built. Click Here.

If you are adventurous test your skill with the Pyramid Challenge at the BBC web site.

Why were pyramids built in the shape that they were?

Egyptologists have many different theories as to why pyramids were built in this odd shape.

Three of them are :-
1. Pyramids represented the first land to appear at the beginning of time - a hill they called 'Ben-Ben'.
2. The sloping sides of the pyramid allowed the dead pharaoh to climb to the sky and live forever.
3. The shape represented the rays of the sun.