8/12/2019 Everything Egypt

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The Valley of the KingsPharaohs feared no one in life, but death was another story. All it took was a singlesneaky tomb robber ransacking a kings resting place deep inside a pyramid to

jeopardize his godly afterlife. Risking cruel punishments if caughtincluding deathby impalementtomb robbers raided all the pyramids in ancient times.

New Kingdom pharaohs sought a safer spot for their tombs and grave goodies.Corridors and burial chambers were cut into the cliffs of a secret valley near the capital of Thebes inEgypt. The tombs in this Valley of the Kings were laced with traps and dummy passages to confouSecurity guards patrolled the cemetery looking for thieves. Despite these measures, nearly all of thtombs were robbedsometimes by the very workers who built them.

Pyramid Schemes

AT THE DAWN OFTHE OLD KINGDOM, a brilliantEgyptian architect named Imhotep

had a big idea. Unhappy with the bor-

ing brick structures that marked the

tombs of previous Egyptian rulers, he

designed a grave that gave his king a

leg up to the afterlife. His Step Pyra-

mid was a stack of six brick boxes

that dwindled in size as they rose 200

feet into the sky. Created for King

Djoser of the 3rd dynasty, it was the

largest building in the world.

The Step Pyramid inspired subse-

quent rulers to build

bigger and better

tombs. A 4th-dynasty

king named Khufu outdid everyone

with his Great Pyramid at nearby Giza.

Nearly half as tall as the Empire State

Building when finished, Khufus pyra-mid took more than 20 years to build

with a workforce of 20,000. It held

the title of worlds tallest building for

nearly 4,000 years.

More than a hundred pyramids

were built after Khufus, including

neighboring tombs for his heirs and

wives. By the Middle Kingdom, pyra-

mid construction had become shoddy,

and these expensive tombs soon fell

out of fashion. Still, Imhoteps big

idea had spawned ancient Egypts

most awe-inspiring monuments. By

the Middle Kingdom era, Imhotep

was worshipped as a god of wisdom

and healing. Tomb Tale OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, THE G

The Great Pyrencased in a dlimestone andcapstone. Thelong ago as bu

ExplorersCorner

King Djosers StepPyramid (above

left) inspired thestraight-sided

design of the BentPyramid (below

left) 30 years later.Pyramid building

achieved toweringperfection with

Khufus GreatPyramid at Giza.

A sacred stone calledthe benben,which repre-sented the suns rays,may have inspired thepyramids shape.

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