The Bruner Family Egypt Extravaganza: The Pyramids

That's all nine of us!

What would a family extravaganza in Egypt be without a kitchy camel ride at the Pyramids at Giza? But first a history lesson, courtesy of our excellent guide Nader, our good friends at Wikipedia, a variety of Egyptian tourism websites, assorted articles found on the internet, and our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook. According to the New York Times, 138 pyramids had been discovered in Egypt as of November 2008. They were built as tombs for the Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old Kingdom (27th to 22nd centuries BCE) and the Middle Kingdom (21st to 17th centuries BCE). The most durable and famous pyramids are from the 27th and 26th centuries BCE in the Old Kingdom, when the Pharaohs centralized their absolutist power over Egypt. The Pharaohs built pyramids later in the Old Kingdom and in the Middle Kingdom, but they were largely made of mud-brick and have not survived very well.  By the time of the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BCE), the construction of large pyramids was a thing of the past, although some small pyramids were used in private burials as funerary chapels. The Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest and most famous Egyptian pyramid, but there are several others near Cairo that are well worth visiting.

Located about 30 kilometers south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara is a vast royal burial ground, which served as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis. The most famous pyramid at Saqqara is the Step Pyramid, which houses the tomb of Zoser, a powerful Pharaoh who ruled during the 27th century BCE.  At the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, we tracked down the limestone statue of Zoser, which is the oldest life-size Egyptian statue in existence. Before the Step Pyramid was built for King Zoser, mastabas (flat-roofed rectangular bench-like structures built mostly out of mud and brick) were the standard type of tomb for both the Pharaoh and the social elite. Consisting of six large mastabas - one on top of the other, each one smaller than the one below it - the Step Pyramid is the first Egyptian pyramid and is considered to be the earliest example in the world of a large-scale cut stone monument.  It was designed to serve as a gigantic stairway by which the soul of the deceased Pharaoh could ascend to the heavens.

My sister-in-law Eden with baby Amanda in the baby bjorn

The Step Pyramid was a radical departure from previous monuments in terms of the amount of material and labor needed for its construction, suggesting that the royal government had a newfound control over human and material resources. The Step Pyramid was also an unprecedented architectural achievement. Imhotep, who designed it, is the first master architect we know by name. He also was revered as an engineer, physician, sage, poet and philosopher. Some 2,000 years after his death, he was deified as an Egyptian god of medicine and healing. He was even worshiped by the Greeks, who associated him with their god of medicine, Asclepius. Sir William Osler, a founding professor at Johns Hopkins, called Imhotep the Father of Medicine, "the first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity." Over the centuries, Imhotep's fame has outshone that of Zoser, the king he served and for whom he built the Step Pyramid.

Numerous other Egyptian kings subsequently built tombs at Saqqara, but most of these are no longer even standing and none of them even comes close to matching Imhotep's grand achievement. The Pyramid of Unas is nevertheless worth a visit - although its exterior is nothing more than a pile of rubble - to walk though the extremely well preserved interior causeway where the walls are lined with some of the oldest religious texts known to humankind. Photographs are not allowed inside, but I've posted below a couple of pictures that I found on the internet.

Other pyramids at Saqqara were not as well built, and are not nearly as impressive, as the Step Pyramid

Part of the funerary complex for King Zoser

Funerary complex for King Zoser with Step Pyramid in the background

Ancient statuary with Step Pyramid in the background

Interior of Pyramid of Unas (taken from the internet)

Interior of Pyramid of Unas (taken from the internet)

View from the road in Darshur

In nearby Darshur, a rural farming community where the lush banks of the Nile fade into the desert, we saw two more pyramids that mark the evolution of this distinctly Egyptian architectural style. First is the "Bent Pyramid," built under the reign of the Pharaoh Sneferu (2612–2589 BCE). It's called the Bent Pyramid because it looks bent. The bottom of the Pyramid slopes upward from the ground at a 55 degree angle, but the top part of the Pyramid changes to a more gradual slope, to a 43 degree angle. There are several theories as to why it was built this way. Some believe the Bent Pyramid represents a conscious transition from a step-like pyramid to a classic smooth pyramid. Others believe the architect intended to construct a smooth, straight-lined pyramid, but the structure showed signs of instability during construction, forcing the builders to change course in midstream and use a shallower angle to avoid a collapse.  Another theory is that as Sneferu's death was nearing during construction, the builders realized that a gentler slope was needed to make sure the pyramid was completed on time. Whatever the reason for its unique shape, the changing angles make for a dramatic silhouette against the flat desert landscape.  Eden profoundly commented that it looked like a gigantic chocolate chip. 

The second pyramid that we saw in Darshur is the Red Pyramid, which is the earliest classic (i.e., straight-lined) Egyptian pyramid. Also built under the reign of Sneferu, the Red Pyramid was at the time of its completion the tallest human-made building in the world. It is built at a uniform 43-degree angle and has a noticeably squat appearance when compared with the Pyramids at Giza, which are built at a steeper angle. Some believe that the Red Pyramid is an outcome of engineering crises that befell Sneferu's two earlier pyramids, the Bent Pyramid and the Pyramid at Meidum, which ultimately collapsed under its own weight. The Red Pyramid - which gets its name from the pinkish hue of its stones - is an elegant and beautiful monument, with only a fraction of the tourists that its more famous younger cousins at Giza attract.  You can also climb inside the Red Pyramid - it's very interesting to see the interior construction, but it's pretty cramped and dank in there. 

 

But there's a reason why its younger cousins are so famous. The Pyramids at Giza are one of the world's truly majestic sites and it's amazing to think that they were built in the 26th century BCE - more than 4,500 years ago. They were a popular tourist attraction more than 2,000 years ago during Hellenistic times, when the Greek poet Antipater of Sidon listed the Great Pyramid (the largest and oldest of the Pyramids at Giza) as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Great Pyramid - built as a tomb for the Pharaoh Khufu, who was known as Cheops to the Greeks - is the only one of these ancient wonders to remain intact. At about 480 feet tall, the Great Pyramid was the world's tallest building for over 3,800 years, until the spire of the Lincoln Cathedral was completed in England in the early 14th century. According to one website, the surface area covered by the Great Pyramid (13 acres) is large enough to include the European cathedrals of Florence, Milan, St. Peter's, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul's. According to another website, the Great Pyramid is built from about 2.3 million limestone blocks weighing on average 2.6 tons each - with a total mass of about 6 million tons. The Great Pyramid was originally encased in highly polished, smooth white limestone, but over the centuries the casing has worn off and was taken to build Cairo's mosques and monuments. The Great Pyramid's smaller and slightly younger neighbors include the Pyramid of Khafre (which has retained the original limestone casing on its tip) and the Pyramid of Menkaura (which is the smallest of the three).

The Great Pyramid

The Great Pyramid looks smaller than the Khafre Pyramid from this viewpoint, but actually it's bigger

Jeremy and his cousin Hayley share a camel

Jeremy and his cousin Will playing at the Pyramids

It's the NYC Bruners at the Pyramids!

View from the hotel pool in Giza (Le Meridien)

Wikipedia gets the credit for this photo

And, of course, who can forget the Sphinx? It is the oldest known monumental sculpture and the largest monolith statue in the world, at over 240 feet long (he has very long feet), 65 feet high, and 20 feet wide. Archeologists believe it was built during the reign of Khafre in the 26th century BCE. To this day, a debate rages on about how the Sphinx lost his nose. Many historians believe it was destroyed in the 14th century by an iconoclastic Muslim leader who was outraged that locals were making offerings to the Sphinx in the hopes of increasing their harvests. But according to common legend, Napoleon's soldiers broke it off with a cannonball - although I've read that sketches of the Sphinx published several decades before Napoleon's arrival in Egypt show him already without a nose.

It's a pretty simple idea: Let's build a large three-dimensional triangle. But even upon a second viewing (Eden and I were here in 1999), the scale and grandeur of the pyramids are mind-blowing. And seeing it all through the kids' eyes, for the first time, was an awesome experience. When I asked Jeremy what his favorite part of Egypt was, he responded without any hesitation: "The Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx." Talia added: "When can we go back to the Pyramids? I want to see them again." The Pharaohs sure knew how to impress people of all ages...