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Home , Amenemhat I, Djer, Djoser, Khafre, Khufu, Manetho

Old Kingdom and Builders Found in 1898 by Quibell and Green in the of at Hierakonpolis

Tomb of King (ca. 3000 BC)

Umm el-Qaab Chronology

3100 – 2686 BC Early Dynastic (Dynasty 0 – 2) 2686 – 2181 BC Old Kingdom (Dynasty 3 – 6) 2181 – 2025 BC First Intermediate Period (Dyn. 7 – 10) 2025 – 1700 BC Middle Kingdom (Dyn. 11 – 13) 1700 – 1550 BC Second Intermediate Period (Dyn. 14 – 17) 1550 – 1069 BC New Kingdom (Dyn. 18 – 20) 1069 – 664 BC Third Intermediate Period (Dyn. 21 – 25) 664 – 332 BC Late Period (Dyn. 26 – 31) 332 – 30 BC Ptolemaic Period

(Selected) Old Kingdom Rulers

Third Dynasty • /Netjerikhet (ca. 2630-2611 BC)

Fourth Dynasty • (ca. 2575-2551 BC) • (ca. 2251-2528 BC) • (ca. 2520-2494 BC) • (ca. 2472-2467 BC)

All Creative Commons (Selected) Old Kingdom Rulers

Fifth Dynasty • (ca. 2465-2458 BC) • (ca. 2458-2446 BC) clevelandart.org • (ca. 2356-2323 BC)

Sixth Dynasty metmuseum.org • (ca. 2323-2150 BC) • Pepi I (ca. 2289-2255 BC) • Pepi II (ca. 2246-2152 BC) brooklynmuseum.org

What is a pyramid?

- Gigantic tombstone

- Glorified storage unit

- Stairway to heaven

- Representation of massive cultural development

- Economic driving force

Limestone: poorer quality blocks for internal structure, fine quality for outer casing stones

Basalt: floors of mortuary temple

Granite: red preferred for casing of burial chambers, sarcophagi, temple walls

Diorite and gneiss: and vessels

Travertine/Egyptian : vessels

Khufu’s Pyramid Fun Facts The Horizon of Khufu

Composed of 2,300,000 blocks of

Stones were transported from as far away as Aswan (532 miles south) for the project

It took about 20 years for the pyramid to be built, finished 2566 BC

It’s been calculated that one block was laid every two minutes

20 – 30,000 men worked at the site on 3 month assignments

Legends, Explorers and Scientists Ancient Legend leads to Modern Misconception

• 550 years after Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure built their on plateau, they were being dismantled and included as rubble core in the pyramid of (ca. 1990-1960 BC)

• Westcar (ca. 1780-1640 BC) and (ca. 430 BC) paint Khufu and his forefathers in particularly bad light

• (ca. 280 BC) – Khufu wrote the “Sacred book” Strabo (ca. 25 BC) – reported a movable stone that would allow access to Khufu’s pyramid (ca. 70 AD) – included pyramid building as part of the labor of Hebrews

One Thousand and One Nights or Arabian Nights

• Written in during Islamic “Golden Age” 8-14th centuries AD

• Translated into English, 1706-1721 AD

• The Breach of al-Mamun (ca. 820 AD)

• Quarrying the pyramids (12th century AD), Abd al-Latif and Emir Karakoush (reign of Salah al-Din 1138-1193 AD) Legends spur on Exploration

“Then Surid (Khufu) ordered the building of the pyramids, had the sciences recorded in them, and had the treasures and pieces of put into them. Finally, he an idol to guard each of the three pyramids… After his death, Surid was buried in the Eastern Pyramid (Khufu), his brother, Hujib, in the Western one (Khafre), and Hujib’s son, Karuras in the Pied Pyramid (Menkaure)”.

More secret chambers and hidden secrets…

Exploration leads to Science Nationalism in Ancient and Modern Battle OVER the Pyramids Germany France

England Pyramid Pioneers

• John Greave, Professor of Astronomy at Oxford (1646)

• Vivant Denon, Napoleon (ca. 1800)

• Belzoni and Caviglia (ca. 1818)

• Howard Vyse (1835-1837)

• Lepsius (1840s) and Mariette (1853-1881)

• Petrie (1881-1900)

• Reisner (1902-1932)

The Giza Archive ; www.giza.fas.harvard.edu Vyse, Operations Carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837

Aswan Granite Quarry Giza Limestone Quarry Alabaster Quarry smithsonianmag.com; Photo: Pierre Tallet

Journal of Merer, found by Pierre Tallet in 2013

Oldest papyrus in the world

Found on the coast, Wadi el- Jarf

Records expeditions to Tura to get casing blocks for the pyramid in final year of Khufu’s reign

Records expeditions to Sinai for and

Found in rock-hewn garages with boats, rope and diorite hammers Bust of Ankhkaf, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Abydos

Early Dynastic • Abydos (ca. 3100 – 2650 BC) • Tomb U-j, 1st Dynasty burials including , Djer, , and Qa’a (ca. 2920 – 2770 BC) at Umm el Qa’ab • Valley enclosures of , Peribsen, Djer, and (ca. 2900 – 2650 BC) Pre-Pyramid Timeline

• Early Dynastic • (ca. 2900 – 2575 BC) • of rulers or court officials ?? of Djoser at Saqqara (ca. 2630-2611 BC) Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser

Pyramids Texts Oho! Oho! Rise up, O Teti! Take your head, collect your bones, Gather your limbs, shake the earth from your flesh! Take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not, Stand at the gates that bar the common people! The gatekeeper comes out to you, he grasps your hand, Takes you into heaven, to your father . He rejoices at your coming, gives you his hands, Kisses you, caresses you, Sets you before the spirits, the imperishable stars... The hidden ones worship you, The great ones surround you, The watchers wait on you,

Hail, daughter of , above the hatches of heaven, Comrade of , above the ladder's rails, Open Unas's path, let Unas pass!

If you fail to ferry Unas, He will leap and sit on the wing of Thoth, Then he will ferry Unas to that side! Pyramids at Giza (ca. 2550-2470 BC)