Tomb or Temple?

Original Egyptian tombs were no more than mounds with sloping edges and flat tops called mastabas. King Djoser's architect layered six sequentially smaller mounds one upon the other, forming the first Step-Pyramid'. Later, at Medum, King Snefru ordered the building of a step pyramid, filled in with stone, and finally covered with a limestone casing. The first of these smooth-walled buildings tapered toward the top and others though evenly inclined, were rather squat in appearance.

The pyramids, built in the lifetime of a single king (pharaoh), served to aid in the movement from this life to the afterlife1, to help him achieve immortality. Mostly constructed during the fourth Dynasty (2680-2560 BC) of the Old Kingdom, the pyramids consisted of elaborately decorated passageways leading to underground rooms or rooms deep inside the pyramid, where the pharaoh's embalmed and mummified body -together with gifts and necessities for the afterlife, gold, oils, etc.- was laid to rest. The scenes were highly colored and drawn from vignettes from the book of the dead and related subjects.

As in earlier mastaba tombs, the Step Pyramid's burial chambers are underground, hidden in a maze of tunnels, probably to discourage grave robbers. Intended to hold his mummified body, Pharaoh Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara began as a traditional, flat-roofed mastaba. By the end of his 19-year reign, in 2611 B.C., it had risen to its six-stepped layers, and stood 62 meters high. It was the largest building of its time.

Extensive use of stonehere and there carvedmade the tomb more durable than that of its mud-brick predecessor. Such pioneering techniques led ancient historians to credit the chief designer, Imhotep, with the inventing of stone architecture. The Step Pyramid complex, enclosed by a 10-meter wall, included courtyards, temples, and chapels, covering nearly 40 acresthe size of seven modern city blocks. They covered the tip of the pyramid in a dark-coloured stone, and polished the limestone to make it shine brightly in the sun and reflect moonlight. Excavations at Giza discovered remnants of funerary boats - the king's body presumably brought by boat up the Nile to the pyramid site and mummified in the Valley Temple prior to placing in the pyramid for burial.

Snefru's son, Khufu (Cheops), finally built the Great Pyramid of Giza. He constructed a 481 foot-high pyramid (higher than the Statue of Liberty) whose sides rose at an angle of 52 degrees;

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