|
..
.
. .Around 2630
B.C., in the 3rd Dynasty, a man named Djoser-Netcherikhe assumed the
throne of Egypt. He made his capital just south of what is now Cairo, The Greeks called this place, Memphis. Like all pharaohs he began making
preparations for his afterlife. He assigned a scholar named Imhotep
the job of building his tomb.
.
. . . .Imhotep's
plans
would incorporate many new ideas. The
building material of the time was mud brick, but this would not suit
a pharaoh as mighty as Djoser-Netcherikhe. Imhotep had a radical
idea, he would use stone, a material never used before in large scale
building projects. Originally the plan called for a mastaba tomb, a
design the Egyptians had used for centuries. Imhotep had a better
idea, he began stacking mastaba on top of mastaba until he realized
the design of the Step Pyramid. It was a shape the ancient Egyptians
recognized as the legendary mound
of creation that had risen
out of the primordial ocean of chaos. It was also the shape of things
to come. For almost 1000 years the pharaohs built pyramids as their
eternal resting places. Abandoning them when they realized that under
these giant monuments of extravagant wealth, they could no longer
protect their afterlives from plunder.
|
