The pyramids of Egypt are so old that it makes you dizzy to think about it. One does not assimilate well its antiquity until it realizes that by the time the Romans began to stick their noses in Egypt the Great Pyramid of Giza was already 2,500 years old. Two and a half millennia!
In fact Cleopatra, Marco Antonio, Julio Cesar and all the other protagonists of that episode are closer temporarily of our time than of the time of the construction of the great pyramids.
When Roma put its eyes on Egypt the Great Pyramid was already an antiquity of 2,500 years
I suppose that is what makes the pyramids arouse that fascination, the thought of how people who had practically left the Neolithic all of a sudden started to erect those impressive constructions. We already know that there are theories of all kinds.
Moreover, the great pyramids of Giza (the three that everyone knows) are not even the oldest in Egypt. The construction of pyramids as tombs began much earlier and originated as a more or less natural evolution (seen in retrospect) from simpler constructions.
And who in some way initiated the process was the first known architect of history: Imhotep.
The proto-dynamic period
But to have a complete vision of the process, how the Egyptians came up with the idea of building those monsters (I mean the size, not the appearance: aesthetically they are beautiful) to bury their pharaohs, we have to go back even further behind Imhotep. We're going to the era of the Scorpion King.
The first royal tombs
To see the origin of the Egyptian pyramids from the correct perspective you have to think of them as what they really are: tombs. Yes, it's hard to think about that when you look at the group in Giza. In fact, a grave is the last thing that comes to mind when you see those three majestic monuments.
And the first royal tombs, at least the first we know, are those belonging to the so-called Dynasty 0 of Egypt, the kings of the proto-dynamic period, which reigned just before the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt and the birth of the Old Kingdom.
I do not know about you, but as soon as I hear a proto-dynamic period, a name comes to mind: Horus Scorpio II. I do not know if it is because of the image that always comes to me from the beautiful ceremonial mace that is associated with it, or from the sonorous nickname it received: the Scorpion King.
It is a pity that so little is known about this period. However, what is known is that the rulers of this era, together with those of the first and second dynasties (known as Tinite dynasties), are buried in the necropolis of Umm el-Qaab, in Abydos, in Upper Egypt.
In this necropolis were discovered, by the way, some of the oldest written documents, dated in 3400 a.C., which represent a list of taxes paid to the king for each city.
Tomb 100 of Hierakonpolis
Bad jokes aside, there is nothing in these tombs that foreshadows the pyramids. Although it does begin to observe something of importance for its origin: the hierarchy of burials.
Keep in mind that we are in the era immediately before the emergence of the Egyptian Empire and the king acquires great importance. Society is strongly hierarchized and this circumstance is also reflected in burials. And if there is a typical example of this phenomenon is the 100th tomb of Hierakonpolis.
Hierakonpolis was the capital of Upper Egypt during the predynastic, contemporary period of Abydos and center of the cult of Horus. Precisely in this city was found the ceremonial mace of Horus Scorpion II that he named above.
This tomb contains not only two rooms (that of the burial itself and another probably dedicated to offerings), but also contained the oldest frescoes that have been found in the history of Egypt: a princely tomb no doubt.
And I say "contained" because, unfortunately, the tomb is very damaged and the paintings have disappeared, except for some fragments that are fortunately found in the Cairo Museum. A shame
The mastabas
And already in some tombs of the first dynasties, due undoubtedly to that hierarchy of the burials that commented, begins to see a structure of adobe in the form of a truncated pyramid destined precisely to that, to highlight and make more splendid the tombs of Pharaoh and of the highest ranking officials: the mastaba
By the way, that mastaba is the name given to these constructions by the Arabs and means bank, because their shape reminded them of the local banks. Actually, it is not known what the Egyptians called them.
Originally they were built with adobes and, later, in stone, like the beautiful mastaba of Nianjjnum and Jnumhotep that you can see in the image above.
As you can see, it is a fairly simple building, apparently of a single rectangular plan and of a truncated pyramid shape. And I say apparently because it actually has two levels, it's about tombs with a pit:
In fact, it has, as I say, two levels, if we count the underground where the deceased is. Or the deceased, since some of them, like the example above, were double.
As for the superstructure, it was beautifully decorated, as you can imagine, with statues and frescoes. Proportionally to the rank of the deceased, of course. The well that gave access to the chamber of the sarcophagus is in the offering room
The stepped pyramids
And at this point one would say that, after the mastabas, the pyramids were done. They simply began to progressively increase the height of these mausoleums until at some point they were simply topped with a pyramidion.
Not really; the process was somewhat more complicated. Fortunately, since it left us some really beautiful monuments.
And all this change that turned something as simple as a mastaba into something as spectacular as the great pyramids was initiated by the idea of a single man. From a wise person, really.
I greet you dear deity Imhotep, son of Ptah! Men applaud you and women adore you. They all exalt your kindness so that they can be healed. They bring you offerings and gifts. They proffer praises to you that you drink beer with your brothers the old gods, and then feed the righteous spirits.
Inscription in the Karnak temple
Imhotep was a true scholar, a scholar, one of those homo universalis who appear from time to time in history and who, when you read about them, think well, look, the same if we are going to get something if it keeps coming out people like that.
High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep was an astronomer, doctor and architect. The first architect that is recorded in history.
Among other things he discovered the use of opium derivatives as anesthetics, cranial suture ... He was elevated to the status of god of medicine and wisdom in the Ptolemaic era (he was represented sitting with a papyrus on his knees) and assimilated by the Greeks, as Asclepios, and by the Romans, as Aesculapius.
Unfortunately, I fear that it will only remain in popular culture as the evil protagonist of the films The Mummy, the 1932 and (infamous) 1999. A pity, but you can always do something to remedy it. Here I propose a tweet:
Imhotep was a doctor, astronomer and the first architect of record in history