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Pyramids |
The spectacular pyramids that have made Egypt so famous are truly one of the world's greatest architectural wonders. One of the oldest mysteries surrounding ancient Egypt concerns the building of the pyramids. How did humans move such massive blocks of stone using only Stone Age tools? The Egyptians left thousands of illustrations depicting daily life in the Old Kingdom. Curiously enough, none of them show how pyramids were built.
A pyramid is a tomb, a four-sided stone structure that symbolizes the sacred mountain, humanity’s universal striving to reach the heavens. The ancient belief in raising the human spirit towards the gods is the quintessential purpose behind the construction of pyramids. Even today, pyramids are metaphors for humanity’s search for higher consciousness.
The IMAX film Mysteries of Egypt features the pyramids at Giza, just west of Cairo. They are surrounded by smaller pyramids, mastabas (tombs of nobles and courtiers), funerary temples, processional ramps and the Great Sphinx. Several theories attempt to explain the construction of the pyramids, but no one knows for sure how they were built. This is one of the great mysteries of ancient Egypt.
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The First Pyramids |  |
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Giza Pyramids and Sphinx | |
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Pyramid Construction | |
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The Last Pyramids | |
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Metaphor of the Human Psyche |
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civilization |
architecture |
tombs
Date created: January 9, 1998Last updated: May 22, 2001
