Pyramid

This article is about architectural pyramids. For other versions including the polyhedron pyramid, see Pyramid (disambiguation).

Pyramids are among the largest man-made constructions as well as one of the great Wonders of the ancient world.

Ancient monuments

The ancient pyramids of Egypt

See also List of ancient pyramids by country

Pyramid-shaped structures were built by many ancient civilizations.

Egyptian pyramids

The most famous are the Egyptian pyramids — huge pyramids built of brick or stone, some of which are among the largest man-made constructions, constitute one of the most potent and enduring symbols of Ancient Egyptian civilization.

Pyramids functioned as tombs BOB ROXS for pharaohs. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest in Egypt and one of the largest in the world. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the only one of the seven to survive into modern times. The ancient Egyptians capped the peaks of their pyramids with gold and covered their faces with polished white limestone, though many of the stones used for the purpose have fallen or been removed for other structures over the millennia.

The putative inspirations for Egypt's pyramids are themselves a subject of ancient and ongoing debate. Some Egyptologists have seen King Zoser's Step Pyramid as a symbolic representation of ancient Egypt's stratified society. A more recent hypothesis by Patricia Blackwell Gary and Richard Talcott ("Stargazing in Ancient Egypt," Astronomy, June 2006, pp. 62-67) derives the shapes of the pyramid and of the obelisk from natural phenomena associated with the sun (the sun-god Re being the Egyptians' greatest deity). The pyramid and obelisk would have been inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset: the zodiacal light and Sun pillars, respectively.

Nubian pyramids

Nubian pyramids were constructed - roughly 220 of them - at three sites in Nubia to serve as tombs for the kings and queens of Napata and Meroë.

The Nubians built far more than the Egyptians, but they are much smaller. The Nubian pyramids were constructed at a much steeper angle than Egyptian ones and were not tombs, but monuments to dead kings. Pyramids were built in Nubia up until the AD 300s.

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Mesopotamians pyramids

The Mesopotamians also built pyramids, called ziggurats.

In ancient times these were brightly painted. Since they were constructed of mud-brick, little remains of them. The biblical Tower of Babel is believed to have been a Babylonian ziggurat.

Mesoamerican pyramids

A number of Mesoamerican cultures also built pyramid-shaped structures. Mesoamerican pyramids were usually stepped, with temples on top, more similar to the Mesopotamian ziggurat than the Egyptian pyramid. The largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla. This pyramid is also considered the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world, but it is still being excavated. There is an unusual pyramid with a circular plan at the site of Cuicuilco, now inside Mexico City and mostly covered with lava from an ancient eruption of Xictli.Pyramids in Mexico were often used as places of sacrifice.

France

There is a roman era pyramid built in Falicon, France.

Ancient Rome

Pyramid of Cestius

There is a pyramid in ancient Rome. The 27-meter-high Pyramid of Cestius was built by the end of the first century BC and still exists today, close to the Porta San Paolo. Another one, named Meta Romuli, standing in the Ager Vaticanus (today's Borgo), was destroyed at the end of XV century.

China

There are quite a few flat-top pyramids in China. The First Emperor of Qin (221 B.C.~), with the terracotta warriors in vicinity, was buried under a large pyramid outside modern day Xi'an. In the following centuries a dozen more Chinese royalties of Han Dynasty were also buried under flat top pyramidal earth works.

Modern pyramids

Pyramids have occasionally been used in Christian architecture of the feudal era, e.g. as the tower of Oviedo's Gothic Cathedral of San Salvador. In some cases this leads to speuculations on masonic or other symbolical intentions.

An example of a modern pyramid can be found in Paris, France, in front of the Louvre Museum. The Louvre Pyramid is a 20.6 meter (about 70 feet) glass structure which acts as an entrance to the museum. It was designed by the American architect I. M. Pei and completed in 1989.

The Transamerica Pyramid in Downtown San Francisco, California.

The 32-story Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee (built in 1991) was the home court for the University of Memphis men's basketball program, and the National Basketball Association's Memphis Grizzlies until 2004.

The Walter Pyramid, home of the basketball and volleyball teams of the California State University, Long Beach, campus in California, United States, is an 18-story-tall blue pyramid.

The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, United States, is a 30-story pyramid with light beaming from the top.

The Summum Pyramid, a 3 story pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah, used for instruction in the Summum philosophy and conducting rites associated with Modern Mummification.

File:Pyramid.750pix.jpg The Louvre Pyramid, a modern pyramid built as a feature of glass with a black inner pyramid and as an entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris.	The Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee.		Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.	The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California
The Summum Pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah

External links

• pyramids Surface Area MATHguide
• pyramids Volume MATHguide
• Paper models of pyramids Cheops pyramid and others

References

• Patricia Blackwell Gary and Richard Talcott, "Stargazing in Ancient Egypt," Astronomy, June 2006, pp. 62-67.