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Over a long period of time, the Egyptians built numerous temples along the Nile. Two of the most famous, at Karnak and Luxor, are featured in the IMAX® film Mysteries of Egypt. These impressive structures, with their huge columned halls and pylon gateways, were built to honour the dead and venerate local and national gods.
Temples were places where the gods and their divine energy could reside, separated from everything else in the world. According to the Egyptian creation legend, the first temple came into existence on a mound of land that rose up from the primeval sea, called Nun. The first form of life to appear on that mound was a plant on which the falcon, Horus, first perched. Another version of this story describes the lotus flower as the first plant on which the sun emerged. Following this, human beings were created. This moment was called the First Occasion. As sentient beings, the Egyptians reciprocated by building temples to revere and nourish the gods.
The design of the first temple was laid down by the gods, and each successive temple was a copy of the first one. The design encouraged the gods to bring divine energy into the earth’s plane. Priests worked at the temples, conducting the daily rituals in honour of the deities and pharaohs to whom the temples were dedicated
Jungian psychologists use the pyramid shape to illustrate stages in the development of the human psyche from immaturity to maturity. With its four sides and central apex, the pyramid is a model for archetypes (universal patterns in human behaviour).
Here is a quote from King, Warrior, Magician and Lover, by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette. It explains how the pyramid metaphor can be used to illustrate aspects of masculine psychology.
The four archetypes of boyhood, each with a triangular structure, can be put together to form a pyramid that depicts the structure of the boy’s emerging identity, his immature masculine Self. The same is true of the structure of the mature masculine Self . . .
. . . the adult man does not lose his boyishness, and the archetypes that form boyhood’s foundation do not go away. Since archetypes cannot disappear, the mature man transcends the masculine powers of boyhood, building upon them rather than demolishing them. The resulting structure of the mature masculine Self, therefore, is a pyramid over a pyramid . . . Though images should not be taken literally, we are arguing that pyramids are universal symbols of the human Self.
In a note on page 15, the authors state that the Self-structure in women is also pyramidal in form. When the pyramids of the masculine Self and the feminine Self are placed end to end, they represent the Jungian Self, which embraces both masculine and feminine qualities
Pyramids were constructed by large work gangs over a period of many years. The Pyramid Age spans over a thousand years, starting in the third dynasty and ending in the Second Intermediate Period. The Greek historian Herodotus was told that it took 100,000 men 20 years to build the Great Pyramid at Giza. Scholars today, however, think it may have been built by only 20,000 men over 20 years.
A pyramid's large square base creates a very stable structure. A number of astronomical observations were used to precisely align its corners with the four cardinal points. Approximately 80% of the building materials are found in the lower half. This means that relatively few stone blocks were hauled to the upper levels. Since pyramids are solid, no walls or pillars were required to support the structure. Despite its simple design, a pyramid is an incredible engineering feat. Several theories attempt to explain how pyramids were constructed, but for now, the mystery has yet to be solved.
One theory suggests that causeways were used to haul the stone blocks on wooden sleds up the side of the pyramids. The ramps were lubricated with water to reduce friction when hauling the blocks. As few as 10 men were needed to drag a stone block up a ramp. There may have been several ramps on each side of the pyramid at different levels, and a ramp may have been coiled around the pyramid as it grew in height. Once a stone block reached its desired level, wooden rockers may have been used to manoeuvre it into position.
Another theory suggests that a wooden crane with a counterweight on one end may have been used to lift the blocks from one level to the next. This theory has been disputed, since the Egyptians did not have access to trees that were strong enough for this type of work. The average weight of the stone blocks used to build the Great Pyramid at Giza has been estimated at 2.5 tonnes (2.5 tons). Such an enormous weight would undoubtedly break a wooden crane before the block could be lifted.
Another possibility involves the use of pulleys to hoist the blocks up the ramps and fulcrums to manipulate the blocks into place. Pulleys were used on ships at the time.
The pyramids were probably not built by slaves because slave labour was not widely used in Egypt at the time. Peasant farmers, however, were required to spend a number of weeks working on construction projects. This provided the paid labour needed to build these gigantic structures. Since the fields were under water during the summer, wages earned in building the gigantic pyramids supplemented the family's income.
Pyramids did not stand alone; they were part of a funerary complex. The complex includes a processional causeway that links a funerary temple to the pyramid, solar barques buried on the four sides of the pyramid, and mastabas and smaller pyramids where the family of the king and nobles were buried.
The pyramid built by King Sahure (2491-2477 B.C., Old Kingdom) is the largest of the three at Abousir and the one that is best preserved. Today, it is a mound of rubble, but the mortuary temple on the east face is still discernible. Its striking features are the red granite date-palm columns and the deeply incised hieroglyphs of the king's name and titles on the huge granite blocks.
