Monday, December 15, 2008

The Forming of the Tombs

Of course, I have a post describing each tomb I have covered, but I realized I better describe the history of how this happened. Now, it all began with how they needed to get rid of bodies. so to do that they buried them in the desert, far enough away so they wouldn't interfere with the farming. But one day, perhaps a jackal dug up human remains, they decided to make the tombs a little less vulnerable. They covered the tombs in rocks, dug them deeper, and put people inside coffins. Then they realized that people were decaying inside the tombs. This is were mummification comes in. If they created something that would keep their bodies from decaying, they could survive in the afterlife. I think this is a bunch of crud, but really, who knows? So after they solved that problem ( I have a more detailed post, but it is not really my topic.) they moved on to a more superstructure like kind of tomb. these were called mastabas. Mastabas are really just the bottom of Step Pyramids, they just have doors in them. After that, Imhotep came along and stacked mastabas on top of each other to create the step pyramid. When that was done, the Egyptians got bored of one design when its been out to long so they added blocks to the step pyramid, and gave it the appearance of having smoothly sloping sides. That is tombs 101, thank you for listening, this is Norte signing off. Rofl.

The Great Pyramid

HOLY CRUD! How can people with such little technology, not huge in size, not huge in the realistic department either actually build this? IT'S HUGE! The Great Pyramid of Giza is a structure that was the largest in the world for thousands of years, even when the United States was here! This sucker was built for Kerhut, an ancient pharaoh of egypt, and is the largest of all the pyramids, and took over 20 YEARS to build. Wow. Just wow. I mean, they did this with no cranes, no trucks, no really anything, except the brains they had in their skulls of theirs. Originaly, we thougt the pyramids were built by slaves, but we now think that workers were used. Some slaves might have been involved, but not as much as the workers.

Civilization Scandal?

Have people noticed that the ancient Egyptians and the Mesopotamians have many similarities? I mean, just look at them for a second. When I found something in my reading that the Egyptians did just like the Mesopotamians, I just said ENOUGH! Here are the similarities: ( please note that while they have many similarities, they have many differences) 1. The Egyptians and Mesopotamians both had superstructures. 2. Both Egyptians and Mesopotamians were polytheistic, (believed more than 1 god) 3. They both were given life from a river or rivers. 4. Both were buried with their most important people that they knew, such as advisors, guards, governors, etc. Now, the last one really ties in with mine. True, while most of Mesopotamian superstructures where for worship, not for use as tombs, I still notice that their tombs relate to Egyptian mastabas, except they were above ground, and on their side.

The 5 Tombs


The First Pyramids

No, Imhotep was not the dude in the Mummy movies who tried to kill Ben Fraser. I am talking about the guy that invented the first pyramids. You see, Imhotep was on of the greatest inventors ever in ancient Egypt. He had the great idea to stack mastabas, a giant stone slab that goes over someones tomb, on top of one another. As you can see to your left, it looked like steps, so the person could reach the gods by using their pyramid as steps, so the story goes. Imhotep invented the first step pyramid for Pharaoh Djoser, or Zoser. Honestly, if I was mummified, put in a sarcophagus, put in a pyramid, with the chance of being grave robbed any moment, that would make me feel claustrophobic. I'd be dead, but still.

What Does Mummification Have to do With Pyramids?

Mummification had EVERYTHING to do with the tombs of Ancient Egypt! If they hadn't invented mummification, they would have put the dead back in the desert to be naturally mummified. Mummification is when they take out all the peoples innards except their heart. The only reason I am telling you this is because if it wasn't for mummification, there would be no pyramids because they would have gone back to burying the people in the sand. Now, getting back on track, they invented mummification, and started building structures above the sand of where they were buried. The rocks they used to put on top of the tombs turned into mud slabs, which ( because of the fact they were so easy to dig through ) turned into stone slabs. Now then, this was all right and dandy. They were doing better than sand now. But then the man who changed history ( okay, really made it) was Imhotep.