pyramids

PYRAMIDS

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“PYRAMID” - comes from the Greek word 'pyramis' which means “wheat cake”

WHAT ARE PYRAMIDS?

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WHY WERE THE PYRAMIDS MADE?

• As tombs for Egyptian pharaohs and kings

• As astronomical observatory

• As symbolisms of the rays of the sun as pharaohs were believed to reach the heavens via sunbeams

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PYRAMIDS ALL AROUND THE WORLD

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PYRAMIDS IN EGYPT

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Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza

• Until the 19th century, the tallest building in the world

• First and largest pyramid built among the Giza pyramids

• Only surviving wonder of the ancient world

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Khafra’s Pyramid at Giza

• Second largest Egyptian pyramid and attributed to Khufu’s son

• Prominent because it was guarded by a sphinx

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NUBIAN PYRAMIDS• First built by the

Nubian king Tirhakah

• 223 total number of pyramids located in Northern Sudan

• Italian explorer smashed the tops off 40 pyramids in a quest for treasure in the 1820s

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PYRAMIDS OF GUIMAR

• Located in the Canary Islands of Spain

• May be remains from pre-European voyagers who sailed the Atlantic in ancient times

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PYRAMID IN ITALY

• A relatively modern pyramid was built by Gaius Cestius in Rome, 1st century BC.

• Built of concrete and faced with marble

• Has an interior tomb vault and is 35 metres high

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PYRAMIDS IN PERU• Remains of 26 pyramids that were

discovered in between the South American cities Chiclayo and Trujillo

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Viru Valley in Peru

• Built by the Moche civilization in the northwestern coast of Peru • Mostly made up

of mud bricks rather than stone

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Lost Pyramids of Caral

• A site thousand years older than the earliest known civilisation in the Americas

• Incorporated in a “gentle society” with no evidence of battles or mutilated bodies

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PYRAMID IN TURKEY

Mt Nemrut,  Kâhta 

• a natural mountain (2150m), with a 50 metre artificial peak built on top

• constructed as a tomb for King Antinochus I during the period  80 B.C-72 B.C.

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PYRAMID IN GREECEHellenikon Pyramid

• built entirely from gray limestone

• originally used as a fort, erected to control access to nearby roads

• speculated that it was built nearly 100 years before the Great Pyramids of Giza

• located in Argolis

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CHINESE PYRAMIDS

• Discovered by an Air Force pilot after World War II

• a combination of stone pyramid and earth mound – made of earth and clay, shaped like pyramids with flattened tops

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CENTRAL AMERICAN PYRAMIDS

Of two types:

• those that can be climbed for rituals

• those that weren’t meant to be touched because they were sacred

Other purposes:

• as landmarks for those in the jungle to see directions

• served as a reminder that the gods were ever present

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Pyramid of Kulkulcan

• A step pyramid used for human sacrifice

• Has a total of 364 steps, 91 steps on each side

• The number of months in the Mayan calendar represented by 18 terraces on the pyramid

• Kulkulcan - Mayan name for the Toltec King Quetzalcoatl.

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• Has sides of 225m, a similar base area to the Great Pyramid of Giza, although it is only half the height

Teotihuacan PyramidsPyramid of the Sun• Largest MesoAmerican pyramid

• The cave below the pyramid is believed to be a direct link to the underworld

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Teotihuacan PyramidsPyramid of the Moon

• Went through five distinct phases of building successively larger pyramids on top of previous ones

• Built on an elevated location for it to be level with the Pyramid of the Sun

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…The End…Thank you!