Essay About Construction Of Step Pyramid Of Pharaoh Djoser And Pair Of Tiny Holes

Ancient Egypt
Essay title: Ancient Egypt
When most people mention Ancient Egypt the first thing that
comes to mind is the Pyramids. To construct such monuments required a
mastery of art, architecture and social organization that few cultures
would ever rival. The pyramids are said to have built Egypt by being
the force that knit together the kingdoms economy. Their creations
were so subeztial, that the sight of these vast pyramids would take
your breath away. Today, the valley of the Nile has an open air
museum so people can witness these grand monuments.
Obsessed with the afterlife, Egypts rulers of 4,500 years ago
glorified themselves in stone, thereby laying the foundation of the
first great nation-state. A Pyramid is an enormous machine that helps
the king go through the wall of the dead, achieve resurrection and
live forever in the happiness of the gods. The start of the Old
Kingdom is said to be the building of the Djosers monument. The
construction of Step Pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser began around 2630 B.C.
and was designed to awe the ancient Egyptians, to impress them with
their rules godlike strength. It was the worlds first great
construction project; indeed, it was the worlds largest building.
Djoser, the second king of the 3rd dynasty, hired an architect
called Imhoptep who for the first time constructed a tomb completely
of stone. Imhoptep is considered the preeminent genius of the Old
Kingdom. He assembled one workforce to quarry limestone at the cliff
of Tura, across the Nile, another to haul the stone to the site where
master carvers shaped each block and put it in place.
The Step Pyramid is a terraced structure rising in six unequal
stages to a height of 60 meters, its base measuring 120 meters by 108
meters. The substructure has a system of underground corridors and
rooms. Its main feature being a central shaft 25 meters deep and 8
meters wide. The step pyramid rises within a vast walled court 544
meters long and 277 meters wide, in which are the remnants of several
stone edifices built to supply the wants of the king in the here
after. Towering limestone columns were shaped to mimic the sway and
droop of leafy plants. Immovable doors hung on great carved hinges.
Facades called false doors through which the pharaohs ka, or vital
force, was presumed to pass, lay recessed within walls. The interiors
of dummy temples were packed with rubble. Everything about the place
bespoke illusion. The Step Pyramid was a ladder. Not a symbol of a
ladder but an actual one, by which the soul of a dead ruler might
climb to the sky, joining the gods in immortality.
No one knows why the Egyptians created this fantastic scene,
but some archaeologists speculate that there was an Old Kingdom belief
that a work of art, a building, had power and utility in the afterlife
in direct proportion to its uselessness in the real world. In this
view, each false door, each dummy temple worked in the afterlife
precisely because it could not function in this one.
On the north side of the pyramid is a small stone cubicle,
with a pair of tiny holes in its facade. When you look through these
holes,