What was the motivation of the Egyptians for building the pyramids?

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I am doing a research paper and I need some help. I need some good sources to find the answer of this question (What was the motivation of the Egyptians for building the pyramids?) Please cite the source. I am also looking for the different construction methods or tools that the Egyptians used for building the pyramids.


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What was the motivation of the Egyptians for building the pyramids?
This answer is about pyramids in Egypt. Pyramids were also constructed in ancient Greece and Mesoamerica. Flat topped pyramids were constructed in ancient China.





Pyramids in Egypt served as tombs, initially only for kings and close members of the royal family, but eventually came to be used (in much smaller forms) by the general populace.





The pyramid is thought to have developed out of the mastaba tomb. Mastaba is an Arabic word, meaning bench, which was applied to the flat-topped, slope sided superstructures of tombs. The pyramid is also thought to be associated with solar worship and the "ben-ben" stone which played a major role in sun worship and was vaguely pyramid shaped.





In the 3rd Dynasty, several mastabas were stacked forming the Step Pyramid of King Djoser. By the 4th Dynasty in the reign of Snefru attempts at building a true pyramid were underway. The pyramids of the 4th and 5th Dynasties, including those at Giza, essentially reflect the further refinement of the pyramid, the chambers within it, and the associated temple complexes. Eventually the standard style was an orientation of east to west (significant in Egyptian religion), with a pyramid temple, located directly on the east side of the pyramid, and a causeway leading to the "valley temple" located near the Nile at the edge of the cultivation.


While it is accepted by reputable Egyptologists that pyramids served as burials for kings, the exact details of the theology behind them remains unclear. One idea, popularized I believe by Dr. Mark Lehner, one of the foremost experts on Egyptian pyramids, is that pyramids served as "resurrection machines" providing all the necessary means for eternal life with the gods for the dead king.


In the late 5th Dynasty in the Pyramid of Unas at Saqqara, we have the first appearance of formal texts within the pyramid itself - the appropriately-named Pyramid Texts. These texts are somewhat esoteric and are essentially a collection of spells, stories, and guides relating to the Underworld. Initially these texts were limited to royalty. In succeeding pyramids, elements of the Pyramid Texts were included in the "Coffin Texts" of the First Intermediate and Middle Kingdom and in the "Book of the Dead" of the New Kingdom - texts available to a broad spectrum of society.





Pyramid construction continued in the Middle Kingdom - again limited to royalty, but not on the grand scale of the Old Kingdom. The last known royal pyramids located in Egypt are that of King Ahmose, founder of the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550 BCE) and the pyramid-cenotaph constructed for his grandmother, Queen Tetisheri. Both are located at Abydos.





In the New Kingdom, pyramids came to be part of tombs for reasonably wealthy private individuals - frequently added to the exterior portico area of rock-cut cliff tombs or appearing as architectural elements of brick constructed tombs in varous parts of Egypt.





The Napatan and Meroitic kingdoms in Nubia (modern Sudan) also used the pyramid for royal burials at sites such as El-Kurru and Nuri. While the Napatan kings ruled Egypt for a time during the 25th Dynasty and were buried in pyramids, those pyramids were located in Nubia proper.





Pyramid construction relied on highly skilled teams of workmen who were housed nearby the pyramid fields - in the Old Kingdom located in the general vicinity of the ancient capital Memphis at sites now knows as Giza, Saqqara, Meidum, and Dashur. A few pyramids in the Middle Kingdom were located near the Fayum, roughly Middle Egypt.


In addition to the full-time workmen, there was likely a seasonal labor requirement asked of the lower classes of Egyptian society - a sort of taxation, often referred to by the French term "corvee" labor. This is distinct from slavery. While the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (writing over a thousand years after the construction of the pyramids at Giza) reported that he was told the pyramids at Giza were constructed by slaves, Herodotus was wrong about any number of things in his reports and may not even have visited Egypt in person, so he is usually not taken as a realiable source.





Tools included square levels and plumb bobs, set squares, and vertical plumb bobs (which can be seen in the Cairo Museum), as well as copper blades for stone cutting, pounding stones for dressing stone blocks, and a ridged, mushroom shaped device that may have served as a sort of "proto-pulley."








For more information see, search for information at:


http://en.wikipedia.org


http://www.touregypt.net





And see:





Lehner, Mark "The Complete Pyramids" (1997) - this text is fairly accessible and should be in your local library or can be ordered on-line.
Reply:Everything You Wanted to Know About Pyramids but Were Afraid to Ask ;) Report Abuse

Reply:pyramids are built mainly to preserve the bodies of the mummified pharoahs/ kings...





check this site out...i think it's really helpful





http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyrami...
Reply:They were built as royal tombs.
Reply:Whatever you do, don't ask Tom Cruise. I did once and, oh wow, what a mistake that was. First, he sat me down and explained that the Egyptian were in fact the first Scientologists and that they built the pyramids to attrack Xenu. I was all, like, Tom!! I dunno if thats true man! But he was all assuring and convincing, so I believed him for a while.





Then I found out, it was a giant cat! Oh wait, thats the Sphinx.... Maybe Tom was right after all!!!





Gratz Tom on your new baby girl! May she take over the earth and prepare it for Xenu's immenant return!!!!
Reply:they wanted a cinema.
Reply:If I remember correctly from history class, it was the death penalty and whips!