The tombs were built to show the homes of the living. Just like the great underground palace that the architect Imhotep built for King Djoser (3rd Dynasty), the first tombs were very similar to the real houses.

The first burials were ordinary pits. Before the time of the pharaohs, tribal chiefs were buried where they were born or ruled. Over time, the mounds of earth that covered the first pit graves were shaped like a house. Brick steps protected an underground burial chamber below.

From the 1st Dynasty, the tombs became larger and more ostentatious. The tombs, known as mastabas, were made of mud bricks in the form of a long row with a flat roof. The burial chambers carved into the rock below were connected to the surface by a long tunnel. The royal tomb was also surrounded by smaller tombs for nobles, workers, and servants.

The first pyramid built for King Djoser (3rd Dynasty) was started as a mastaba. Architect Imhotep later changed the shape of the tomb to a square and made another smaller square on it. Adding four more square floors, each smaller than the previous one, he built the Step Pyramid, the world's first largest stone monument.

The tomb was just as impressive as the underground. There were tunnels more than 5.5 kilometers long leading to the burial chamber and a 27-meter-long chimney. Everything in the tomb is made of stone. Imhotep took Djoser's house and turned it into stone so that it could stand forever.

Although the construction of the first flattened pyramid at Meidum originally began as a stepped pyramid, later larger monuments such as the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid at Dahshur were designed to have smooth edges when viewed from the outside. For the Egyptians, the stepped pyramids were a way to heaven, allowing the pharaoh to meet with the sun god Ra.

During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, many Egyptian kings were buried in the pyramids, while the nobles were still buried in the underground chambers below the mastabas. Members of the royal family each had special burial chambers with their own ventilation. A temple was built in each pyramid for offerings.

Although about 50 kingdom pyramids were built, most of them are smaller than the magnificent pyramids of the 4th Dynasty rulers Cheops (khufu), Khafre (Khafre) and Mikeniros (Menkaure).

The Cheops pyramid alone weighs 6.5 tons and is 146 meters high. As of the 5th Dynasty, the inside of the pyramids began to be decorated. These hieroglyphic inscriptions, the Pyramid Texts mentioned earlier, are the first of the spells that secure a safe journey to the Afterlife.

In the 11th Dynasty, tombs were cut from rocks up to 2 kilometers taller than pyramids or temples. Sharp turns, artificial passages, trap doors were designed to deceive grave thieves.

 

Source: Jim Pipe- Ancient Egypt, Mummies, Magic and Myths