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Thread: Pyramids

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    Moderator Djoser's Avatar
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    Default Pyramids

    Naturally enough, one of my favorite subjects. I am especially fond of the Egyptian pyramids, but they have been built all over the world by all different cultures. Where stone wasn't readily at hand or difficult to transport, they piled up literally enormous mounds if earth, which can still be seen around the eastern US.

    This started as a reply to the PP thread about that movie, but it is a separate topic, really.

    According to the archeological evidence, the Step Pyramid was built starting around 2630 BC, and the Great Pyramid starting 2551 BC, but they both took many years to build. The Step Pyramid is interesting in that the interior shows the progression from mastaba-style tomb of the 1st and 2nd, to a 4-stepped pyramid or stack of mastabas, to the final structure.

    http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/arth/zoser/20.gif


    The pyramid built by Snefru at Meidum, which for years was thought to have been bulit by another king, Huni* also shows the progress made in the interior design of the pyramid. The third picture down is the best.

    http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/meidump.htm


    Here's a link to my personal second favorite, the Bent Pyramid.

    http://www.richard-seaman.com/Travel...eNorthWest.jpg

    The page that picture is from has many more, showing the construction details a lot better.

    http://www.richard-seaman.com/Travel...r/BentPyramid/

    The interior of the Bent Pyramid is pretty cool--and also mysterious. Some weird stuff happened when they first started exploring it.

    http://www.guardians.net/egypt/cyber...d_interior.htm


    The archeological evidence points one way, other theories to radically different directions--especially in the case of the best known, Great Pyramid, and rarely to the many other really big ones built within that roughly 300 year span.


    I know what I believe, but I also know I wasn't there when they built them.


    *The last king of the 3rd Dynasty, had a long reign, long enough to have built quite a bit if he was as serious as those before and after him. Maybe he started it and Snefru finished it, those Egyptians pulled that usurping monuments stuff all the time.
    Last edited by Djoser; 06-30-2008 at 10:11 PM.
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  2. #2
    MsQwerty
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    That looks so interesting - I wish I had time to look properly.
    Dont mind me - Im only posting so I can find the thread easilly when I get home again next week (-:

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    Moderator Djoser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    Well this went over well, didn't it? LOL!

    I should have titled it 'My new kitty on top of a pyramid', maybe that would work better.

    WTF, who cares, I can't expect everyone to love pyramids like I do. I love pyramids like I love kitties, but in a totally different way of course.

    But here is a great shot of the biggest western hemisphere pyramid at Teotihuacan.

    http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~dhixson/teo/sun.html


    This isn't meant to be a boring scholarly thread, confined merely to accepted academic explanations for their design and construction.

    What about the pyramids on Mars? What's the latest 'scientific' explanation? And why, for chrissakes, wasn't any probe sent there, when we have sent numerous probes/exploration devices elsewhere on Mars to send back pictures of boring rocks and dust. If it had been up to me, I'd have gone there first--not necessarily because I buy into the theory that beings from Mars seeded the Earth, etc., just because they are probably the single most unusual geological feature on the fucking planet--at least to a layman.

    http://web2.kwangju.ac.kr/~tak/cosmo...rs-Cydonia.jpg
    You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
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  4. #4
    Tauries
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    As far as I know they scanned that area and it came back negative on being pyramids....also something in the topography of the area was not very suitable for landings. The lastest I've heard from the Mars mission is they have found ice/permafrost substance under the surface. I'll do a lil' checking around and see what's up.

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    Featured Member keira0304's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    i like pyramids.... but i'm more into the civilizations that made the pyramids and the mystery around them.

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    God/dess xdamage's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    When I was a kid I use to look up to the sky and think I saw faces and images in the clouds. In fact many of us did it together for fun. Sometimes we also did this with rock formations when we went camping in places where there were big granite rocks to be seen.

    So far I haven't seen any evidence of pyramids on Mars. I've seen the equivalent of those patterns our brains assembled in our heads looking at random patterns from a distance, but upon closer inspection, no pyramids, no faces have been found. Just our brains doing what they do... seeking familiar patterns, evolved to find them from a certain perspective on earth.

    I have done a lot of reading about optical illusions and why our brains many times mis-see. For example, why given a particular angle, of sunlight, on the face of a planet, from a distance our brains never evolved the ability to objectively see detail, our brains do what they do and try to make sense of it in terms of something they have evolved to see (i.e., the image of face).

    I don't trust humans to be objective when it comes to such things. I think it's too much fun to want to believe in the unlikely vs the likely, despite all lack of evidence, so that's what people do... latch on to what seems exciting vs the boring alternative of, it's just an optical illusion.
    Last edited by xdamage; 07-01-2008 at 07:51 PM.

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    Default Re: Pyramids

    What about your pyramid at Saqqara?



    Quote Originally Posted by Djoser View Post
    What about the pyramids on Mars? What's the latest 'scientific' explanation? And why, for chrissakes, wasn't any probe sent there, when we have sent numerous probes/exploration devices elsewhere on Mars to send back pictures of boring rocks and dust. If it had been up to me, I'd have gone there first--not necessarily because I buy into the theory that beings from Mars seeded the Earth, etc., just because they are probably the single most unusual geological feature on the fucking planet--at least to a layman.

    http://web2.kwangju.ac.kr/~tak/cosmos/planets/Mars-Cydonia.jpg


    Where the probe was in relation to the 'face'. Shade. Resolution. Etc..

    http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast24may_1.htm

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    Featured Member desavirsire's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    Djoser you are freaking awesome. I'm probably going to spend the rest of the night looking at my Egyptology books now...

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    Moderator Djoser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    Quote Originally Posted by glambman View Post
    What about your pyramid at Saqqara?
    The funny thing is, most photographs of the Step Pyramid built by Djoser, especially when compared to the Great Pyramid, make it look like a big pile of rather large bricks. But look at THIS picture:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mulia/2...7594291393671/

    Those little dots next to it are people. That thing is BIG. At 60 meters, or roughly 200 feet, it is taller than most 20 story buildings, and incomparably more massive.

    It also has one of the most intricate subterranean complexes of tunnels and chambers ever seen, considerably more complex than that of the Great Pyramid, if less grandiose than the latter's Grand Gallery. Look at the 2nd, 6th, and especially the 4th picture down here:

    http://www.touregypt.net/featurestor...eppyramid2.htm


    Here is another excellent drawing showing the progression of design changes and details of construction:

    http://solohq.solopassion.com/Articl...%20saqqara.jpg


    Notice the white outline showing the finished pyramid, as opposed to what we can see today. As in the case of all the Egyptian pyramids, the outer casing stones have been stripped away.* The fine stone used to finish the structures and give them what must have been a spectacular appearance was hauled away by later generations for use in later construction, being of greater value (and much easier than quarrying) than the coarse stone used for the core construction, which is what remains.


    *The top part of the Giza pyramid of Khafre has most of its casing relatively intact.

    http://www.crystalinks.com/pyrkhafre.html

    http://lh5.ggpht.com/_mpIsHfVCF0c/R6...0/DSC00245.JPG Be sure to click on this last one on your screen, to get it full-sized!
    You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
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    Senior Member LadyM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    YAY! Another archeology geek! My ultimate dream is to become a Classical archeologist, we'll see how that pans out given where my hubby will get stationed. But Egypt and Greece and Rome will always be my first loves.

    Too bad you're all the way down in FL. If I go back to dancing within the next month, it would so rock to be able to have an intelligent conversation with someone at work!

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    Moderator Djoser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    That would be cool for sure!

    I gave up on ever being an archaeologist, maybe you will have better luck with that. But I still have a more modest dream of doing a big aerial view color drawing of the pyramid field at Saqqara, with all the Early Dynastic period mastabas in the foreground, the planned but never finished step pyramid of Sekhemkhet (it would have been even bigger than Djoser's) in the background, and the smaller pyramids of Unas, Userkaf, and Teti right next to Djoser's. Plus there were all kinds of temples and smaller private tombs built near the Step Pyramid, they thought it was a very good thing to build close to it.

    I used to do architectural illustration so it would be relatively easy, if time-consuming to do with the level of detail I have in mind (I use a lot of stippling in that kind of drawing, which looks great but takes forever). I just need to get off my ass and do it.

    I forgot about the relatively intact casing on the Bent Pyramid, which I just posted a picture of a while ago, duh. But that is a cool picture of Khafre's pyramid, and it illustrates the difference between intact casing and the appearance of the core a lot better.
    You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
    Friedrich Nietzsche

    Free your mind, and your ass will follow.
    George Clinton

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    Default Re: Pyramids

    I've always been fascinated by the Egyptians. I can't wait to have a visit!
    Thanks for the pics!!

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    Banned jasmine's Avatar
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    Thanks for posting this.

    I didn't respond to this thread, but I did pull up all sorts of stuff on the pyramids to teach my 4yr old.

    I was going to post something yesterday about never guessing that you liked pyramids or ancient Egypt.... But decided not to be a smart ass.

    When I first joined it actually took me a few weeks to figure out your screen name. I kept reading it as DJ at the beginning. I guess since you are a DJ (at least Imma pretend there is a good reason for being that dumb).

    And people actually consider me intelligent.... Scary isn't it?

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    Moderator Djoser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    Quote Originally Posted by jasmine View Post
    When I first joined it actually took me a few weeks to figure out your screen name. I kept reading it as DJ at the beginning. I guess since you are a DJ (at least Imma pretend there is a good reason for being that dumb).

    And people actually consider me intelligent.... Scary isn't it?
    Well 'Djoser' is about the dumbest name I could pick for a stripping related forum on which it is known I am a DJ! Most people never figure it out until I post something about it, which is no fault of their own, he was a relatively obscure king other than building that big strange thing out in the desert.

    I'm actually impressed you figured it out that quickly.
    You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
    Friedrich Nietzsche

    Free your mind, and your ass will follow.
    George Clinton

    ______________________________________

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    Banned i.breathe.in's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pyramids

    i went to egypt and went in the great pyramid. it was amazing.

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    Moderator Djoser's Avatar
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    ^^^Djoser is quite envious of that!^^^

    Did you go to the Valley of the Kings as well? That's quite a ways south of Giza, but on a lot of package tours, etc. Where Tutankhamen and Ramesses II were buried, along with about 30 other New Kingdom pharoahs, and a bunch of relatives.
    You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
    Friedrich Nietzsche

    Free your mind, and your ass will follow.
    George Clinton

    ______________________________________

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    Banned i.breathe.in's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Djoser View Post
    ^^^Djoser is quite envious of that!^^^

    Did you go to the Valley of the Kings as well? That's quite a ways south of Giza, but on a lot of package tours, etc. Where Tutankhamen and Ramesses II were buried, along with about 30 other New Kingdom pharoahs, and a bunch of relatives.

    yes i did! i went to cairo aswan luxor thebes and a short 3 day cruise on the nile... i went for 2 weeks for art history with my old art teacher from highschool back in 2000. it was amazing.

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