王老师
回答题目：2621条
埃及的金字塔（Pyramids）建于4500年前,是古埃及法老（即国王）和王后的陵墓.陵墓是用巨大石块修砌成的方锥形建筑,因形似汉字“金”字,故译作“金字塔”.埃及迄今已发现大大小小的金字塔110座,大多建于埃及古王朝时期.在埃及已发现的金字塔中,最大最有名的是位于开罗西南面的吉萨高地上的祖孙三代金字塔.它们是大金字塔（也称胡夫金字塔）、海夫拉金字塔和门卡乌拉金字塔,与其周围众多的小金字塔形成金字塔群,为埃及金字塔建筑艺术的顶峰.
大金字塔是埃及现存规模最大的金字塔,被喻为“世界古代七大奇观之一”.它建于埃及第四王朝第二位法老胡夫统治时期（约公元前2670年）,原高146．59米,因顶端剥落,现高136．5米,塔的4个斜面正对东南西北四个方向,塔基呈正方形,每边长约230多米,占地面积5．29万平方米.塔身由230万块巨石组成,它们大小不一,分别重达1．5吨至160吨,平均重约2．5吨.据考证,为建成大金字塔,一共动用了10万人花了20年时间.
1989年3月16日,埃及考古工作者在开罗西南部金字塔区一座金字塔底的浅坑中
挖掘出一具4400年前古埃及王妃的木乃伊.
第二大金字塔是古埃及第四王朝（约公元前2575年至公元前2465年）的第四位法老海夫拉的陵墓,因此被称为海夫拉金字塔,塔高143．5米.举世闻名的狮身人面像便紧挨着海夫拉金字塔,据传人面是海夫拉的模拟像.长期以来,由于该金字塔内的湿度过大、通风较差,墓室内部的墙壁出现裂缝.1992年,海夫拉金字塔又经历了一次强度为5．4级的地震,受到了部分损坏.此后经过两年多的全面修缮,于2001年7月重新开放.
门卡乌拉金字塔的底边边长108.5米,塔高66.5米.1839年,一名英国探险家首次打开这座金字塔,在墓室中发现一具花岗岩石棺及法老木乃伊.但装运这些文物的船只在返回英国途中遭遇意外,石棺和木乃伊都沉入大西洋.
1993年初,考古学家在吉萨省的金字塔区考察时,意外地发现了一个规模庞大的古墓群,里面共有160多个古墓,墓里的象形文字记录了金字塔修建时的情况.墓壁上有绘画,生动地展现了金字塔修建时的情况.这群古墓造型多样,用料不一.有的墓如金字塔形状,有的呈圆形拱状,有的是长方形平顶斜坡式造型.用料主要有3种：土砖、玄武岩和花岗石.为了进一步研究新发现的古墓,埃及文化部成立了一个科研小组,有关金字塔建造者之谜将会进一步被揭开.1996年7月,埃及又决定开放位于开罗以南约35公里的达舒尔的4座金字塔.
这4座金字塔中有两座是为古埃及第四王朝的法老萨夫罗建造的,距今近4600年,其中的一座造型独特,被称为“弯曲金字塔”或“折角金字塔”,其底部为边长188米的正方形,高约98米.它的奇特之处在于它的每面具有两个坡度.考古学家发现,古埃及人在施工时,先以54度的倾角修建,到一定高度后,又改为以43度的倾角继续向上建造,直至完工.这样金字塔的四面看起来便是弯曲的.为萨夫罗国王所建造的另一座金字塔所用的建筑材料为颜色发红的石灰石,因此被称为“红色金字塔”.1996年8月,埃及考古工作者在开罗西南吉萨金字塔群附近清理门卡乌拉金字塔底座时,偶然发现两尊罕见的拉美西斯二世石像,这是在金字塔高地首次发现与拉美西斯二世有关的文物.
新发现的两尊石像位于第三座大金字塔门卡乌拉金字塔旁,它们被雕刻在同一块石头上,高3．5米、重约4吨.其中一尊反映了拉美西斯二世的真面目,另一尊则集拉美西斯二世和荷拉·乌赫梯神像于一体. 拉美西斯二世是古埃及第19王朝著名法老（约公元前1304－前1237年）.
一男子骑着骆驼从埃及开罗近郊的吉萨金字塔附近经过（摄于1962年）.
吉萨金字塔属于埃及古王国（公元前3200－前2270年）时期的文物,而拉美西斯二世则生活在埃及新王国（公元前1560－前1100年）时代.考古专家认为这一重要发现可能有助于人们揭示金字塔地区更多秘密.
近十年来,参观金字塔的大量游人使金字塔内部湿度不断上升、化学物质增加,从而损害了金字塔的牢固性.为了更好保护金字塔这一珍贵古迹,1995年4月,埃及政府宣布1995年为保护金字塔年.
埃及金字塔是从早期的王陵马斯塔巴墓发展开来的.建筑金字塔的历史从第三王朝到第十三王朝,跨越了10个朝代.金字塔闪耀着古埃及人民智慧和力量的光芒.直到今天,规模宏大、建筑神奇、气势雄伟的金字塔依然给人留下许多未解之谜.神秘的埃及金字塔吸引许多科学家、考古学家和历史学家前往探究,也吸引世界各地的无数游客前去观光游览.
A Short Introduction to The Pyramids of Egypt
by Jimmy Dunn
Though we have a comprehensive site on the Pyramids of Egypt, this is a summary overview for those who would like to digest just a little less information.
The Great Pyramids of Giza are some of the most famous manmade objects in the world, and they have been famous since ancient times. In fact, the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) is the only "Wonder of the Ancient World" that still survives. However, there are actually over one hundred Pyramids in Egypt, including at least eight more at Giza (two belonging to kings and six to queens).
Many Egyptologists have somewhat different views on exactly why the ancient Egyptian kings built Pyramids as their tombs, but all of them seem to agree that it had to do with their worship of the sun god, Re (Ra). Most believe that the Pyramid was symbolic of the Benben, a mound that rose from the waters during the creation of the earth, in ancient Egyptian mythology, which was closely associated with Re as the creator god.
How pyramids were built is also a matter of some controversy. Traditional views, regarding the length of time and the labor force of workers required has changed in recent years. Most Egyptologists no longer believe that many slaves were used, and it is probable that much of the most difficult work of hauling the large blocks up ramps was probably performed using beasts of labor such as oxen. Experiments have also demonstrated that it probably took less time to build them then we originally thought. One reason is that there were probably not as many solid blocks used as we once believed. Rubble and sand were instead used to fill pockets surrounded by solid stone, in many instances.
The Pyramids of Giza are very important, and world famous, but they are not the only important pyramids in Egypt. For example, The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara (Sakkara) is extremely important as the first pyramid built in Egypt, though it is not a true, smooth sided one. There are also a number of pyramids in and around Dahshur that are important because they show the evolution, including the failures and the first success of the pyramid builders, as they tried to build the first true, smooth sided pyramid. Other later pyramids are less spectacular, sometimes made of mudbrick and therefore not as well preserved today, but still important, because they are the first to be decorated with inscriptions and various scenes. For example, the ruined pyramid of Unas at Saqqara was the first one that we know of to be inscribed with the 128 magical spells of the Pyramid Text.
The importance of other pyramids, particularly those of a late date, is less obvious to most people, but not to Egyptologists. They reveal the gradual change that the Egyptians made in their religion, as it concerns death and the afterlife, towards the worship of a god named Osiris. The Pyramid of Ahmose at Abydos must also be important to us, because it marks the very end of the Pyramid Period. It was the last pyramid ever built by the kings.
Just about every pyramid, grand and small, is located within just a few miles of Egypt's modern capital, Cairo. However, this is because Cairo is very near the ancient capital known as the White Walls, though most people know it better by its Greek name, Memphis. Most of the pyramids are clustered in several specific areas that we refer to as pyramid fields, though pyramid fields are almost always a part of a larger necropolis (cemetery) containing other types of tombs. The major ones are the Giza Plateau, of course, Saqqara (Sakkara), Dahshur, Abusir, Abu Rawash. Other Pyramids are somewhat scattered out between Dahshur and the Fayoum just south of Cairo. Still other less well known pyramids are scattered about in places such as Zawiyet el-Aryan (which is between Giza and Abusir and Mazghuna. Some Egyptologists believe that, in reality, this dense region of pyramids between Giza and Saqqara may have been one huge necropolis (cemetery).
All of these pyramids are near Cairo, but there are a few others that are further south. One building which was probably the pyramid of Khui, though it is very ruined, is located in Dara, which is about in the middle of the Nile Valley, called Middle Egypt. The last pyramid built by Ahmose I is even further south, at Abydos. The only other pyramids built for burial purposes that we know of in Egypt were the non-royal pyramids of the workers who lived at Deir el-Medina on the West Bank at Luxor (ancient Thebes). There are, however, a series of small step pyramids that were not tombs, that stretch from Seila in the north to Elephantine Island in the south. We are really not very sure of the purpose of these small pyramids. However, we should also note that the Nubians, who lived further south in what is now the Sudan, also built pyramids used for tombs, though their royal pyramids were more similar to the non-royal ones at Deir el-Medina.
Pyramids in Egypt were only one type of tomb used mostly to bury kings and sometimes queens during a specific period of time. The "Pyramid Age" lasted from about the 3rd Dynasty reign of Djoser (2630 BC) until the Reign of Ahmose I, which ended in about 1514 BC. However, few of the kings after the 12th Dynasty (ending in about 1759 BC) seem to have built pyramids. Before the Pyramid Age, kings were buried in tombs known as mastabas, because from a distance they look like Arabic benches, and that is the term in Arabic for a bench. After the Pyramid Age, kings were buried in rock cut tombs that they tried to hide from tomb robbers. There was no structure above ground at the tomb to give its location away.
However, after the very earliest period of Egyptian history, the tombs of kings were almost always complexes, having other buildings and structures other than the tomb itself. Almost all royal tombs, including pyramids, had a mortuary temple where priests were supposed to take care of the king's soul (known as his Ka). During the Pyramid Age, the mortuary temple was located right next to the pyramid itself, though after the Pyramid Age, the mortuary temple was separated from the tomb so that the tomb's location would be less obvious to grave robbers. Other structures usually included a valley temple, usually near the Nile River, which was sort of an entrance to the complex, a causeway, which was a corridor that led from the valley temple to the mortuary temple, and usually a "cult pyramid", which was a smaller pyramid set next to the larger one. We think that the cult pyramid was probably built for the king's Ka. Usually, the pyramid complex was surrounded by a wall, known as an enclosure wall. Pyramid complexes also typically contained other tombs or smaller pyramids belonging to the king's wives and other family members, and there were also pits dug for boats, which were the boats that carried the dead king in his funeral, or were symbolic boats for his journey through the afterlife. Other parts of the greater pyramid complex might include storage buildings, a village for the workers who built the pyramid, and housing for the priests who took care of the dead king.
