The Pyramids Of Egypt
The Pyramids of ancient Egypt were funerary edifices. They were built over a period of 2,700 years, ranging from the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the close of the Ptolemaic Period; but the time at which pyramid building reached its acme, was that commencing with the 3rd dynasty and ending with the 6th (c.2686-2345 BC). During those years the pyramid was the regular type of royal tomb. It was not an isolated structure but was always part of an architectural complex. The essential components, during the Old Kingdom, at any rate, were pyramid itself, containing or surmounting the grave proper and standing within an enclosure on high desert ground; an adjacent mortuary temple; and a causeway leading down to a pavilion situated at the edge of the cultivation and probably connected with the Nile by a canal. About 80 royal pyramids have been found in Egypt, many of them, however, reduced to mere mounds of debris and long ago plundered of their treasures.