Giza Pyramids

Author: * Neseret Sekhmet - 21 Posts on this thread out of 21 Posts sitewide.
Date: Nov 24, 2006 - 09:55

Fenton Brigantes wrote:

""What proof is there that anyone was buried at the Giza?",It is my understanding that there are usually lots of Heiroglyphs in the tombs at the Valley of the Kings, yet at Giza there doesnt seem to be anything

If you dont think that people were buried there then what do you think the pyramids were for?

Also if you do think people were entombed at Giza what proof for this is there?

I'm not sure why some folks do not think of the Pyramids as tombs, since sarcophagi, mortuary temples attached to them, and later ancient Egyptian texts which later describe these royal monuments as the resting places for specific ancient Egytian kings. As such, this seems to solidly place the Pyramids as mortuary complexes.

Further, the discovery of the many pyramid workers' tombs and tomb chapels, granted as boon burials by the Pharaoh, in the same area appear to solidly place Giza as a major Old Kingdom necropolis.

While I have heard all sorts of theories about the pyramids, from all sorts of sources, it seems that many of these theories ignore that rather large corpus of knownledge which we do know about the Pyramids.

Reference:

Edwards, I. E. S. 1994. Chephren's Place among the Kings of the Fourth Dynasty. In C. Eyre, A. Leahy, et al., eds., The Unbroken Reed. Studies in the Culture and Heritage of Ancient Egypt in Honour of A.F. Shore: 97-105. Occasional Publications 11. London: Egypt Exploration Society.

___________. 1986. The Pyramids of Egypt. London: Viking.

Fakhry, A. 1961. The Pyramids. Chicago:The University of Chicago Press.

Godeicke, H. 1995. Giza: Causes and Concepts. BACE 6: 31-50.

Hawass, Z. 1996. The Workmen's Community at Giza. In M. Bietak, ed., Haus und Palast im Alten Ägypten/House and Palace in Ancient Egypt: 53-67. Untersuchungen der Zweigstelle Kairo des Österreichischen Archäologischen Instituts, 14/ Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie, 14. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

______________. 1990. The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt, Pittsburgh: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Lehner, M. 1997. The Complete Pyramids London: Thames and Hudson.

Stadelmann, R. 1995. Builders of the Pyramids. In J. Sasson, ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, II: 719-734. London: Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall International.

______________. 1990. Die grossen Pyramiden von Giza. Welt der Wunder - Wunder der Welt. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

Hope this helps.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg