Hieroglyphics

Vocabulary

Mummy Maze

Mummimals

Make a Cartouche

Do You Know?

Pyramids are not the only large stone structures built by early Egyptians. Pyramids were the centerpieces for large building complexes of tombs and temples for worshipping their gods. Egyptians also made some very large temples. The Great Temple at El-Karnak, built more than 3000 years ago, is larger than the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris!

The first pyramid built was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. It was built for the Pharaoh Djoser more than 4600 years ago. It was made of limestone blocks quarried across the river at Tura. Djoser's Step Pyramid is 204 feet high and was the largest known manmade structure of its time.

The Bent Pyramid of Snefru at Dashur gets its name from the change in the angle halfway up its sides. The Bent Pyramid was Snefru's second pyramid. His first pyramid at Maidum collapsed during or just after its construction.

The largest of the pyramids was the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. His pyramid stands at 481 feet tall (as tall as a forty story building) and each side is almost 200 meters long!