Читать книгу Art History For Dummies - Jesse Bryant Wilder - Страница 107

The pyramids grew in steps, literally. They began with small mastabas, which seemed to grow with the prestige of the pharaohs during the first and second dynasties. A mastaba is a mud-brick rectangular slab with doors and windows. It included a mourning room for visiting relatives and a sealed chamber for the deceased person’s soul. The mastaba was attached to an underground tomb by a long shaft cut into rock.

The evolution of pyramids took advantage of the mastabas as a base:

 During the third dynasty, stone stairways to heaven called step pyramids were erected over the mastabas to ensure their permanence and give kingly tombs a grander appearance. The greatest is the Step Pyramid of King Djoser (2667 BC–2648 BC), the second king of the third dynasty.

 Until about 2690 BC, Egyptians used primarily mud brick, wood, and reeds to build mastabas and temples. The first totally stone structure was Djoser’s Step Pyramid, raised in the necropolis (city of the dead) at Saqqara, just south of modern-day Cairo.