King Zoser’s main architect Imhotep got a bright idea some time in the 27th century BCE. Why not repeat the tomb structure of earlier times, until it reached a summit? What better way of impressing the gods.

The old style tomb was the mastaba, a rectangular massive structure rising up from the ground anything between a few metres and up to 10.

The necropolis of Dahshur belongs to two periods of ancient Egyptian history, the 4th and the 12th dynasties, corresponding to the times around 2600 BCE and 1900 BCE.
Dahshur has 5 main pyramids (plus 2 subsidiary pyramids), and the strange thing is that the 2 oldest are best preserved, the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid, both built by Snefru, the father of Cheops.

Snefru is apparently the most active pyramid builder of all Egyptian pharaohs. 3 pyramids are accredited him, the third is his experimental pyramid at Meidum, which might be the first true pyramid of all.

Why Snefru chose Dahshur for his final pyramids, we don’t know. Why not Saqqara, if it shouldn’t be the southern location of Meidum.

The largest pyramid in the world is Cheops’ (Khufu), built almost 4,600 years ago. It’s made up of 2,300,000 blocks, with the average weight of 2,5 tons. Some stones weigh up to 15 tons. It was originally 146.5 meters high (before the casing stones were removed), and 230 metres along the base.
The Cheops can have more to come. In 1993 German scientists accidentally discovered a new chamber in the pyramid, a chamber untouched by thieves. As a corridor to this chamber will have to be made, it’s not sure if it ever will be opened. As the content is still undisclosed one could imagine. It is known that the architects of pyramids made a great effort to hide for grave robbers, confusing them into believing that they had found the true tomb. Perhaps the new chamber actually could be the tomb.

Chephren was the son of Cheops, he did succeed. Not by erecting a bigger pyramid, his became 3 meters shorter and 15% smaller in volume.

But he placed the pyramid on a mound 10 meters higher than the ground of Cheops. So that is the reason why his looks bigger.

Mycerinus ruled for a healthy 26 years, but one legend tells that an oracle had foretold him only 6 years on the throne. Which might explain the less ambitious plans of his.

The complex at Abu Sir is a necropolis from the 5. Dynasty, and was in use for a fairly short period of time, just about 70 years.
The importance of the area may have started sometime after 2500 BCE, and ended before 2420 BCE.

Younger than the pyramids of Giza, one gets surprised by the fact that they are so much smaller.

All in all there are 3 standing pyramids, plus the remains of a handful other. The Pyramid of Neferikare is the largest, with its height of 72M.
The name Abu Sir comes from the Egyptian “Per Wsir”, which meant “Place of Osiris”.

Hermopolis is far from being the most zealously excavated sites of Egypt, the ruins here are to a large extent pulverized. It was once the centre for the cult of Thoth, the god of wisdom, healing and writing. Then the city was known as Khmunu, but with the Greeks it was transferred into a centre of Hermes (a god they saw resembling Thoth).

The collapsed pyramid at Meidum may be the first true pyramid in the world; its contender is the the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. The pyramid was a refined Mastaba, where the steps of the step pyramid were evened out. The few step pyramids of Ancient Egypt apparently suggested an even greater shape; the dramatic simplicity of the non-stepped pyramid.