Step pyramid

The term refers to a step pyramid pyramid -like structure, with step-like cubature. Such constructions have been developed in many cultures at different times and go back to very different models. They served as either a temple or a tomb, but these two aspects which could partly merge.

Egyptian step pyramids

The Pyramid of Djoser built around 2650 BC at Saqqara Step Pyramid, the first in the world. Model for this building was the mastaba - a grave type in the form of a rectangular, flat and steeply sloped tumulus. The building was originally planned as a square mastaba, but was then in several phases to a four-stage and eventually expanded to a six-level, rectangular pyramid.

The construction of step pyramids in Egypt remained essentially on the 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser established by limited. Djoser's successor Djoserteti ( Sekhemkhet ) built another step pyramid at Saqqara, which was never completed. The Pyramid of Chaba in Saujet el- Arjan remained unfinished.

Towards the end of the 3rd dynasty was a series of small step pyramids, which were scattered all over Egypt. Their exact number is unknown; get today are seven, namely the pyramids in Elephantine, Edfu -South, el- Kula, Ombos, Sinki ( at Abydos ), Saujet el- Meitinger and Seila. The Pyramid of Elephantine can be Pharaoh Huni, the last ruler ascribe the 3rd Dynasty, which. Pharaoh Sneferu in Seila, the founder of the 4th dynasty The builders of the pyramids remaining is not known for certain; It is believed that it was Huni. Also, a lack of clarity about the function of these pyramids, because none of them contains a grave chamber. The speculation about their function range from a representation site of the king over a representation of the Urhügels or a symbol of political and religious unity of the country to cenotaphs of the royal consorts.

With Sneferu began a turning point in the pyramid: After he had built his first pyramid at Meidum first as a step pyramid, the royal tombs from now received on a smooth facade. The Meidum pyramid was eventually converted to a true pyramid. The last step pyramids built in Egypt are the two queens pyramids, the Pharaoh Menkaure was built next to his own tomb, as well as the Neferirkare pyramid, which was built as a step pyramid in its first phase and later rebuilt.

The queens pyramids G- IIIc (left) and G- IIIb (center ) of the Pyramid of Mycerinus

The Step Pyramid of the first construction phase of the Neferirkare pyramid is still recognizable in the rubble

Ancient American stepped pyramids

The stepped pyramids of the pre-Columbian Americas are unlike their Egyptian counterparts actually no real step pyramids, but rather multi-level pyramid stumps, on the roof deck was a erected wooden or stone temples. Accordingly, always a staircase leading from the ground to the roof deck exists. It often happened that pyramids were built over after some time by the builders with a larger pyramid, with the older building has been completely preserved. One example is the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan, which was built over no less than seven times from the date of its establishment in the 14th century until the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521.

The ancient American pyramids served different purposes. As with the ziggurats in Mesopotamia the most important purpose was to get close to the respective deities, and to raise the temple in this way in the realm of the gods. The actual temple on top were allowed to enter only priests about to offer up sacrifices. The offering of human sacrifice is saved only for central Mexico at the time of the Aztecs, for other areas or time periods but this is suspected. However, it also happened that the pyramids were built as tombs, such as the Temple of the Inscriptions in the Mayan city of Palenque; were rare calendrical purposes. An example of this is about the so-called niche pyramid in El Tajín with their 365 niches, symbolizing the solar year.