Scarabian Nights: My Journey to Ancient Egypt

The Pyramids of Giza
I had to get REALLY far away to take this picture for you guys!

     My first time visiting Ancient Egypt, I went all the back to to the Old Kingdom period. It was during this time that a lot of the major pyramids were constructed. The Egyptians were TOTALLY obsessed with huge structures because they believed the the extreme height brought them closer to the heavens. The Pyramids of Giza consist of the Pyramid of Khufu (the largest structure), the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure (the smallest of the three). The pyramids were built to house the remains of the great pharaohs that ruled over Egypt.

The Great Pyramid of Egypt! I felt like an ant looking up at this thing!

     The pyramids are made from limestone blocks and then casing stones made of polished white limestone were used to cover the structure. It took MILLIONS of blocks to build these pyramids.
   
     The Pyramid of Khafu, the oldest and biggest in the Giza Necropolis, is also known as THE Great Pyramid of Egypt and is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Guys, this thing is HUGE!!! It stood 481 feet tall and each side at the base measured 756 feet! THAT'S CRAZY BIG, YOU GUYS! This big daddy took over twenty years to construct and I'm pretty sure they had some supernatural forces or maybe some witches like me helping them because it seems pretty impossible that HUMANS that long ago could build something so big with little technology! What do you think? Leave your comments on this post.

      As you may guess, the ancient Egyptians didn't have a lot of wood to use for their buildings, so they utilized mud bricks and stone.

This is an archway constructed of mud bricks.
The Egyptians baked the bricks IN THE SUN! Crazy!

   
To decorate the exteriors and interiors of structures, the Egyptians painted beautiful, vibrant pictures and hieroglyphs. Egyptian structures also featured lots of beautiful decorated columns, gargoyles, and friezes of animals and plants.

A fresco of palms. The Egyptians were obsessed with palms, you guys.

 

The Egyptians believed that when you died, the god Osiris weighed your heart. I wonder if a witch's heart weighs less than a mortal's. Sometimes I wonder if I even have a heart. LOL.

     My favorite part of the Egyptian architecture was that they built temples in relation to certain astronomical significances. They thought the sun was super important and used it for structure placement. The Egyptians were SO smart. I was so totally impressed!!!