Arkeolog Menemukan Kuil di Sinai Mesir

Kairo: Arkeolog menemukan empat kuil baru dalam eksplorasi mereka. Di sebuah lokasi yang dikenal dengan jalan militer di Sinai, benda-benda kuno berusia 3.000 tahun lalu ini ditemukan dan menarik delegasi asing yang sedang berkunjung ke Mesir.

Di antara penemuan ini adalah kuil dari lumpur bata yang sangat panjang. Degan ukuran area lebar 70 meter dan panjang 80 meter, memiliki dinding bata dari lumpur itu panjangnya tiga meter dalam susunan bangunannya.

Penggalian ini dilakukan di jalan militer yang terkenal dengan sebutan “Jalan Horus”. Horus adalah burung elang berkepala emas, yang mewakili kekuatan terbesar benda-benda kuno Mesir.

Arkeolog Mohammed Abdel-Maqsoud, sebagai kepala tim eskavasi, mengatakan bahwa kuil dengan susunan bata panjang ini potensial untuk menulis ulang sejarah dan militer yang signifikan di Sinai.

Tempo Interaktif

Pyramid of Djoser, Egypt First Pyramid

Intended to hold his mummified body, Pharaoh Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara began as a traditional, flat-roofed mastaba. But by the end of his 19-year reign, in 2611 B.C., it had risen to six stepped layers and stood 204 feet (62 meters) high. It was the largest building of its time.

Extensive use of stone—here and there carved to resemble wood, reeds, or other softer materials—made the tomb more durable than its mud-brick forebears. Such pioneering techniques led many ancient historians to credit the chief architect, Imhotep, with inventing stone architecture.

The Step Pyramid complex was enclosed by a 30-foot (10-meter) wall and included courtyards, temples, and chapels covering nearly 40 acres (16 hectares)—the size of a large town in the third millennium B.C.

As in earlier mastaba tombs, the Step Pyramid's burial chambers are underground, hidden in a maze of tunnels, probably to discourage grave robbers. The tomb was nevertheless plundered, and all that remains of Djoser, the third king of Egypt's 3rd dynasty, is his mummified left foot.

CLASSIC FACT: Imhotep—architect of the Step Pyramid, physician, priest, and founder of a cult of healing—was deified 1,400 years after his lifetime.

National Geographic

Time Line of Ancient Egypt

Predynastic About 5500-3000 B.C. Climatic change about 7,000 years ago turns most of Egypt—except for along the Nile—to desert. Farming begins and communities form along the river, with important population centers at Buto, Naqada, and Hierakonpolis. Egypt remains divided into Upper and Lower (southern and northern) Egypt.
	Early Dynastic (Dynasties I-III) 2950-2575 B.C. Consolidation of Upper and Lower Egypt and founding of Memphis, the first capital. Calendar and hieroglyphic writing created. Royal necropolis located at Abydos; vast cemeteries at Saqqara and other sites.
Old Kingdom (Dynasties IV-VIII) 2575-2150 B.C. Age of pyramids reaches zenith at Giza; cult of the sun god Re centered at Heliopolis. Cultural flowering; trade with Mediterranean region and brief occupation of Lower Nubia.
	First Intermediate Period (Dynasties IX-XI) 2125-1975 B.C. Political chaos as Egypt splits into two regions with separate dynasties.
Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI-XIV) 1975-1640 B.C. Reunification by Theban kings. Dynasty XII kings win control of Lower Nubia; royal burials shift north to near Memphis. Major irrigation projects. Classical literary period.
	Second Intermediate Period (Dynasties XV-XVII) 1630-1520 B.C. Asiatic Hyksos settlers rule the north, introducing the horse and chariot; Thebans rule the south.
New Kingdom (Dynasties XVIII-XX) 1539-1075 B.C. Thebans expel the Hyksos and reunite Egypt. In this "age of empire," warrior kings conquer parts of Syria, Palestine, and Lower Nubia.
	Third Intermediate Period (Dynasties XXI-XXIV) 1075-715 B.C. Egypt is once again divided. The high priests of Amun control Thebes; ethnic Libyans rule elsewhere.
Late Period (Dynasties XXV-XXX) 715-332 B.C. Nubians from Kush conquer Egypt; Egypt reunited under Saite dynasty. Persia rules in fifth century B.C. Egypt independent from 404 to 343 B.C.
National Geographic	Greco-Roman Period 332 B.C.-A.D. 395 Ptolemies rule after the death of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. Dramatic growth of population and agricultural output. Roman emperors build many temples, depicting themselves in the Egyptian style.

Secret of Egypt

During Egypt's Old Kingdom, the pharaohs established a stable central government in the fertile Nile Valley. Perhaps the greatest testaments to their power were the pyramids and other tombs built to shelter them in the afterlife.

Kings of the Dead

Ancient Egyptians believed that when the pharaoh died, he became Osiris, king of the dead. The new pharaoh became Horus, god of the heavens and protector of the sun god. This cycle was symbolized by the rising and setting of the sun.

Some part of a dead pharaoh's spirit, called his ka, was believed to remain with his body. And it was thought that if the corpse did not have proper care, the former pharaoh would not be able to carry out his new duties as king of the dead. If this happened, the cycle would be broken and disaster would befall Egypt.

To prevent such a catastrophe, each dead pharaoh was mummified, which preserved his body. Everything the king would need in his afterlife was provided in his grave—vessels made of clay, stone, and gold, furniture, food, even doll-like representations of servants, known as ushabti. His body would continue to receive food offerings long after his death.


Tombs Fit for Kings

To shelter and safeguard the part of a pharaoh's soul that remained with his corpse, Egyptians built massive tombs—but not always pyramids.

Before the pyramids, tombs were carved into bedrock and topped by flat-roofed structures called mastabas. Mounds of dirt, in turn, sometimes topped the structures.

The pyramid shape of later tombs could have come from these mounds. More likely, Egyptian pyramids were modeled on a sacred, pointed stone called the benben. The benben symbolized the rays of the sun; ancient texts claimed that pharaohs reached the heavens via sunbeams.


Who Built the Pyramids?

Contrary to some popular depictions, the pyramid builders were not slaves or foreigners. Excavated skeletons show that they were Egyptians who lived in villages developed and overseen by the pharaoh's supervisors.

The builders' villages boasted bakers, butchers, brewers, granaries, houses, cemeteries, and probably even some sorts of health-care facilities—there is evidence of laborers surviving crushed or amputated limbs. Bakeries excavated near the Great Pyramids could have produced thousands of loaves of bread every week.

Some of the builders were permanent employees of the pharaoh. Others were conscripted for a limited time from local villages. Some may have been women: Although no depictions of women builders have been found, some female skeletons show wear that suggests they labored with heavy stone for long periods of time.

Graffiti indicates that at least some of these workers took pride in their work, calling their teams "Friends of Khufu," "Drunkards of Menkaure," and so on—names indicating allegiances to pharaohs.

An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 workers built the Pyramids at Giza over 80 years. Much of the work probably happened while the River Nile was flooded.

Huge limestone blocks could be floated from quarries right to the base of the Pyramids. The stones would likely then be polished by hand and pushed up ramps to their intended positions.

It took more than manual labor, though. Architects achieved an accurate pyramid shape by running ropes from the outer corners up to the planned summit, to make sure the stones were positioned correctly. And priests-astronomers helped choose the pyramids' sites and orientations, so that they would be on the appropriate axis in relation to sacred constellations.

From stone pusher to priest, every worker would likely have recognized his or her role in continuing the life-and-death cycle of the pharaohs, and thereby in perpetuating the glory of Egypt.

Untuk bahasa indonesia, copy halaman in ke translate.google.co.id