Pyramids are associated with the Ancient Egyptians and are typically associated with that region. This is a common misconception. Pyramids can be found scattered around Mexico and South America. The name pyramid comes from the Ancient Greek word pyramid which means wheat cake because they reminded them of their triangular wheat cakes.
Egyptians called their pyramids mr or mer which was written with an owl and a mouth. Egyptian royalty, Pharaohs, were considered somewhere between god and human so it was important that they remained intact after their death. The angled sides of the pyramids were supposed to help the pharaoh ascend and rejoin the gods. The oldest Egyptian pyramid was hilt around 2630 B. C. by King Djoser. Before that Egyptian royalty was buried in large, flat-roofed, rectangular structures called mastabas. Djoser’s pyramid was created by stacking mastabas on top of each other to make the pyramid shape. The first smooth-sided pyramid was the Red Pyramid made for Sneferu. Pyramids are, to this day, regarded as an architectural marvel. Many historians have considered different ways they may have been constructed with ancient tools.
The tradition of making elaborate structures in honor of higher beings is not just an Egyptian practice. Early civilizations like the Olmec, Maya, Aztec and Inca people built pyramids as temples to house their deities. Pyramids in their society served as a central influence in life, where many holy rituals were held. People visited temples often enough that it was influential to their daily lives. The first Latin American pyramid was built in 1000 B. C. by the Olomecs in Mexico. They were one of the first civilizations and were known for their innovativeness, establishing many many firsts for humans. Unlike Egyptian pyramids which were built almost entirely out of stone, Olomec pyramids were predominantly made of earth and faced with stone. Similarly, however, to Egyptians, the creation of a pyramid was an essential part of the respect people had for their leader. It was common for people to build over old pyramids at the beginning of their rule to establish or renew their connection with God. the Olomec weren’t the only civilization to build pyramids in this area either, the Teotihuacán, just northeast of today’s Mexico City built two of Latin America’s most famous pyramids. The Temple of the Sun is comparable in size to the Great Pyramids of Giza and sits about a clover-shaped chamber that was used as a shrine. It’s a counterpart, the Temple of the Moon, looks like a slightly smaller version of the Temple of the Sun and lies on the avenue of the dead. Latin American pyramids were pretty much all step pyramids because that is what suited their environment. Some civilizations believed their temple to be the center of the universe, the meeting point of heaven, hell, and Earth.
Both of these extremely rich cultures have built pyramids for distinct reasons and it’s incredibly interesting to see the similarities in their construction and the way their cultures influenced the way they constructed and maintained these buildings. The Olomec people built upon their buildings as a sign of development while Egyptians built a new pyramid for every monarch. This kind of art is very much overlooked by everyone who does not specialize in it, it is seen as something to gloss over or gawk at as opposed to something to learn from.
MAYAnthropology 