# At what rough point in time did the Pyramids become a mystery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063 "2024-12-02T15:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/21 "2024-12-03T07:37:13Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > People who thought the only smart people historically had been Greeks and Romans who looked just like them (they presumed, and again looking to stolen _white_ marble busts). A guy who used to sell tyres the next town over from where my parents live also sold a lot of concrete garden decorations, including statues in some Greco-Roman style. One day he started painting them like the Romans were meant to have done, looking at those dumbed down the Romans a lot in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/22 "2024-12-03T08:49:26Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > When this guy got a History Channel show. > > Seriously. Before him I think the only mystery was whether or not they used slaves or workers. Sadly, the Ancient Alien idea predates him by quite a bit. > **[Chariots of the Gods?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods%3F)** > > Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past (German: Erinnerungen an die Zukunft: Ungelöste Rätsel der Vergangenheit; in English, Memories of the Future: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past) is a book written in 1968 by Erich von Däniken and translated from the original German by Michael Heron. It involves the hypothesis that the technologies and religions of many ancient civilizations were given to them by ancient astronauts who were welcomed as gods. > The first draft of the publication ha... ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/23 "2024-12-03T15:24:57Z")
There’s also the learning experience evident in the progression of pyramids. The first pyramid was the Step Pyramid of Djozer, which is made of small-ish rock bricks. It was an inspirational improvement on the standard rectangular tombs of the day. You can see the seams where the architect (Imhotep) realized - “We can make this square instead of rectangular… add another layer…we can make this even bigger…” and kept adding. By the time of Giza they’d figured out that it was quicker and simpler and less stonework to use much bigger blocks. The Bent Pyramid was an ambitious attempt to build a sharper-angled pyramid, and the angle was changed half-way when they saw the shifting foundation causing problems - which determined the optimal angle for future pyramids. Then as the Old Kingdom declined, there were smaller pyramids built on the cheap by filling the interior with rubble instead of making it all blocks. Many of those have crumbled over time and today are a pile of gravel. There’s very little mystery to the pyramids. Mostly awe. The Great Pyramid implies a massive assembly line going full tilt for 20 years or more. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/24 "2024-12-03T17:15:00Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Animals didn’t build Stonehenge. True! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/25 "2024-12-03T17:21:30Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > There’s also the learning experience evident in the progression of pyramids. The first pyramid was the Step Pyramid of Djozer, which is made of small-ish rock bricks. The Pyramid of Djozer is itself a hell of a thing for people to build. It’s enormous - more than twice as high as the pyramid at Chichen Itza. It’s part of a huge complex and would have taken a level of organization, planning, engineering and management that very few, if any, other peoples in the 27th century BC could have mustered. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/26 "2024-12-03T17:37:22Z")
Do we know that? As in, were there no beasts of burden in Britain when Stonehenge was erected? (I realize I have no idea when horses and cattle came to Britain.) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/27 "2024-12-03T17:41:46Z")
That wasn’t MrDibble’s point 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/28 "2024-12-03T17:44:10Z")
The notion that ancient people were stupid savages has finally turned around. This past weekend more than one media talking head uttered amazement at our ability to reconstruct the Notre Dame cathedral after it was damaged by fire 5 years ago. Yes folks, it’s true, here in the 21st century we at last have advanced engineering to the point where we can repair a structure built over 800 years ago by people using minimal technology. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/29 "2024-12-03T18:37:29Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The notion that ancient people were stupid savages has finally turned around. The thing is that ancient peoples were appallingly stupid as compared to us _in some things_. In many things that matter to us. Electricity was of course utterly beyond their conception. Most people couldn’t read. But we are very stupid as compared to them in many things that were important to THEM. Of course we could build another Pyramid now, so that’s not a great example, but the fact they could do it doesn’t strike me as being hard to believe. Hell, that’s true today. Jared Diamond, IIRC, was the one who notes that a person in the interior of New Guinea in the 1930s might not have known much about electricity or airplanes, but many of those people had a command of local flora and their uses and dangers that would have put a botanist to shame. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/30 "2024-12-03T18:40:27Z")
I’d say the Arab (or maybe Vandal) conquest. The Egyptians of the Hellenistic period definitely still had historical traditions that said which king built the pyramids and considered themselves the descendants of the pyramid builders (even if they were temporarily ruled by Greeks and then Romans) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/31 "2024-12-03T19:09:53Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The thing is that ancient peoples were appallingly stupid as compared to us _in some things_. In many things that matter to us. Electricity was of course utterly beyond their conception. Most people couldn’t read. Don’t kid yourself into thinking people _today_ understand electricity. The other day, I found myself patiently explaining to some kid concepts like “voltage” and “current” and “frequency”, and how power comes into the mains via “transformers”. As for reading, maybe many people formally are taught how to read, but in practice sometimes it does not seem like it… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/32 "2024-12-03T19:19:54Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > As for reading, maybe many people formally are taught how to read, but in practice sometimes it does not seem like it… It’s more than “seems.” There was a depressing statistic in the local news recently that something like 45% of the people in my city can’t read at higher than third grade level. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/33 "2024-12-03T21:43:23Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The thing is that ancient peoples were appallingly stupid as compared to us _in some things_. In many things that matter to us. Electricity was of course utterly beyond their conception. Most people couldn’t read. That’s ignorance, not stupidity. Very different. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/34 "2024-12-03T22:00:56Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > In Book II of Histories, Herodotus [wrote](https://www.quora.com/What-did-Herodotus-say-about-the-pyramids) in the 5th century BC about the building of the pyramids. He correctly attributed the Great Pyramid to Cheops (the Greek version of the name) and gave some information about it’s building, etc. , As like anything by Herodotus you had take it all with a grain of salt. > > But it does appear that in that era some general knowledge about the pyramids was known to some of the locals. Right So not a huge mystery then- still how they built it was a bit of a mystery. And then never found any Mummies in any of the pyramids -well, some smaller ones out in the middle of nowhere were recently found to have some. This led some to think they were a cenotaph, not a burial place or maybe a decoy for the real._So, that is a real mystery._ But definitely the Great Pyramid was built for Cheops. They were never grain storage, however. Or batteries. But they did keep Cheops razor blades really sharp… 🤪 > [@MrDibble](#): > > Animals didn’t build Stonehenge. Which predates the Great Pyramid. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/35 "2024-12-03T22:15:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Which predates the Great Pyramid. Well, sort of. Stonehenge was built over the course of thousands of years, by at least three distinct cultures. The earliest constructions on the site are older than the Pyramids, but most of it is much newer. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/36 "2024-12-03T23:09:31Z")
Here’s an interesing link with a more in depth examination of the process and issues for the most likely method of building the pyramids. [https://cheops-pyramid.net/en/](https://cheops-pyramid.net/en/) BTW, if you visit Luxor’s Karnak Temple Complex, (OK, so it’s Middle Kingdom) there’s a spot behind the first pylon where remains of a mud brick ramp is still visible to get blocks up to the top. They were still building the wall when the dastardly foreigners invaded, and everyone decided drop tools and make themselves scarce. There’s also at least one unfinished pillar, they built a pillar of rough square stone blocks and then would carve the nice round shape with the fancy capital once everything was mortared in place. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/37 "2024-12-03T23:54:32Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > They would probably have been astounded by the ingenuity and how many people it must have taken to create them, but if earlier people didn’t do it, then who did? Julius Caesar is quite famous for the scale of earthworks and construction that his forces undertook in the aim of conquest. I believe that one of their undertakings was to turn a massive island into a peninsula, in a matter of a few months. The ability of sheer manpower to accomplish megalithic tasks would probably have been well understood by the Romans. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/38 "2024-12-04T00:01:44Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Julius Caesar is quite famous for the scale of earthworks and construction that his forces undertook in the aim of conquest. I believe that one of their undertakings was to turn a massive island into a peninsula, in a matter of a few months. If you think about it, the Roman system of paved roads was, in total, a far greater architectural wonder than the Pyramids. And the aqueducts weren’t too shabby, either. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/39 "2024-12-04T00:24:39Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Julius Caesar is quite famous for the scale of earthworks and construction that his forces undertook in the aim of conquest. I believe that one of their undertakings was to turn a massive island into a peninsula, in a matter of a few months. Caesar, or Alexander? > **[Siege of Tyre (332 BC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tyre_(332_BC))** > > The siege of Tyre was orchestrated by Alexander the Great in 332 BC during his campaigns against the Persians. The Macedonian army was unable to capture the city, which was a strategic coastal base on the Mediterranean Sea, through conventional means because it was on an island and had walls right up to the sea. Alexander responded to this problem by first blockading and besieging Tyre for seven months, and then by building a causeway and placing siege towers with catapults built on top at the en... ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063/40 "2024-12-04T01:30:35Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > If you think about it, the Roman system of paved roads was, in total, a far greater architectural wonder than the Pyramids. And the aqueducts weren’t too shabby, either. Good points. Mind you the Greeks had some wonderful hypothetical ideas… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-rough-point-in-time-did-the-pyramids-become-a-mystery/1011063.md?page=3)