# How were the pyramids in Egypt built? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 7, 2014, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559 "2014-12-07T10:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 87
**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:** [May 14, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1722 "2015-05-14T15:53:50Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You know how Eskimos have 20 words for “snow”? Egyptians had to use the SAME word for snow, water, rain, tree, coat, stick, feet, oar, fig, brown, cat and anniversary. Yeah, but they also had 20 different words for geyser. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1723 "2015-05-14T15:57:40Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You know how Eskimos have 20 words for “snow”? Egyptians had to use the SAME word for snow, water, rain, tree, coat, stick, feet, oar, fig, brown, cat and anniversary. But no word for ramp, even though they obviously knew about ramps and used them… ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1724 "2015-05-14T15:57:44Z")
In Egyptian, they use the same pictogram for “geyser” as for “ramp”, oddly enough. Kinda like the Chinese with “catastrophe” and “opportunity”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1725 "2015-05-14T16:14:37Z")
> [@XT](#): > > But no word for ramp, even though they obviously knew about ramps and used them… What we call “ramps”, they knew as “brown feet sticks”. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1726 "2015-05-14T16:27:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You know how Eskimos have 20 words for “snow”? Egyptians had to use the SAME word for snow, water, rain, tree, coat, stick, feet, oar, fig, brown, cat and anniversary. Writing more nonsense doesn’t help either. Unless I’m being wooshed. Sarqu is the word fo snow, sebi the word for anniversary, there’s at least 10 for tree. Couldn’t find the word for brown, oddly enough. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1727 "2015-05-14T16:31:12Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > Writing more nonsense doesn’t help either. > Unless I’m being wooshed. > Sarqu is the word fo snow, sebi the word for anniversary, there’s at least 10 for tree. > Couldn’t find the word for brown, oddly enough. You are being wooshed. 😉 It’s not that odd that the Egyptians might not have had a word for ‘brown’ though…I understand that a lot of ancient languages don’t have words for some colors, even though it’s obviously they knew about those colors (sort of like the supposed lack of a word for ‘ramp’, even though it’s obviously they knew what a ramp was). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1728 "2015-05-14T16:50:16Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > … Sarqu is the word fo snow… They had a word for snow? When did they ever encounter it? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1729 "2015-05-14T16:52:20Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > Couldn’t find the word for brown, oddly enough. Probably because everything in Egypt is brown so they didn’t need a word to distinguish it from any other color! ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1730 "2015-05-14T16:57:13Z")
NM…I guess it was a [hoax](http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/egyptsnow.asp). ---
**Author:** ![cladking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@cladking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cladking)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1731 "2015-05-14T17:15:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yeah, but they also had 20 different words for geyser. No, just three; The scientific term was atum. The colloquial term was “3gb”. the vulgar term was inundation. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1732 "2015-05-14T17:17:39Z")
How many words for bullshit did they have? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1733 "2015-05-14T17:19:02Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > They had a word for snow? When did they ever encounter it? As Snopes noted via **XT** , snow that blankets the pyramids and the Sphinx are not a common event, but just enough snow can fall that it is very likely that in the past similar events did take place in ancient Egypt. > [@](#): > > Freak Middle Eastern storm of December 2013 didn’t drop enough snow in the right places to blanket either the Sphinx or the pyramids with an appreciable layer of the white stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1734 "2015-05-14T17:19:48Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > No, just three; > > The scientific term was atum. > The colloquial term was “3gb”. > the vulgar term was inundation. Can you name _one_ independent cite that will back you up on that? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1735 "2015-05-14T17:21:21Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > No, just three; > > The scientific term was atum. > The colloquial term was “3gb”. > the vulgar term was inundation. :sigh: And only a few natron tablets to counter that inundation, not likely that the ancient Egyptians avoided the laws of physics and chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![cladking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@cladking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cladking)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1736 "2015-05-14T17:22:06Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > What we call “ramps”, they knew as “brown feet sticks”. When the word for “ramp” finally becomes attested a century after the end of the great pyramid building age it is an isosceles triangle lying on its side with the hypotenues to the left. Ironically in this first usage it is a means for men to get down rather than up; it is merely a path like a stairway. ---
**Author:** ![cladking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@cladking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cladking)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1737 "2015-05-14T17:28:20Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > :sigh: > > And only a few natron tablets to counter that inundation, not likely that the ancient Egyptians avoided the laws of physics and chemistry. Indeed. It’s Egyptologists who talk about magic and superstition making men strong and capable. They rarely talk about pyramid building without invoking magic and beliefs. CO2 geysers need nothing to erupt and do erupt on their own with no human interference of any sort. But a geyser that is near the state that it might erupt can be “forced” be simply seeding it. This is just common sense. If you understand how these work then it’s plain they can be forced. The bubbling water on the top of the column reduces the pressure on the water below so that it can all degass. So long as there’s a stead flow of carbonated water into the well it can run almost contyinuously in theory. This is what they talk about in the PT among other things related to the king’s ascension to heaven. They talk about how they drill and operate these geysers and keeping them running was very important to them. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1738 "2015-05-14T17:32:08Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > When the word for “ramp” finally becomes attested a century after the end of the great pyramid building age it is an isosceles triangle lying on its side with the hypotenues to the left. Ironically in this first usage it is a means for men to get down rather than up; it is merely a path like a stairway. What dictionary are you using?? The word is _sta_ and it isn’t written as you state. Also, the word ‘geyser’ isn’t in the dictionary. Not in mine at least, Wallis Budge, Dover publ. 1978. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1739 "2015-05-14T17:35:11Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > Indeed. It’s Egyptologists who talk about magic and superstition making men strong and capable. They rarely talk about pyramid building without invoking magic and beliefs. > > CO2 geysers need nothing to erupt and do erupt on their own with no human interference of any sort. But a geyser that is near the state that it might erupt can be “forced” be simply seeding it. This is just common sense. If you understand how these work then it’s plain they can be forced. The bubbling water on the top of the column reduces the pressure on the water below so that it can all degass. So long as there’s a stead flow of carbonated water into the well it can run almost contyinuously in theory. This is what they talk about in the PT among other things related to the king’s ascension to heaven. They talk about how they drill and operate these geysers and keeping them running was very important to them. And nowhere in your response you deal with the fact that there is not enough natron to counteract the acidity, as always a very underwhelming response from you… And once again it is you that is depending on magic to make all your design work. ---
**Author:** ![cladking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@cladking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cladking)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1740 "2015-05-14T17:36:03Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Can you name _one_ independent cite that will back you up on that? Of course not! I can explain the logic in great detail and that’s essentially what all this is about. But Egyptologists don’t know anything about geysers, or at least, they don’t know as much as geologists. Here’s the translator’s mistaken belief about the colloquial term; “Again the same word in different contexts may require varied renderings, such as the word ȝgb which means “flood,” “abundance,” or “violence,” in accordance with the context.” > **[The Pyramid Texts: Introduction](https://sacred-texts.com/egy/pyt/pyt03.htm)** > > The Pyramid Texts, Samuel A.B. Mercer tr., at sacred-texts.com What he doesn’t understand is that “3gb” always meands the same thing; “the violent inundation that causes abundance”. This all strikes at the very root of what peoiple believe. We believe we are intelligent, omniscient, and free of superstition but we are wrong on all counts. We couldn’t be more wrong. Intelligence doesn’t exist at all, we know virtually nothing, and we are defined by our beliefs whether we accept science or religion. ---
**Author:** ![cladking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@cladking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cladking)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1741 "2015-05-14T17:38:52Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > Of course not! > > I can explain the logic in great detail and that’s essentially what all this is about. But Egyptologists don’t know anything about geysers, or at least, they don’t know as much as geologists. I suppose you could say that Egyptologidsts don’t even know that CO2 geysers don’t exist. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559.md?page=86) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559.md?page=88)