In the days of ancient Egypt, it was believed that the pharaohs, or kings, of Egypt were living gods—a link between the divine and mankind. It was also believed that pharaohs needed a place for their ka (spiritual replicate that traveled between the living and the dead) and their ba (the soul, which lived on earth and rested in the person’s dead body) to live in the afterlife, where they would be protected from outside forces, ensuring the king’s immortality. During the most ancient of times in Egypt, the dead were buried in sand pits and covered with a mastaba—a solid rectangular-shaped structure made of brick or stone. It protected the body from sandstorms and other elements. These burials were fairly simple. However, the Egyptian burial procedure evolved, and the first pyramid was born.

This first pyramid was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, and it was built for King Zoser (also known as King Djoser) after being designed by the great Egyptian architect Imhotep. The pyramid was composed of six mastabas, one on top of the other, each smaller in size than the one below it. Pharaohs continued to build similar structures, and most pharaohs tried to make their pyramid as large, as grand, and especially as safe as any other. Over time, they became very large and required a great deal of work to complete.

Pyramids were meant to keep the pharaohs inside them protected during the afterlife, safe from both natural elements and robbers. However, almost all of the pyramids were looted at some time or another. It has also been suggested by many that the shape of the pyramid symbolizes the rays of the sun as they break through the clouds in the morning, and the pyramid acts as a stairway to the heavens for the pharaoh who is buried inside.

Eventually, time took Egypt to the height of its pyramid-building age, when the three great pyramids at Giza were built. These pyramids were built by three Fourth Dynasty pharaohs—Khufu (also known as Cheops), Khufu’s son Khafre, and Khafre’s son Menkure. Khufu’s pyramid was the first of these three pyramids to be built, and was also the largest pyramid ever constructed. The pyramid was built on the Giza plateau in the twenty-sixth century BC, and is known as the Great Pyramid.