Ancient monument
China (Chinese pyramids)
There are many flat-topped mound tombs in China. The First Emperor
of Qin (circa 221 B.C.) was buried under a large mound outside
modern day Xi'an. In the following centuries about a dozen more Han
Dynasty royals were also buried under flat-topped pyramidal
earthworks.
Egyptian pyramids: The ancient pyramids of Egypt
The most famous pyramids are the Egyptian pyramids — huge
structures built of brick or stone, some of which are among the
largest man-made constructions. Most of them took about 27 years to
build. In Ancient Egyptian, a pyramid was referred to as mer, which
was also their word for the country of Egypt itself, showing how
intrinsic the structures were to the culture.The Great Pyramid of
Giza is the largest in Egypt and one of the largest in the world.
Until Lincoln Cathedral was built in 1300 A.D., it was the tallest
building in the world. The base is over 52,600 square meters in
area.
It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the only one of
the seven to survive into modern times. The Ancient Egyptians capped
the peaks of their pyramids with gold and covered their faces with
polished white limestone, though many of the stones used for the
purpose have fallen or been removed for other structures.
France
There is a Roman era pyramid built in Falicon, France. There were
many more pyramids built in France in this period.
Greece
There are several structures in Greece that archaeologists have
called pyramids. Dotted throughout the landscape are remains of
buildings that were described by ancient travelers as pyramids, they
were first excavated by Americans and Germans in the early 1930s and
the 1990s.
Pyramid
of Hellinikon
Pausanias, a Greek traveler in the second century A.D. described
several of the structures as pyramids. One of these pyramids was
located in Hellenikon, ΕλληνικÌ
in Greek,a village near Argos near the ancient ruins of Tiryns. The
story surrounding the monument was that it was built as a
polyandria, a common grave, for those soldiers who had fallen in the
struggle for the throne of Argos back in the 14th Century B.C. He
described the structure as something that resembled a pyramid with
the decorations of Argolic shields, showing the military connection
to it. Another pyramid that Pausanias saw on his journeys was at
Kenchreai, another polyandria dedicated to the Argives and Spartans
who lost their lives at the Battle of Hysiai in 669 B.C.
Unfortunately neither of these structures remain fully intact today
to test how closely they resembled the pyramids of Egypt nor is
there any proof that they even resembled an Egyptian pyramid at all.
There are two surviving pyramid-like structures still available to
study, one at Helleniko and the other at Ligourio, a village near
the ancient theatre Epidaurus. With these two pyramids base stones
remaining, it is possible to determine that Grecian pyramids
existed, but were not used as the Egyptians used them. These
buildings were not constructed in the same manner as the pyramids in
Egypt. The buildings at Helleniko and Ligourio were no more than 30
meters tall and were surrounded by walls, with the base of the
Helleniko pyramid being nine meters by 7 meters. The stone used to
build the pyramids was limestone quarried locally and was cut to
fit, not into freestanding blocks like the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The base of the structures also differed from the Egyptian pyramids
as they were rectangular, not square. This simple construction shape
made it very difficult to make the top of the building come together
in a point. As such, it makes more sense that these structures could
have been peaked by a roof or platform.
There are no remains or graves in or near the structures. Instead,
the rooms that the walls housed were made to be locked from the
inside. This coupled with the platform roof, means that one of the
functions these structures could have served was as watchtowers.
Another possibility for the buildings is that they are shrines to
heroes and soldiers of ancient times, but the lock on the inside
makes no sense for such a purpose.
The dating of these pyramids has been made from the pot shards
excavated from the floor and on the grounds. The latest dates
available from scientific dating have been estimated around the 5th
and 4th centuries. There are many researchers who have given dates
to the structures that pre-date the pyramids at Giza, but the method
to obtain these dates was thermoluminescence of the stone. Normally
this technique is used for dating pottery, but here researchers have
used it to try and date stone flakes from the walls of the
structures. This has created some debate about whether or not these
pyramids are actually older than Egypt, which is part of the Black
Athena controversy. The basis for their use of thermoluminescence in
order to date these structures is a new method of collecting samples
for testing. Scientists from laboratories hired out by the recent
excavators of the site, The Academy of Athens, say that they can use
the electrons trapped on the inner surface of the stones to
positively identify the date that the stones were quarried and put
together.
The issue with this method is that they date the pyramids with a
margin of error of up to over 700 years. This method dated the
Helleniko pyramid to 2730 B.C. with an error factor of plus or minus
720 years. It also dated the Ligourio pyramid to 2260 B.C. with an
error of plus or minus 710 years. Though these initial dates are
indicative of these structures being built before the pyramid
complex at Giza, it also means that they could have been built well
after Khufu Great Pyramid was erected. Some archaeologists, however,
have indicated that these samples may have been very select in their
choice of which stones to sample. Further excavations of the site at
Helleniko reveal that it was constructed on a previously existing
structure, giving a possibility that the new methods of dating may
be a misinterpretation.
Along with these two structures there are 14 more pyramid-like
buildings, or their remains, scattered throughout the rest of the
country side of Greece. These sites do not get as much attention as
the two at Helleniko and Ligourio as they are the only ones
mentioned in surviving accounts of ancient travelers.
India
Detail of the main gopura (tower) of the Thanjavur Temple
pyramid in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Many giant granite temple pyramids were made in South India during
the Chola Empire, many of which are still in religious use today.
Examples of such pyramid temples include Brihadisvara Temple at
Thanjavur, the Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram and the
Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram. However the largest temple
pyramid in the area is Sri Rangam in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. The
Brihadisvara Temple was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site
in 1987; the Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara
Temple at Darasuram were added as extensions to the site in 2004.
Pyramid in the Mayan city of Chichen-Itza, Mexico
Mesoamerican pyramids
A number of Mesoamerican cultures also built pyramid-shaped
structures. Mesoamerican pyramids were usually stepped, with temples
on top, more similar to the Mesopotamian ziggurat than the Egyptian
pyramid. The largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of
Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla. This pyramid is considered
the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world, and is
still being excavated. There is an unusual pyramid with a circular
plan at the site of Cuicuilco, now inside Mexico City and mostly
covered with lava from an ancient eruption of Xictli. Pyramids in
Mexico were often used as places of human sacrifice.
Mesopotamian
pyramids
The Mesopotamians also built pyramids, called ziggurats. In ancient
times these were brightly painted. Since they were constructed of
mud-brick, little remains of them. The Biblical Tower of Babel is
believed to have been a Babylonian ziggurat.
North American pyramids
Many mound-building societies of ancient North America built large
pyramidal earth structures known as platform mounds. Among the
largest and best-known of these structures is Monk's Mound at the
site of Cahokia, which has a base larger than that of the Great
Pyramid at Giza. While the North American mounds' precise function
is not known, they are believed to have played a central role in the
mound-building people's religious life.
Nubian pyramids (Sudan)
Nubian pyramids were constructed (roughly 220 of them) at three
sites in Nubia to serve as tombs for the kings and queens of Napata
and Meroë.
The Nubians built more pyramids than the Egyptians, but they are
smaller. The Nubian pyramids were constructed at a steeper angle
than Egyptian ones and were monuments to dead kings and queens.
Pyramids were still being built in Nubia up to AD 300.
Rome
Pyramid of Cestius.
The 27-meter-high Pyramid of Cestius was built by the end of the
first century BC and still exists today, close to the Porta San
Paolo. Another one, named Meta Romuli, standing in the Ager
Vaticanus (today's Borgo), was destroyed at the end of the 15th
century.
These Roman imitations of Egyptian monuments are important as
contemporary "portraits" of the Egyptian ones, providing
some sense of their original color and smoothness.
Medieval Europe
Pyramids have occasionally been used in Christian architecture of
the feudal era, e.g. as the tower of Oviedo's Gothic Cathedral of
San Salvador. In some cases this leads to speculations on masonic or
other symbolical intentions.
Modern pyramids
The Louvre Pyramid, a modern pyramid built as an entrance to the
Louvre Museum in Paris
Examples of modern pyramids are:
- The Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, in the court of the
Louvre Museum, is a 20.6 meter (about 70 foot) glass structure
which acts as an entrance to the museum. It was designed by the
American architect I. M. Pei and completed in 1989.
- The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, California,
designed by William Pereira.
- The 32-story Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee (built in
1991) was the home court for the University of Memphis men's
basketball program, and the National Basketball Association's
Memphis Grizzlies until 2004.
- The Slovak radio building in Bratislava, Slovakia. This
building is shaped like an inverted pyramid.
- The Walter Pyramid, home of the basketball and volleyball
teams of the California State University, Long Beach, campus in
California, United States, is an 18-story-tall blue pyramid.
- The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, United States, is a 30-story
pyramid with light beaming from the top.
- The Summum Pyramid, a 3 story pyramid in Salt Lake City,
Utah, used for instruction in the Summum philosophy and
conducting rites associated with Modern Mummification.
- The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation in Astana,
Kazakhstan.
- The three pyramids of Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas.
- The Co-Op Bank Pyramid or Stockport Pyramid in Stockport,
England is a large pyramid-shaped office block in Stockport in
England. (The surrounding part of the valley of the upper Mersey
has sometimes been called the "Kings Valley" after the
Valley of the Kings in Egypt.)
- The GoJa Music Hall in Prague.
- The Muttart Conservatory greenhouses in Edmonton, Alberta.
- The unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang.
- Small pyramids similar to those of the Louvre can be found
outside the lobby of the Citicorp Building in Long Island City,
Queens NY.
- The Pyramids of the City Stars Complex in Cairo, Egypt.
- Pyramid building belonging to 3DPLM Software Solutions, at
Hinjwadi, Pune, India.
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What
is Pyramidology:
USING
PYRAMIDS TO WARD-OFF THE NEGATIVITY: 
Pyramids
may shine post-marital relationship:
It
is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for Fourth dynasty
Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and constructed over a 20 year period
concluding around 2560 BC. Khufu's vizier, Hemon, or Hemiunu, is
believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid. It is
thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was 280 Egyptian
royal cubits tall, 146.6 meters, but with erosion and the loss of
its pyramidion, its current height is 138.8 m. Each base side was
440 royal cubits, with each royal cubit measuring 0.524 meters. The
total mass of the pyramid is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes. The
volume, including an internal hillock, is believed to be roughly
2,500,000 cubic metres. The first precision measurements of the
pyramid were done by Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1880–82
and published as The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh. Almost all
reports are based on his measurements. Petrie found the pyramid is
oriented 4' west of North and the second pyramid is similarly
oriented. 
Inside
the Great Pyramid
Main
article: Giza pyramid complex