Pyramids

Pyramid-shaped structures were built by many ancient peoples. The most famous are the Egyptian pyramids - huge pyramids built of brick or stone, used as tombs for pharaohs. The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the only one of the seven to survive into modern times. The ancient Egyptians smoothed the faces of their pyramids with gold and polished white limestone, though many of the stones used for the purpose have fallen out over the centuries.

To the south of Egypt the Nubians, people of the Nile valley region, also built pyramids. They built far more than the Egyptians, but they are much smaller. The Nubian pyramids were constructed at a much steeper angle than Egyptian ones and were not tombs, but monuments to dead kings. Pyramids were built in Nubia up until the AD 300s.

The Mesopotamians also built pyramids called ziggurats, with a distinct series of layers. 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 be a Babylonian ziggurat.

A number of Mesoamerican cultures also built pyramid-shaped structures. Mesoamerican pyramids were also 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.

There are other pyramid-shaped ancient monuments found in parts of Asia.

Pyramids were also found in Greece. One of these pyramids in Greece is older than the pyramid of Cheops, as it was dated to 2720 BC.

There is a pyramid in ancient Rome. The 27-meter-high pyramid of Gaius Cestius was built by the end of the first century BC and still exists today, close to the Porta San Paolo.