Old Kingdom
Egypt, 2686–2181 BCE.
The age of the pyramid builders. Pharaohs ruled a unified Nile valley as living gods, backed by a literate bureaucracy that could feed, count and organise tens of thousands of workers.
Seat of power: Memphis
Rulers
Djoser
Pharaoh, 3rd Dynasty, 2670–2650 BCE
Ruled as a god-king through his chief official Imhotep, who managed the treasury, granaries and royal building works. His step pyramid announced that the king alone could command the labour of the whole country.
Khufu
Pharaoh, 4th Dynasty, 2589–2566 BCE
Centralised the state around one colossal project. Crews of skilled workers, fed from royal estates, quarried and shipped stone along the Nile. The papyri of the inspector Merer, found at Wadi al-Jarf, record the limestone convoys for his Great Pyramid.
Portrait of Khufu: UserPpPp, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Culture
- Imhotep designs the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first large building made entirely of cut stone.
- The Great Pyramid of Giza rises around 2560 BCE and stays the tallest human-made structure for nearly 4,000 years.
- The Pyramid Texts, carved inside the tomb of Unas, are among the oldest religious writings in the world.
Picture
The Giza plateau today. The pyramids were once cased in polished white limestone.
Image: KennyOMG, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
