Pharaohs and pyramids

Egyptians believed their pharaoh was not just a political leader but a living god on Earth, responsible for keeping order (a concept called maat) throughout the kingdom. Egyptian society is often pictured as a pyramid itself: the pharaoh at the top, then priests and nobles, then scribes and soldiers, then craftsmen and merchants, and farmers making up the largest group at the bottom. During the Old Kingdom (roughly 2686-2181 BCE), pharaohs poured enormous resources into building pyramids as tombs meant to help them journey safely into the afterlife -- their bodies preserved through mummification, a careful process of removing organs, drying the body with a salt called natron, and wrapping it in linen.

The most famous pyramids stand at Giza, including the Great Pyramid built for the pharaoh Khufu around 2560 BCE, once the tallest structure on Earth for almost 4,000 years. A common myth pictures armies of enslaved people forced to build the pyramids under the whip. Archaeologists have since found worker villages near Giza with bakeries, medical care for injuries, and burial sites treated with real respect -- strong evidence that most pyramid builders were paid laborers, including farmers working during the Nile's flood season when their fields were underwater anyway. This is a case where evidence dug out of the ground corrected a story that had been repeated for centuries.