[WhompingWindows]

Pyramids and burial tombs (i.e. Valley of the Kings) had religious and cultural significance for the ancient Egyptians. There is a detailed process of entering the after-life, whereby you are mummified, some of organs placed in jars, and you even get your favorite possessions and live servants buried with you. The Pharaohs had these elaborate death monuments commissioned decades in advance of their death...can you imagine being 10 years old and breaking ground on your own pyramid?

If you're like the pharaohs, you need a massive protector for your body, so your ka or "soul" can live on in eternity with your favorite items and servants.

[shotashotashota]

That's why I can't fathom what they were thinking or how. They must have had a completely bizarre and alien way of seeing life, their place in the universe and what will become of themselves. We already have this kind of gap between religious and non-religious; but this is on completely different level.

[tmn]

The great pyramid should really be regarded as a separate phenomenon than burial site pyramids