Build Like an Egyptian: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~pyramidofpower_1841~~.png|frame|[[Field of Dreams|If you build it, they will come.]] <ref>Clockwise from top left: ''[[Earthbound]]'', ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]'', ''[[Quest for Glory III]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'', ''[[Ys]] IV: Mask of the Sun'', and ''[[Super Mario 64]]''</ref>.]]

[[File:pyramidofpower 1841.png|frame|[[Field of Dreams|If you build it, they will come.]].<ref>Clockwise from top left: ''[[Earthbound]]'', ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]'', ''[[Quest for Glory III]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'', ''[[Ys]] IV: Mask of the Sun'', and ''[[Super Mario 64]]''</ref>]]

Quick, think of [[Ancient Egypt]]. What's the first thing that comes to mind? With 90% certainty, you're thinking pyramids.<ref> The other 10% of the time you are probably thinking of [[The Sphinx]].</ref> And why shouldn't you? The [[Pyramid Power|Great Pyramid of Giza]] was the tallest artificial structure on Earth for three and a half millennia and is the only extant example of the [[Seven Wonders of the World|Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]].

Quick, think of [[Ancient Egypt]]. What's the first thing that comes to mind? With 90% certainty, you're thinking pyramids.<ref>The other 10% of the time you are probably thinking of [[The Sphinx]].</ref> And why shouldn't you? The [[Pyramid Power|Great Pyramid of Giza]] was the tallest artificial structure on Earth for three and a half millennia and is the only extant example of the [[Seven Wonders of the World|Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]].

Ancient Egypt is inherently cool. Plenty of writers, primarily in the [[Fantasy]] genre, like to have pyramids in their works to evoke an Egyptian feel. These will almost always be found in desert areas, and will usually have some sort of curse. [[Shifting Sand Land]] levels in video games will usually feature at least one pyramid on the premises.

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== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[Discworld/Pyramids|Pyramids]]'' is, you guessed it, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|about pyramids]] - or, more accurately, a very reluctant Pharaoh who is called back to govern his backwards kingdom after the death of his father, and his similarly reluctant duty to construct a pyramid for his funeral, which his chief advisor (not evil but horribly misguided) insists must be the biggest and grandest pyramid ever built. <ref> It turns out that ''these'' pyramids indeed [[Pyramid Power|can re-sharpen a razor]]</ref>~~--because~~ they manipulate time: they can keep their occupants perpetually young, but mostly just functioning as a literal ''time sink'' keeping the country of Djelibeybi stranded in the past even in the modern day. Now the Great Pyramid is about to be finished. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* ''[[Discworld/Pyramids|Pyramids]]'' is, you guessed it, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|about pyramids]] - or, more accurately, a very reluctant Pharaoh who is called back to govern his backwards kingdom after the death of his father, and his similarly reluctant duty to construct a pyramid for his funeral, which his chief advisor (not evil but horribly misguided) insists must be the biggest and grandest pyramid ever built.<ref>It turns out that ''these'' pyramids indeed [[Pyramid Power|can re-sharpen a razor]]</ref>—because they manipulate time: they can keep their occupants perpetually young, but mostly just functioning as a literal ''time sink'' keeping the country of Djelibeybi stranded in the past even in the modern day. Now the Great Pyramid is about to be finished. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* [[Michael Moorcock]]'s ''Queen of the Swords''. The City of the Pyramid is an immense ziggurat with houses on each terrace.

* ''[[The Ancestral Trail]]'' has the Great Pyramid of Loktar plonked down in the western part of the continent, with no evidence of anything else Egpytesque.

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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''

** Adventure I3 ''Pharaoh''. The [[PC~~|PCs~~]] explore an ancient pyramid to free a pharaoh's spirit so it can reach the afterlife.

** Adventure I3 ''Pharaoh''. The [[PC]]s explore an ancient pyramid to free a pharaoh's spirit so it can reach the afterlife.

** Adventure WG4 ''The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun''. The Temple is in the shape of a two-stepped pyramid.

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' has the Black Pyramid of Nagash, the first necromancer (and later responsible for the existence of vampires).

* ''[[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40,000]]'' has the Necron Monolith, which is a floating pyramid [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|of doom]].

* In ''[[Spelljammer]]'' 'verse Ptah is one of widely known powers among the spheres, so of course there are early products of his (and the rest of the pantheon's) worshippers. So you may encounter 80' wide stony Flying Pyramids [[In Space]] ~~-- now~~ mostly occupied by mummies and less respectasble [[Undead]].

* In ''[[Spelljammer]]'' 'verse Ptah is one of widely known powers among the spheres, so of course there are early products of his (and the rest of the pantheon's) worshippers. So you may encounter 80' wide stony Flying Pyramids [[In Space]]—now mostly occupied by mummies and less respectasble [[Undead]].

* Chaosium's ''Stormbringer!/Elric!'' game. Temples to Goldar (one of the Lords of Law) are built in the shape of a pyramid.

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== [[Real Life]] ==

* Pyramids have in fact been independently invented in many different times and places. (You don't have the technology to do reinforced concrete or steel-framed skyscrapers, but you want to build something Really ~~Big--piling~~ up the rocks in a shape that's larger on the bottom and slopes up to a more-or-less pointy top is the logical way to do it.) In addition to the Egyptians and the aforementioned [[Mayincatec|Mesoamericans]] (Mayans and Aztecs), [[wikipedia:Pyramid|pyramids and pyramid-like structures]] have been built by many different civilizations.

* Pyramids have in fact been independently invented in many different times and places. (You don't have the technology to do reinforced concrete or steel-framed skyscrapers, but you want to build something Really Big—piling up the rocks in a shape that's larger on the bottom and slopes up to a more-or-less pointy top is the logical way to do it.) In addition to the Egyptians and the aforementioned [[Mayincatec|Mesoamericans]] (Mayans and Aztecs), [[wikipedia:Pyramid|pyramids and pyramid-like structures]] have been built by many different civilizations.

** A slightly less rational, but still plausible reason is that Pyramids imitate the shape of mountains.

** The ancient Egyptian reasons, at least, were that the pyramids resembled both the Mound of Creation, the first land created by [[Egyptian Mythology|the gods]], and the rays of [[Big Good|Ra]].