From Djoser's Step Pyramid and the genius of Imhotep through Sneferu's perfecting of the form, the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Sphinx of Khafre at Giza, the sun temples and Pyramid Texts of the Fifth Dynasty, and the long reign of Pepi II, to the collapse of central authority around 2181 BCE. Slide across the Age of the Pyramids, when divine kingship reached its monumental height.
King Djoser and his architect Imhotep raise the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first monumental building of dressed stone and the prototype of all later pyramids.
From Djoser's Step Pyramid and the genius of Imhotep through Sneferu's perfecting of the form, the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Sphinx of Khafre at Giza, the sun temples and Pyramid Texts of the Fifth Dynasty, and the long reign of Pepi II, to the collapse of central authority around 2181 BCE. Slide across the Age of the Pyramids, when divine kingship reached its monumental height.
King Djoser and his architect Imhotep raise the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first monumental building of dressed stone and the prototype of all later pyramids.
Sneferu, founder of the Fourth Dynasty, builds on a colossal scale — the Meidum pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, and the Red Pyramid — achieving the first true smooth-sided pyramid.
Khufu (Cheops) raises the Great Pyramid at Giza, the largest stone monument ever built and the last surviving Wonder of the Ancient World.
Khafre and Menkaure complete the Giza necropolis with two more pyramids; the Great Sphinx, carved from the bedrock, guards Khafre's causeway.
The kings of the Fifth Dynasty build open-air sun temples to the god Ra at Abu Ghurab and Abusir, signalling the ascendancy of the solar cult of Heliopolis.
Unas, last king of the Fifth Dynasty, inscribes the walls of his pyramid at Saqqara with the Pyramid Texts, the oldest religious writings in the world.
Pepi II ascends the throne as a child and reigns for as long as ninety years, the longest documented reign in history, during which royal power slowly ebbs.
After Pepi II, the monarchy fragments into the ephemeral Seventh and Eighth Dynasties; central authority collapses and Egypt slides into the First Intermediate Period.