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[Saim]

Friend said I should post these since they looked pretty cool....He gave me the challege of making a big ass Pyramid and small Town with bonus points for a Sphinx..Let me know what you think (Sorry for the seperate screenshots, full screenshots aren't working in my version of SS)

http://img685.imageshack.us/i/project1f.png/
http://img847.imageshack.us/i/project2g.png/
http://img28.imageshack.us/i/project3t.png/

[Bobinater]

So thats how the Egyptians built those,  with the help of two hundred drunk midgets.

 So where is the magma?

[FearfulJesuit]

The pyramid doesn't look Egyptian. It looks Mayan.

[NW_Kohaku]

Yes, the Egyptian pyramids were made completely of limestone and entirely smoothed. 

The pyramids in the Americas were the ones that looked like separate platforms stacked on top of each other.

[SirAaronIII]

Just add ramps all around and you'll have something that looks more similar.

[alcohol_dependent]

These look good.

What I loved about DF at first is that it taught me many new things.

Sooo.. teach us new shit about Egypt.

You have the design sense for it. Just need the research!

[darkflagrance]

The pyramid does look Mayan. The ramp vs steps with a flat, altar-like area do that.

That said, I still want one to sacrifice goblins off of. Maybe in my next fort...

[Jeoshua]

Actually, I was going to say the same thing, but it really doesn't look much like a Mesoamerican pyramid, either.  Maybe the Hollywood type, but not the actual ones.

Here's a comparison:



You see, Mesoamerican pyramids were made to mirror the profiles of the distant mountains, as they were a form of what is more commonly called "Sympathetic Magic".  By making the Pyramid of the Sun's outline mirror the distant and powerful mountains on the horizon, the priests could be seen as calling upon the spirits of the land in their rituals.  Look upon the pyramid from the right angle at the right time of day (and I assure you they took this into consideration, all being part of the show), and you could see the shaman standing atop the great mountains, stately and gigantic, as a God come down to Earth.

However, that pyramid is very evocative of the more ancient egyptian pyramids, of the type made long before the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Saqqara.  The original usage of the pyramids in Egyptian culture was less of a temple and more of a throne.  From atop the steps of the pyramid, the Pharoah would give his orders and laws to the people gathered around the foot of it's massive presence.

So basically, a big stage.

[Mister Always]

Actually, I was going to say the same thing, but it really doesn't look much like a Mesoamerican pyramid, either.  Maybe the Hollywood type, but not the actual ones.

Here's a comparison:



You see, Mesoamerican pyramids were made to mirror the profiles of the distant mountains, as they were a form of what is more commonly called "Sympathetic Magic".  By making the Pyramid of the Sun's outline mirror the distant and powerful mountains on the horizon, the priests could be seen as calling upon the spirits of the land in their rituals.  Look upon the pyramid from the right angle at the right time of day (and I assure you they took this into consideration, all being part of the show), and you could see the shaman standing atop the great mountains, stately and gigantic, as a God come down to Earth.

However, that pyramid is very evocative of the more ancient egyptian pyramids, of the type made long before the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Saqqara.  The original usage of the pyramids in Egyptian culture was less of a temple and more of a throne.  From atop the steps of the pyramid, the Pharoah would give his orders and laws to the people gathered around the foot of it's massive presence.

So basically, a big stage.

They also capped them with gold or electrum, for a few extra bling-bling points.

[Lord_Phoenix]

They also capped them with gold or electrum, for a few extra bling-bling points.

Yeah, the outer shell needs to be limestone, with a cap of gold.

[Saim]

Well that's good to know thanks guys! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.....and where do you want the magma?

I'll start on this once I'm done my next project

[Ampersand]

There are so many things wrong in this thread. So many things. Here's the Pyramid at Chichen Itza, which I feel the OP's example most closely resembles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chichen-Itza_El_Castillo.jpg

It is a purely geometric design and not intended to mimic any surrounding landscape. For every example of something, there is a counter example. It is bad form to paint with a broad brush as if one example applies to all of them.

For other mesoamerican examples
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Rekonstruktion_Tempelbezirk_von_Tenochtitlan_2_Templo_Mayor_3.jpg A reconstruction of the primary temples of old Tenochititlan, the Aztec Triple Alliance capital.

Finally, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pyramid_of_Djoser_2010.jpg

The Egyptians did create step pyramids, just without stairs or altars topping them, as they were intended to function as tombs alone, rather than ceremonial altars, as the Mesoamericans practiced. It was a refinement of earlier, simpler constructions in Mesopotamia, and Nubia.

The classical idea of a Pyramid being a construction of sandstone encased in a limestone shell, topped with Gold or Electrum, is the final refinement of the Pyramid structure before it was abandoned for underground tombs, in Egypt.

[Jeoshua]

That last part is very true, for the later pyramids.

But I assume you that the original pyramids were not tombs.  Actually one might look upon them and not even think they were pyramids.  Their development took a long time to get to the level that we see with the Gizan pyramids.

[Setharnas]

Yes, they were, at least if the half meter of shelf space my books on ancient egypt take up isn't completely wrong. The first pyramid was the attempt to one-up on earlier mastaba design, resulting in putting multiple mastabas on top of each other in that step design that looks a bit similar to the south-american types. That was Djoser's tomb, devised by architect Imhotep. Later architects made the steps finer and finer, with a smooth sandstone finish that mostly didn't age as well as the main stonework. Egyptian pyramids were never pure worshipping sites, right as Ampersand explained.

[Lagslayer]

Magma plumbing inside the pyramid, for lighting. And have it rigged so that when you pull a lever, the magma floods the whole pyramid and then runs out into the town. Also, statues of animal gods everywhere, and appropriate engravings.