Contents

• Part I. Visions of the Pyramid
  • 1. Introduction;
  • 2. Making the mystery;
  • 3. Surveying Giza;
  • 4. Excavating Giza;
  • 5. The pyramid's plan;
  • 6. The pyramid's timetable;
• Part II. The Pyramid-Makers: The Ghosts in the Cemetery:
  • 7. At the court of the King;
  • 8. The adventures of the Vizier;
  • 9. The new Egyptians;
  • 10. The social contract;
• Part III. The People on the Plateau:
  • 11. Working the stone;
  • 12. The Giza quarry;
  • 13. Fire and the pyramid;
  • 14. Entrepôt and accommodation;
  • 15. The living city;
  • 16. Coda: thinking with stone;
• Part IV. The Land and the Pyramid
  • 17. Prospecting Egypt;
  • 18. Desert copper;
  • 19. Aswan granite;
  • 20. Tura limestone;
  • 21. The river;
  • 22. The Giza ramps;
  • 23. Coda: the commanding landscape;
• Part V. The Great Inheritance: The First Pyramid
  • 24. The spirit and the tomb;
  • 25. Mud to stone;
  • 26. To make a pyramid;
  • 27. Accommodating Djoser;
• Part VI. The Pyramids of Sneferu:
  • 28. The Meidum pyramid
  • 29. The failed pyramid;
  • 30. The jubilee pyramid;
  • 31. The long journey of the spirit;
  • 32. The dark interior;
  • 33. Two last works;
  • 34. Coda: the legacy;
• Part VII. Planning the Pyramid
  • 35. Choosing Giza;
  • 36. Levelling the site;
  • 37. The plan inside the pyramid;
  • 38. The plan beside the pyramid;
  • 39. Numbers;
  • 40. Stars;
  • 41. Coda: considering the architecture;
• Part VIII. Building the Pyramid:
  • 42. In the beginning;
  • 43. Setting the lines;
  • 44. The miniature shafts;
  • 45. The grand gallery;
  • 46. The burial chamber;
  • 47. To the top;
  • 48. After the pyramid;
  • 49. The rites of death;
  • 50. Coda: after Khufu;
  • 51. Stone;
  • 52. Spirit.