Three sites, three attempts, and you can see the engineering being worked out in real time.
Giza is the finished product. Saqqara and Dahshur, half an hour south, are the working drawings, and visiting them in order is one of the most satisfying things you can do in Egypt.
Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara came first, around 2670 BC — six stacked mastabas, the first monumental stone building anywhere, designed by Imhotep. It looks like what it is: someone working out that you could keep going upwards.
At Dahshur, Sneferu tried three times. The Bent Pyramid changes angle halfway up, from 54 degrees to 43, almost certainly because the builders realised the original slope would not hold. The Red Pyramid next to it was built at the shallower angle from the ground up and is the first true smooth-sided pyramid that worked. His son built the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Saqqara and Dahshur, half an hour south, are the working drawings, and visiting them in order is one of the most satisfying things you can do in Egypt.
Both sites are far quieter than Giza and you can usually enter the Red Pyramid with no queue at all. Most Cairo day trips skip them; the private and overnight versions include them, and it is worth asking for.
