MJ Thomas Wrote:
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>
> Well, if this was indeed the case from the start
> to the finish of the Old Kingdom, then it means
> that the early pyramids were not robbed for up to
> some 500 hundred years after they were built.
> Now, what in your opinion happened around the end
> of the Old Kingdom that caused the tomb robbers to
> start plundering these pyramids?
The complete collapse of the government after Dynasty 6. It's called the First Intermediate Period, and it appears to have been near anarchy from what we can tell. The central control of the government, based upon the concept of the king as a deity, was tossed out in favor of the newly created concept of "democratization" of the religion. This democratization is exemplified by the elevation of Osiris from a basic no-name vegetation god to the king of the underworld, serving opposite Re/Atum/Amun.
David basically says that the concept of immortality was no longer reserved for the king, and that now everybody, with just a proper burial, could live forever in the Underworld. Worship of Osiris appears to have been the only real requirement for getting in. As you can imagine, this completely changed the power-base landscape in Egypt, and the evolution went too far. The nomes became virtually independent states, and it wasn't until the great renaissance of the 12th Dynasty that the country was reunited under one true king of both lands.
And, of course, it is in this dynasty that we again see the reemergence of pyramids as burial places for kings.
So, although the tombs of the earliest kings had probably been robbed, the reintroduction of pyramids as tombs seems to have been an almost "in your face" move by the kings to demonstrate their confidence in themselves and the longevity of their reigns.
Anthony
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.