Why weren't the Pyramids looted for building materials?

Apologies in advance, I'm not sure if this is an appropriate venue for such a question.

Many ancient building have been sourced for other building projects. The Colosseum was sourced for building the steps to St Peter's Basilica in Rome and other projects as an example.

I know some of the more precious materials were looted from the Great Pyramid of Giza, like the white limestone that once sheathed it, but why not the rest of the structure? Some of the pyramids have stood in their general state for thousands of years. There are few other ancient structures that can boast that, just look at the Roman Forum or the Circus Maximus.
 
Some of the pyramids were looted, namely Djedefre's pyramid which overlooked the Giza complex and was considered one of the greatest pyramids, Romans tore that one apart for bricks.
 
Gotcha, that's one good example, but the other ones still stand. Were they placed under some protection after the Pagan Roman period (when the Roman Emperors claimed they were Pharohs). The only reason the Pantheon and other buildings in Rome survived was because they were converted into Christian temples. I mean, the city of Cairo is right there.
 
After doing a little reading of the Pyramid of Djedfre, it's suggested that the building materials were exotic relative to the other pyramids, which prompted the Romans to use it for their buildings. Are the base materials used in the other Great Pyramids just not ideal for other building works?
 
Those blocks are enormous. As said above though, with the Pyramid of Djedfre you got them dismantled. Wikipedia gives an account that says even up to the 19th century they were taking three hundred camel loads away. It does say however the pyramid might never have been finished, and that the Romans delibertly used it to build up their own projects. I am unsure the settlement patterns back then, but as it was the northern most pyramid it might just have been the easiest to grab and in the best place for grandeur, as they were using Egypt as a breadbasket to feed themselves. No point going to the more deserty areas. Anyways, how were the pyramids build? I am guessing that the blocks were not stacked high, but that that each block was put over where two or four other blocks met. Meaning that people would have to push away the block on top. Looking up Wikipedia again, it mentions a lot of casing stone from the Great Pyramid was removed after a massive earthquake shook it loose. I imagine the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian structures within Cairo would have each been more easily dismantled and reused, and that it may simply be this filled the need to an extent.
 
The largest pyramid had its casing stones removed as they fell off and throughout the Islamic caliphate period they were used to construct mosques in Cairo.

At any rate, the pyramids were a tourist attraction even back in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Wealthy Greeks and Romans would go to Egypt for vacation and tour the monuments. So I think that alone was incentive for the local authorities to not attempt to dismantle the big ones.
 
I think Clandango has it exactly right. Disassembling a pyramid into usable sized blocks was probably nearly as much work as building it in the first place and once the fancy casing was gone it's just a pile of inconveniently sized boulders on an inconveniently high plateau outside of town.

Reusing the core stone of the pyramids and getting it back to the river would likely be as much work as getting new stone quarried.
 
Let's do it NOW!

Modern technology should be able to make mincemeat of those ol' piles!

I want the cut stone marketing concession! :biggrin:
 

Vuu

Banned
They were, they were covered in white marble to make the edges smooth and nice

the tops might have been gilded too, all that was taken off

Now, the main part is just trash-tier sandstone, not worth the trouble, considering it would just be the same as quarrying a strange hilock
 
As others have said, the pyramids were looted for building material. To the extent that I don't think any still have their outer casing.
 
As others have said, the pyramids were looted for building material. To the extent that I don't think any still have their outer casing.

IIRC a few of them do, but not very many. The Egyptians used white limestone for the outer casing of the pyramids. Much of it was remove in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages to build the churches and mosques of Cairo.
 
As others have said, the pyramids were looted for building material. To the extent that I don't think any still have their outer casing.

The Bent Pyramid does, although I think it's the only one. Apparently the larger, less precise joints between the limestone casing blocks gave the stone more room for thermal expansion when compared to later pyramids. In later pyramids there was no room for expansion so the limestone eventually cracked and began to fall off the structure, allowing people to start disassembling and carting it away.
 

CalBear

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Gotcha, that's one good example, but the other ones still stand. Were they placed under some protection after the Pagan Roman period (when the Roman Emperors claimed they were Pharohs). The only reason the Pantheon and other buildings in Rome survived was because they were converted into Christian temples. I mean, the city of Cairo is right there.
They were looted. They were covered on bright white limestone.

That was all peeled off and used to construct Mosques and other "public" building in Cairo.
 
They were looted. They were covered on bright white limestone.

That was all peeled off and used to construct Mosques and other "public" building in Cairo.

Yeah, I understand that the more precious materials were looted for building materials by the Romans and Caliphates, but I was curious about the base ones as well. Others have said that it just wasn't worth the effort because the base blocks were just too large, and you may as well quarry it from scratch. Not sure if that's right, but it makes sense to me.
 

CalBear

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Yeah, I understand that the more precious materials were looted for building materials by the Romans and Caliphates, but I was curious about the base ones as well. Others have said that it just wasn't worth the effort because the base blocks were just too large, and you may as well quarry it from scratch. Not sure if that's right, but it makes sense to me.
Actually most the limestone was stripped off Tenth Century CE and later
 
So basically we can agree that the pyramids were looted for building materials and what's left is the stuff that nobody wanted, was too heavy to move, or a combination thereof.
 
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