Pyramid

A pyramid is a <a href="/facts/Nonbuilding_structure/We5QqF7Y">structure</a> whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a <a href="/facts/Pyramid_(geometry)/fCXRgFwu">pyramid in the geometric sense</a>. The base of a pyramid can be of any <a href="/facts/Polygon/yAq7RjPz">polygon</a> shape, such as <a href="/facts/Triangular/cRXUwsMn">triangular</a> or <a href="/facts/Quadrilateral/QCGqrkp2">quadrilateral</a>, and its surface-lines either filled or stepped.

A pyramid has the majority of its mass closer to the ground with less mass towards the <a href="/facts/Pyramidion/UsFBe6lH">pyramidion</a> at the <a href="/facts/Apex_(geometry)/SrMxmHJk">apex</a>. This is due to the gradual decrease in the cross-sectional area along the vertical axis with increasing elevation. This offers a weight distribution that allowed early civilizations to create monumental structures.Ancient <a href="/facts/Civilization/xvGpjDPj">civilizations</a> in many parts of the world pioneered the building of pyramids. The largest pyramid by volume is the Mesoamerican <a href="/facts/Great_Pyramid_of_Cholula/95nYKUcM">Great Pyramid of Cholula</a>, in the Mexican state of <a href="/facts/Puebla/BXItqVEJ">Puebla</a>. For millennia, the <a href="/facts/List_of_largest_buildings_in_the_world/WTGwbffG">largest structures</a> on Earth were pyramids—first the <a href="/facts/Red_Pyramid/mGEnGNBt">Red Pyramid</a> in the <a href="/facts/Dashur_Necropolis/cFPmT6wV">Dashur Necropolis</a> and then the <a href="/facts/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza/7p5HrMFb">Great Pyramid</a> of <a href="/facts/Khufu/6x3MtloU">Khufu</a>, both in <a href="/facts/Egypt/8Ttg0JwB">Egypt</a>—the latter is the only extant example of the <a href="/facts/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World/xHWcHYfV">Seven Wonders of the Ancient World</a>.

Pyramid open-in-new

Pyramid