Appearance of Pyramids in approx. 600 BCE
Hello,
This is really a little detail (it will show in one comic panel) but it will be a rather key one so I'd like to get it as right as possible. I have a character who very suddenly finds herself in Egypt, so I'd like for it to be obvious right away that it's Egypt, which pretty much means the pyramids. The time frame is approximately 600 BCE.
I know that the pyramids originally had a limestone covering which eventually came off in an earthquake and was then repurposed elsewhere, or just taken off, but that seems to have happened a lot later. Would it be reasonably accurate to draw some/any of the various pyramids (wouldn't have to be the Giza ones) with the limestone covering, and with buildings and activity around their base? Would I be correct in not drawing complete desert around them, or were they all set apart from much habitation? I definitely don't want to make the mistake of just using a modern picture for reference when the landscape and entire look of the pyramids would be different.
I googled/image searched for "what did the pyramids look like", "pyramids original appearance", "landscape ancient egypt", "egypt pyramids limestone", and I went through the LJ search for pyramids and the egypt: history tag. It looks like the era I want is the 26th Dynasty, so I read the Wikipedia on that and searched specifically on that. Apparently in this time period the art and building was deliberately based on the older models, even copied over from the Step Pyramid with a grid, so I want to assume that the pyramids have been kept in good condition in this era and are still covered in limestone. Is this true? Is there any way to know?
I haven't done much if any research on Egypt, but if anyone has run across a mention somewhere that might answer this so that I can depict it reasonably accurately, I'd be grateful!
Thanks!
This is really a little detail (it will show in one comic panel) but it will be a rather key one so I'd like to get it as right as possible. I have a character who very suddenly finds herself in Egypt, so I'd like for it to be obvious right away that it's Egypt, which pretty much means the pyramids. The time frame is approximately 600 BCE.
I know that the pyramids originally had a limestone covering which eventually came off in an earthquake and was then repurposed elsewhere, or just taken off, but that seems to have happened a lot later. Would it be reasonably accurate to draw some/any of the various pyramids (wouldn't have to be the Giza ones) with the limestone covering, and with buildings and activity around their base? Would I be correct in not drawing complete desert around them, or were they all set apart from much habitation? I definitely don't want to make the mistake of just using a modern picture for reference when the landscape and entire look of the pyramids would be different.
I googled/image searched for "what did the pyramids look like", "pyramids original appearance", "landscape ancient egypt", "egypt pyramids limestone", and I went through the LJ search for pyramids and the egypt: history tag. It looks like the era I want is the 26th Dynasty, so I read the Wikipedia on that and searched specifically on that. Apparently in this time period the art and building was deliberately based on the older models, even copied over from the Step Pyramid with a grid, so I want to assume that the pyramids have been kept in good condition in this era and are still covered in limestone. Is this true? Is there any way to know?
I haven't done much if any research on Egypt, but if anyone has run across a mention somewhere that might answer this so that I can depict it reasonably accurately, I'd be grateful!
Thanks!