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Pyramid building continued into the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1975-1640 BC), which comprised Egypt’s Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties. Most of the prominent pyramids from this period were built near the city of Lisht in Middle Egypt, but some were also constructed near Dashur. <ref> Lehner, pgs. 168-87</ref> These pyramids were but a shadow of those built during the Fourth Dynasty and by the New Kingdom the royals abandoned pyramids as royal burials in favor of more isolated and hidden tombs in the Valley of the Kings near Thebes in southern Egypt.
====Conclusion====Pyramids played an important role during ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom for a number of some reasons. They not only functioned as tombs for their kings, who were seen as gods, but were the focal point of a much larger temple complex. The structure of pyramids gradually grew from being simple mound tombs into the great structure that most people think of today. Once the size and workmanship quality of pyramids declined slightly, their theological significance did not. Later kings plastered the interiors of their pyramids with some of the oldest religious texts known to man as a testament to the importance of pyramid building in ancient Egypt.
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