Why did they suddenly cease the construction of the largest Egyptian monuments, since these were so important to the pharaohs and had consumed enormous resources and time? Traditional answers – "they ran out of resources" or "religion changed" – do not fully explain the full scope and consequences of this phenomenon. The present theory elaborates and strengthens the validity of an earlier concept – both proposed by Jacek Krzysztoń – concerning the socio-economic function of the pyramids, showing that their eventual cessation was not due to failure or factors beyond the rulers' control, but rather to the success of achieving the intended goal. The pyramids fulfilled their task: they integrated society, built the state, and jump-started its economy. Once that goal was achieved, the rulers did not rest on their laurels – they maintained the stability that had been attained and balanced the further development of the country by shifting to more flexible forms of public works projects, such as monumental temples. The author regards this change as a logical evolution of the tools of power and maintains the thesis that religion may have been a factor mobilising collective effort, rather than the primary reason for it. This reinterpretation shifts the emphasis from the afterlife to the here and now – and prompts a reconsideration of the role of the pyramids as a catalyst for the birth of the Egyptian state.
Jacek Krzysztoń (Wed,) studied this question.