The pyramid as a primary form of mediterranean fortification. Symbolic, functional and ideological character. Threats, messages and contents

Abstract

[EN] The Egypt of the pharaohs preserves the greatest and best-known examples of this architectural form charged with symbolism. There are numerous examples not only in Europe, and as we shall see, several on the Mediterranean coast and specially in the Spanish seaside, built by peoples and civilisations with solid and well-organised social structures. These Spanish examples are contemporary to the great Egyptian pyramids of Cheops and Kephren.But this type of construction, which is both defensive, monumental and funerary, appears in other continents and cultures; as we shall see, in China an important population has been discovered, settled in a large pyramid, staggered on platforms, in which different social classes were organised; furthermore, the defensive, constructive and protective character inherent to the pyramidal shape and geometry is analysed. The symbolic and functional character of the pyramid as an architectural form extends and endures over time, and is present throughout the centuries in the most recent fortifications, pantheons and funerary monuments, until reaching the 20th and 21st centuries, in which its possible conservation and/or disappearance, paradoxically, is sometimes function of an ideological perspective, that should be disassociated and left to one side, leading to conclusions that are analysed and developed in this paper.