What period of ancient Egyptian history do the Giza pyramids date from?

The Giza pyramids date from Egypt’s Old Kingdom, specifically the Fourth Dynasty. They were royal funerary monuments built during a period when the Egyptian state had extraordinary administrative power and could organize large workforces, quarrying operations and long-distance transport.

The Great Pyramid was built for Pharaoh Khufu around 2580–2560 BC. Khafre’s pyramid followed in the same dynasty, while Menkaure’s smaller pyramid was built later. The three monuments therefore belong to one concentrated phase of Old Kingdom pyramid building rather than to the New Kingdom, the era best known for rulers such as Hatshepsut, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.

The Old Kingdom is often called the “Age of the Pyramids.” Its kings developed pyramid complexes that combined a pyramid with mortuary temples, causeways and valley temples. These structures supported the pharaoh’s funerary cult and expressed royal authority as well as religious ideas about the afterlife.

The Giza monuments were built roughly between 2600 and 2500 BC, although exact dates vary by monument and chronology. The term “pre-dynastic” refers to an earlier period before Egypt’s dynastic kings, while the Middle Kingdom came centuries later.