The pharaonic tradition persisted among Meroe's rulers, who raised stelae to record the achievements of their reigns and erected pyramids to contain their tombs.

So they erected small pyramids of mud or brick and use to worship them.

The giants of postmodernism - William Gaddis, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo - have erected pyramids of prose so intricate in their conceits and so saturated with references as to defy replication altogether.

The pre-Columbian residents of Teotihuacán in Mexico erected huge pyramids featuring staircases leading to heaven.

Little pyramids of truth he erected and after erecting knocked them down again that he might have the truths to erect other pyramids.

An Egyptian influenced pharaonic tradition persisted among a line of rulers at Meroe, who raised stelae to record the achievements of their reigns and erected pyramids to contain their tombs.

Of greater importance, the Olmec was the first culture in Mesoamerica to erect pyramids using an advanced knowledge of astronomy and mathematics.

Before the plateau was abandoned two other pharaohs, Menkaure and Khafre, had erected pyramids and a half-dozen or more queens and some 4,000 0f the elite had built tombs around the three imposing monuments.

The Mongol conqueror Timur the Lame (1336-1405) left a record of his victories by erecting 10-metre-high pyramids made of the severed heads of his victims.