How many pyramids were already in existence in Egypt while the Israelites lived there as slaves?

by salmos83
wotan_weevil

The short answer: All of them.

The slightly longer answer: All of them, except maybe one, depending on what you are willing to call a "pyramid".

The long answer: The pyramids were built over a period of almost 1000 years, from the 3rd Dynasty to the 13th Dynasty. The earliest known pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser AKA Pyramid of Zoser AKA the Step Pyramid, was probably built in the 27th century BC. The latest known pyramid was probably built as Sobekhotep IV's tomb, in about 1730BC.

When did the Israelites live in Egypt as slaves? Our only real source for the exodus from Egypt is the Book of Exodus, which appears to have been written in its current form in the 5th century BC. The story of the Exodus is older, being, for example, mentioned in Jeremiah 16:14, probably composed in the 7th century BC.

For the purposes of answering your question, we can assume that the story of Exodus is based on historical events. This is a common assumption, but is generally thought to have been a much smaller movement of people rather than a movement of the entire Israelite people. There is no archaeological evidence of a large-scale movement of Israelites into Canaan replacing earlier peoples and cultures, but there is literary evidence for the movements of various speakers of Semitic languages into and out of Egypt in the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. Thus, it is quite possible that a group of people did leave Egypt, and contributed to Israelite culture and religion (e.g., perhaps they brought that very Egyptian custom of circumcision). The Book of Exodus dates the exodus from Egypt to 1095BC. The most common opinion as to the identity of the Pharaoh of Exodus is Ramses II (with Ramses III as the next most common opinion), whose reign covered much of the 13th century BC. Thus, we have a range of possible dates for the possible event that inspired Exodus: 1095BC, the 13th century BC, the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium (the 18th and 19th Dynasties), or the 16th century, if the event is the expulsion of the Hyksos (during the 17th Dynasty).

According to Exodus, the Israelites spent 430 years in Egypt. There doesn't appear to be any good reason to attach this time to the non-Exodus-based dates above. Combining this 430 years with 1095BC puts the arrival of the Israelites in Egypt at 1525BC, about 2 centuries after the last pyramid proper. 430 years + Ramses II could put the arrival as early as about 1700BC, only a few decades after the last pyramid, but this is still after the last pyramid. Thus, the short answer I gave in the beginning.

If the event which inspired Exodus was the expulsion of the Hyksos, we are left with the problem that we don't know when they arrived. If they Hyksos were a purely conquest Dynasty, then their arrival is during the 17th century, which is, again, post-pyramid. However, Hyksos rule may have resulted from revolt of peoples who had moved into Lower Egypt long before the commencement of Hyksos rule - those who think this is likely generally place the arrival of the proto-Hyksos peoples beginning about 1800BC. This would give an overlap between the proto-Hyksos and pyramid-building from the last pyramids of the 12th Dynasty onwards. This overlap consists of 8 or 9 pyramids.

There is one last pyramidal structure, the building of which overlaps all of the possible "Israelites" in Egypt time-intervals above: the Pyramid of Ahmose, probably built in the late 16th century BC, just after the latest of the above arrival dates (1525BC). However, this structure was not a tomb, and was not constructed like the other pyramids - it was a pyramid-shaped pile of sand and rubble covered with a limestone cladding. Once the limestone cladding was recycled (or stolen, if you prefer), the interior part of the structure suffered severe erosion. Thus, the "slightly longer answer" above.