This Instructable will give you the origins of both Pie & Pi in ancient Egypt and using some "artistic license" bring them back together at the end through a story of one chefs Pie. The first 4 steps tell the story and the final step will give the modern "recipe" so that you can bake this delicious ancient Honey, Nut & Fruit pie yourself! I hope you enjoy.
According to historians the first "pie" appeared around 9500 BC, in Egypt when the use of stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding became common. The domestication of plants, animals and the establishment of permanent villages gave rise to the practice of crafts such as pottery and weaving which gave all the essential pieces needed to create a Pie as we now know it. Early pies were in the form of galettes wrapping honey as a treat inside a cover of ground oats, wheat, rye or barley. These galettes evolved over the years into the modern form of sweet pastry and evidence of which can be found on the tomb walls of the Pharaoh Ramesses II, who ruled from 1304 to 1237 BC, located in the Valley of the Kings. (See pictures of the tomb carvings above)
During the same time that pie was evolving the Egyptians building their pyramids and designing them so that the perimeter divided by the height was their "Magic" number. This number is 2π! The Great Pyramid at Giza, constructed c.2589–2566 BC, was built with a perimeter of 1760 cubits and a height of 280 cubits giving the ratio 1760/280 ≈ 2π. The same proportions were used earlier at the Pyramid of Meidum c.2613-2589 BC and later in the pyramids of Abusir c.2453-2422. Egyptologists consider this to have been the result of deliberate design proportion. Verner wrote, "We can conclude that although the ancient Egyptians could not precisely define the value of π, in practice they used it". Petrie, author of Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh concluded: "these relations of areas and of circular ratio are so systematic that we should grant that they were in the builders design".
As a tribute to the "First Peoples of Pi(e)" I have recreated the original Pie recipe from the tomb of Ramesses II. The Hieroglyphics not only detail the recipe but also tribute the chef who created this earliest of pies. The chef was so highly regarded that a statue of his likeness was buried along with Ramesses II so that the Pharaoh could enjoy his pies into the after life (see photo above).
According to the Hieroglyphics the chef was named Gordhamun and as a small boy was taken to Greece to study in the famed kitchens of "Helios". Upon his return to Egypt as a young man he was appointed head chef to Ramesses II. By all accounts the chef was a tyrant ruling over his kitchen staff with an iron fist and dismissing them for the smallest indiscretion. As the Royal Chef he was one of the few people in the kingdom to be able to use the Pharaohs name along with his own, so he was officially known as: Gordhamun Ramesses of Helios Kitchen