North Pyramid - the largest of the three major pyramids located at the Dahshur necropolis
The Red Pyramid, also called the North Pyramid is the largest of the three major pyramids located at the Dahshur necropolis. Named for the light crimson hue of its exposed granite surface, it is also the third largest Egyptian pyramid, after those of Khufu and Khafra at Giza. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest man-made structure in the world. It is also believed to be the world’s first successful attempt at constructing a “true” smooth-sided pyramid.
The Red Pyramid was not always red. It used to be cased with white Tura limestone, but only a few of these now remain at the pyramid’s base on the corner. During the Middle Ages much of white Tura limestone was taken for buildings in Cairo, revealing the reddish pinkish limestone.
There are about 110 pyramids currently known in Egypt, many in a state of great disrepair and almost unrecognisable. Some were built as burial places for kings and others for queens. A pyramid also may have represented a stairway for the king to ascend to the heavens. Another possibility is that it was symbolic of the primeval mound on which the sun god/creator was born. 
The study of late antiquity from the fourth to the seventh century A.D. has attracted the attention of a growing number of scholars in the past twenty years. Late antiquity is indeed an attractive field of study, because its society was in many ways comparable to our own. Scholars have always stressed the ever-growing bureaucracy and the increasing importance of professional services in the economy of late antiquity as developments parallel to what was going on in their own society. However, growing inefficiency in government and a decline in the economy as a whole seem particularly apt parallels to our day and age. In late antiquity the public response to the problems facing the Roman empire was unable to prevent its fall.