Some cities require that specific monuments be constructed before the player may move onto the next city in the campaign. Monuments are build through a lengthy process of acquiring needed resources (such as bricks and stone) and then having a peasant worker force clear the area where the monument will be and then build the monument itself. The work force is gathered by a Work Camp which is also in charge of supplying workers for farm and field cultivation. Thus, when a work force is heavily engaged in agriculture, the available force to build the monument may diminish, especially during a harvest.
Once at the monument, the workers are directed by members of a Guild. Usually this is a Stoneworkers Guild, but a Bricklayers Guild is required when the monument (also) contains ordinary bricks. A Carpenters Guild is available to construct wooden ramps for large monuments and, in the Cleopatra expansion, an Artisans Guild supplies painters to paint the inside of the burial tombs.
- Mastaba tombs: First monument in the game. Small, medium, and large mastaba tombs are constructed in various early missions.
- Stepped pyramid: The first stepped pyramid is build at Saqqara.
- Grand stepped pyramid: An optional mission allows the player to construct a burial complex containing a grand stepped pyramid as well as a small stepped pyramid as their own personal tomb.
- Bent pyramid: Optional mission to construct this unusual pyramid design. Can be skipped if the player chooses a military mission in lieu.
- True pyramid: The first true pyramid is a required mission
- Great pyramid of Giza: The Great pyramid is constructed, along with a medium sized second pyramid and the sphinx.
- Mudbrick pyramids: Later game pyramids, somewhat less grand than the pyramids of old
- Grand Mudbrick Pyramid: One of the last missions of the original Pharaoh game requires the player to build this monument.
- Sphinx: Constructed at the same time as the Great Pyramid
- Sun Temple: A rare type of monument constructed during the Middle Kingdom
- Mausoleums: Royal above ground burial temples, build during the middle missions of the game, and again in the last of the Cleopatra missions.
- Caesareum: A larger type mausoleum, built in Alexandria in one of the last game missions
- Obelisks: Small and large obelisks are constructed, most often in border cities
- Royal burial tombs: Four different sizes for four different pharaohs of the New Kingdom.
- Abu Simbel: Constructed during a middle campaign of the Cleopatra expansion
- Great Library of Alexandria: A late game monument
- Lighthouse of Alexandria: The last monument constructed in the game
Monuments generally require a lot of time, effort and space to complete. The most time-consuming stage of monument construction is the acquisition of building materials, mostly granite, limestone or plain stone. These can be obtained at quarries, which require a large workforce.