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m r " p y ra m id
Pyramids
MARK L E H N E R
Printed and bound in Slovenia by Mladinska Knjiga The Ka, the Ba and the Body Embalmed 20
n
EXPLORERS AND SCIENTISTS
Early Legends 38
Digging by Dynamite 50
9
THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT
0
300 km
I|
200 miles 1
1 n
2
RED
SEA
%Is>
Thebes
1Aswan
Gebel
- Barkal
J - iNuri
Napata>
N el-Kurru
A Meroe i
SAQQARA
2
FAYUM
Lake
FAYUM Moeris
^
Main Memphis
ruin field
- , :
HAWARA
E3 Amenemhet III
ILLAHUN
1EI Senwosret II
MEIDUM
0 Sneferu LISHT
Amenemhet 1..
River N'|e _
Senwosret 1E l El
---- ----------- ____ ^
0J . 20 km
0 10 miles ---------N r ^
To Abu Roash
8km (5 miles)
GIZA
53 Menkaure
[X ] Khafre
1 3 Khufu
a Layer Pyramid
ABU ROASH
DjedefreQgi
ABU GHUROB
a Niuserres Sun Temple
ABUSIR
Userkafs Sun Temple
- . :.-eferef H g
s s :<xv B Sahure 0 1 2 km
1----------------1----------,------- i
c s y xiv ! Niuserre 0 1 mile > - N
Nefersrkare
- tkawes
: mastabas
Archaic Memphis
Contours in metres
16 m
19 m
20 m
21 m
25 m
35-65 m
c 75-115 m
Nomes and basins
T hrough processes of erosion and deposition, the
Nile created a convex floodplain. T h a t is, the high
est land is nearest the river and, perhaps contrary
Pyramids in the Landscape to w hat we m ight expect, the lowest land is closer
to the desert. In between were natural basins, ter
raced dow nstream from south to north. The basins
were one of the largest and m ost basic landscape
features of the yearly cycle, form ing an immense
natural irrigation system that w as wiped out by the
E g y p t w as a cradle of civilization that allowed the m odern dam s at Aswan. Surrounded by dykes and
sam e basic language and culture to flourish for carefully managed, the great cell-like basins held
nearly 3,000 years. For m ost of this long history, w ater for six to eight w eeks each year during the
pharaoh w as Lord of the Two Lands', a reflection annual flood. In the last century, from Elephantine
of the natural division of the country into two to ju st north of the Fayum there were 136 principal
inhabitable parts: the Nile Valley and the broad basins.
Delta. Each pharaoh wore the double crown, com How did the ancient E gyptians organize this
bining the Red Crown of Lower (northern) E gypt landscape and its peasant farm ers to provide the
and the W hite Crown of U pper (southern) Egypt. food and labour th a t supported pyram id building?
In shape, the Nile and its Y-shaped Delta can be D uring the last century such control involved inde
com pared to three of the p lants th a t flourish in the pendent system s of basins, consisting of (rarely)
valley and which the pyram id builders petrified in one or (usually) several basins w atered by a single
stone in carvings and columns: the palm tree, the feeder canal. T he head of this canal w as a breach in
lotus and the papyrus. Upper E gypt is the trunk or the Nile bank. Beginning in the 18th dynasty, the
stem; and the Delta is the palm frond, the lotus canals th at seasonally channelled flood w aters to
flower or the head of the papyrus. If the Delta is the basins were named with the hieroglyph of the
the lotus blossom, the Fayum is its bud. T he Fayum hum an arm - they were arm atures of w ater. Each
is a large fertile basin, at various times filled by a basin system also had a tail-end escape to allow the
lake whose rem ains today are the brackish w aters w aters to flow back into the Nile after they had
of Lake Qarun. T he lake w as fed by the only m ajor deposited their fertile silty slime. T his w as
tributary of the Nile in Egypt, the Bahr Youssef breached first, followed by successive openings in
(River Joseph), which enters the Fayum by way of each transverse dyke back to the head basin.
.the ancient H aw ara Channel. Field beds appeared a t the bottom of the basins
from south to north. The E gyptians planted by
broadcast sowing - sim ply scattering the seed by
Stone for Pyramids hand - and this w as best done soon after the basin
The ancient Egyptians favoured various stones for w as drained when the beds were still wet. Draining
their pyramids and carvings. Over millions of years and sowing therefore needed to be closely co-ordi
(primarily the Eocene, 65-35 million years ago) the nated and the basin adm inistrators m ust have
sea covered much of Egypt, depositing sediments rapidly surveyed and identified field boundaries.
that became the limestone of Egypts tableland. T he southernm ost Upper E gyptian basins were
Limestone was quarried for the cores of pyramids usually dry by 5 October, and the northernm ost by
in block sizes often corresponding to the thickness 30 November. Sowing and grow ing took place in
of successive natural layers or beds. Finer limestone the season of peret, coming forth, followed by
for outer pyramid casings came from eastern
shemu, harvest, and, beginning in late summer,
quarries across the Nile. Farther south, and formed
akhet, inundation. The three seasons each consist
in older geological periods, sandstone was used for
ed of four months, for a 1 2 -month year.
the last pyramids in the Nile Valley - at Napata and
Meroe. It w as usual for a temple or large household to
Granite was important as the second stone for own, rent or m anage an assem blage of fields that
pyramid casings, and often the primary material for may not have been contiguous and were not neces
sarcophagi and burial chambers. Diorite and grey- sarily near the house. In ancient E gypt a s other
wacke were highly prized for statues. Basalt was societies based on flood recession agriculture, an
long preferred for the pavements of temples. To archipelago of land holdings of different quality
obtain these materials the Egyptians mounted spread throughout the country may have been an
quarry expeditions to the places where these harder insurance ag ain st floods that were too high or too
and geologically older igneous rocks lay exposed - low. T he Old Kingdom pyram ids were am ong the
the Fayum, the Red Sea Mountains and Aswan and earliest developers and owners of such land p o rt
its desert quarries. They also contained the copper folios. One of the m ost frequent scenes in the pyra
needed for tools, as well as gold, silver and iron, the
mid temples is a long train of offering bearers, each
last mostly used only in later periods.
personifying a village, estate or nome (p. 228).
12
- r adm inistrative purposes, the ancient Egyp- and possibly Giza. Where perennial lakes did not Lake Dahshur, the last
> divided U pper E g y p t into districts called occur, the pyram id builders could have created surviving of the pyramid
with Nome 1 at Elephantine on the 1st them by w idening and deepening the natural flood lakes on the desert edge,
gives a haunting impression
m et and Nome 22 ju st north of the Fayum basins th a t would then have served as the harbours
of pyramid ecology. Sneferu's
..r.ce. These nomes, each with a main settle- that every standard pyram id complex required. It is Bent Pyramid rises to the
that developed into a capital, were estab- possible that older canals that still survive near the west.
-c by she 5th dynasty. T h e complete set of 20 escarpm ent at Saqqara and Abusir, particularly the
-_-rn r.omes, beginning with Lower Egyptian B ahr el-Libeini, are vestiges of ancient channels.
'.c 1 of Memphis, and taking in the Delta, w as There is a high place on the M okkatam Hills
- .Y.ished only in late antiquity. southeast of Cairo where one can look across the
is tem pting to think th at the nomes, and the valley and see, silhouetted in the desert haze, the
i proto-kingdoms that am algam ated in the late pyram ids of Giza, Abusir, S aqqara and Dahshur. In
; nastic to become the E gyptian state, origi- the valley below, the Nile no longer floods the
: in these basins. Certainly the com munication basins. The nome centres and royal com munities -
A simplified cross-section of
I red for the sequential filling and discharge w ith their bakeries, granaries, brew eries and m ulti the Nile Valley between Sohag
;i i have been easier across the sm aller basin tudinous w orkshops - have been replaced by the and Asyut. where the river
ms such as those of the Qena Bend, from spraw l of Africas largest city. T he pyram ids no runs next to the east
v rulers of E gypt emerged more than once. longer connect with living E gypt and so we have escarpment today, based on
lost sight of their original role in ancient E gyptian Karl Butzers work. A convex
ilasins and pyramids flood, plain leaves high land
lives. But from the M okkatam Hills, there is still the
along Nile levees, and low
: h on the flood basins and the geography of sense of the pyramid held as one v ast M emphite basin land towards the desert.
v Memphite region is now clearing up som e old necropolis, the pyram ids standing as giant tom b The Nile has migrated
>nceptions. The average depth of the Nile stones of distant god-kings. eastwards through time.
. w aters w as not sufficient to float huge lime-
basing blocks or g ranite beam s to the fool of
. ramid plateau. Yet there is no evidence th a t
Oid Kingdom E gyptians cut perennially flood
s transversely across the flood plain.
.he norrhern pyram id zone, from D ahshur to
:.nd particularly in the area of Memphis, the
wed closer to the west bank during the early
of E gypts history. A t intervals along the
: tbf desert were lakes that held w ater after
d receded. These probably existed in front
r;:mid sites such as Abusir, Saqqara, D ahshur
13
The Giant Pyramids:
Their Rise and Fall
The march to near pyramid
perfection began with the
Beni Pyramid o f Sneferu
at Dahshur (below).
Sneferu (2575-2551 bc) also desert near the high cliffs at Abydos, each would
built the North (or Red) have been marked by a pair of large stelae and cov
Pyramid at Dahshur (above), ered by a mound. These rovai pit and m ound
a true pyramid with a slope of
graves, together with im itation palaces in the form
43, and the pyramid at
Meidum, which he gave the of open rectangular courts defined by m udbrick
form o f a true pyramid with w alls down in the valley, are the architectural
a slope o f 52 antecedents of the pyram ids. While some are cer
tainly m onum ental in size, they do not approach
the scale th at emerges suddenly in the 3rd-ciynasty
reign o f Dioser (2630-2611 b c ).
(Below) The giant pyramid Egyptologists trace the ultim ate origins of even the T he Step Pyram id of Djoser heralded the classic
appeared suddenly in the 3rd- g ran d est pyram ids back to the modest pit graves of pyram id age. the 4th to 6 th dynasties, also known
dynasty reign of Djoser, who the predynastic period, which were covered by sim as the Old Kingdom. D uring these centuries the
built the first pyramid and
mortuary complex in stone, ple m ounds of sand and gravel. A little later, on the E gyptians built pyram ids for their god-kings in a
which he surrounded by an threshold of the 1st' dynasty (c. 2900 b c ), the graves 72-km (45-mile) span of desert, between Abu
enclosure wall more than of the rulers and elite consisted of neat mudbrick Roash, northw est of Giza, to Meidum in the south,
1,600 m (5,250ft) long. boxes, sunk in the desert and divided, like a house, near the entrance to the Fayum. Excluding the
into several cham bers. T he tom bs o f the pharaohs pyram ids o f Djedefre a t Abu Roash and Sneferu ar
of the first two dynasties followed this pattern, but Meidum as outliers, the 21 other major Old K ing
w ith greater complexity. Situated far out in the dom pyram ids stand like sentinels in a 2 0 -km (12 -
v .ch w est of the capital the W hite Wall,
n wn as Memphis, clustering at Giza,
; Aryan, Abusir, Saqqara and Dahshur,
ruly gigantic stone pyram ids were built
)urse of only three generations: Sneferu,
1 Khafre. If Sneferu did indeed build the
v. pyram id as well a s his two stone pyram ids
'.:ur. his pyram ids alone contain more than
n eu. m (124 million cu. ft) of stone. All the
rarnids of E gyptian kings combined
queens and other satellite pyram ids)
( nly 41 per cent of the total m ass of the
' of Sneferu, his son Khufu and grandson
M enkaure still used multi-tonned stone
r the third pyram id of Giza, but the total
> less than that of Djoser.
' h and 6 th dynasties each king still built a
!. but on a much sm aller scale and with
- m esand a core of stone rubble fill. In one
' is inferior construction; however, the
' accomplished the sam e pyram idal form
casing and less expense. At the sam e time
."'.id temples increased in size, complexity
sm anship in com parison with those of the
. dynasty pyram ids. T rue standardization
r.bhed in the pyram ids of the late 5th
. :md particularly those of the 6 th. In spite m ids was still in the north near the apex of the The Middle Kingdom
inference in length of reigns, the pyram ids Delta, but the m argins had shifted southw ards, mudbrick pyramid o f
be 9 years) and Pepi II (over 90 years) were from D ahshur in the north, to Illahun and H awara Amenemhet. Ill and the Old
: x-ntical in their outer dimensions. Kingdom stone North
at the Fayum entrance to the south.
Pyramid o f Sneferu, seen
:d building alm ost ceased during the First New Kingdom pharaohs built their tom bs in a across the Dahshur lake, the
* hate Period when unified rule gave w ay to communal royal burial ground, the Valley of the last remaining pyramid.
b.bpaHties. It w as resum ed in the Middle Kings, at Thebes (modern Luxor). Above the valley harbour lake.
.. when the first pyram ids were built with towers a m ountain peak that takes the form of a
: small and broken stone in casem ate or natural pyram id for the multiple corridors and
.j walls, and later pyram ids were built with royal burial cham bers cut into the crevasses of its
-v k core. Sizes were not as standardized as lower slopes. M anmade pyram ids were reduced to
:r Old Kingdom. E ntrances no longer opened small superstructures above the rock-cut tom bs of
ly from the north side of the pyramid, the scribes, artisans, craftsm en and officials who
--ages followed a circuitous off-axis route to served the king and were employed on the construc
chamber. T he geographic range of pyra- tion of the royal tombs.
T hroughout ancient times, Nubia (in modern
Three generations in the 4th northern Sudan) mirrored m any facets of E gyptian
dynasty accomplished the bulk culture, including building pyram ids as royal
of pyramid building Later; tombs. More than 800 years after the last royal
c7> more standardized smaller pyram id w as completed in Egypt, pyram ids on a
pyramids reflect a less sm aller scale began to be built for rulers of the
centralized societv.
Kingdom of N apata, beginning about 720 b c , and
the Kingdom of Meroe, ending about AD 350. In the
course of 1,000 years, about 180 royal pyram ids
were built in Nubia, twice the num ber in Egypt.
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Period _S" I<
Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom
-600 2500 2400 2300 2200 2100 2000 1900 1800 BC
1ST DYNASTY 2 nd dynasty
The Shape
of Pyramid Stepped mastaba, Funerary enclosure of
Saqqara Khasekhemwy, Abydos
History
3r d d y n a s t y
Profiles of the major
pyramids, drawn to the
same scale, from the
earliest stepped mound o f
the 1st dynasty, through ... '-a,
the stepped pyramids o f
the 3rd dynasty and the o^===y
massive 4th-dynasty
pyramids, to the much Layer Pyramid, Zawiyet el-Aryan
smaller monuments o f
Inter Egyptian history 4t h d y n a s t y
According to one
chronology only 60 years
passed between the
completion of the Step
Pyramid o f Djoser and
the beginning of the Great
Pyramid o f Khufu. I f so,
someone could have been Sneferu, North Pyramid, Dahshur
a small child when
Djosers pyramid was
new, and lived to see, in
old age, the building o f
the Great Pyramid, when
Egyptian masonry rose to
a peak o f excellence'. The
giant pyramids represent
an accelerated cultural
development, comparable
to our modern space
programme or computer
revolution.
After the end o f the Khufu, Great Pyramid, Giza Djedefre, Abu Roash Khafre, Giza
5th dynasty, pyramid
entrances arc no longer
consistently on the north,
and the passages ami
chambers follow circuitous
routes, so that the profiles
do not show the interiors.
/
c r
a
PNebka, Unfinished Pyramid,
1A
Zawiyet ei-Aryan Menkaure, Giza Shepseskaf, Saqqara Khentkawes, Giza
5t h d yn asty
jM M IA I M 1M
Userkaf, Saqqara Sahure, Abusir Neferirkare, Abusir Niuserre, Abusir Djedkare-Isesi, Saqqara Unas, Saqqara
12 t h dynasty
A A ?A A
Amenemhet I, Lisht Senwosret I, Lisht Amenemhet II, Dahshur Senwosret II, Illahun Senwosret III, Dahshur
16
Major Pyramid Statistics
'haraoh Location Dyn. Base (m) Height (m) Volume (cu. in) Slope Satellite Queens Ancient Name
8th dynasty
Teti, Saqqara Pepi I, S. Saqqara Merenre, S. Saqqara Pepi 11, S. Saqqara Ibi, S. Saqqara
13t h d y n a s ty
A
\
Amenemhet IV or Unfinished,
,:nenemhet III, Dahshur Amenemhet III. Hawara Sobekneferu, S. Mazghuna Khendjer, S. Saqqara S. Saqqara
17
pie w as separated from an inner temple by a tran s
verse nail. Beyond were magazines, and, lastly, an
inner sanctuary - the whole route ending in a false
The Standard Pyramid door, the symbolic portal of the pyram id complex.
It w as long thought that the pharaohs funeral
South tomb
I'Ka tom b)
Entrance
19
till
E Since the king was a god, each pyramid was also the
focus of a temple complex maintained by a priest
hood long after the pharaoh had been laid to rest.
The pyramid complex was an economic engine, too, deploy
ing people and redistributing goods. This was possible only
because the pyramid was designed to be a cosmic engine as
well; in fact, each pyramid ensured the rule of universal
order, the turning of the days and seasons, and the flooding
of the Nile. The mechanics of the pyramid as cosmic engine
depended on the Egyptian concept of a person and the dis
tinct phases of life and death, called kheperu. These trans
formations continued when the ka, the ba and the body,
which had become separated at death, interacted in the final
transformation - becoming an akh, a glorified being of
light, effective in the Afterlife. The pyramid was an instru
ment that enabled this alchemy to take place for the
pharaoh, who had ruled as the god incarnate, and allowed
that incarnation to pass from father to son, from Osiris to
Horus. Encapsulating the dangerous interface between cos
mic order and the terrible formlessness of time before the
beginning, the pyramid is better understood as the meeting
point of life and light with death and darkness. Our earliest
insight intcfsuch ideas comes from the Pyramid Texts, writ
ten on the walls of pyramid chambers beginning with Unas
in the 5th dynasty. These texts speak to us of what the pyra
mid meant as an icon and offer glimpses of the burial cere
monies for the god-king and the rituals that were carried out
once his mortal remains had been mummified and
entombed, setting the cosmic engine in motion.
ww**v*-zrrvv4**MI
The Ka, the Ba
and the Body Embalmed
This Unas has come.. .His two wings having grown as
those of a falcon, feathered as those of a hawk, his ba
having brought him, his magic having equipped him.
You shall open your place among the stars in the sky.'
Pyramid Texts, 245,250-5]
W hen we visit the pyram ids we walk on ancient
graveyards. T he pyram ids and their temples, and
the burials of kings, nobles and commoners,
express the unique ancient Egyptian idea of death.
(Above) A simple predynastic Death is a ritual process for the living and the
grave, the body buried in a pit E gyptians marked their passage into the hereafter
beneath a mound. The body perhaps more than other ancient societies. For them
was naturally desiccated by
the hot, dry desert sands. death w as nor the end, but just, one of the transfor
m ations in lifes natural cycle. T he final change in
(Above right) Early evidence statu s depended on the first duty in the housekeep sands. A s time went on graves became more elabo
o f mummification: a human ing of death - the treatm ent of the corpse. rate, sep aratin g the body from the sand. Ironically,
arm from the tomb o f King D uring life the body w as called khet or ini - these m easures promoted decay instead of preser
Djer at Abydos, -with linen vation. T he first steps tow ards m um m ification -
form , appearance; the corpse was khat. T rans
wrappings and four bracelets.
formed into a mummy, it w as sah, a word whose w rapping the body in linen - coincide w ith the
root is also used for to be noble. Mummification development of tomb superstructures, ju s t after
w as not so much the preservation of the body as it the rise of the E gyptian state. An arm w ith b an
had been during life, but the transfiguration of the dages and w earing four bracelets, dating to the 1st
corpse into a new body filled with m agic, a sim ul dynasty, w as found in the tom b of Djer a t Abydos.
acrum or statue in w rappings and resin. In fact, mummification may have stem m ed from
a practice diametrically opposite to preventing the
The origins of mummification bodys decay. Petrie found evidence which suggest
It is often stated that mum mification w as inspired ed to him that a s early as predynastic tim es certain
by sim ple predynastic pit b urials in which the body people were prepared for deaths passage by allow
w as naturally desiccated by contact with the desert ing the body to decompose, with the skeletal p arts
22
then reassembled. Before preparing the mummy, and therefore with the food offerings in the tomb. This wonderfully complete,
the objective was to remove all body p a rts that For your ka' w as an Egyptian toast with food and life-sized wooden ka -statue of
would putrefy. By early dynastic times the skeleton drink offerings sim ilar to our salute to your health. the 13th-dynasly king Auibre-
Hor was found in his tomb at
was re-incorporated in a linen-wrapped effigy. Dis W hile residing discretely in each person the ka Dahshur, within the precinct
coveries in elite tom bs a t Meidum, on the threshold was characterized by its transferability and com of Amenemhet Ills pyramid.
>f the pyram id age, show how dism em berm ent and monality. In E gyptian artistic convention the
recomposition of corpses w as practised on the bod upraised arm s of the ka hieroglyph represent an
ies of the m ost im portan t people in the land. Well em brace. For the E gyptians an em brace tra n s
into the Middle Kingdom, hum an rem ains inside ferred vital force between two people, o r between
mum mies are often little more than skeletons. gods and king. T he ka w as transferred through the
T his observation is all the more intriguing when family lineage - it was generic and, in our terms,
we realize that dism em berm ent and decay in death genetic. For everyone, this life force extended back
.ere am ong the prim ary fears of the Egyptians. through countless generations to the creator god
Certain funerary texts from all periods contain, who transferred his ha to the gods, who, in turn,
along with such fears, positive allusions to the transferred theirs to the king. T h e king is the life
recomposition of the body. In the Pyram id Texts (p. force, the ka, of his people - 'the ka of the living.
31) spells call for the recom position of the royal At death ones ka went to rest, subsum ed back
body, im plying a prior state of dism em berm ent. All into its generic folds. T his return to commonality
.his relates to E g y p ts central myth about Osiris took place while the body w as prepared and tran s
who w as killed and dism em bered by his brother formed into the mummy. The ka then needed to be
Seth, reconstituted by his sister-wife Isis as. the reactivated so that the spiritual transform ation of
archetypal mum my and avenged by his son Horus, rebirth could take place and so that the link to the
he god incarnate in every king. land of the living, through the tomb, could be
Dism em berm ent renders som ething dysfunction- established and maintained. For this to happen
. Ln the tomb precinct, a liminai zone between this the deceased had to travel to join their ka, but
vorld and the Netherworld, the E gyptians seem to not as the body, bound up in its w rappings. It is
:-.ve been anxious to dism em ber things th a t m ight the ba that m akes the journey.
highly charged by contact w ith the dead. Struc-
..es associated with death and burial were some- The ba
::nes ritually disassem bled and carefully buried If the ka is the generic life force, the ba is a per
-cparate from the body. T he southern ships of sons individual renown or distinctive m anifes
.. ufu are particularly large and wonderfully com- tation - the impression made on others. The ba
Y fte exam ples (p. 118). A nother is the canopy has often been translated a s soul and consid
end under Khafres satellite pyram id. Probably ered a part of the total human being along with
a-ed for transporting a funerary statue, it had been the ka and akh. But detailed studies indicate that
. jpped up and the pieces packed in a box, buried the ba and akh are entities in their own right.
n a blind passage under the pyram id (p. 126). T he ba seem s to have been a fully corporeal
it one goal of mummification w as to put aw ay mode of existence with the ability, for instance,
I to incapacitate the dead, the point w as also to to eat, drink, travel and copulate. It is represent
K em ble the body to gain release in another ed by the hieroglyph of the ibis; from the 18th
ane of existence. T he paradox of the bound dynasty it had a hum an head.
rr .jm m y w as th a t it also allowed liberation and con- T he bas of gods were their m anifestation in
' ::ued life - not so the dead could haunt the living, nature - stars, inanimate objects, even other gods.
:t so they could be reborn in the Afterlife. T he two A ba of Shu, god of the air, is wind. Likewise the
alm s did, however, interact. In fact they were bas of the king are the m anifestations of his power
:mally dependent. For this reason the E gyptians - an arm ed expedition, for example. Cities had bas.
i :.:ited the spirits of their departed to be bound to Even inanim ate objects like temple pylons, thresh
mortal rem ains - but confined to the other side ing floors, doors and sacred books had bas. D uring
the tomb. T he reassem bled body served as an life this power w as revealed prim arily through the
- hor for a spiritual reassem bly on the other side body. With death the body becomes inanim ate and
the false door, a m ysterious alchemy of a per- so the form er personality and statu s of a person
- nV separate parts, the ka and the ba. were distilled into a being that could travel to the
realm s of the Afterlife and then return to the tomb.
The ka In the Afterlife the ba could not function if the
; ka is one of the most im portant dim ensions of corpse w as decaying and putrefying - it w as for
- hum an being in E gyptian thought, yet there is this reason that all potential for decay had to be
>easy translation. It is w ritten with the sign of stripped from the body. The Coffin Texts tell the
. raised arm s, bent perpendicular at the elbows, deceased thy ba aw akest upon thy corpse, but for
'h a p s the most succinct translation is life force'. this to happen the corpse had to be m ade f ir m ,
ka is associated with food sustenance, kau, established, stable, enduring, whole, sound.
23
The Ka, the Ba
and the Body Embalmed
A s in rituals around the world, Egyptian rites of plete entity, co-existing with the ka and the ba. Ar
death and passage to a higher sta tu s involved a effective, equipped akii comes close to our concep-
stage where the distinguishing features of life were of a ghost, for it could reach across the liminal zoik
stripped and dissolved. As a collection of excarnat- of the tomb to have positive or negative effects or.
ed bones, desiccated flesh and hair, the naked body the realm of earthly life. Being an akh had its prac
of a king looked like th at of anyone else. The burial tical responsibilities in the world of the living.
ritual re-established social statu s and personality,
now realized a s the ba. T h e Pyram id Texts speak of Pyramid as place of transformation
the royal insignia, the uraeus and the Eye of Horus, T he success of an ancient E gyptian in the Afterlife
being given to the king. For passing through the depended on the burial rites and later offering ritu
doors of heaven, the king puts on a ^ -g a rm e n t, the als in the tomb. For the king, the pyram id w as the
leopard pelt of princely and priestly power. place of ascension and transform ation. His inde
As m iraculous as this new mode of existence pendent m odes of being - particularly his ka
may have been, it w as still only part of the final stood a t the head of all his living and. dead subjects
transform ation. A journey followed to the sky, to T his w as particularly true in the Old Kingdom
sunlight, to the stars. In the celestial realms the w hen only the kings pyram id w as inscribed with
deceased hoped to attain higher status, second only funerary texts. No wonder, then, that it w as so
to becoming a god - resurrection as an akh. im portant to take care of his ka, for in a sense r j
contained the life force of all his living subjects.
The akh T he nam es of pyram ids show that they were per
T he Pyram id T exts speak of the king ascending to ceived as places of ascension and transform ation
Nut, the sky goddess, leaving a H orus. a new liv K hufus w as Akhet, the Horizon, of Khufu. Built
The akh was represented as ing king, behind him. Joining the s ta r s the king on the word akh, the nam e signified not just th-
the crested ibis. This was the becomes an akh. Akh is often translated as sp irit horizon but the rad ian t place of glorification. A
final transformation o f the or spirit state. It derives from the term for 'radiant series of 5th-dynasty pyram id nam es contain a ref
deceased. light, w ritten with the crested ibis, as though the erence to the ba. Six of the 26 known pyramid
crest transform s the ordinary ibis bird of the ba. nam es refer to the rising of the king, while five refer
The akh is the fully resurrected, glorified form of to his perfection. Five others affirm that the king is
the deceased in the Afterlife. Akh is also a word for established and endures, while eight pyram ids
effective, profitable, 'useful'. T he reunion of the are nam ed for the kings places or thrones which
ba with the ka is effected by the burial ritual, creat rise, flourish and are established, pure, divine
ing the final transform ation of the deceased as an and perfect. As the kings ascended and re-estab
akh. As a m em ber of the starry sky, called akh-akh lished their courts in the Afterlife, generations of
in the Pyram id T exts and the New Kingdom Book E gyptians moved as cohorts across deaths thresh
of the Dead, the king is free to move on and over the old to live again as a com m unity of kas\ focused
earth. Like the ba, the akh was thought of as a com on the pyram id and its surrounding necropolis.
24
'Horus takes him to his fingers, that he may cleanse
this Unas in the Jackal [Anubis] Basin;
He will release the ka of this Unas in the Morning
Basin;
He will wipe off the flesh of the Im of his body; Burial Rituals
He conducts the ka of this Unas and of his body to the
Great House.'
Pyramid Texts 268
and the Pyramid Complex
:rial rituals enacted a t the pyram id ensured the
' -.nsfer of kingship from the dead pharaoh to the
m g one. These rituals m ight therefore help us in whose name, Wet, means the W rapper, who w as in
ierstanding the function of p arts of the pyra- charge of those who changed the cadaver into the
i complex. Much of our inform ation for Egypt- mummy. T he Lector Priest, one who carries the
. funerals comes from scenes in tom bs of high ritual, possessed knowledge which w as key to the
flcials, since the kings funeral is never show n in transform ation of the deceased into an akh.
ir.y of the pictorial fragm ents recovered from pyra- Planked by the two Kites and accompanied by
r r . : temples. On the basis of such scenes the funer- the others, the coffin w as loaded on to a boat. Those
vremonv has been divided into 4, 5 or as many who had lived some distance from the necropolis
' 16 episodes. In typical E gyptian fashion there probably reached it by old river channels, canals or
\ re rituals embedded w ithin rituals, for embalm- a harbour-lake for the pyram id complex. For those
j. purification, burial and offering. T his sacred who had lived in towns at the base of the pyram id
-atre w as probably seldom complete in all its acts plateau, there could have been a voyage on a token
xcept. perhaps, for the king. canal, perhaps indicated by scenes of the boat
towed by rows of men on the banks. T he disassem
I'he voyage of the dead bled boats ritually buried in pits outside K hufus
:r first glimpse of the opening scenes of the pyram id enclosure (p. 118) may have been used to
:eral pageant is in reliefs in 6 th-dynasty tombs. carry the kings body on this voyage. Docking at
.men shriek and wail, people fall to the ground, the pyram id harbour, the deceased w as unloaded
i :d their clothing and throw dirt on their heads as before the Doors of Heaven, described in the P y ra
- coffin is carried on a bier. Already we see a cast mid Texts as p a rt of the w atery celestial world. In
characters who will rem ain the principals tomb scenes of the funeral, the doors were associat
roughout the funeral. T he Old Kingdom proces- ed w ith the Ibu, the Tent of Purification.
y >n includes a woman labelled the Kite, either a
rofessional m ourner or the widow. Later there The Ibu and the Wabet Mourners, dressed in white,
precede the coffin hauled
* re two Kites, identified w ith Isis and Nephthys, So far, the corpse had probably not received any
along on a long-poled bier in
urners of Osiris. They are mentioned in the elaborate treatm ent. But before it could enter the tins scene from the New
1 ramid Texts, where the dead king is identified sacred necropolis it had to be purified. As we have Kingdom Book o f the Dead
i :*h Osiris. Also present w as the Em balm er, seen, the cleansing at some point involved the of Am.
ABNMN
removal of m ost of the soft tissue. W here did this were performed in the Ibu, while the long period of
take place? Tomb scenes give the impression that desiccation followed in the Wabet. Relief scenes iri
alm ost immediately after arriving at the necropolis, the Giza tomb of Qar show his Wabet which is
the body w as taken to the Ibu, or the Ibu en Waab, labelled ' Wabet of a period of tim e and which has
the T e n t of Purification. sim ilarities with the valley temple of Pepi II. Both
In tomb scenes the Ibu is a light construction of have three main central rooms, a long narrow blind
wood poles and reed m ats shielding a rectangular corridor and one side taken over by magazines.
space, on or near the edge of a waterway, with Such individual correspondences between the
pathw ays and doors at either end. Comparisons valley temples of Khafre and Pepi II and features of
can be m ade to known pyram id valley temples, p a r 6 th-dynasty scenes of funeral rituals - the edge of
ticularly those of Khafre at Giza and Pepi II a t a canal o r basin, two pathw ays, two entrances, a
The plan o f Pepi IPs valley South Saqqara. Along the front of Pepi IIs temple, portico, the form of the Divine Booth - have
temple reflects the main ram ps ascended from the harbour to a platform, prompted suggestions that the valley temples func
features of Qars wabet,
with doorw ays through small kiosks at each end. tioned as the Ibu, or the Ibu and Wabet combined. B.
highlighted above: two
vestibules or antechambers, Khafres valley temple is also approached by two Grdseloff thought that the purification w as carried
a blind corridor or stairway stone ram ps up to a low terrace along the temple out on the roof of the valley temple and em balm ing
(below), main h/ill and side front. In 1996 Zahi H aw ass found tunnels in the in the vestibule. H erbert Ricke believed the whole
magazines (lop o f plan). bedrock beneath the ram ps, with mudbrick walls process would have taken place in m udbrick build
form ing a corridor, perhaps a token canal. After ings elsewhere, then ritually re-enacted in the val
(Tossing this sym bolic waterway, ram p s lead to the ley temple. None of the eight excavated valley
north and south doors of the valley temple. T h e lb u temples - of 28 that probably existed - contain an
could therefore have been a tem porary wood-frame obvious place for the processes of mummification.
and reed-mat stru ctu re on platform s in front of the
valley temple, if not p art of the valley temple itself. Journey to the tomb
Prom the Ibu the body w as taken to the Wabet - T he mum mified body in its coffin w as now pulled
from a word m eaning 'pure. In the tomb of Pepi- by oxen on a sledge to the necropolis. A t this stage
ankh this is called the Pure Place of W rapping. the coffin procession still involved the Kites and
Wabet is usually translated 'm ortuary w orkshop priests. T he procession to the tomb also included
and said to be the place of embalming. It has been furnishing for setting up house in the Afterlife:
suggested th at the royal Wabel could have been in linen, tools, weapons, pottery and metal vessels,
the m ortuary temple. However, texts and pictorial ointments, oils and sym bols of social status. Unfor
representations hint that the Wabet w as in the val tunately, no pyram id has been found archaeologi-
ley - perhaps the valley temple - and near thtlb u . cally with its burial assem blage intact, so we can
If the process of desiccation and partial dism em only guess a t the riches it w ould have comprised.
berm ent lasted 70 days, or a major p art of 272 days An im portant ritual at the tom b was an invoca
as noted in the tomb of Queen M eresankh, the Ibu tion called 'com ing forth at the voice. The deceased
may not have been secure enough. Perhaps ritual w as summoned to come and partake of the offer
lustration and removal of the viscera and brain ings. A s time w ent on, offerings became lengthier
26
M c ^ r w i r 7 ^) eran =>'
27
This World and the
Netherworld
I come forth by day to any place where I may wish to be.
I have gained power over my heart, I have gained power
over my breast, I have gained power over my hands, I
have gained power over my feet, I have gained power
over my mouth. 1 have gained power over all limbs of
mine ... I sit down, I stand up.'
28
The most dramatic
representation o f resurrection
from the Duat through the
primeval mound was
conceived at the end o f the
19th dynasty as an
embellishment the Book of
Caverns, a scene painted in
the tombs o f the pharaoh
Merenptah and the queen
Tawosret. Although it is not
labelled pyramid', the mound
has the form, of a regular
triangle split in half, with the
two sides slid apart like a
gigantic doorway. The
pyramid has a black apex and
a bhie watery middle band to
symbolize the path o f the sun
through the black darkness
and blue waters o f the
Netherworld. Inside each half
a god bends over a black
mound enclosing a face,
representing the god buried
within the Duat. The texts
label this, 'the Great God, the
Secret of the Duat. Other
texts refer to this motif as
the Secret Mound, in which
there is the interior o f the
great mystery. Below the
opened pyramid, with wings
outstretched for the
ms in tiie fez-like em brace on the sides. T he kin g s pre-dawn glow in the eastern horizon, and by the impending glory o f dawns
mb w as also a cosmic womb, an idea articulated sunset flam ing in the west, to see the area just flight, is the night-form o f the
:he Pyram id Texts (616 df): below the horizon as the place of glorification. sun god with a ram's head.
Khufus pyram id was A khet K hufu. Here, and in The rising o f tlie sun god
j are given to your mother, Nut, in her identity of the takes place in the opening o f
the Pyram id Texts, A kh et is w ritten w ith the crest the pyramid-gate. Other
. ffin,
ed ibis and elliptical land-sign, not w ith the hiero participants total 24, probably
has gathered you up, in her identity of the
rcophagus, glyph of the sun disk between two m ountains that representing the 24 hours of
u are ascended to her. in her identity of the tomb. was used later to write horizon. A s the place where tlie day and night. The birth
the deceased becomes an akh, a suggested tran sla itself is assisted by gigantic
;i< suggests th a t the sloping pyram id passages tion is Spirit or Light Land. arms that reach down from
above to lift out the upside-
scending to the burial cham bers were seen in fact down figure o f a child, a
' ascending to Nut in the Netherworld. T he word The living and the dead scarab atul a sun disk.
Netherworld w as Dual, often w ritten with a All the cosmic skies and seas, and all the arcane Although this scene was
'ta r in a circle, a reference to Orion, the stellar imagery, stem from the uncertainty about the voy composed well over a
vpression of Osiris, in the Underworld. O siris w as age between this world and the Netherworld. At the thousand years after the
Lord of the Duat, which, like the celestial world end of the journey, the Netherworld w as a vague Pyramid Texts, the same
theme o f renewal o f creation
.nd the real Nile Valley) w as both a w ater world reflection of this world - Netherworld celestial
- rebirth - in the depths of
.-.nd an earthly realm. In the Pyram id Texts the geography w as sim ilar to the Nile Valley a t inunda tlie earth is expressed in
r'at is connected to the earth or to a darker region tion; Netherworld society lived on in T h a t City, pictures as it was in stone in
ying prim arily beneath. Aker, the earth god in the where the deceased could be influential if she/he the massive pyramids o f the
rrn of a double Sphinx, w as the entrance - became effective - an akh. Old Kingdom.
'ready the Sphinx is a guardian of gateways. To continue an effective life beyond the grave, the
A kh e t is usually translated as horizon, where dead required living household m em bers to attend
ind and the skies touch, but it m eant much more in to the services of the tomb. In retu rn for this, the
'he Egyptian world concept. W ritten with the sam e living requested th at their dead relatives use their
' *>t as the word akh, the A kh et w as where the dead influence to m aintain the household, of which the
vere transform ed into effective inhabitants of the tomb w as a part. They m ade their petitions in let
orld beyond death. As p art of the sky, it w as also ters to the dead written on bowls, linen, stelae or
.he place into which the sun, and therefore the king, even jar stan d s and deposited in the tomb. Once
was reborn from w ithin the Duat. It is not hard to established in the Netherworld, the deceased was
imagine the early E gyptians being inspired by the ju st beyond the veil of the false door. M aintenance
29
of the household and transfer of the estate were the head of the entire E gyptian household supremely
This World and the
real motives behind the burial rituals, the tom b and effective [akh) in the Netherworld. W ith the su r
Netherworld
all the weird imagery of the Netherworld. The one rounding tom bs of m em bers of the court and royal
who buried the deceased head of the household family, the pyram id necropolis w as a stone sim u
inherited the estate; the prince who buried the dead lacrum of T h a t City. Its role w as to carry the king
king in his pyram id inherited the kingship. The as head of the living kas, and therefore the entire
most immense tom bs - the pyram ids - made the com m unity w ith him, to the new life after death.
In the New Kingdom, just as the pyramid as the royal and below, registers show the architecture and
The burial place was replaced by a natural pyramidal denizens of the Dual which is divided into 12
Netherworld mountain above the subterranean tombs of the Valley
of the Kings, new funerary texts emphasized a
hours. In the 5th hour a pyramid-like mound rises
to interrupt the three registers. Above the pyramid
in the Netherworld in and under the earth. As opposed to is a small mound of sand - a stylized grave. Both
grave and pyramidal mound are subterranean, as
AT 77 " 7 ^eac*Ay^ up to the celestial light, the sun god
N e w K .lilg d O fy i comes to the dead with his entourage, journeying indicated by a stippled band to represent sand.
down the Nile of the night in his barque. Within this From the apex of the pyramid a head emerges,
imagined realm are underworld pyramids that in some versions identified as the flesh of Isis, who
elaborate themes hinted at in the Pyramid Texts. is over the Land of Sokar. Sokar, the most
This new genre of funerary composition, at first mysterious form of the god Osiris, Lord of the
exclusive to the king's tomb like the older Pyramid Netherworld, is the core of the scene, awakening
Texts, decorated the walls of the royal tombs in the inside his ellipse or egg within the pyramidal
Valley of the Kings. For convenience the texts are mound. The texts state that not even the sun god
called Books': the Book of Caverns, Book of Gates, can penetrate Sokars chamber, but his passage and
Book of Aker. As with the Pyramid Texts of a his words to Sokar in the sealed chamber set off a
thousand years earlier, they contain variations on the reaction within the egg.
creation theme, now played out as a journey The exchange between light - the sun god - and
systematized into 7 gates, 21 doors, 7 heavenly cows, darkness - the cavern of Sokar - allows
14 mounds and 12 caverns. These are illustrated map- resurrection to take place at the end of the night
guides to the Netherworld. The oldest is Amduat, the journey, when the scarab beetle Khepri pushes the
Book of W hat is in the Underworld, which first ball of the sun through the gates of the horizon, as
appears in the reign of Thutmose 1 (1504-1492 BC). the mummiform Osiris slips back into the Dual.
The journey of the sun god in his night form of a The renewal of creation in the depths of the earth
ram-headed man is depicted in the central register of allows the kings soul to ascend from the tomb just
the walls of descending corridors of tombs. Above as it allows the sun to rise again.
As for anyone who shall lay a finger on this pyramid and
this temple which belong to me and to my double.... he
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
be judged by the Ennead and he will be nowhere and
hishouse will be nowhere; he will be one proscribed, one
who eats himself.
Pyramid Texts, 1278-79 The Pyramid Texts
The route through a pyram id complex leads finally
i the great stone false door at the back of the offer
ing chapel. On the other side, behind solid mason-
. deep under the pyram id, lay the m ost intimate
r Kims of this house of eternity: the burial cham ber most recent royal edition, in the small pyram id of
.nd antecham ber. Beginning with the pyram id of Ibi, includes spells unknown in older ones. This
' nS a t the end of the 5th dynasty, the walls of suggests a fair degree of fluidity and individual
these cham bers were inscribed w ith vertical choice of repertoire for each king. On the basis of
lu n n s of texts from E g y p ts - indeed the w orlds both archaeological and historical evidence, schol
ildest religious literature. T he Pyram id T exts are ars recognize references to the Old Kingdom state,
tantalizing, yet confusing, literary w indow on to and therefore date their earliest composition to the
he m eaning of a pyram id complex. period after the unification.
The Brugsch brothers, Emile and Heinrich, made D uring the F irst Interm ediate Period and Middle
he initial discovery of Pyram id Texts in 1881 in Kingdom, Pyram id Texts were also inscribed in the
he pyram ids of Unas, Teti, Pepi I, Merenre and tom bs of high officials. They were then subsum ed
. - pi II. K urt Sethe prepared the first definitive edi- into the Coffin Texts, found inside the coffins of
n of the texts, num bering 714 individual sayings im portant people. Pyram id Texts were still includ
r spells. New texts found in 1925 in the pyram ids ed in the tom bs of officials in the New Kingdom, in
Pepi II and his queens, Neith, Tput and Wed- the Book of the Dead and in Late Period funerary
: hten extended the num ber to 759. French excava- papyri. T he can also be recognized, after radical
r.s in South Saqqara, under Jean Leclant, have reworking, in New Kingdom temple ritual. Copies
c ".nnued to find new texts in the last two decades. of Pyram id Texts have been found in Late Period
In spite of great repetition of the spells and their tom bs and sarcophagi. T he fact that such copies,
. juences, the 'editions of Pyram id T exts differ carefully executed in Old Kingdom style, include
' m one pyram id to another. T he oldest edition, spells both known and unknow n in Old Kingdom
. at of Unas, contains only 283 of the known texts editions, hints th at the known Old Kingdom texts
: includes ones not found in later editions. T he are a selection from a larger body of texts.
1 Dramatic T exts include spells of lament, beings. For example. Spell 220 hails the crown as
- His of the offering ritual, and spells relating to the king takes possession of it: He comes to you, 0
provision of the kings crowns, to the Crown! He comes to you, 0 Flame; He comes to you,
reduction of equipment to the grave, and vo the 0 Great One; He comes to you. O Rich in Magic.
ening of the mouth and other statue rituals. The The Hymns and Litanies may have been composed
I ;malic Texts take the form of recited speech and during the 4th dynasty,
scribed action: raise up before him (the
.vased), lay on the ground in front of him. Some 4 T h e G lorifications - the Sakha, literally, that
the texts suggest that the speaker and the which makes one into an A kh', form the largest part
ipient take on the roles of gods in the prescribed of the Pyramid Texts. The oldest glorification
*ual action. The formulation of the Dramatic spells, probably carried out at the tomb during the
xts may date to the 2nd and 3rd dynasties. funeral, mention the sand tomb (PT 1877-78) and
the mudbrick mastaba (PT 572c-e). Many of the
J H ym ns w ith N am e Form ulae set the cult Glorification Texts are, however, the. youngest
mbols, actions and ritual objects of the Dramatic Pyramid Texts, composed during the 5th and even
xts in the context of mythical stories or as late as the 6 th dynasty.
usions, sometimes by adding, in this thy name
nr simply as. 5 T he M agical T exts consist of short protection
spells for charming snakes and other dangerous Pyramid texts inscribed before
> 1-itan ies are structured as verse and consist of beings. From their form of speech, they are judged the portcullises in Pepi ! s
umerations and sequences of names and name to be the oldest texts, dating to the early Archaic pyramid, translated in the
: : mulae pertaining to particular divine things and Period. opening quote.
31
The pyramid o f Unas at Like the program m es of statu es and reliefs in the Fragmented myth and ritual
Saqqara is the earliest to pyram id temples, the overall theme of the Pyram id T he Pyram id Texts make allusions to m yths, par
contain Pyramid Texts. Texts w as the eternal existence of the king in the ticularly the central pageant of O siris and the con
A detail i$ shown opposite.
Afterlife. However, it has not been easy to recognize flict between Horus and Seth over the inheritance of
a completely coherent treatm ent. The texts do, how the kingdom, but never provide a coherent n arra
ever, have a decided em phasis on the sky realm of tion of the stories. Instead there are, scattered
the sun god, an em phasis which m akes scholars throughout, fragm ents of myths, as though the
suspect Heliopolis as the place w here much of the story as a whole is too potent for outright telling.
corpus w as conceived and form ulated. The king Opinions differ as to the purpose of this poetic
joins the extended family of the gods; in fact, his discourse, draped like a curtain of ritual and magic
death and resurrection is a homecoming. He boards around the innerm ost cham bers of the pyramid.
the ship of the sun god and voyages through the For the Egyptians, word and its effect were per
sky and the various fields of the Netherworld. ceived a s one and the same. K urt Sethe considered
Alternatively, the king flies to the sky as a falcon, the texts a free-form am algam ation of spells that,
kite or goose, or leaps upw ard as a grasshopper. Or inscribed perm anently on the walls around the
he is assisted in his ascent by the natural forces like k ings body, allowed him to be transform ed and res
wind and hail storm s. His destiny is both the day urrected, a view which m any agree with. Others,
and the night sky, for he joins the northern Im per while not disagreeing, also see them as the script o;
ishable Stars. A s they identify the dead king with the funeral rituals. T h e idea that p arts of the Pyra
Osiris, the Pyram id Texts also present a chthonic mid Texts were recited in particular contexts is
Underworld dimension of the. Afterlife. m ade compelling by directions like w ords to be
32
king. T he rest of the offering ritual sp eak s of the
king being dressed, anointed and fed, as he w as in The Pyramid Texts
the private rooms of the royal residence during life.
>>V
33
its faces is a winged sun disk in relief. Below are
two wedjat, sacred eyes, and below them are three
nefer (b eauty or perfection) signs; below these
again we find the hieroglyph for the sun disk,
The Pyramid as Icon flanked by th e nam e and titles of A m enem het III.
T he whole com position can be read as: A m en
em het beholds the perfection of Re. T he sacred
eyes are those of the king himself. Like the nam es
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTfTTf of the pyram ids - Sneferu Gleams', G reat is
Khafre - the eyes tell us that the pyram ids were
Arum Scarab! personifications of the dead kings who were buried
When you became high, as the high ground, and revivified w ithin them.
when you rose as the ben-ben, in the Phoenix Enclosure,
in Heliopolis, Pyramid and ben-ben
you sneezed Shu,
you spat Tefnut, and you put your arms around them, as T he phrase beholds the perfection of Re is one of
the arms of ka, that your ka might be in them. many indications th a t the true pyram ids were seen
Pyramid Texts as sym bols of the sun. T he identification of the
pyram id with the sacred ben-ben stone in the .tem
The pyram id w as above all an icon, a towering ple of Heliopolis is another sign th at the pyram ids
symbol. It has been said that the E gyptians did not were sun symbols. To understand the ben-ben we
distinguish sharply between hieroglyphic writing, m ust begin w ith A tum , probably the earliest god
The full hieroglyphic
determinative for pyramid. two-dimensional art and relief carving, sculpture w orshipped at Heliopolis. An aspect of the sun god,
Could the red band, at the and monum ental architecture. In a sense, the py ra he is the old sun of the evening as opposed to Ra
base signify that pyramids mids are gigantic hieroglyphs. But why a pyramid? at noon and Khepri - the scarab beetle - the m orn
were thus painted, as some And how should we read the pyram id glyph? ing sun. Atum w as also the oldest creator god; in
have thought? Or is it a his most prim eval form he w as the singularit}
vestige o f the red granite Pyramid and pyramidion w ithin the primeval w aters of the Abyss. T he root.
casing at the. base o f some,
pyramids, such as Khafres, The word for pyram id in ancient Egyptian is mer. tm, in A tum s nam e m eans complete, finish,
Menkaures and There seem s to be no cosmic significance in the yet also not-be. In later texts Atum is Lord of
Neferirkares? term itself. I.E.S. Edw ards, the g reat pyramid Totality and the Completed One, and in the Pyra
authority, attem pted to find a derivation from m, mid Texts he is self-developing or self-evolving.
instrum ent or place, plus ar, ascension, as place A tum is a chthonic god - virtually everything that
of ascension. Although he himself doubted this exists is p art of his 'flesh, having evolved as his
derivation, the pyram id w as indeed a place or millions of kas. How did this evolution begin?
instrum ent of ascension for the king after death. A ccording to Pyram id Text 527,
O ur word pyram id comes from the Greek, pyra- Atom is the one who developed, getting an erection in
m is (pi. pyramides), wheaten cake. T he Egyptians Heliopolis.
The pyramidion of had a conical bread loaf called ben-ben, which was He put his penis in his grasp that he might make orgasm
Amenemhet Ills pyramid at also the word for the capstone of a pyram id or the with it,
Dahshur (p. 179). The eyes tip of an obelisk - ben-benet, named after the ben- and the two siblings were born, Shu and Tefnut.
are the pharaohs, gazing up ben stone, the sacred icon in the temple of Helio Shu, the god of air and atm osphere, and his sis
from within his pyramid to polis, the oldest centre of the sun cult. ter Tefnut are the next generation of prim eval gods.
the beauty of the sun.
T he capstone o r pyram idion is the complete
pyram id in m iniature, bringing the structure to a
point at the sam e angle and with the sam e propor
tions as the main body. Stadelm ann found the
earliest pyram idion at Sneferus North P y ra
mid at D ahshur (p. 104), made of the sam e
limestone as the casing and uninscribed.
A num ber of pyram idions also survive Atum (creator god)
from Middle Kingdom royal py ra
mids and from the small pyram ids ~ l
of non-royal tom bs of New Shu (god of air) = Tefnut
Kingdom and later times (p.
186). A m enem het Ills p y ra Geb (earth) Nut (sky)
midion, of hard black
stone, from his p y ra I 1 -------- 1 1
Osiris (underworld) = Isis Nephthys Seth
mid at Dahshur, is the
m ost complete royal
i
Horus (god of kingship)
capstone. On one of
34
The genealogy leads to Geb (earth) and Nut (sky)
who beget Osiris, his sister and wife, Isis, his broth-
r and adversary, Seth, and Seths counterpart
Nephthys. Osiris and Isis beget Horus, the god of
-:ingship. T hus kingship goes back to the Creator.
)ther texts relate A turns erection and ejaculation
' the ben-ben pyram id ion through a cosmic pun on
'he root, bn, which is associated with procreation
nd could mean become erect' or ejaculate.
Bn could connote the idea of swelling in general,
/h e concept of A tum s m asturbation w as that he
xpanded as a mound [bnnf) in the abysm al w aters
Nun. T he E gyptians m ust have envisaged this
- the Nile Valley land em erging from the receding
a ::iers of the annual inundation. W ithin a few lines
: this text that speaks of A tum s primeval mound,
theologians are m ixing m etaphors with impun-
. associating Creation with the image of the
- arab beetle and the ben-ben at Heliopolis. In the
- me breath, Shu and Tefnut are said to come forth,
onomatopoeia, from A tum s sneezing (ishesh)
ar.d spitting {iff).
As an image of the primeval mound, the pyra-
.d is, therefore, a place of creation and rebirth in doing on his pyramidion. If we could look through The pyramids magically
Abyss. The Phoenix, Benu in Egyptian, the picture-window of the pyram id, its temples combined the darkest and
: pears in the tapestry of the Heliopolitan creation and its underground apartm ents, we would better most dense primeval earth
and the rays of celestial light.
: ; :h both by virtue of its sound-sim ilarity with appreciate the pyram id com plex as a royal house,
ben, and because it retu rn s after long periods to w ith its gate house (valley temple), entrance corri
- Ju ral habitat, which the E gyptians pictured as dor (causeway), vestibule, courtyard, portico and
< /ram id al perch of sticks. reception room (court and statu e chamber),
antecham ber to the private quarter, dining (offer
sunlight and the pyramid ing) hall, and, furthest back, the most intimate
iii:h ben-ben and pyram id m ay have symbolized ap artm en t where the king sleeps in death only to be Pyramidal icons (from left to
rays of the sun, particularly as they appear reawakened, bathed, and clothed before reappear right): 2nd-dynasty depiction
of the benu (phoenix) bird on
- ir.ing through a break in clouds - the pyram id is ing in the celestial court.
the solar disc at the apex of
:s the im material m ade material. T he Pyram id W hat m akes the arrangem ent unlike any house the ben-ben; a New Kingdom
>.:s speak of the sun s rays as a ram p by which is the pyram id itself, towering above the m ost inti benu bird from the tomb o f
king m ounts up to the sun, ju st as the older step mate rooms. It is the pyramid th at merges this eter Harnesses VI; an obelisk
: ram ids may have been seen as giant stairs. But nal house w ith th at of the gods - the cosmos. T he named as the embodiment
pyram id w as much more than a magical device pyram id is a sim ulacrum of both the m ound of o f Osiris - this, like the late
funerary image o f Osiris
- the king to m ount to heaven. It was a place of primeval earth and the w eightless rays of sunlight,
inside a dark step pyramid,
sical and spiritual transform ation that tied the a union of heaven and earth th at glorifies and reflects the chthomc aspect
-r's ascent to the creation of the world and to the transform s the divine king and ensures the divine o f the pyramid as primeval
i .:'.y rebirth of the sun. ru le of the E gyptian household. mound.
There is evidence th at the ben-ben stone w as
"ally cone-shaped and the pyram id is the easiest
to mimic this in m onum ental architecture.
we have to keep in mind the original appear-
e of the pyram id when most of its surface w as
- ly covered with sm oothed white limestone. The
r!h*cted light m ust have been so brilliant a s to be
'St blinding.
There is a kind of picture-window principle to
;::h of E gyptian a rt and architecture that m ight
'.y to the pyram id as a stone model of immateri-
sunlight. In one sense the pyram id may have
.. a gigantic reflector, a stone sim ulacrum of
. Tight and a window to the sky, as though we
\ inside die m ass of stone looking out at the
. Tight, exactly as the eyes of Amenem het III are
35
mm.
The pyram ids o f Giza as depicted by one o f Napoleons artists, fro m the
Description de lEgyple.
n EXPLORERS AND SCIENTISTS
the Sphinx, A m enhotep II (c. 1.-427 b c ) acknow
ledges both K hufu and Khafre. K haem w aset (c.
1250 b c ), son of Rarnesses II and High Priest of
Memphis, appears to have done some restoration
Early Legends work on 5th- and 6 th-dynasty pyram ids a t Saqqara
and Abusir, and other Old Kingdom tombs, includ
ing Shepseskafs M astabat el-Faraun.
The New Kingdom rulers did not, however,
restore the nam es of the builders of m onum ents at
Giza. In fact, there is evidence that they removed
1Khaemwaset] has inscribed the name of the King of the fine limestone, alabaster and granite of
Upper and Lower Egypt, Unas, since it was not found on Khafres pyram id temples a t the sam e time that
the face of the pyramid, because the Setem Priest.. .much they restored the Sphinx in the form of the god
loved to restore the monuments of the kings of Upper
Horemakhet. In the Ram essid Turin Canon of king
and Lower Egypt.
ship, there are hints that the 4th dynasty was
Inscription of Khaemwaset (19tl: dynasty) undergoing som e folkloristic rewriting. For
instance, the suspiciously uniform lengths of reign
Abandoned in antiquity - Huni 24 years, Sneferu 24, Khufu 23 and so on -
By Middle Kingdom tim es (11 th to 13th dynasties), m ight wall be simple estim ates of a generation on
the early Old Kingdom pyram id builders, such as the throne.
Khufu (Cheops) an d Khafre (Chephren), were T he 26th dynasty saw an attem pt to resurrect the
already characters of legend rather than history. glory of the Old Kingdom. At Giza there w as an
Some 550 years after Khufu, his pyramid temple active priesthood of the Sphinx as Horem akhet and
and those of his successors seem to have been there were also people calling themselves priests of
stripped of their reliefs, since blocks and pieces Khufu, Khafre and M enkaure. Ironically, the w or
By the time of Rarnesses II
were reused in the core of the 1 2 th-dynasty p y ra ship of the powerful kings who built the largest
(1290-1224 BC), the Sphinx
at Giza had become an object mid of A m enem het I at Lisht (p. 168). Am enem hets stru ctu res in E gypt w as now carried out in the tiny
o f pilgrimage. Officials, pyram id w as itself abandoned well before the New Temple of Isis, built against the southernm ost of
scribes, military leaders, Kingdom era of M oses and the Exodus. the pyram ids of K hufus queens (GI-c) in the 21st
builders and sculptors all T he pyram ids were thus relics of a bygone era, dynasty. A small stela there related another story
made their way there and left their stone quarried for other buildings and their about Khufu, namely that having found the Isi?
behind small commemorative
temples in ruins. But the nam es and sequence of Temple in ru in s he restored the images ol the gods,
stelae. The scribe Montuher
left the oldest depiction their builders were known from king lists and there an d repaired the headdress of the Sphinx. T he style
of the Giza pyramids were occasional attem pts to restore the revered of the text and the deities mentioned all point to its
on lus unique stela. m onum ents of the ancestors. In his stela set up at having been w ritten in the 26th dynasty; the story
w as no doubt told to give greater antiquity and
authenticity to the fledgling cult. But its erroneous
implication that the Sphinx and Isis Temple
predate Khufu show s just how far the perceived
history of the site w as slipping from fact.
s a single lineage.) M anetho m ust have based his movable stone, high up and in
grouping on popular tradition and the sequence of the middle o f one of the faces
'he pyram ids. He credits Khufu, w ritten Suphis, o f Khufus pyramid, that
allowed access to the
.vith building the G reat Pyram id, and, far from
Descending Passage. Since
x-ing wicked, w ith w riting the Sacred Book. any trap door' in the original
Alexander the G reat conquered E gypt in 332 b c . building would have
>r the next 300 years, down to Cleopatra VII, the compromised the pyramids
ind w as ruled by the Ptolemies, descendants of security, this could only have
itolemy (I) Soter, the great general who hijacked been provided later - perhaps
for tourists to reach the
A lexanders body and took it to Egypt, w here he
subterranean chamber. DOOR OF THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZEH
.Mid gained control. In 30 b c E gypt became a Roman Chi the right is a hypothetical RESTORED FROM T H E DOOR WA Y A T DAHSHUR.
~ wince - and a major tourist attraction. On every reconstruction by the British
ravejlers itinerary, ju st as today, were the Giza Egyptologist W.M. Flinders
iV ram ids and the Sphinx, M emphis and the A pis Petrie, based on pivot holes he
. )use, and - up the Nile Valley at T hebes - the found at the entrance to the
Bent Pyramid at Dahshur.
Colossi of Memnon, the Temple of K arnak and the
Valley of the Kings. Off the modern tourist trail
-. as the Labyrinth - the temple of Amenemhet Ills
Hawara pyram id, now levelled.
The Greek author, D iodorus Siculus, in Egypt
.round 60 b c . reported the G reat Pyram id casing as
ntact, though possibly m issing its capstone. In the
39
rvwwTwvwwirrrwvwrvwwwwwvwvwwivv'fi 'Then SuricI ordered the building of the pyramids, had
the sciences recorded in them, and had the treasures and
pieces of sculpture put into them. Finally, he set an idol
Mythic History o f the to guard each of the three pyramids ... After his death,
Surid was buried in the Eastern [Khufus] Pyramid, his
brother Hujib in the "Western [Khafres] one,, and Hujibs
A l-Mamuns breachis 7 m
(23 ft) above the pyramids
Original base; the original entrance is
Ascending entrance 17 m (56 ft) above the base
passage and to the east. It is possible,
however, that al-Mamuns
breach in fact already existed
and had been made by the
ancient Egyptians, who were
Granite
familiar with the interior.
plug
blocks
Al-M am uns
breach
41
The First European
Discovery
42
nns tended to
t nt the pyramids in
that reflected their own
idrs and cultural values,
r than as they actually
.red. The angles o f the
ta rc often inaccurate
impossibly steep.
He such fanciful notions about the pyram ids je a n Chesneau mentioned that the other two p y ra This woodcut (above) is from
still current, some of the early visitors, such mids at Giza were not m ade in degrees. Did this Relation of a Journey Begun
George Sandys who visited the pyram ids in m ean th a t their inner, stepped cores were not in 1610 and shows the poet
and traveller George Sandys
. accepted the idea that the pyram ids were the exposed? Prosper Alpinus, one of the first Euro
and his party visiting the Giza
:bs of kings. peans to attem pt an accurate m easurem ent of the pyramids. Sandys agreed with
Marly travelogues also contain am biguous hints pyram ids, wrote in 1591 th at the viceroy of Egypt, the classical authors that the
i at when the pyram ids were stripped of their Ibrahim Pasha, enlarged the entrance to the G reat pyramids were not built by
-r casing. In 1546, Pierre Belon observed that Pyram id so th a t a man could stand upright in it. Hebrew slaves, nor were they
;hird Giza pyram id w as in perfect condition, as T his m ust indicate a widening of the passage of al- the granaries of Joseph, but
were in fact the tombs of
had just been built. But w hat about the attack M amun. Those who entered next brought a new
Egyptian kings.
<)thman in 1196, as reported by al-Latif (p. 41)? approach to the study of the pyramids.
1647
1650
1579 de Monconys
1556 Boullaye-le-Gouz 1743
Helferich
Thevet Pococke
1755
77l e Image of the Sphinx through the Centuries Norden
k Europeans some time to focus accurately on once again a European with rounded hairdo and
- m age of the Sphinx. In Andre Thevets bulky collar (perhaps the way travellers remembered
-ographie de Levant, published in 1556, seven the protruding and weathered layers of the neck).
rs after visiting Giza, the author related that the All these authors render the Sphinx with its nose
::iix was the head of a colossus, caused to be complete, though it had been missing for centuries.
by Isis, daughter of Inachus, then so beloved Richard Pocockes illustration in his Travels is
: .niter. He pictures it as a very European curly- closer to the Sphinxs actual appearance than
:: d monster with a grassy dog collar. Johannes anything previously published, except the
rich, another much-quoted visitor to Giza, tells illustration, Bau der Pyramide, by Cornelius de
. s travelogue of a secret passage by which the Bruyn. Indeed, it seems as if Pococke extracted his
cxn t priests could enter the Sphinx and pretend Sphinx bust from de Bruyns drawing, down to the
- its voice. Helferich's Sphinx is a pinched-face, gentleman gesturing with his left arm under the
r.d'breasted woman with straight hair. The only Sphinxs headdress. Again, both drawings render the
. his rendering has over Thevets is that the hair nose more or less complete. Frederick Nordens
- . tjests the flaring lappets of the headdress, depiction is more accurate and includes the broken
orge Sandys stated flatly that the Egyptians nose. The Sphinx of Casas, though painted slightly
.sented the Sphinx as a harlot. Balthasar de later, shows the nose once more complete. It was with
'! neonys interprets the headdress of the Sphinx as artists of Napoleons Expedition, such as Dutertre, 1822
: d of hairnet, while Boullaye-le-Gouzs Sphinx is that the Sphinx began to be faithfully rendered. Dutertre
43
In the midst of the quirky illustrations and odd 480,249 sq. ft (44,615 sq. m). Greaves counted th
The First. European
ideas of the 17th century came the first scientific step s (207 or 208) as he climbed the pyramid. H
Discovery
reports about the Great Pyram id of Giza. described climbing a m ound of rubbish to the orig
inal entrance, in the 16th course of masonry, open
The scholars enter since the pyram id had been stripped of its ouu
John Greaves (1602-52), Professor of Astronomy at casing. Following the D escending Passage, hr
the University of Oxford, first reviewed the ex ist worked out its slope as 26 degrees. He marvelled :
Pyramidographia ing literature and then went to E gypt to study the the A ntecham ber with its portcullis slab and th-
OB. A
pyram ids for himself. He dism issed all the accounts sm ooth granite walls of the K ings Chamber, givir,
D E S CR I P T I ON
O F T H E
of the Giza pyram ids having been built by biblical the dim ensions and position of the sarcophagi>
figures or legendary kings. From the classical T his early scholar even noted the basalt paveme:
PYRAMIDS
sources, he concluded that these m onum ents were east of the pyram id that hinted at the existence
I N /EGYPT.
erected by Cheops (Khufu), Chephren (Khafre) and the m ortuary temple.
B y l o H N G r e a v e s , P rofeffor M ycerinus (Menkaure), as tom bs for the security of A nother clue in the m urky history of pyranr
o f A ftr o n o m y in th e U n iv c r f ir y
o f O x f o r d .
the body because of an ancient Egyptian convic destruction was added when Greaves w rote that,
tion that this would ensure the endurance of the while the stones of Khafres pyram id were n o t ;
Ro-mmvruin fabric* & A tttq u j tfrr* [cum vertiA
id dittum f i t ) nihil 4CcednTtt PjramidMm ftlendft- soul. Greaves set out to produce detailed m easure large or as regularly laid as in the G reat Pyrami
rcm ,&fttpcri/xm . B c l l o a lib . a . O b fc r v . ca p . 4 2..
m ents of K hufus pyram id with the best available the su rface w as sm ooth and even and free
instrum ents and a rigorously scientific approach. inequalities or breaches, except on the south. Tod;
London, He calculated that the G reat Pyram id had a p erpen casing rem ains only on the upper third of the s t
P r in te d fo r G eo r g e B z d g e r , an d a r c t o b c fo k J 3t
h i s f h o p in S c D u n jl s n s C h u r c h y a r d
in F Ie c r - r c e c
dicular height of 499 ft (152 m, it is in fact 146.5 m oncl pyramid.
tall), a slope height of 693 ft (211 m) and a base of Benoit de Maillet was the French Consul-Genen
in E g y p t from 1692 until 1708, during w hich peri'
Greavess Pyramidographia he visited K hufus pyram id over forty times. H
of 1646 included the first
plan and section of the superstructure are n o t ;
measured cross-section o f the
pyramid and its internal good as those of Greaves, but his draw ing of t:
passages (left). The passages and cham bers is more accurate. T r
Ascending Passage is not in lengths and proportions of the A scending Passat: *
correct proportion and the and G rand Gallery are nearly correct, as are the d:
Descending Passage ends ferent p arts of the well shaft. The Descending Pa-
abruptly at the pyramid base,
sage w as still unknow n beyond its juncture wi'
for it had yet to be cleared to
the Subterranean Chamber. the Ascending Passage.
He also gave the dimensions Between 1639, when Greaves was a t Giza, ar. \
of all known passages and .1692, the second pyram id m ust have been stripp
chambers. De Maillets 1735 to its present condition, because de Maillet me:
publication includes a cross- tions th at the casing stones remained only at t:
section with details more
top. He also called for a survey to produce an acc
accurate than Greavess
(centre), although the rate m ap and docum entation of all the ancit'
proportions o f his pyramid Egyptian sites - a plan to be executed a centur
are too tall and steep. later by the Napoleonic Expedition (p. 46).
{rom travellers to antiquaries N ordens Travels, published in 1.755, m arks a Nordens drawing o f The
hr mghout the 18th century travellers took up the great advance in documentation, no doubt owing to Sphinx and pyramids o f Giza
. and came to E gypt not only to describe w hat his profession as an artist and naval m arine archi from his Travels published m
1755. Norden produced the
saw but also to make accurate records. Travel- tect. Sent by King Christian VI of Denmark to first good map of the Giza
, :es evolved into geographical catalogues, and explore Egypt, Norden travelled all the way to Derr pyramids, showing the ruins
: . iuded the ancient sites and monuments. One in Nubia. of the mortuary temples of
: :iquary w as the Jesuit Claude Sicard, who trav- The English diplomat and traveller Nathaniel Khafre and Menkaure, as well
r :d m Egypt betw een 1707 and 1726. He docu- Davison (d. 1808) is credited with being the first to as the causeways of Khufu
: nted 20 of the major pyram ids, 24 complete and Menkaure. Unlike most
enter the lowest of five stress-relieving cham bers
other illustrators o f the time,
( mples and over 50 decorated tombs. above the Kings Chamber in K hufus pyram id. The Norden s profile and full-face
Foremost am ong the 18th-century antiquaries G erm an orientalist K arsten N iebuhr had searched drawings o f the Sphinx show
are the Englishm an Richard Pococke and the Dane for it in vain, apparently after hearing about it from the break o f the nose and
riderik Norden, both in Egypt in 1737. Pocockes a French m erchant named M eynard. Since N iebuhr weathered outlines that are
nap of Giza is extremely schem atic and his profile describes the cham ber as being directly above the essentially correct.
the G reat Pyram id is borrow ed from de Maillet. K ings Chamber, albeit of a lower height, it seem s
. li* report is curious in other w ays and includes a th at someone m ust have entered before Davison.
ascription supposedly of K hufus causeway. He Davison w as accompanied by M eynard when he
inscribes it as being 20 ft (7 m) wide, 1,000 yds (914 entered the pyram id on 8 July 1765, although D avi
:.i) long, built of stone, and reinforced by 61 circu son alone crawled through dirt and bat dung to
lar buttresses, 14 ft (4.3 m) in diam eter and spaced enter the cham ber that would henceforth carry his
.it 30 ft (9 m). This in no way fits the causeway name. Its floor consisted of the sam e nine granite
roundation that ru n s to the east from the pyramid. blocks that roofed the Kings Chamber below,
The enigm a clears, however, when we realize that although in Davisons Chamber the surfaces were
Pococke w as describing the arches in the floodplain unfinished. T he cham ber w as roofed by eight large
north of K hufus pyram id. Built under Saladin granite beam s smoothed on the undersides.
rom blocks taken from the Giza pyram id, the arch W hen Davison entered the pyram id, recent rains
es ran w estw ard and then south tow ards the p y ra had washed aw ay some of the sand and debris
mid plateau. choking the Descending Passage. He saw that the
Pocockes idea that the pyram ids were m ade by passage sloped aw ay into the bedrock beneath the
encasing natural m ounds of rock calls to mind the pyram id, and followed it into the darkness for 130
assertion of another 18th-century traveller, the Scot ft (39.6 m), where he encountered debris that sealed
Jam es Bruce: anyone who will take the pains to it off. Davison also investigated the well shaft. He
remove the sand will find the solid rock there hewn descended from the bottom of the G rand Gallery to
into step s. Bruce m ust have noticed that a t the a depth of 155 ft (47.2 m) where the well, too, w as
northeast corner of K hufus and the northw est cor closed off with rubble. It w as to take more than 50
ner of K hafres pyram ids the bedrock is left in the years to discover a link between the two choked
cores of the pyram ids, and fashioned into steps. passages (p. 48).
45
French enlightenm ent, of an ancient sea
edge. T h e m ilitary cam paign would ulti:
but the reconnaissance of an ancient
stan d s as the real achievem ent of the exp*
Napoleons Wise Men Bringing Egypt to Europe
Napoleon ordered leading French >
assem ble a team of savants and survey
CG^$^3jnDGCDnCEEEShiCE23kZi$3uSZXZDn survey of all E gypt that de Maillet had -
and which Norden began. Over 150 n :
personnel were assem bled as the Comm:-
A rts and Sciences. One could not have hi >r
better team to docum ent the sites and i t *
of ancient Egypt - just before the major (
of plunder and destruction that would begi:
heels of the Expedition. There were su rv ey o rs.:
and m ining engineers; m athem aticians, chenr.
botanists and astronom ers; archaeologists, arc
tects, artists and printers. There were also students
from the m ilitary engineering school and recer
g rad u ates of the civil engineering school. M<
only learned of their final intended destinati *
after the fleet had passed Malta.
O pposing Bonaparte, after he marched aero-
the desert to seize Cairo, were the rulir.*
Mamelukes, descended from Georgian and A rnx
ian slaves w ho were trained as a m ilitary elite. Fi
hundred years earlier they had taken Egypt t r
themselves, heavily taxing the native Egyptiar
with whom they had little affinity. W hen Napole '
m et the Mameluke arm y at Imbaba, west of Cair
Depicted, by the draughtsmen On approaching these colossal monuments, their he is reputed to have pointed to the distant pyr
o f the Napoleonic expedition, angular and inclined form diminishes the appearance of m ids of Giza, proclaiming, Soldiers, forty centurn
the pyramid of Meidum their height and deceives the eye.. .but as soon as he
look down upon you from these pyram ids.
seemingly rises from the begins to measure by a known scale these gigantic
productions of art, they recover all their immensity.. The M amelukes were easily defeated in this B;;
mound o f rubble that
surrounds it. This rubble. tie of the P yram ids, and scattered into U ppc
Vivant Denon, Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt
includes the remains o f the Egypt, where Napoleons General Desaix pursuv
casing, possibly destroyed as A m ajor threshold in the study of ancient E gypt them for ten months. T he French took over Cair
long ago as the New w as crossed with the g reat expedition led by but shortly thereafter, in early August, the Englis.
Kingdom. Napoleon B onaparte to E gypt in 1798. Frances rev destroyed their fleet in A bukir Bay. T he strandec
olutionary governm ent w anted to strike a blow at expedition gave birth to the Institut d Egypte, con:
their forem ost enemy, England. Rather than posed of the savants of the Commission on Al
attem pt a full-scale invasion across the channel, and Sciences and m ilitary and adm inistrative off:
however, Napoleon decided to take control of rials. Over the three years that the French remaitu
Egypt, dredge the canal linking the Red Sea and the rn Egypt, commission m em bers spread throughoi
M editerranean, and thereby short-circuit Englands Egypt, collecting artifacts and specimens, m appir *
trade w ith India. Napoleon had in mind the prece the entire country, docum enting archaeologies
A panoramic and picturesque
view o f the pyramid field o f dents of A lexanders and C aesars Egyptian enter sites, and recording individual m onum ents, irrig
Saqqara, from the prises. T his w as not to be ju st a military and tion system s, and the flora, fauna and culture
Description de 1Egypte. political conquest, however, but a revival, through contem porary Egypt.
46
NWMMeuejeniSi?
French scholars had to forfeit much of their w as required to hold the entire s e t Instead, a Louis Francois Lejeunes
rial, including the famed Rosetta Stone, during reduced popular account of the Expedition and the 1806painting o f The Battle
implications of the com m issions departure m onum ents of Egypt was out by 1802. Entitled of the Pyramids. In this
decisive encounter o f 21 fuly
: Egypt along with the French retreat in 1801. Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte, it was the 1798, French troops under
managed to keep hold of a good deal of their work of Vivant Denon. the command o f Napoleon,
rial and carry it to France, however, by threat- defeated the Mameluke rulers
_ to throw it in the sea or b u rn it rather than Napoleons men at the pyramids of Egypt and drove them
" over to the British. The artists of the commission created precise from their Cairo power base.
views of many of the pyram ids. Colonel Coutelle The three Giza Pyramids can
le fruits of labour be seen in the background;
and the architect J.M. Lepere undertook a detailed Napoleon himself is on
: in Paris, the material w as gathered together study of the interior of Khufus pyram id while the horseback at the far right of
he series of volum es nam ed the Description de surveyor E.F Jom ard and engineer and artist Cecile the picture.
. v/j/t, itself a veritable monum ent. T he principal re-m easured the superstructure, including the
covered antiquities, modern Egypt, natural height of each course of stones. T he views of the Soldiers, forty centuries look
t<>ryand a topographical map. Those on antiqui- Sphinx and pyram ids they produced are im pres down upon you from these
- appeared between 1809 and 1818 (the final vol- sionistic but accurate. The next step in scientific pyramids The message on
r of antiquities plates in 1822). T he complete graphic im aging - large true-to-scale contoured this bronze medal.
ription required 837 copper engravings for m aps of the Giza Plateau and Sphinx - w as only
illustrations. An engraving m achine w as achieved in the late 1970s. In 1801, Coutelle and
loped by Nicolas Jacques Conte which resulted Lepere began to dism antle Pyram id GIII-c, the
productions of an exceptionally high standard. w esternm ost queen's pyram id of M enkaure, in
< estim ated th at the m achine could complete the hope of finding an undisturbed burial. They
:ree days work that would have taken an artist abandoned their efforts after rem oving the
months by hand - no small consideration with a upper north quarter of the pyramid.
rk of this magnitude. It is ironic that w ith the m assive French effort
rhe Description w as a w indow for Europe into at accurate docum entation began the era of
i years of ancient E gyptian civilization. Never- plunder and destructive, non-system atic excava
rss, it w as hardly som ething that every family tion that was a hallm ark of Egyptian archaeology
:.d afford - a complete custom -designed cabinet and pyram id exploration in the 19th century.
47
financed excavations and am assed collects
w hich they then sold, obtaining funds for furt.
work in Egypt. Drovettis treasures include the >
lection that form s the foundation of the Egypt
Belzoni and Caviglia M useum m Turin. One of S alts best-know n fin d '
the colossal head of Rarnesses II, now in the Brit:
Museum. The rivalry between Drovetti and S
found fertile ground at Giza, the setting also
some of E gyptologys m ost rem arkable character
I reached the door at the centre of a large chamber. I The sailor and the strongman
walked slowly two or three paces, and then stood still to In the late 18th century Italy produced two unlikeh
contemplate the place where I was. Whatever it might be, heroes of Egyptology. They shared first n a m e s:
I certainly considered myself in the centre of that pyra
a passion for the antiquities of the Nile; and 1> "
Belzoni s main contribution mid, which from time immemorial had been the subject of
the obscure conjectures of many hundred travellers, both were also possessed of adventurous, fearless s;
to pyramid studies was his
opening o f the unknown ancient and modern. its. Giovanni B attista Caviglia (1770-1845), born 2
upper entrance of Khafres Giovanni Belzoni, Narrative Genoa, spent his early life sailing a m erchant s :
pyramid (below) at Giza in around the M editerranean. But this uneduca:
1818. When he reached the Even after the departure of Napoleons fleet, Egypt tem peram ental seam ans real vocation turned
burial chamber, he found an remained a battleground for Anglo-French rivalry. to be Egyptology. Caviglia w as employed by sever
Arabic inscription, the
But the cam paign now took the form of a bitter al European collectors to find objects. His ovsi
master Mohammed Ahmed,
quarryman, has opened them, competition to see who could obtain the best an tiq obsessive interest in religion led to a conviction tha
and the Master Othman uities. French efforts were led by Bernardino cham bers w ithm the G reat Pyram id held my.'
attended this opening, and the Drovetti (1776-1852), an Italian-born diplomat who secrets. From 1816 to 1819 he therefore explored
King Alii Mohammed This had fought with Napoleons forces. He was French pyram ids and tom bs of Giza and he w as the firs-
suggests that the pyramid Consul-General in Egypt from 1802 to 1814, regain carry out major excavation on the Giza Plateau.
may have been entered six to
ing the post in 1820. In 1816 Henry Salt was Caviglia explored D avisons Chamber in
eight centuries earlier. Bones
found in the sarcophagus appointed Consul-General representing British G reat Pyram id (p. 45) hoping to find a secret ro m.
later proved to be those of interests. He had been trained as an artist and tra v b u t found instead solid rock. In 1817, he descend--
a bull. elled extensively in the East and Egypt. Both men into the vertical shaft known as the well. Breatb
m g difficulties halted him, in spite of attempt."
(Below right) A lithograph of clear the air by b u rn in g sulphur. Caviglia th
a drawing by M. Gauci shows decided to work' down through the Descending P
Belzoni in Turkish dress, and sage. After clearance allowed him to p ass about 61
appeared as the frontispiece
m (200 it), he smelled sulphur and realized he had
to his Narrative. This
important book appeared in found an opening to the well. T hus Caviglia w
December 1820 and was the able to dem onstrate that the well w as probably j
record of Belzonis work at shaft linked to the Descending P assage for
the pyramids, temples, tombs,
other excavations in Egypt
and Nubia, and elsewhere.
The book appeared in two
volumes, one a quarto and
the other a folio with 44
colour plates.
ncient workmen to escape after the Ascending Belzoni and Giza
. assage had been sealed. Caviglia also found the After his arrival in Egypt, Belzoni w ent to Giza and Belzoni and Caviglia
r. finished S ubterranean Chamber. explored the G reat Pyramid - a t one point having
Henry Salt later paid Caviglia to excavate the to be extricated from a passage in which he became
Sphinx. In the course of this work, the Italian found wedged. He also visited the pyram ids of Saqqara
small open-air chapel between the m onum ents and Dahshur, but his greatest contribution to the
repaws, with the fam ous Stela of T hutm ose IV. study of the Giza pyram ids w as opening the previ
Caviglia also found fragm ents of the beard of the ously unknown upper entrance of K hafres py ra
Sphinx; one piece is now in the British Museum. mid. Meticulous observation led him, after one false
The prom ising career of this dedicated, hard- start, to the true entrance. Belzoni w as anxious to
n'king am ateur ended after a brief collaboration enter before Drovetti, who w as rum oured to be
ith Colonel Howard Vyse who came to Egypt in about to blast the pyramid open using dynam ite.
835 (p. 50). Vyse had employed Caviglia to assist He hired local villagers to clear the rubble blocking
.im in his explorations of the pyram ids and was the opening. He then made his w ay through the
cxed when the Italian spent all his time looking The first major excavation
upper passage to the horizontal passage, where
>r 'm um m y pits instead. In 1837, Caviglia settled on the Giza Plateau was by
with g reat effort he raised a portcullis slab, and Caviglia, whose commission
i Paris where he became a protege of Lord Elgin. finally, after alm ost a month, he reached the b u n al allowed him to roam the
The second Italian was Giovanni B attista Bel- cham ber itself. Any hopes of finding an intact b u r monuments at will with his
ni (1778-1823), born in Padua. Half-facts abound ial cham ber were soon dashed by the sight of the excavation workers. In his
>ut the life and exploits of this am bitious and half-open sarcophagus. Its fine g ranite lid lay in major exterior project, he
.centric man. Some say he planned to become a cleared the front o f the Great
two pieces. An Arabic inscription on the wall
mk, and it seem s that he studied hydraulics. In Sphinx, and found an open-
revealed that th e chamber had already been air chapel between the
.ny event he spent several years travelling, eventu- entered, probably in the 13th century. forepaws, where rulers from
dly becoming a circus strongm an in London - a W hile exploring Khafres monument, Belzoni New Kingdom to Roman
ailing em inently suited to the great strength of had a team w orking at the third Giza pyram id. But times worshipped the colossal
his giant of a man, 2 m (6 ft 6 in) tall. Belzonis rest- a disagreem ent with Salt put an end to this work. bedrock statue. The. altar at
-ss nature soon saw him on his travels again, this the outer gateway o f the
A lthough Belzonis instincts were leading him in
'im e accompanied by his Irish wife, Sarah. In 1814, chapel still had the ashes o f
the direction of the entrance, it w as Howard Vyse the last sacrificial fire burned
. contact in M alta directed him to the E gyptian who would use gunpow der to blast his way into to the Sphinx, probably m late
>urt of M ohammed Ali, in an ill-starred attem pt to M enkaures pyram id 19 years later. Roman tim.es.
capitalize on his knowledge of hydraulics. Fate
wrought him into the circle of E uropeans interested
n antiquities. In 1816 Belzoni began collecting
bjects for Salt. The consul suggested th at he work
vith Caviglia, but collaboration w ith a rival did not
ppeal - in fact, he even took offence when Cav-
glias clearance of the Sphinx w as m istakenly
credited to him in an 1818 British publication.
'Towards the end of this work gunpowder was used w
iAAAAA great effect..
R. Howard Vyse and J. Pernng, Operating
50
mid (GHI-b) that it w as prepared for boring by he said, rather contradictorily, being unwilling to
removing the stones from the top of it, as J expected disfigure this venerable monument, the excavation Digging by Dynamite
find the sepulchral cham ber by penetrating w as given up and several feet of boring rods were
hrough it. Vyse ploughed straight through the left in it.
c'litre of the superstructure without finding an
.ddition to the passage to the subterranean burial The pyramid of Menkaure
hamber, which contained a granite sarcophagus Vyse also burrow ed straig h t into the core of the
ding a young female skeleton. W ritten in red on pyram id of M enkaure, beginning from the chasm
-he roof of the burial cham ber is the nam e of that Saladins son had made in .a d 1196. Ju st off the
Menkaure, confirm ing the ancient sources th at the central axis of the pyramid Vyse tu rn ed his tunnel
bird Giza pyram id w as the tom b of that king. dow nw ards and forced it to the base of the p y ra
W ondering if a cham ber existed in the body of mid, requiring his workers to come up out of the
be Sphinx, Vyse ordered his men to drill straig h t pyram id every time a new blast took place. But he
;vn from the top of the back. When his boring found no new passages or cham bers in the su per
>ds became stuck at a depth of 8.2 m (27 ft), Vyse structure. Eventually Vyse located the entrance,
rdered the use of gunpow der to free the rod, but, instructed his men to clear it and, having paid
obells
Campbells Passage
.Tiber
Chamber blasted
by Vyse
Lady
Arbuthnots
Chamber
Nelsons
Chamber
Nelsons
Chamber
Wellingtons
Chamber
Wellingtons
Chamber
Davisons
Chamber
Sarcophagus
51
Menkaure s pyramid, with its them, m ade his way into the interior and the burial Vyse were able to reconstruct it. W ith g reat diff I
three queenspyramids in the cham ber with the artist Edw ard A ndrew s who pre ty Vyses men removed the sarcophagus for tr a
foreground. The middle pared m any of the plans and sections illustrating p o rt to England, but it sank to the bottom of I
pyramid (Glll-b) was built
the w orks of Vyse and Perring. As with Belzoni in M editerranean during a storm , along w ith the - 1
o f limestone, but like the
westernmost of the three Khafres pyram id, the Arabic graffiti on the w alls transporting it, the Beatrice.
pyramids it appears not to immediately declared that they had been preceded. W ith the fragm ents of the sarcophagus lid d
have been cased. In the granite-lined burial cham ber they found the excavators also found hum an bones, linen w aj
original stone sarcophagus but the lid was m issing pings, and p arts of a wooden coffin. An inscripti
and the sarcophagus lay empty. Pieces of the lid on the front of the coffin identifies its o c c u p a r J
were found in the bedrock-hewn U pper A partm ent the Osiris [deceased] M enkaure, given life for
above the burial chamber, from which Perring and born of the sky, the sky goddess Nut above yen
Curiously, the style of the coffin show s that it
Perrings detailed plan and Saite (26th-dynasty) date, and radiocarbon ana
profile o f the middle queens of the bones points to the Christian period. 1
pyramid. Vyse removed stones coffin and bones are now m the British Museum
from the top o f the middle
T his apparent burial of M enkaure some 2. n
pyramid and forced his way
down through the centre o f it years after he lived and died m ust, in fact,
without reaching the burial reburial and may relate to an inscription on tkfl
chamber as he expected. The granite casing just below the entrance to the
BAS E ON ROCK 02-. fact that Perring so accurately mid. Diodorus Siculus had noted this inscripti
mapped his intrusion through but it w as only found in 1968 when debris
the 4,600- year-old
monument indicates that cleared from the pyram ids base. It gives the ;
Vyse saw no harm in what he (unfortunately damaged), m onth and day
called excavations in the M enkaure was buried in the pyram id, and st; I
pyramids We should at least th at the king w as given a rich burial. One theor
acknowledge that this may be that the inscription may date to the time
the beginning o f documenting Khaemwaset, son of Harnesses II, who carried
archaeological excavation in
lot of restoration work a t Giza. These myster: _"l
Egypt.
facts, like the bones of a bull found in the s a ra r
g us of Khafre, hint th at the history of the py-<
m ids is not alw ays as straightforw ard
Egyptologists may think.
52
Perrings cross-section of
Menkaures pyramid (left) is
a meticulous record o f his
excavation of the site. He
found the true entrance and
reached the vaulted burial
chamber. Within its red
granite walls was the royal
sarcophagus, made of basalt
and in typical Old Kingdom
palace faqade style. When
clearing the chamber before
the burial chamber (below),
he discovered human remains
and a fragment o f coffin lid,
with Menkaures name, but in
a style not in use until many
centuries after his death.
53
analysis, meticulous recording of detail and out
standing finds. As well as the Denkmaler, Lepsii>
also published a personal account, Discoveries
Egypt. The 15,000 casts and antiquities Lepsiu-
Lepsius and Mariette brought back form the core of the Berlin Museum
collection.
Among the many pyram ids Lepsius investigated
w'as the Step Pyram id at Saqqara. He removed from
the southeast p art of the substructure a door link-.
and fram e inscribed with the nam e of the king,
together with some of the blue faience tiles fro:
the wall, in 1843, the team excavated a t H aw ara
the Fayum, at the so-called Labyrinth. T he site had
been described by Herodotus and Strabo; the for
m er regarded it as a w onder of the world even
g reater than the Giza pyram ids. T his vast complex
was, in fact, the m ortuary temple of the 12ti
dynasty ruler A m enem het III - the largest of a
m ortuary temples - which lay adjacent to his pyn.
mid. Much of the structure of the Labyrinth ha
been destroyed over the centuries as it w as qua:
From the Labyrinth these lines come to you.. We have ned for its lime. Lepsius also began excavations
also made excavations on the north side of the pyramid, the n orth face of the pyram id but failed to find an
because we may expect to discover the entrance there;
entrance.
that is, however, not yet done.
While studying the pyram ids, Lepsius formula:
Karl Richard Lepsius, Discoveries in Egypt ed his accretion theory, which held that the size
Fortunately, disciplined scholarship and the recog a pyram id w as dictated by the length of reign of t: -
nition of the im portance of preserving and record builder. O thers have since questioned this and the
ing the legacy of ancient E gypt gradually took theory is now discredited. Subsequent research h;
precedence over the m ore b ru tal excavation m eth show n th a t some pyram ids, such as those of Djo;
ods of the early 19th century. and Sneferu at Meidum, were indeed enlarged ov
Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-84) w as a formidable the course of successive building stages. It seerr.-
scholar and is widely held to be the greatest E gyp the sizes of most were predetermined, and a largt
tologist after Champollion. Having first studied pyram id like K hufus may signify that it was begir
classical archaeology in Germany, he went on to by a king in the prim e of youth, as opposed to one
study Egyptology in Paris. In the 1830s he p u b
SW
Karl Richard Lepsius (above) lished several papers on hieroglyphs, including a
recorded and documented fam ous letter to Professor Ippolito Rosellini a t the
many o f Egypts pyramids in
University of Pisa th at transform ed the study of
his massive work, the
Denkmaler. Most o f the the subject. Lepsiuss contributions to Egyptology
plates were based on the are numerous, b u t undoubtedly his greatest is the
drawings o f Ernst 12-volume Denkmaler, the massive work on the
Weidenbach, such as the one m onum ents of Egypt, containing 894 folio plates
of Meidum shown above. and published after his death. Five volumes of text
Lepsiuss map of the pyramid
were prepared from his notes and appeared
field o f Saqqara (detail right.)
was a model o f detail. between 1897 and 1913.
54
who came to the throne in his later years, and who The Step Pyramid at Saqqara
possessed the confidence, and longevity, to take from Lepsiuss Denkmaler.
The artist o f this particular
such a colossal enterprise to its summit.
plate was]. Frey.
The birth of the Antiquities Service
Auguste M ariette (1821-81) w as a bright young
man with varied interests and an inquiring mind. In
1842, he read the papers of one of his relations,
Nestor IHote, who had been a draughtsm an on the
Egyptian expedition of Champollion and Ippolito
Rosellini. M ariettes fate w as sealed. He studied
ancient E gyptian language, a rt and history, and
Coptic; he wrote articles an d papers an d finally
secured a post with the Louvre. In 1850, that insti
tution sent him to E gypt to buy Coptic m anu
scripts, but he began excavating instead. At
Saqqara he found and excavated the Serapeum
where the sacred Apis bulls had been buried in a
g reat catacomb.
Then, in 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps, in charge of
the Suez Canal project, pressured the ruler Said
Pasha to place M ariette in charge of all E gyptian found, which were rapidly copied by Emile
antiquities. T his he did, nam ing M ariette m a m u r of B rugsch and, unofficially, by Flinders Petrie. T he
a new national A ntiquities Service, a position that pyram id of Merenre w as entered just before
would be held by a Frenchman until 1952. W ith the M ariettes death, and more were penetrated by his
founding of the Egyptian M useum a t Boulaq (later successor, Gaston Maspero. As M aspero explained:
moved to Giza, and finally to Q asr el Nil), to gather
and display ancient works of art, the reign of The discovery of the Pyramids of Pepi 1and of Merenre
M ariette began. For the next two decades he car at the place where the theory affirmed that they would be This rare photograph (below)
found, decided me to direct the attack on the entire front was taken before Mariette
ried out field archaeology a t 35 sites throughout the
of the Memphite Necropolis, from Abu Roash to Lisht. finished clearing the valley
country. His work practices and m ethods were criti Rapid success followed. Unas was opened on the 28th temple. It shows a granite
cized by some of the next generation of E gyptolo February, Pepi II, Nefenrkera [Neferirkare] on April 13th, beam fallen betiveen the
gists, but they were advanced for his time and his and that of Teti on the 29th May. In less than a year, five pillars. This and other pieces
output has never been equalled. of the so-called dumb' pyramids of Saqqara had in the temple were blown
Also at Saqqara M ariette dug huge trenches, spoken.. apart to remove them.
revealing tom bs of all periods in w hat had been a
national cemetery of pharaonic E gypt (pp. 62-3),
including many dating to the pyram id age. U nfor
tunately, however, he never produced a proper map
of the tombs, and m any were covered by the shift
ing sands and lost again.
M ariettes second m ajor discovery, after the Ser
apeum, w as Khafres valley temple which w as visi
ble above the debris of the ages only as a series of
pits and stones. He partially excavated the interior
of the valley tem ple in 1853 and completed its
clearance in 1858 by rem oving a shallow layer of
sand that still covered the floor. In the course of
this work Mariette blew ap art some collapsed
structural elements and other major pieces to
remove them from the temple. Frustratingly, he
published almost nothing about w hat he found
inside the temple. However, one of the finest m as
terpieces of ancient E gyptian art w as found by
M ariette in the valley temple - the dionte statue of
Khafre himself.
D uring 1880, the last year of M ariettes life, the
foreman of the A ntiquities Service, M ohammed
Chahin, opened the pyram id of Pepi I a t Saqqara.
T his w as the first in which Pyram id Texts were
55
Sm yths so-called pyram id inch (see box). The the
ries of pyrarrndologists like Piazzi Sm yth rested <
m easurem ents that claimed to be accurate to a ok
ter of fractions of inches. But all this w as argue
Petrie at the Pyramids at a time when m assive m ounds of debris still c<
ered the base of the pyram id.
W ith the debris banked against the sides of :
G reat Pyram id, Petrie m easured its exter:
through an elaborate set of triangulations th
encom passed all three Giza pyram ids. He resoh
William M atthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), the the positions of the corners and the lengths of t:
Father of E gyptian archaeology, w as a bright sides trigonometrically. By this method he al-
child. W hen not yet six, he learned the hieroglyphic established the positions of m any other poirr
alphabet and, encouraged by his father, he later including on the pyram ids of Khafre and Menka
This photograph taken in combined interests in m athem atics and m easure re. Unfortunately, Petries triangulated map w
1880 shows Petrie outside the ment with archaeology. Between 1875 and 1880 he never published on a scale larger than the page of \
rock tomb in which he lived surveyed a num ber of British sites, including paperback.
during the two winter seasons Stonehenge. Then, in 1866, Petrie read Charles Some continued to believe in Piazzi S m y
of his pyramid survey. These Piazzi Sm yths Our Inheritance in the Great Pyra regardless of Petries m easurem ents. Earlier th
quarters were three small
m id and became excited by the possibility of recon century, the structural engineer David David?
tombs broken into one room,
Petrie managed a comfortable ciling science with religion. Although he did not actually used Petries figures in creative w ays
co-existence with the dogs believe in S m yths extreme religious notions and prove the theories of Piazzi Smyth, and even
who inhabited the area, the concept of Britain as a lost tribe of Israel, he more am bitious claims.
controlled the rats and mice fully adhered to the idea of the pyram id as a g ig an
with traps, and coped with the tic scale model of the E arth s circumference. Petrie after Giza
heat and the tourists by
In 1880, having become convinced of the need for D uring 1888 and 1889, Petrie followed up Lepsiu-
working in his underwear if
pink, they kept the tourist at another survey of the G reat Pyram id, young Petrie w ork of 1843 by investigating the site of Hawar
bay, as the creature seemed to arrived in Egypt. Petries meticulous survey of the He excavated w hat remained of Labyrinth and t
him too queer for inspection. pyram id in fact proved the death knell for Piazzi adjacent pyram id of A m enem het III, where
NTAL PASS A
r r
i - 5*3 i exterior. Other instrunn;
enabled him to make
astronomical calculatioi i
56
entered the flooded burial cham ber and found two
sarcophagi and b u rn t hum an remains.
Petrie excavated the pyram id of Senwosret II at
Illahun in 1887-8, b u t failed to find the entrance
and passage to the burial chamber, with its red
granite sarcophagus, until the following year. In TRENCHES
B a s a l t p a .v m e n t
one of the shaft tom bs just outside the pyram id, he,
together with Guy Brunton, found the exquisite
jewellery of Princess Sit-Hathor-Iunet, now in the
Cairo Museum and New Yorks M etropolitan M use
um of Art. He also searched unsuccessfully for a
passage or cham ber underneath the subsidiary
Queens Pyram id of Senwosret II, even though he
carved out two criss-crossing tunnel system s, and a
deep vertical shaft, directly under the pyram id. It is
strange that there are apparently no passages or
cham bers under this small pyram id considering
that Petrie did find the rem ains of a chapel at its
north side, where someone m ust have been w or
shipped.
Petrie continued his pyram id investigations at
Meidum, where he uncovered the small limestone
fesnw
temple next to the pyram id of Sneferu, with its two
uninscribed stelae. He also exam ined the twO
anonym ous pyram ids of M azghuna, south of
Petries plan o f the
Dahshur. They date to the 13th dynasty and closely
triangulation o f the survey
resemble a num ber of other pyram ids of that peri o f 1881, from. The Pyramids
od discovered at South Saqqara and D ahshur by and Temples of Gizeh,
Gustave Jequier and Sami F arag respectively. published in 1883.
57
Postcards, Mark
Pyramids Twain,
and Early
Tourist
59
The Great Expedition
this large-scale archaeology varied. A s evidence dynasty pyram id complexes and the sun temple of
poured forth, much was destroyed for ever, but Niuserre, while the Am ericans were uncovering the
much w as retrieved. Under Ludwig Borchardt, the 12th-dynasty pyram id temples and cemeteries at
G erm ans pioneered architectural docum entation Lisht. Between 1916 and 19.18 Reisner also excavat
and interpretation. T he American George Reisner ed at Meroe, N apata and Nuri, capitals of the
showed an interest in stratig rap h y and site form a Nubian rulers of the 25th dynasty and subsequent
tion as he made advances in archaeological photo local rulers down to the 4th century a d .
graphy and com prehensive system s of site and Then, in the late 1930s, the great expeditions
artifact docum entation. Reisner and Petrie trained began to wane. A t Giza, Reisner w as losing his
many young archaeologists, most of whom went sight as early as 1932, but he continued on at H ar
on to direct their ow n excavations, becoming fam il v ard Camp, dictating his books and directing minor
iar nam es to future generations. clearing operations necessary for his reports on the
These were exciting times for pyram id archaeo m astaba field. In 1924-8 Borchardt carried out
logy. A t Giza, Reisner w as clearing the complete small-scale investigations a t Saqqara, Abu Ghurob
profile of M enkaures pyram id - from the royal (Abusir) and Meidum, and at Giza he participated
statu ary and temples to the town. Together with in j.R. Coles survey of K hufus pyram id. In addi
H erm ann Junker he w as also d e a lin g the great tion to the old age and infirm ities of their leaders,
m astaba fields on the east, west and south of the decline of the g reat expeditions has beer,
K hufus pyram id. The G erm ans uncovered the tem ascribed to the new attitude of the A ntiquities Ser
ples of Khafres pyram id in 1909-10. In 1926 Emile vice tow ards foreign institutions. Growing nation
Baraize began to clear the Sphinx and most of its alism w as combined w ith a feeling on the p a rt of
temple for the A ntiquities Service (still under the E gyptians th a t the ancient m onum ents were
French direction). Meanwhile, Selim Hassan, on their cultural property, in addition to the w orlds
behalf of Cairo University, mounted an E gyptian heritage, particularly after tensions w ith Howard
expedition, equal in scale to those of his foreign col C arter over T utankham uns treasures. Turmoil in
leagues, that cleared the m astabas and rock-cut Europe may have also have contributed to the
tom bs of the Central Field between the Sphinx and dem ise of the great expeditions. T he Second World
K hafres pyram id. A t Saqqara, C.M. F irth and J.-P. War brought a halt to such work. Some, such a?
Lauer were revealing the m ultifarious elements of W alter Em ery and Jean-Philippe Lauer, picked up
Djosers Step Pyram id complex. A t Abusir, the Ger where they left off when the w ar w as over, but the
m ans under B orchardt were clearing the great 5th- new excavations were often on a different scale.
60
Years Monument Site Excavator
Pyramid
1887-88 Senwosret Is pyramid Illahun W.M.F. Petrie
Explorations, 1888-89 Amenemhet Ills pyramid Hawara W.M.F. Petrie
1891 Sneferus pyramid Meidum W.M.F. Petrie
1887-1950 1894 Senwosret Is pyramid Lisht J.E. Gautier and G. Jequier
1894-95 Amenemhet IIs pyramid
Senwosret Ills pyramid
Amenemhet Ills pyramid Dahshur J. de Morgan
1896-7 Archaic royal tombs Abydos E. Amelineau
1898-1901 Niuserres sun temple Abu Ghuroh L. Borehardt and H. Schaeffer
(Baron von Bissing Expedition, DOG)
1899-1900 Archaic royal tombs Abydos W.M.F. Petrie (EES)
Ahmoses pyramid Abydos A. Mace
1900 Layer Pyramid Zawivet el Aryan A. Barsanti (SAE)
Unas's mortuary temple Saqqara A. Barsanti (SAE)
1901 Ahmoses pyramid Abydos T. Currelly (EES)
Djedefres pyramid Abu Roash M. Chassinat
1902-08 Sahures pyramid
Neferirkares pyramid
Niuserres pyramid Abusir L. Borehardt (DOG)
1902-32 Western Field Giza G.A. Reisner (Phoebe Hearst Expedition HMFA)
1903-7 Mentuhotep Is tomb Deir el-Bahri E. Naville and H.R.Hall (EEF)
1904-5 Unfinished Pyramid Zawivet el Aryan A. Barsanti (SAE)
1905-08 Tetis pyramid Saqqara J.E. Quibell (SAE)
1906-10 Menkaures pyramid Giza G.A. Reisner (HMFA)
1906-34 Senwosret Is pyramid Lisht A.M. Lythgoe, A.C. Mace and A. Lansing (MMA)
1909-10 Khafres pyramid Giza U. Holscher (von Sieglin Expedition)
Sneferus pyramid Meidum W.M.F. Petrie and G.A. Wainwright (EES)
1910 Amenemhet Ills pyramid Hawara W.M.F. Petrie
1910-11 Layer Pyramid Zawivet el-Aryan G.A. Reisner and C. Fisher (HMFA)
Mazghuna pyramids Mazghuna E. Mackay (under Petrie)
1911-31 Mentuhotep Is tomb Deir el-Bahri H. Winlock (MMA)
1912-14 Western Field Giza H. Junker (DAI)
1913 Senwosret Is pyramid Illahun W.M.F. Petrie and G. Brunton (EEF)
1913-16 Nubian pyramids Kerma G.A. Reisner (HMFA)
1915-23 Nubian pyramids Gebel Barkal G.A. Reisner (HMFA)
1916-18 Nubian pyramids Nuri G.A. Reisner (HMFA)
1918-19 Nubian pyramids El-Kurru G.A. Reisner (HMFA)
1920 Amenemhet Is pyramid Lisht A.C. Mace (MMA)
1920-22 Tetis pyramid Saqqara C.M. Firth and V. Loret (SAE)
Pyramids of Khuit and
Iput Saqqara C.M. Firth and V. Loret (SAE)
1920-23 Nubian pyramids Meroe G.A. Reisner (HMFA)
CU Cairo University 1920/2-38 Khufus pyramid Giza Various SAE and Selim Hassan (SAE)
DAI Deutsches 1924 Shepseskafs mastaba S. Saqqara G. Jequier (SAE)
Archaologisches 1924-32 Eastern Field Giza G.A. Reisner (HMFA)
Instituts, Abteilung 1925-35 Western Field Giza H. Junker (Vienna Academy)
Kairo Sphinx
1926-35 Giza E. Baraize (SAE)
DOG Deutschen Orient-
1926-36 Pepi II Saqqara G. Jequier (IFAO)
Gesellschaft
Egypt Exploration 1926-39 Djosers Step Pyramid Saqqara C.M. Firth and J.P Lauer (SAE)
EEF
Fund 1928-29 Userkaf s pyramid Saqqara C.M. Firth (SAE)
EES Egypt Exploration 1929 Unass mortuary temple Saqqara C.M. Firth (SAE)
Society 1929-30 Sneferus pyramid Meidum A. Rowe (UMP)
HMFA Harvard Museum o f 1929-31 Khendjers pyramid S. Saqqara G. Jequier
Fine Arts Anonymous pyramid S. Saqqara G. Jequier
IFAO Institul Fran;ais 1929-35 Central Field Giza S. Hassan (CU)
d Archeologie 1936-38 Sphinx Giza S. Hassan (SAE)
Orientak 1936-39 Unass mortuary temple Saqqara J.-P. Lauer (SAE)
MMA Metropolitan 1936-56 1st dynasty mastabas Saqqara W. Emery (EES)
Museum o f Art
1937-38 Unas s causeway Saqqara S. Hassan (SAE)
SAE Service des
1937-49 Unass pyramid Saqqara A.H. Hussein and S. Hassan (SAE)
Antiquites de
IEgypte 1945 Djedkare-Isesis pyramid S. Saqqara A.H. Hussein (SAE)
UMP University Museum, 1945-49 Sneferus Bent Pyramid Dahshur A.S. Hussein (SAE)
Pennsylvania 1950 Sekhemkhets pyramid Saqqara Z. Goneim (SAE)
61
Mohammed Zakaria Goneim Jean-Philippe Lauer (right)
(left), then Chief Inspector came as a young architect to
of Antiquities at Saqqara, work for Firth and Quibell on
points out a detail in the Djosers Step Pyramid in
unfinished 3rd-dynasty 1926 - fo r eight months. He
pyramid o f Sekhemkhet that devoted his m xl 70 years tv
he discovered and excavated restoring and reconstructing
from 1952 to 1956. Although the complex surrounding the
he discovered some jewellery pyramid from the dislodged
in the passages, the alabaster and broken pieces that he
sarcophagus proved to be found lying about in the
empty. debris.
M astat
Ptah-hc %
Pyramid of Unas
5th-dynasty
mastaba tombs
Old Kingdom tombs
Causeway of Unas
Pyramid o'
Userka-
3rd-dynasty
cemetery
1st-dynasty
mastabas 2185
200 m
Pyramid of Iput
Pyramid
of Khuft
Pyramid of
Merikare?
(Left to right) The Step
Pyramid o f Djoser, the
pyramid o f Userkaf and
the pyramid of Teti with the
ruins o f its funerary temple.
63
Menkaures Menkaures
queens pyramid
pyramids
(Glll-a,
Glll-b,
Glll-c)
Workmens barracks
Khafres
satellite
pyramid
Khafres
pyramid
Khafres
mortuary
temple
Tomb of
Khentkawes
Cam pbell:
Tomb
Menkaures valley
temole
temple
A
During the Reason of 1901-02, Gaston iviaspero,
Direotor-Gei'Kiral of the Antiquities Service, asked
the Italian, German and American missions to divide
up the Giza necropolis between them for excavation.
When lots were drawn for the Western Cemetery,
George Reisner of the Harvard-Boston Expedition
was awarded the northernmost of three strips. He
later inherited the southern strip when Ernesto
Schiaparelli gave up the Italian concession. Herman
junker of the German Archaeological Institute in
Cairo drew the middle strip. Reisners concession at
the Eastern Cemetery ended at the ridge that forms
the northern boundary of the Sphinx amphitheatre.
Finally, Reisners concession included the pyramid of
Menkaure, with its mortuary and valley temples and
the small pyramids of his three queens. Khafres
pyramid complex was conceded to the Germans who
excavated the pyramid and valley temple under Uvo
Holscher in 1909. The Sphinx itself, and the area in
front, was excavated by the Antiquities Service under
Emile Baraize from 1925 to 1934, and then by Sehm
Hassan from 1936 to 1938.
Western Field
(cemetery)
Khufus pyramid,
the Great Pyramii
67
Years Monument Site Investigator
Recent
1951-52 Sneferus Bent Pyramid Dahshur Ahmed Fakhry (SAE)
Pyramid 1951-70 Tetis pyramid Saqqara MAFS
1954 Khufus boat pit (east) Giza K. el-Malakh (EAO)
Explorations 1955-57 Userkafs sun temple Abusir H. Ricke (Swiss and German Institutes)
1960 Khafres satellite pyramid Giza A. Hafez Abd el-Al
1961-69 Khufu s complex Giza H. Messiha
ARCE American Research 1963-67 Sekhemkhet South Tomb Saqqara J.P. Lauer
Center in Egypt 1963-present Nubian pyramids Sedeinga M.S. Girogini/A. Labrousse
CEOUG Centre d'Etudes 1965-67 Sphinx Temple Giza H. Ricke and G. Haeny, Swiss Institute
Orientales de 1966-71 Pepi Is pyramid Saqqara MAFS
IUniversity de 1966-73 Mentuhotep Is tomb Deir el-Bahri D. Arnold (DAI)
Geneve 1967 Khafres pyramid Giza L. Alvarez (UC, Berkeley, Ain Shams and EAO)
DAI Deutsches 1968-88 Pepi Is mortuary temple South Saqqara MAFS
Archaologisches 1971-72 Merenres pyramid South Saqqara MAFS
Instituts, Abteilung 1971-73 Settlement dump Giza K. Kromer (Austrian Institute)
Kairo Pyramid tombs Ch. Maystre (CEOUG)
1972-73 Tabo, Napata
DOG Deutschen Orient-
1974-76 Unass mortuary temple vSaqqara MAFS
Gesellschaft
EAO Egyptian 1974-78 Giza pyramids Giza SRI International, remote sensing
Antiquities 1976 Tombs of the Intefs Luxor D. Arnold (DAI)
Organization 1976-78 Userkafs mortuary temple Saqqara J.-P. Lauer and A. Labrousse (MAFS)
EEF Egypt Exploration 1976-83 Amenemhet Ills pyramid Dahshur D. Arnold (DAI)
Fund 1977 Khentkawess pyramid Abusir M. Verner (Czech Mission)
EES Egypt Exploration 1977-78 Sphinx Giza M. Lehner and Z. Hawass (EAO)
Society 1977-present lst-dynasty royal tombs Abydos G. Dreyer and W. Kaiser (DAI)
HMFA Harvard Museum 1977-present Sneferus North Pyramid Dahshur R. Stadelmann (DAI)
of Fine Arts 1978 Sphinx Giza SRI International/EAO
IFAO Institut Frangais 1978-79 Provincial pyramid Elephantine German and Swiss Institutes of Archaeology
d ArcMologie 1979-83 Sphinx Giza J. Allen and M. Lehner (ARCE)
Orientate 1979-present Pyramids of Meroe Meroe F. Ilinkel
MAFS Mission 1980 Unfinished Pyramid Abusir M. Verner (Czech Mission)
Archeologique
1980-81 Sinki pyramid South Abydos R Swelim and G. Dreyer
Frangaise a
1981 Seila pyramid Seila Univs. of California, Berkeley/ Brigham Young
Saqqara
Univ.
MMA Metropolitan
Museum o f Art 1981-87 Raneferefs pyramid Abusir M. Verner (Czech Mission)
ROM Royal Ontario 1982 Pyramid of Tia and Tia Saqqara G. Martin (University College, London)
Museum 1982-85 Userkafs pyramid Saqqara AH el-Khouli (EAO)
SAE Service des 1984 Sneferus pyramid Meidum Ali el-Khouli (EAO)
Antiquites de 1984-86 Nefermaats mastaba Meidum Ali el-Khouli (EAO)
IEgypte 1984-88 Private pyramids Saqqara S. Tewfik. (Cairo University/EAO)
SCA Supreme Council 1984-89 Senwosret Is pyramid Lisht D. and D. Arnold (MMA)
o f Antiquities 1985 Lepsius Pyramid I Abu Roash N. Swelim
UCLA University o f 1985-present Archaic enclosures Abydos D. OConnor and W.K. Simpson
California, Los (Univ. of Pennsylvania/Yale Univ.)
Angeles 1986 Sneferus Bent Pyramid Dahshur J. Dorner
UMP University
Museum, ' ^-A s.
Pennsylvania v |FW ' 1 ~
- a
- i i j
: - V - -
C' : V r r , ' ' 'ir - * '* - S V. 'y/'-. JSP' *4* .
-v
68
u
-r-
^7
Years Monument Site Investigator
1986 Lepsius Pyramid L (50) Dahshur R. Stadelmann (DAI)
1986 Khufus pyramid Giza A. Qadry, microgravimetric survey
1986 Khufus pyramid Giza G. Dormion and J.P. Goidin
1986 Djedkare-Isesis pyramid South Saqqara S. el-Nagar
1986 Pepi Is satellite pyramid South Saqqara A. Labrousse
1986-91 Workers installations Dahshur R. Stadelmann (DAI)
1986-present Mastaba field Dahshur R. Stadelmann (DAI)
1987 Khufus pyramid Giza S. Yoshimura (Waseda Univ., Tokyo)
1987 Sphinx Giza S. Yoshimura (Waseda Univ., Tokyo)
1987 Seila pyramid Seila N. Swelim and Brigham Young Univ.
1987 Khufus boat pit (west) Giza National Geographic
1988-95 Pepi Is queens pyramids South Saqqara MAFS
1988-89 Workmens barracks Giza M. Lehner (Yale Univ.)
1988-present Settlement remains Giza M. Lehner (Oriental Inst./ Harvard Semitic Mus.)
1988-present Sphinx Giza SCA
1988-present Senwosret IIs town Illahun N. Millet (ROM)
1989 Settlement Giza Z. Hawass and M. Jones (AMBRIC/ SCA)
1990 Khufus valley temple Giza Z. Hawass (SCA)
1990 Khufus pyramid Giza j. Kerisel, J.-B. Kerisel and Alain Guillon
1990 Sphinx Giza UNESCO
1990-91 Lepsius Pyramid XXV (25) Abusir M. Verner (Czech Mission)
1990-presentWorkers cemetery Giza Z. Hawass (SCA)
1990-present Gisr el-Mudir Saqqara I. Mathieson and H. Smith (Nat. Mus. of Scotland)
1990-present Senwosret Ills pyramid Dahshur D. Arnold (MMA)
1991 Sphinx Giza R. Schoch, T. Dobecki and J.A. West
1991 Unass valley temple Saqqara A. Moussa and A. Labrousse (MAFS) Zahi Hawass surveys the
1991 Amenemhet Is pyramid Lisht D. Arnold (MMA) burial chamber o f Khufus
1991-97 Pyramids of Iput and KhuitSaqqara A. Labrousse and Zawi Hawass (SCA) satellite pyramid, which he
1991-present Dra Abu el-Naga Luxor D. Polz (DAI/UCLA) disco vered in 1993. Hawass
1992 Sphinx Giza I. Marzouk and A. Gharib also found the capstone of
1992 Eastern Field Giza Z. Hawass (EAO) the smaU pyramid.
1992 Khufus Queens pyramids Giza Z. Hawass (EAO)
1992 Ninetjers galleries Saqqara P. Munro (Berlin and Hanover Univ. Mission)
1992 Sahures pyramid Abusir Z. Hawass
1992-93 Unass causeway Saqqara A. Moussa (EAO) and A. Labrousse (MAFS)
1992-95 Khufus pyramid Giza J. Kerisel
1993 Khufus satellite pyramid Giza Z. Hawass
1993 Khufus pyramid Giza R. Stadelmann and R. Gantenbrink (DAI)
1993 Neferhetepess complex Saqqara J.P. Lauer and A. Labrousse (MAFS)
1993-present Djedefres pyramid Abu Roash Giza Pyramids Inspectorate/IFAO/
Univ. of Geneva
1993-present Ahmose Is pyramid Abydos S. Harvey Pennsylvania/Yale Univ. Expedition
1994 Senwosret Ills temple Abydos J. Wegner Pennsylvania/Yale Univ. Expedition
1995-96 Khafres valley temple Giza Z. Hawass (SCA)
1995-96 Lepsius Pyramid XXIV (24) Abusir M. Verner (Czech Mission)
1996 Menkaures pyramid Giza Z. Hawass (SCA)
1997 Queen Khuits pyramid Saqqara Z. Hawass (SCA)
in 1987 the Japanese applied the electromagnetic of A stronom y and Geophysics carried out a study
sounding technique to the Sphinx. They believe of the ground below the Sphinx using shallow seis
they found evidence of a n o rth -so u th tunnel under mic refraction and found no evidence of cavities.
the Sphinx, a w ater pocket below the surface near Unlike the other two Giza pyram ids, the base of
the south hind paw and another cavity near the M enkaures pyram id w as never freed from debris.
north hind paw. Both rear anom alies are probably In 1996 Zahi H awass began to clear its west and
p a rt of the main fissure th a t cuts through the south sides and found an unfinished statue, which
Sphinx site. Robert Schoch (Boston University), w as roughly shaped from granite in the Ramessid
Thom as Dobecki and John A nthony West carried period. T he discovery fits other evidence th at New
out a survey in 1991 of the Sphinx using seismic Kingdom pharaohs quarried the Giza pyram ids for
m ethods to support a theory that it predates the 4th stone. In Septem ber 1996 the team uncovered a row
dynasty. But in 1992 Imam M arzouk and Ali of large limestone foundation blocks laid on end
Gh arib of the E gyptian National Research Institute along the south side of the pyram id.
69
lthough each pyramid featured the same square
72
A sanctuary ivas built on the
mound, possibly in Middle
T he circular mound, contained by a revetment, or The Narmer palette, of necked beasts may represent
retaining wall, of coarse sandstone blocks laid in greyivacke (dark green slate) the two halves o f the country
horizontal courses, w as built on top of Layer 2. It commemorates the victories now forcibly united. The other
m easures 49.26 m (162 ft) across, with the courses o f King Narmer. whose name side shows a kneeling
is inscribed within the serekh prisoner, probably a Lower
stepped at an angle of 45. We do not know its orig
One side shows the king, Egyptian, being smitten by
inal height because the top of the mound w as prob ivearing the red crown of the king who here wears the
ably cut down when later buildings were erected. A Lower Egypt in a tnumpl'ial the white crown o f Upper
temple w as built around the mound, probably near procession. The strange long Egypt.
73
the beginning of the 1st dynasty on the evidence of south end of the east side - of the later temple
Origins of the Pyramid -
Layer 3, which surrounded the m ound and con entrance, and, significantly, it corresponds to the
Hierakonpolis
tained abundant charcoal and fire reddened earth, location of the entrance to Djosers complex. To the
as well as pottery sherds of the protodynastic peri northeast Quibell found life-sized statues of kneel
od and 1st dynasty. These traces of a conflagration ing attendants.
Main Deposit suggest that the stru ctu res consisted of reed m at A nother object in the deposit was the g reat lime
Maceheads, including ting and wood, the traditional type of architecture stone macehead show ing N arm er seated a t the top
Narmer that w as im itated in stone by Djoser in his pyram id of a stairw ay a t some kind of ceremony. The scene
Narmer Wedding complex. is thought by some to represent an occasion that
Palettes, including The mound m ust have been a high place for a took place at Buto, a predynastic Delta capital and
Narmer palette chapel in the form of the Per Wer, the G reat northern counterpart of Nekhen. However, it is
'Two Dogpalette House, which was the nam e of the national shrine tem pting to see the stairw ay to the raised platform
Flint knives
of southern E gypt at Hierakonpolis. A s the mound as a stylized rendering of a mound like that at
Archaic statuette of
w as the highest place in both town and temple, a Nekhen, which m ust have had a stairw ay or other
Khasekhemwy
tem porary shrine for the ruler m ight have been set form of access, though no evidence for one was
Ivory wands
Small carved ivory and up on ritual occasions. One such shrine is depicted found.
faience votive figures on the N arm er macehead from the Main Deposit, a
Animal figurines, collection of objects found immediately outside the The mound in mythology
including scorpions or mound, to the northeast. These constitute some of Later E gyptians certainly believed that the mound
scorpion tails and the oldest and m ost archetypal icons of kingship at Hierakonpolis w as extremely special to the cult
monkeys, birds, frogs, ever discovered in Egypt. of Horus. They built a sanctuary centered on th e
dogs, hippopotamuses, mound, possibly in Middle Kingdom times, consist
a boar, gazelle The Main Deposit ing of five cham bers - recalling the five niches tha:
Stone and faience vessels T h is m ysterious cache consists of many objects, became standard for the sanctuaries of pyramid
Model vessels including flint knives, sm all and large decorated temples from the time of Khafre onwards. In th e
Pottery vessels
stone maceheads, faience figurines, slate palettes central cham ber a beautiful falcon fashioned of
Stelae fragments
and a concentrated heap of ivory figurines and copper plate w ith a head and plum es of gold was
wands. Almost all are in the style of the protody ritually buried in an upright position on a standard.
nastic and Archaic (early dynastic) periods. Green T his carefully designed burial made the mound :
thought th a t the cache lay upon or w ithin Layer 3. virtual tom b of the sacred cult of H orus of
W ithout doubt, the N arm er Palette is the most Nekhen, and reactivated the late predynastic
striking object in the cache - both a m onum ent of shrine. It w as a sym bolic replanting of the divine
early E gyptian kingship and a b latant pictorial seed of the deity, who would emerge from th e
statem ent of the forcible union of southern with mound which, to the E gyptians of the dynastic
northern Egypt. It is named after the king who is period, m ust have seemed to date back to the begin
w ritten with the hieroglyph of the catfish (nor) and ning of time.
chisel (m er) in the serekh panel (the stylized palace E gyptian literature about the Afterlife is replete
fagade used for royal names). N arm er w as a king of with references to divine mounds. The oldest of all.
the protodynastic period w ho preceded Hor-Aha, th e Pyram id T exts (p. 31), refer to the Creator.
The Rites of the Mound o f probably the first king of the 1st dynasty. Atum, rising as a mound in the enclosure of
femme are depicted at the A few clues suggest th at the palette was found Heliopolis. In a sense, every E gyptian temple of
Edifice o f Tarhaqa and the alm ost in its original position, close to the entrance later tim es w as the prim eval mound situated in the
Temple o f Osiris Heka Djet of the Archaic temple. It lay near a slotted lime middle of its own defined sacred place. In the Nev.
at Karnak. The falcon perches
stone slab and pavem ent and 9 m (30 ft) west of a Kingdom Rite of the M ound of Jemrne a gigantk
on the lotus sprouting from
the mound, the risen form limestone door jamb with a b asalt pivot socket in pair of arm s, one belonging to Geb, the primordial
o f the falcon plantedin the the form of a prisoner w ith hands bound behind his earth-god, and the other to Horus, god of kingship,
Hierakonpolis mound, back. T his is generally the place - tow ards the lifts up a large mound. A lotus, symbol of rebirth,
sp rin g s from the m ound and provides a perch for
the H orus falcon and the feather of truth, Maat.
The scene represents the transfiguration of Amun.
in this case into the falcon as a sun sym bol ar.c
keeper of Maat, the concept of order in the uni
verse. In the Old Kingdom, the pyram id wfas the
m ound of transform ation and the pharaoh w as tin
keeper of Maat.
The mound a t Hierakonpolis can therefore be
seen as closely prefiguring the Rite of jem m e, and
as such it sym bolizes a basic concept behind the
greatest sacred m ounds that the E gyptians eve:
constructed - the Old Kingdom pyram ids.
74
T he ancient E gyptians believed that the first
pharaohs hailed from This, of which Abydos w as
the religious centre. At Abydos the high desert
cliffs form a great bay bisected by a V-shaped
ravine. E g y p ts earliest kings m ay have seen this
cleft as a passage into the Afterlife, for they built
Royal Tombs at Abydos
their tom bs below it on a spur extending from the
rocky cliffs and overlooking the wadi that ru n s to
the edge of the cultivation. M odern E g yptians call
this burial ground Umm el-Qaab, M other of P ots,
because of the enorm ous m ounds of fragm ents of and Narmer. Then suddenly, near N arm ers small
pottery left by ancient E gyptian pilgrims. tomb, is the startlingly larger and more complex
For several generations before the 1st dynasty it tom b of Hor-Aha, equated by some with Menes,
had been a tradition for local rulers to place their first king of the 1st dynasty.
tom bs far out in the desert near passages through Hor-Ahas tom b w as built in stages, as were so
the high cliffs. For example, protodynastic rulers of m any later m astabas and pyram ids. It began as a
H ierakonpolis built their tom bs in the Wadi Abu double cham ber-tom b but ultimately consisted of
Suffian, where Michael Hoffman discovered them. three large m udbrick-lined pits. T he king may have
T hese tom bs m ust have been built about the sam e been buried in the central one, the brick lining of
time as the Nekhen temple m ound (p. 72). which served as a protective shell around an inner
A t Umm el-Qaab, G unter Dreyer has revealed wooden chamber. Forming an entourage for the
how a constellation of royal tom bs developed from king are 34 small pits - the graves of courtiers who
a galaxy of graves reaching back into the pre were possibly sacrificed. A nalysis of hum an bones
dynastic period, Cemetery U, form ing a remarkable show s them to be almost all of males, no older than
record of state formation. In the m idst of the 25. Curiously, the bones around the last cham ber
crowded small pit-tombs, larger m udbrick cham ber were those of young lions.
tom bs stand out. Tomb Uj is the largest, with a b u r T he tom b of the next king, Djer, w as the largest
ial cham ber that once housed a wooden shrine. lst-d y n asty burial at Abydos. Its roofed space of
Inside, Dreyer found an ivory heqa sceptre, the very 12 x 13 m (39 x 43 ft) w as probably the limit that
hieroglyph for ruler. The tomb is a model of a could be covered by timber, m atting and mud. Djer
house, with 12 cham bers, a central court and sym
bolic slit-doors to m agazines containing hundreds (Right) Tomb Uj, o f a local
of Egyptian and im ported Palestinian pots. Some late predynastic ruler, in
of E g y p ts earliest hieroglyphs show that great rev which Gunter Dreyer found
some o f Egypts oldest
enues already flowed to the ruler buried here from
hieroglyphs and hundreds of
provincial estates and beyond. T he tomb as replica imported Palestinian vessels.
of the great house provisioned by the entire land Even at this early stage, the
carries on into the Old Kingdom pyramids. tomb is a simulacrum o f a
Between Uj and the tom b of Hor-Aha, about 150 great house, provisioned
years later, is open space except for 11 rectangular from afar.
tombs. Three, each consisting of two brick-lined
pits, belong to the kings of dynasty O, who ruled
E gypt during its gradual unification - Iri-Hor, Ka
I st-DYNASTY TOMBS
Khasekhemwy
(2nd dynasty)
Qaa
2nd-dynasty
royal enclosures
New Kingdom
CDO 0 800 m
temples
a ^ h
=>a 0 2500 ft
Osiris temple
Developments in tomb architecture rectangular court. The earliest exam ples are now
Seven kings and one queen (Merneith) of the 1st defined by the surrounding subsidiary burials, but
dynasty built tom bs at Abydos, expanding roughly later ones have niched m udbrick enclosure walls.
tow ards the southw est, the direction of the g reat K hasekhem w ys is the largest, covering over 5,000
ravine. T he wall of the mound over Djets tom b has sq. m (53,820 sq. ft). Such structures, with their
an overlap at the southw est corner, m aking a false niched facades, may be models of the palace enclo
flap-door corresponding to a niche in the tomb sure of the living king (the style is often called
below - a precursor to the classic false door. Dreyer palace facade). Most are practically empty, but
ascertained that a second stairw ay and cham ber those of Khasekhemwy and Peribsen have a small
added to the southw est of Dens tomb w as for a building that sits askew inside the entrance at the
statue of the king, m aking this a prototype of the southeast corner. This may have housed the kings
serdab cham bers in Old Kingdom tombs. statue or offerings made to him.
As rulers continued to build their tom bs at A by One interpretation sees these enclosures as full-
dos the main pit became deeper and the wood scale replicas of the open courts for royal display in
shrine around the burial cham ber w as fitted closer the palace. Another view is that, located at the edge
to its walls, leaving no space for magazines. Petrie of the cultivation, they perhaps played a role sim i
sum m arized other principal changes: lar to the valley temples of the pyram ids, in which
By Merneitfh] these [offering] chambers were built case the wadi forms a kind of natural causew ay to
separately [round the burial chamber]. By Den an the mounded tombs. Perhaps, like the valley tem After he had found a row o f
entrance passage was added, and by Qa the entrance was ples, the enclosures were associated with the bricks that may have belonged
turned to the north. At this stage we are within reach of to a mound inside
purification ten t and m ortuary w orkshop (p. 25).
the early passage-mastabas and pyramids. Khasekhemwys valley
In both form and location of the entrances, the enclosure (bottom left), David
A break in the sequence a t Abydos for the 2nd enclosures can also be seen as the precursor to the OConnor recomtructed the
d ynasty m akes tracing royal tomb development niched wall that surrounds D josers complex, while proto-pyramid slightly north
into the pyram id age difficult. No tomb has been the mounded grave moves inside the enclosure as and west of centre, a position
found here for Hetepsekhemwy, the successor of the stone m astaba and, finally, the Step Pyramid. occupied by the temple mound
Q aa in the traditional king list and the first king of at Hierakonpolis (top) and
Can these structures be precursors of both valley
Djoser's Step Pyramid
the 2nd dynasty. However, one of two enorm ous temple and pyram id enclosure? Both were m asonry (bottom right) in their
sets of underground galleries a t Saqqara is replicas of structures in less durable m aterials that respective enclosures.
ascribed to him. T he last king of the 2nd dynasty, veiled, and at the same time revealed, som ething They also have in common
Khasekhem, changed his nam e to Khasekhemwy, royal and divine. When painted, the enclosure of entrances at the far south end
T h e A ppearance of the Two Powers apparently Khasekhemwy, like the Saqqara m astabas, repre o f the east side and the east
after the conclusion of civil strife. His tomb at A by end o f the north side (the
sented screen walls made of wood fram es and
first phase o f Djosers
dos is a m arked departure from the square pit- colourful reed mats. In plastered and painted m ud enclosure). The enclosures
tombs, consisting of a long, irregular pit, divided brick, it w as a more solid version of other Abydos are not. shown to scale.
into 40 magazines. enclosures that had perished (as, perhaps, did the
tom b superstructures at Umm el-Qaab), leaving
Valley funerary enclosures only the rectangles of subsidiary graves.
A t the juncture of the wadi with the cultivation, the David O Connor recovered traces of the floor of
1st- and 2nd-dynasty kings built the second ele K hasekhem w ys enclosure. Near the centre he
ment of their tomb complexes at A bydos - a huge found a short line of bricks laid at an angle, su g
gesting the upw ard spring of a vault or tumulus.
The large royal enclosures of
OConnor suspects that these are the rem ains of a
2nd-dynasty kings simulated
wood-frame and reed-mat m udbrick mound - a proto-pyram id. He com pares
structures in plastered and the mound within the rectangle to the temple at
painted mudbrick. Hierakonpolis and the Djoser enclosure. Even more
dram atic w as the discovery of a row of 12 buried
Khasekhemwy Mound boats, east of Khasekhernwys complex. Each
wooden boat is contained in a m udbrick casing,
plastered with mud and w hitewashed. Lengths
vary from 19 to 29 m (69 to 95 ft). T his ghostly fleet
strengthens the com parison of these valley enclo
sures to pyram id temples, which were docking
places to the Netherworld.
With Khasekhemwy we are only years away
from the 3rd dynasty, Djoser and the first great
stone pyram id complex. But before Djoser, we m ust
come to term s with the curious possibility of
another royal cemetery of the first two dynasties at
Saqqara.
77
On the west side, a wide wadi rises like a natural
ram p up into the Saqqara plateau from an old lake
basin northw est of where the Archaic settlement
may lie buried. Like the w adi at Abydos, this w as a
Archaic Mastabas at Saqqara path from the land of the living to the realm of the
dead. Flanking this route, along the very edge of
the high cliff towering above the town, Egyptian:-
of the 1st dynasty built a string of large mastaba>
with niched fagades.
3357 3035
3471
2185 3036
3038
3338 E M
3507 3 1 1 1 g E D
300 m
100 ft
78
Abydos were symbolic, false tombs, or cenotaphs, As for the argum ent that the Saqqara m astabas
to ensure the presence of the kings spirit in the old are bigger and therefore m ust be royal tom bs, when
home ground during the Afterlife. In later times it the A bydos pit-graves are combined w ith the valley
w as the practice for elite E gyptians to build ceno enclosures they present a total arrangem ent that is
tap h s at Abydos, the cult centre of Osiris. larger than the Saqqara m astabas. T he presence
On the other hand, others view A bydos as the also a t A bydos of extraordinarily large groups of (Above) Saqqara mastaba
3505; (below) the Abydos
true royal cemetery and see the Saqqara m astabas retainers burials with their m any small stelae, as
tomb and valley enclosure
not as royal cenotaphs but as tom bs of high offi well as the large stelae of rulers, all point to A by o f Qa a
cials. Seal im pressions of such people, who held dos as the true burial ground.
titles like Nomarch, Governor, Councillor, T reasu r
er, and Ruling in the K ings H eart, are found Symbolic architecture
alm ost as commonly as those of kings. Moreover, T he Saqqara m astabas are m assive structures com
Emery recovered the stone stela of a man named parable to fortified city walls, which some see as
M erka near a large niche or false door of m astaba the inspiration for their facades. But when we con
3505. Merka was a nomarch (.Adj-m er), Captain of sider the decoration painted on the plastered s u r
the Royal Ship and Controller of the Palace. He face of the niched walls, it is apparent that the
w as also an Iry Paat, one of the p a a f, a class of builders also had som ething else in mind. Recessed
patricians. panels are painted yellow to im itate wood, while the
forw ard, broadest faces are painted in varied p a t
(Left) The inscribed, panel terns of squares, crosses and lozenges. These are
from the stela o f Merka, a the p attern s of woven m ats that the lst-dynasty'
high official, found near the builders knew from iheir daily lives. They were
main niche at the south end
o f mastaba 3505. Some see sim ulating the wood-frame and woven reed-mat
it as conclusive evidence that stru ctu res such as formed the Per Wer and the Per
the large mastabas at North Nu, the predynastic shrines th a t became em blem at
Saqqara belong to holders ic for U pper and Lower Egypt.
o f high office under the kings, Like later false doors, which were abbreviated
and not to the kings versions of these niched facades, the broader
themselves.
niches of the m astabas were contact points
between this world and the Netherworld. Tucked One argument in favour of
into several niches of m astaba 3503 - which some the Saqqara mastabas being
still ascribe to Merneith, but which contained seal the royal tombs is their size.
However, wizen the total
ings of an official, perhaps Seshem ka - Em ery
arrangement of tomb and
found offering dishes still in place after nearly five valley enclosure at Abydos is
millennia. Even more dram atic, and peculiar to the combined, they comprise a
(Below, left and centre) lst-d y n asty m astabas of N orth Saqqara, are h un much greater area.
Modelled cattle skulls with real dreds of clay ox heads with real horns attached -
horns surround mastaba
for instance arranged along the bench and in the
3504, possibly a symbolic
herd. Such skulls were found recesses of m astaba 3504, ascribed to Djet but asso
also at other mastabas, but in ciated w ith sealings of an official nam ed Sekhem-
fewer numbers. ka. These may represent offerings or a living herd.
79
E gyptologists have long been frustrated by a els whose false doors were too narrow and low to
Archaic Mastabas at Saqqara lack of precedent for this earliest monum ental have been exact copies of real doors. T he elabora'
architecture with its sophisticated exterior decora niching of th is Active architecture accentuated th
tion. We may be m issing a long evolution of fortifi painted rendering of reed m ats and wood frame. I
cations, tow ns and tom bs of early Delta w as a way to show the construction of the skeleta:
communities, such as Buto, largely unexcavated. system while freezing it for eternity in mudbric
But it is im portant to realize th a t the m astabas, like Some burial cham bers had real posts and reed ma --
the A bydos valley enclosures, are simulacra - m od on the walls - the inside of the reed shrine.
Pyramid
Precedents
Changes in the design of the lst-dynasty mastabas at In mastaba 3507, Emery found a low rounded
Saqqara do suggest incipient forms of elements of tumulus above the burial chamber. Set within the
the later pyramids, an aspect that still convinces some rectangular niched wall enclosure, the mound
Egyptologists that they are royal tombs. North of completed the basic pattern of the early
mastaba 3357, ascribed to Hor-Aha, are a set of model Hierakonpolis temple and the later Djoser complex. In
buildings and two large terraces extending up to mastaba 3357, reed mats stuck on the walls perhaps
walls lining a boat pit. The whole looks like a imitated the interior of a reed enclosure -- a
simulated quay or dock with goods off-loaded and forerunner of Djosers apartments below his pyramid,
stored in the model buildings. Could this arrangement where the reed mats are rendered in blue faience tiles.
be a precursor to the mortuary temple, such as on the But it is in mastaba 3038, from the reign of Adjib,
north side of Djosers Step Pyramid? Mastaba 3505 that we find the closest precedent to Djosers Step
(ascribed to Qaa, but probably belonging to Merka) Pyramid. The entire substructure, in a 4-m (13-ft)
has a more developed north chapel that is closer to deep rectangular pit, had mudbrick walls rising to a
Djosers pyramid temple, although it also fits in the height of 6 m (19 ft). Three sides of this structure
development of chapels of tombs of high officials. were then built out to form eight shallow steps rising
It is in the very core of the mastabas that features at an angle of 49. This would have been an oblong
develop which appear to be compelling precedents for step pyramid except the remaining side was left
the later pyramids. In mastaba 2185 we see for the uncovered. In the final building phase a niched
first time great stone beams over the burial chamber. enclosure wall was erected all round and the area
Mastabas 3036 and 3035, belonging to the officials within entirely filled with sand, thus completely
Ankhka and Hemaka, have a stepped entrance burying the stepped mound.
corridor built into a sloping trench that approaches When Emery stripped away the niched mastaba to
the burial chamber from the east. The corridors reveal the stepped mound, Egyptologists were struck
feature the first portcullis grooves and slabs, the by its similarity to the image of a stepped mound
sliding stone door that would be used in pyramid associated with the name of King Adjib etched on
passages throughout the Old Kingdom. As well as pottery, stone vases and ivory tablets from both
improving security, these arrangements have the Saqqara and Abydos. On top of Ad jibs mound is a
functional advantage of allowing the burial chamber stela with hieroglyphs that read Protection around
and magazines to be entered for the funeral even after Horus (i.e. the king). Could this innovative stepped
they had been sealed by the superstructure. Earlier mound buried inside mastaba 3038 have been so
mastabas must have been built after the occupant had renowned that it became closely associated with
been interred and could not be re-entered. King Adjib?
80
A
V
82
1 km
0.5 mile
advantage of natural lakes along the desert edge.
Such lakes were left after the annual floods receded
or were stranded as the course of the Nile moved.
tN
U serkafs causeway, never excavated, probably ran [x] Shepseskaf
through the wadi that now contains the tourist road [ 3 Pepi II
up to the plateau. CV B Ibi
Q)
T he four kings who followed U serkaf built their
pyram ids in a cluster at Abusir. Again, the lake in <Z>
O )
the A busir bay could have furnished a common ;o
harbour. As the kings added to the A busir pyram id s
cluster they followed a practice that we have seen
in the lst-dynasty royal cemetery a t Abydos, and
#
also a t central Saqqara and Giza, that is to extend
in a general southw est orientation.
South Saqqara lakes?- X Merenre
Near the end of the 5th dynasty Djedkare-Isesi
built his pyram id at South Saqqara on a point over Djedkare-Isesi
looking the m outh of the prom inent Wadi el-Tafla,
which probably furnished a low, ponded area su it Pepi
able for a pyram id harbour.
Unas built his pyram id close against the Step
Pyram id enclosure, at the far w est end of the south
side. Like two guard posts, the pyram ids of the
Main Memphis ruin fie d
first (Userkaf) and last (Unas) kings of this dynasty 500 m east (see inset)
flanked the precinct of their ancestor, Djoser. As
with Userkaf, the selection of the site for his p y ra SAQQARA
mid m ust have been of considerable im portance to Unas lake ?_
Unas, since it required that he build an extremely
long causeway to reach the floodplain. It ran
through a minor wadi to yet another of the natural
lakes along the desert edge.
W hen Teti, first pharaoh of the 6th dynasty, built
his pyram id northeast of U serkafs, a necklace of
pyram ids from the 3rd, 5th and 6th dynasties Djoser
extended diagonally from northeast to southw est
across the central Saqqara plateau. T he orientation
is approxim ate, although a line can be draw n con Userkaf ^
84
to have been p a rt of a larger ceremonial cycle, an
act of consolidation and renewal that necessitated
burying finely crafted structures. T he E gyptian
penchant for sim ulation receives one of its greatest
expressions here. T he stone enclosure wall im itates
one of mudbrick; the ceiling stones of the entrance
passage, the Sed chapels and the Pavilions of the
X'orth and South im itate wooden log beams; traces
of paint indicate th at m any facades and pillars in
tine limestone were painted red to im itate wood.
With certain elements, it was enough that their
form - their image - w as present in the faqade; the
interior could be abbreviated. Yet not all the build
ings in the Djoser complex are d u m m y facades.
Lauer has distinguished between functional versus
fictional structures. T he fictive architecture served
the k in g s ka in the Afterlife. The functional may
have been necessary for the actual conduct of the
funeral ceremonies. Djosers funeral cortege could
have negotiated an elaborate course through the
buildings, a statu e of the king at every m ajor turn
symbolically allowing the procession to pass. But,
given the fact th a t many entrances and passages
are scarcely wider than 1 m (3'A ft), it would have
been far more convenient to bring the royal body
and its accoutrem ents into the complex by w ay of a
ram p over the enclosure in its northeast corner.
Pyramid cut away to show Northern temple Djoser's Step Pyramid in its
stages of construction final stage rose in six step? :
a height of 60 in (196: '
with a base measuring la :
109 m (3 9 7 x3 5 8 ft).
Evidence of ramp
over northeast c c - '- r
of enclosure wall
-> '
r
-----------------
0/
300 ft
The Step Pyramid
Djosers complex covers a
vast area; the underground
elements are an a grand
scale also, as shown inside.
t - -
had been reused with their d e c o ra tr:
Inside the Step Pyramid neglected, m ust have form ed the roof
burial vault - the earliest known examp
ceiling. T his motif, one that the Egypti;
over royal tomb cham bers for centuries,
one of the paradoxes of the pyram ids. 1);
lie after death underground, under mil.io!>
of masonry, but the roof of the cham ber is
the night sky, to which his soul is free to fly.
The fact that this burial vault w as scrap;
another built parallels the multiple b u ild in g
rebuildings above ground. W hen it was d e c :" c
expand the m astaba into a pyram id, the new s ;
stru ctu re covered the descending corridor
made it impossible to keep the central shaft <\
They were filled and covered with m asonr.
another way had to be contrived to bring in
royal body. A new access w as built, beginning ns
open stairw ay trench north of the pyram id ten::
while the centre of the descending corridor w as '
open. In the narrow est p a rts of the new aav >
there w as no room for anything wider than a m e:r
p : sage
m7)
89
Djosers Step Pyramid
Complex
Djosers statue in its serdab
(below), representing the king
emerging from his private
Netherworld apartment below
the pyramid.
90
entered by a round aperture. Remarkably, the
The South Tomb wooden beam used to lower the granite plug was
still in place with traces left by the ropes still visi
By all Egyptological reckoning the Step Pyram id ble. Incorporated into the m asonry of the m anoeu
itself is a functional royal tomb. But in Djosers vre cham ber were blocks of fine limestone with
complex, in addition to the Step Pyram id, we find relief-carved stars - rem ains of a previous vault.
the enigm atic South Tomb. Below it the builders T he granite vault is sim ilar to the one under the
replicated three essential features of the su b stru c pyram id, but it is much smaller, and its interior was
ture of the pyram id: the descending corridor; cen covered in green traces of copper. W hat w as placed
tral shaft with the granite vault; and the kings in this vault, too small for a hum an burial? Various
palace with its blue-tiled cham bers. As under the suggestions have been made: that it w as a Active
pyram id, the builders blocked the descending corri tomb for a ritual death during the Heb-Sed cere
dor except for a narrow stairw ay to allow them to monies w hen the king renewed his vital forces; that
bring in w hatever it w as they placed in the vault. it w as the home of the kings ka\ that it w as the bur
About halfw ay down the corridor a side cham ber ial place of the royal placenta, preserved from birth
w as found filled w ith large jars. On top of these the until death; that it w as for the burial of the crowns:
workmen had left a wooden stretcher, box and or that it w as a symbolic reference to the old tomb.-
King Djoser performing posts from a baldachin that resemble those of Het- a t Abydos, be they actual or Active burial places.
the ceremonial heb-sed run, epheress cache at Giza (p. 117). Lauer thought it m ight have been for the king's
holding the household deed - Robbers had done far less dam age to the South internal organs, removed during mummification,
to the whole o f Egypt. This is Tomb than the pyram id itself, so excavators found though in later times the canopic chest containing
one o f the false door stelae in the m anoeuvre cham ber intact. The w alls were of these w as placed in the sam e cham ber as the body.
the blue-tiled chambers o f the
large limestone slabs and the underside of the stone T h e entire South Tom b complex may have beer,
South Tomb. Three stelae
were located under the main ceiling beam s had been rounded to im itate palm intended for the kings ka, and the E gyptians often
pyramid, and three under the logs. A s in the pyram id (though here at the south gave the ka special funerary treatm ent by the sepa
South Tomb. rather than the north end), the burial cham ber w as rate interm ent of a statue. There is compelling evi
dence th at Khafres satellite pyram id w as used for;
statue burial. The South Tomb may thus be seen as
the precursor of later satellite pyram ids. T he wood
en stretcher, box and poles found in the m agazine in
the South Tomb may be the ritually disassembled
p arts of the ap p aratu s used to carry such a statue.
All indications point to the fact that the South
Tomb was finished first: the kings inner palace is
far more complete than th at of the pyram id. Cham
ber I has six panels identical to those under the
pyram id, with blue faience tiles laid on a limestone
backing im itating reed-m at facades with a vaulted
top supported by djed columns. One contained the
real door from the vestibule. In another cham ber (II
three more panels contain false door stelae, while
the fourth contains the real door exiting to a short
corridor. Two more cham bers are covered, like their
counterparts under the pyram id, with blue faienu
inlay. T he blue-tiled cham bers are one of the most
im pressive features of the Djoser substructure. Ye-
the product of this extraordinary care and crafts
m anship w as never intended to be seen by living
eyes; it was m eant instead to ensure som ething in
the kings existence after death. The clue to wha:
th at was lies in the false door stelae, which form the
pictorial and textual determ inative to the entire
underground complex. In the darkest, m ost inacces
sible place the Egyptian builders could devise, they
used the best of their nascent abilities in relief a r
and text to depict the king in perpetual com m unica
tion, not so much with his living subjects, as with
the netjeru, the gods and denizens of the N ether
world, w here the kings m at palace was now p a rt of
the watery, sacred region of primeval reed shrines.
92
(Building Askew) Step Pyramid South North
Mastaba superstructure
Descending stairway
from west
Magazine L: 18 x 1.6 m,
for food offerings
Central shaft:
7 x 7 m, 28 m deep (Below) First burial chamber
with limestone ceiling studded
Stairway bypasses with stars above and below
manoeuvre chamber (not (interior).
shown) and granite vault
(Left) Sekhemkhets pyramid (Above) The Layer Pyramid (Right) The Horus name o f
- te Wall was intended as a step o f Zawiyet el-Aryan, perlwps Khaba was found inscribed
pyramid probably o f seven belonging to Khaba, was also on vases in a mastaba near
steps, but was never finished. begun as a step pyramid. The the pyramid.
I
Its base length was 120 m inward-leaning accretions are
North extension (394 ft). A northward visible in what remains today.
I
extension of the enclosure
covered a wall o f bastions
and niches, cased in fine
limestone, like Djoser's
enclosure wall.
Burial chamber,
3.63 x 2.65 m,
h. 3 m
95
The Enigma
of the
Provincial Step
Pyramids
(Right) The step pyramid o f two, but their similarity to one another suggests thr
Sinki, at Abydos. Excavated they were part of a single building programme by
by Nabil Swelim and Gunter one king - perhaps Huni, father of Sneferu, to judge
Dreyer, it had ramps and by a large granite cone inscribed with his name fou:
accretion marker bricks still in at Elephantine. A further pyramid is tentatively
place. (Far right) The pyramid ascribed to Huni. In 1985 Nabil Swelim surveyed a
at Zawiyet el-Meitin. (Below)
large rock knoll at Abu Roash that Lepsius had seen
The pyramid at Seila.
covered with mudbricks and numbered I. A passagr
in the north side slopes down to a chamber of the
Seven step pyramids are known in the provinces. The kind found in pyramids of the early 4th dynasty.
southernmost is on the island of Elephantine. Three Though it is unique for this period in being built of
more are near Ombos, Edfu and Hierakonpolis (at ek mudbrick, Swelim dates it to the end of the 3rd
Kula). The next is at Sinki near Abydos. A solitary dynasty or the start of the 4th, and assigns it to Hu: i
small pyramid is found in Middle Egypt at Zawiyet The small step pyramids may mark the locations
el-Meitin. Another, at Seila, overlooks the Fayum from royal residences near, but outside, major religious am
atop the desert spur between it and the Nile. political centres. They would have been temporary
The purpose of these small step pyramids is a residences occupied during visits of the king or his
mystery. It has been suggested that they mark the representatives during a journey through the land t
homelands of royal consorts, that they are the sacred collect taxes and give judgments. The pyramids
places of Horus and Seth, or that they are symbols of spaced out along the provinces of Upper Egypt migh
the primeval hill. So far, none has been shown to have also be connected with the early organization of the
a burial chamber or ancillary buildings such as country into nomes (provinces).
chapels. In 1987, the Brigham Young University These pyramids may therefore have been symbols
Expedition did, however, find a fragmentary offering of living sovereignty, hinting that the step pyramid
slab, two stelae - one of which was inscribed with the stood for more than the royal tomb, the marker of a
name of Sneferu, first king of the 4th dynasty - and dead king. It is interesting that Huni took the pyranr.
scant traces of a mudbrick causeway on the east side to the provinces just before people and pjrjduce wou'.
of the Seila pyramid. This adds Seila to Sneferus be brought from the provinces to the core of the
pyramid at Meidum and two at Dahshur. The five Egyptian nation for building the largest pyram ids;
southern pyramids are different from the northern all time.
96
Transition at M eidum
Entrance
Burial
chamber
97
(Above and opposite) The Inside the pyramid sage may have been for a door as fragm ents <
pyramid o f Meidum towers T he interior arrangem ent of the Meidum pyram id wood were found here.
above the Nile Valley where w as an innovation and one that would become sta n Two rooms or niches open off the corridor, prob
it narrows to the thin capital
zone and pyramid district dard. A long passage from near the centre of the ably for storing plugging blocks before they were
running north from here for north face led to the burial chamber. Sneferus used to seal the corridor. A t its end is another vert:
70 km (43V2 miles) to the workmen built the lower p art of the passage in an cal shaft leading up into the burial chamber. Ceda-
apex o f the Delta. Today the open trench cut into the ground and filled with logs embedded in the m asonry half way up th-
pyramid stands as a three- packing. T his is not unusual, but they built the shaft may have been used to raise a sarcophagi: -
step tower, rising from a
cham ber at the approxim ate original desert surface into the cham ber - or to facilitate its removal.
mound of debris.
and extended the narrow passage, which descend Sneferus builders were evidently experimenting
ed from the entrance, up into the body of the p y ra w'ith w ays to create a central room within the pyra
mid, opening about 16.6 m (54 ft) from the pyram id mid mass. In place of the thick granite beam s th;
base, ju st above the first step. roof Djosers vaults, they used a technique of cor
The small chapel on the east Tow ards the bottom of the descending passage a belling for the first time, with each course of block-
side o f the pyramid was
sh o rt vertical shaft opens in the floor. A little above a certain height projecting inwards until the
added when Sneferus
builders returned to create a beyond this, just before a horizontal section, a slot two walls alm ost meet. It is rem arkably small, 5.9 r
true pyramid. However, when carved into the walls, floor and ceiling of the p as (19 ft) long and 2.65 m (9 ft) wide, perhaps intende
the pyramid was abandoned a as a kind of coffer in its own right, though it wa?
second time the stelae in its never finished. Spanning the wralls near the top
court were left blank, perhaps the cham ber at the north end the workmen fitte :
because o f the rise to power
more logs, one of which survives. These may a Is
of the powerful and \ Tower visible today
ambitious Khufu. have assisted in raising the sarcophagus. B ut n
trace of a sarcophagus w as found in the chamber
Burial chamber, 5.9 x
Petrie recovered pieces of a wood coffin of th
2.65 m, h. 5.05 m, early plain style at the bottom of the shaft, whic
corbelled are now in University College, London.
Entrance Transformations o f a
pyramid: from E l, a step
pyramid o f seven steps, to
E2, a step pyramid o f eight
steps, to E3, a true pyramid
with a slope of 51 50' 35".
Its base length was around
144 m (473 ft) and it was
m (302ft) high. Meidum
the beginning at.
m end o f Sneferus reign, and
Eastern chapel long; 0.85 m
9.18 x 9 m,
the transition from the
wide; h. 1.65 m
h. 2.7 m Archaic to the classic pyravi
Horizontal age. On the north side the
Vertical long sloping passage to the
passage with
h. 6.5 m
two recesses for burial chamber must have
plug blocks been planned from the outst
98
The pyramid complex
A large rectangular enclosure wall, only traces of
which survive, surrounded various elements of the
pyram id complex th a t were also to become sta n
dard. On the south side of the pyram id a small
satellite pyram id may have been completed, though
it w as badly destroyed when Petrie found it. Inside,
a short sloping passage led to a burial cham ber
from the north. In the debris on the east side of the
small pyram id a fragm ent of relief with the legs of
a falcon w as found, perhaps all that is left of a pair
of stelae topped by the H orus falcon, like those in
front of the satellite pyram id of the Bent Pyramid.
Another feature that would become standard is
the causeway. Petries team excavated a long chan
nel, running from the east-southeast in a straig h t
line tow ards the pyram id centre, that they called
the Approach. It is south of the final causeway and better organized and set ap art to the west of the
is perhaps an earlier version. Both are cut as chan pyram id. T his w as the seed of the concept that
nels into the bedrock and were paved w ith mud and would find its fullest expression in K hufus Western
had m udbrick sides. T he causeway differed, how Cemetery at Giza. Most of the tom bs, however,
ever, in having completed side walls of limestone. were left incomplete and unused with the move to
D ahshur and the second abandonm ent of Meidum.
The royal necropolis
Meidum w as the first newly established elite Return to Meidum: the true pyramid
necropolis since Hor-Aha inaugurated the lst- It w as probably in the 28th or 29th year of his reign
dynasty cemetery of officials a t Saqqara. Just as that Sneferu ordered his w orkers to return to Mei
the pyram id of Meidum is transitional from the dum to transform the step pyram id into a true
step pyram id to the true pyram id, so the necropolis pyram id (E3) with a slope of 51 50' 35", practically
for which it is the centrepiece represents an unfin the sam e as K hufus. They increased the length of
ished transition from the old to the new. the sides and extended the interior passage up
T he builders tried at first to replicate the pattern through the added masonry, which w as now laid in
at Saqqara, with the kings funerary m onum ent to horizontal courses, first seen in the upper p art of
the south and a series of large m astabas for high the Bent Pyram id at D ahshur (p. 102).
officials along the eastern escarpm ent to the north. |S--a
N/ j
M astaba 16 belonged to Nefermaat, one of Sne 1
f c .- * ?
Western
Cemetery
ferus sons, and, close to the pyram id, w as m astaba
f\
.17 - anonym ous but probably the tomb o f another
I
prince. In addition there w as an idea for a cemetery \ i
X 1 1
LDjasers complex
99
Pavement
(Left) Plan o f Meidum. the
Satellite pyramid dark band, 14.5 m (46 ft)
Enclosure wall: wide, around the enclosure
236 m (N -S )x wall is Petries chip and sto>.
218 m (E-W) dust bed pavement A fernal
skeleton w>as found in the
Penbolus Tomb. Mastaba 17
Peribolus tom b
(below) was filled with
limestone chips from the
Mastaba 17 construction o f the pyramid
(E3?). In the granite
sarcophagus which still stain,
in the niche, at the west end
Approach was the rifled mummy of a
Causeway, I. 210 m prince, bul we do not know
his name.
0 100 m
--------------
1 H
0 300 ft
(Above) Two round-topped O ther elements appeared that, in more complex having completed the filling out of the old s t r
stelae, the chapel and form, became custom ary in later pyram ids. A small pyram id as a true pyram id. If so, the constructs
causeway of the Meidum stone temple w as built against the centre of the debris and em bankm ents would have covered th-
pyramid. Had the stelae been
eastern base - so minuscule that it may have been a lower, finer m asonry that the robbers usually strv
inscribed, like similar ones at
Dahshur, people approaching com memorative chapel to the king and not a true first. T he appearance of Meidum today, in th>
from the causeway would m ortuary temple, because Sneferu finished the case, would be that of a pyram id under constru
have seen the Honts falcons pyram id as a cenotaph rather than a tomb. The tion, as well as one that had been partly stripped.
as if perched on the roof of chapels interior plan has the sam e w inding p as One significant, but overlooked, clue can b-
the chapel. But the stelae were sages found in front of the chapels of Djosers Step found in the two distinct types of debris. T he lower
left completely blank.
P yram id complex. In a small unroofed court were type covered well-preserved casing, while the upp<
two round-topped stelae, 4.2 m (nearly 14 ft) tall. type corresponds to areas of casing that are bad!
(Below) The casing and
A long causeway, cut into the bedrock and weathered. From this it can be deduced that th
packing stones o f the E3
phase o f the Meidum unroofed, reached from the pyram id enclosure to lower layer w as deposited soon after the casing wa~
pyramid were laid the valley floor. We m ight expect a valley temple at laid, while the upper p art w as deposited durim
horizontally. the lower end of the causeway, as with later p y ra and after pieces of casing were dislodged from
mids, b u t the excavators found only long m udbrick higher up the pyram id and cam e crashing down
walls. Given the unsophisticated form s of other ele Could this lower debris include the rem ains of th
m ents at Meidum, the causeway may have led to a original construction em bankm ents?
sim ple enclosure and landing platform . In truth, because there has been so much stor.
robbing we simply do not know to what extent th-
The second abandonment? builders finished the Meidum pyramid. Two step-
Sneferus tw o stelae in the eastern chapei were seem to have disappeared between the visit
never inscribed with his serekh but were left com Shaykh A bu M ohammed Abdallah in 1117-19 an
pletely blank - a fact that seem s inexplicable given th at of Norden in 1737, when the pyram id ha
our understanding of the E gyptian belief that, three steps as today. In 1899 M.A. Robert, Inspect
devoid of a name, a m onum ent (like a person) of the Register of Land Survey, ascended the Mei
would have no identity. Perhaps it was the king's dum pyram id to plant a pole for his survey. At th
unexpected death and the ascent to the throne of an sum m it he had the im pression that the highest stt:
aggressive young prince, Khufu, th a t caused work w as never finished. Some inscribed Greek and thrc-
to be frozen so suddenly. We can conjecture that the small hieroglyphs indicate that there w as access to
builders had finished the pyram ids third stage (E3) th e top of the pyram id in ancient times. And R ober
and only the fine dressing of the chapel walls and did not need to m ake a hole to plant his survey flag
the stelae inscriptions remained to be completed. In the centre of the top step there w as already
If the pyram id w as later stripped by looters, why hole, w hich has been interpreted as the socket for
did they spare the lower part of the casing and the rod that the builders planted for sighting diagon:
stelae? Perhaps they had access to the upper p art lines as they raised the true pyram id m antle up and
via ram ps th at the builders had left in place, never around the old step pyram id.
100
Dahshur
Dahshur
For w hatever reason, in about the 15th year of his lake
reign Sneferu abandoned Meidum and moved 40
km (25 miles) north to Dahshur. Here he founded
another new necropolis - all the more unusual since
Meidum itself represented the first time a royal
necropolis had been laid out at a virgin site since
the founding of Saqqara. One suggested motive for
the move was Sneferus desire to be closer to the
apex of the Delta and to the increasingly im portant
irade w ith Syria and the Levant.
At D ahshur Sneferu built two large pyram ids -
the Bent Pyram id and the North, or Red, Pyramid.
The two are roughly aligned - the east side of the
Bent Pyramid
North Pyram id approxim ately lining up with the (Sneferu)
west side of the Bent Pyram id. A long causeway
Amenemhet III
from the Bent Pyram id ru n s to w hat is often
described as the first valley temple, but which in
fact is some distance into the desert. N ortheast of
the Bent Pyram id a cemetery of m astabas was
begun. Decorated with relief-carved chapels, the DAHSHUR
tombs were for the elite of Sneferus court.
In 1986 Rainer Stadelm ann excavated Lepsius
pyram id num ber 50 (L). It is 250 m (820 ft) east of
the North Pyramid, and consists of the base of a
pyram id that w as barely begun. On the east side
were large limestone blocks and a brick ram p that
Old Kingdom
may have been intended for building the su b ter mastabas
ranean apartm ent. The pottery in the vicinity
appeared to be 4th dynasty.
Middle Kingdom pharaohs also chose D ahshur I Amenemhet: II
as the site for their pyram ids, beginning with North or Red Pyramid
Old Kingdom tom bs (Sneferu)
Amenemhet II. Those of Amenemhet III and Sen
wosret III are of mudbrick, and in some w ays
Amenem het Ills looks like a m udbrick version of
the Meidum pyram id. Interestingly, ju st as Sneferu
had serious structural problem s when building his Lepsius L (50)
Bent Pyram id a t D ahshur because of the unstable
desert sand, gravel and clays it w as founded on, so
Amenem het III, building on a sim ilar surface,
encountered subsidence and cracking. T his proba
bly explains w hy he built another pyram id at
Hawara, just as Sneferu built a substitute pyram id
to the north of the first at Dahshur.
Two of Sneferus sons, N eferm aat and the anony
mous prince of m astaba 17, were buried at Mei IXI Senwosret III
dum. A nother son, Kanefer, w as buried in one of
the cluster of tom bs near the pyram id of A m en
em het II. These three sons should have inherited
the throne which passed instead to Khufu - who
may have been very young when he began to build
his pyram id. T his perhaps explains the confidence
with which he started out on his gigantic pro The Dahshur pyramid zona.
The Middle Kingdom
gram m e at Giza.
pyramids favour the plateau
Despite having built two giant pyram ids at edge, close to the cultivation,
Dahshur, one of w hich w as to be for his burial, Sne while Sneferus Old Kingdom
feru w as apparently still not content and returned pyramids are far out into the
to Meidum to finish off his pyram id there. desert.
Y
N
o
h
1 km
0.5 mile
0
The Bent Pyram id w as then continued at a mucr
The Bent Pyramid decreased slope of around 43 to 44, giving it
pronounced bend. It may have been a t this point,
W hen Sneferu abandoned his step pyram id at Mei before the upper p art wras finished, th a t the d a :
dum and moved north to Dahshur, there was as yet sion was taken to begin a new pyram id at N on'
no blueprint for a true pyram id. To us, w ith a clear Dahshur. A round the sam e time, perhaps the 30V:
image of the shape of the classic pyramid, with a year of Sneferus reign according to Stadelmanr.
slope of 52 or 53, this may seem strange. It was, work also began on the satellite pyramid.
however, a time of g reat experim entation, com pa O ther changes in construction m ethods are dis
rable to the period when Djosers architect Imhotep cernible. Both core stones and casing stones art
w as building the Step Pyramid. larger - the casing ones very much so - than in th-.
3rd-dynasty pyram ids. However, no g reat care war-
How the pyramid got its bend taken to lay the internal m asonry neatly. Substar,
T he old step pyram ids had faces th at sloped about tial spaces between the stones are sim ply fillet
72 to 78, certainly too steep for a true pyramid. with limestone debris and even tafia in places. Gyp
There is evidence within the core of the Bent P y ra sum m ortar was just beginning to be used more fre
m m mid th at it began as a far sm aller pyram id w ith a quently, which, unlike the desert clay m ortar, had to
slope of about 60. But stru ctu ral problem s with be specially prepared using fuel. It w as this comb:
subsidence soon set in. Em ergency m easures took nation of a lack of good mortar, carelessly la:
the form of an added girdle around the stum p of blocks and, most im portantly, the unstable deser
With more preserved casing
the pyram id, form ing a slope of ju st under 55. surface, that caused the structural problems.
than most pyramids, the Bent
Pyramid reveals that These early stages were constructed using the
plunderers began stripping traditional m ethod of laying the courses w'ith the (Below) The sliding portcullis
the fine limestone from the stones sloping inward. Even at the reduced angle it blocking system in the western
corners and from bottom to appears that there were still m ajor problems until, passage, until the block in the
top, as is evident here. open position. This is perhaps
about half w?ay up, the builders began to set the
an indication that the higher
courses horizontally. It had become clear that the chamber was originally built
inward-leaning courses, far from aiding stability, for Sneferus burial
actually increased the stresses on the pyramid.
Portcullis
blocking systems Northern entrance and
passage, I. 74 m
Western entrance
and passage, I. 65 m
Satellite pyramid:
base length 53 m
h. 32.5 m Causeway
Antechamber:
h. 12.6 m
Chapel and
tw o stelae
Offering place
The arrangement o f passap
and gallery leading to the
chamber in the satellite
Lower burial cham ber
6.3 x 4.96 m, h. 17 m
pyramid is a forerunner of
the Grand Gallery in Khufu
pyramid, but here the
chamber is too small for a
human burial
102
Inside the pyramid The pyramid complex Sneferus Bent Pyramid, with
T he Bent Pyram id is unique in having two internal A t the centre of the eastern side of the Bent P yra its satellite, looking northwest
to southeast.
structures, w ith entrances on the north and west mid is a small chapel. As at M eidum the contrast
sides. From the north side a long, sloping passage between this tiny structure and the giant pyram id A stela from Sneferus Bent
leads to a narrow antecham ber with an impressive is very striking. Stadelm ann points out that the Pyramid showing the seated
corbelled roof. T he burial chamber, also corbelled, small chapels of both M eidum and the Bent P y ra figure o f the king.
is above this antecham ber and w as perhaps mid were not p art of the development of the large
reached by a stairw ay or ladder. All this building, m ortuary temples, rather they were intended to be
plus a vertical shaft on the precise central axis of simple shrines for pyram ids that Sneferu com plet
the pyram id, would have taken place in a trench ed as cenotaphs.
sunk into the original desert surface. Initially the Bent P yram ids chapel w as a very
The second passage runs from the w est side of simple affair composed of two walls of T urah lime
the pyram id, through portcullis blocking system s, stone roofed with slabs, which was expanded by
to another burial chamber, again w ith a corbelled m udbrick walls. W ithin it w as an offering place
roof. T his is at a higher level than the first. Here consisting of a slab that took the form of the hiero
once again, structural instability is evident as the glyph for offering, 'hetep', a stylized loaf of bread
cham ber w as completely shored up w ith balks and on a reed mat. Behind this, two round-topped ste
scaffolding of great cedar beams. lae, the stum ps of which remain, were formerly
Some time after both cham bers were construct inscribed w ith the nam es of Sneferu.
ed, a connecting passage w as made between them. A causeway, also with w alls of T urah limestone,
It w as definitely built later as it w as hacked ran from the pyram id complex to w hat is often
through the m asonry by someone who knew exact called the first valley temple - a beautiful small,
ly w here the two cham bers were. We can only spec rectangular structure. On the back wall were six
ulate why Sneferu decided to have this duplicate statues of Sneferu striding forth. In front of and,
arrangem ent in his pyram id. One suggestion is th at curiously, blocking these statues were two rows of
the w estern system may be a vestige of the South five rectangular pillars. A courtyard beyond had
Tomb of Djoser, the long passage em phasizing walls carved the earliest representations of the
once again a general southw est orientation, as in estates of the king bearing produce tow ards the
the Ist-dynasty royal burial ground at Abydos. statu es of Sneferu (p. 228).
103
T h is stru ctu re is in fact a com bination of both
The First True Pyramids: The North Pyramid
m ortuary and vaiiey temple, with features that are
Meidum and Dahshur
developed later in both. It has the court, pillars and
architectural statues found in later m ortuary tem In around his 30th year on the throne, Sneferu
ples, and it is situated about halfw ay down to the abandoned the Bent Pyram id as his burial place,
valley. A second causeway probably ran from this although, as at Meidum, he later completed it.
to a dock or landing-stage. Instead, he began work on the North, or Red, P yra
In term s of both its m asonry and internal stru c mid which w as built at the gentler slope of 43 22
ture, the satellite pyram id is an im portant link in from the beginning. In many ways this w as more
the transition to the G reat Pyram id of Khufu. It elegant than the Bent Pyram id, where the builders
w as built using the new m ethod of laying courses obviously struggled and experim ented with vari
horizontally. This, however, presented the m asons ous solutions to the structural problem s they were
with a new problem: the slope of the pyram id now faced with. T he N orth Pyram id show s none of this
had to be cut into the outer face of the casing stone. - it is a neatly planned and executed construction,
There is evidence that in the process of cutting and built with an efficient use of materials.
setting, the m asons often accidentally broke off the Rainer Stadelm ann has been w orking at N orth
sharp lower foot so that patches had to fitted. Its D ahshur for over a decade. In the course of his
outer casing is built on a platform , which, on a su b excavations of the debris at the base of the p y ra
lime scale, is also found at the Giza pyramids. In mid he found hundreds of pieces of the fine lime
recent years, thanks to Stadelm anns excavations, stone casing. Many of these have graffiti inscribed
we have learned that Sneferus N orth Pyram id w as on their rear faces by the work gangs. One from a
also built on a limestone platform . corner bears the hieratic (shorthand hieroglyphic)
T he internal stru ctu re is in some w ays an abbre inscription m entioning bringing to earth year 15.
viated version of the G reat P yram ids, with a T his refers to counting year 15, which, if biennial,
descending and an ascending passage. A small is equivalent to the 30th year of Sneferus reign.
notch in the ascending passage, w here it increases Some 30 courses higher Stadelm ann w as able to
in height to a m iniature G rand G allery adds weight place a casing stone dated only four years later -
to the supposition that that stru ctu re in the Great this gives us a very clear picture of the length of
Pyram id w as indeed intended for the storage of time it took to build such pyram ids.
plugging blocks. A wood piece fitted into the notch
could be pulled by rope to release the plugs. The North, or Red, Pyramid
Ju st a s in the South Tomb of Djoser, the burial at Dahshur. The Shining
cham ber of the satellite pyram id is far too Pyramid had a base length
small to have contained a hum an burial. o f 220 m (722 ft) and a
height o f 105 m (345 ft). Its Antechambers:
It m ay instead have been for the ritual angle o f slope was 43 22'. 3.65 x 8 36 m,
interm ent of a statu e of the king. n. 12.31 m
104
Remarkably, Stadelm ann also found pieces of the
pyram ids capstone. T his w as a simple culmination
of the structure - a block with no carving or
inscription and made of good quality limestone
rather than any costlier material. Its pieces wrere
found near the base, rejected by those who were
stripping the outer m antle of its fine limestone.
with the god Horus, w'ho soars above all living crea tem ples designed for long-term cults. temple
tures, but w ith the sun and its rays, of which the Although a few possible traces were found east
pyram id is a symbol. of the m ortuary temple, a substantial causeway 0
ap p ears never to have been built down to the valley 0 500 ft
The pyramid complex temple. Rudim entary rem ains of the latter were
Sneferus North Pyramid,
Egyptologists eagerly anticipated the excavation of seen at the end of the last century but have never with his Bent Pyramid in the
the m ortuary tem ple at the N orth Pyram id. P y ra been system atically excavated. It w as here, howev background.
mid chapels prior to this - at M eidum and the Bent er, th a t the decree of Pepi I was found, exem pting
Pyram id - were very small, simple structures, the khentm-she of the pyram id town from taxation,
while that belonging to K hufus G reat Pyram id rep along w ith their fields, trees and wells - in this case
resented a huge leap in both scale and complexity. it w as the double pyramid complex of Sneferu. The
The mortuary temple o f the
None the less, the m ortuary temple of the North lack of a causew ay linking the two temples is per North Pyramid was destroyed
Pyram id - Sneferus probable burial place - did not haps further evidence of a hurried conclusion to all but for traces at ground
approach K hufus in grandeur. Indeed, it seem s to the completion of the North Pyram id, which level Its pyramidion or
have been finished hurriedly, perhaps by Khufu at Stadelm ann believes w as Sneferus final resting capstone was reconstructed
the time of his fathers death. place. in the temples enclosure.
105
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 m
The Giza Plateau consists o f The pyram ids al Giza were built over the span of It is certainly clear that at Giza, more than ever
a plate o f limestone called the three generations - by Khufu, his second-reigning before, cardinality w as a principal concern. Khufu's
Mokkatam Formation. Its son, Khafre, and M enkaure. Any overview of these pyram id is laid out w ith its sides oriented alm ost
regular surface is ideal for
colossal hum an achievem ents in stone m ust take exactly to true north - the greatest deviation is
building and it was here that
the 4th-dynasty Egyptians into consideration the natural geology of the land under 5', and the 4th-dynasty builders took pains to
created the most carefully they were built on. T he southeast corners of the ensure th at major p arts of the pyram id complexes
designed of the royal pyramid pyram ids of Khufu, Khafre and M enkaure are would align. T he Giza diagonal line passes close to
clusters. To the northwest is nearly aligned on the g reat Giza diagonal th at runs the diagonal of M enkaures first subsidiary p y ra
an embankment o f fossils, about 43 east of true north, alm ost perpendicular mid (GHI-a), the front of K hafres m ortuary temple
called nummulites. Down the
to the dip of the plateau. T his follows what geo and K hufus first subsidiary pyram id (Gl-a). The
slope to the southeast a
sequence of layers alternates logists call the strike of the M okkatam Formation, west sides of Khufus and Khafres pyram ids are
hard and soft stone. The that is, a line perpendicular to the slope. W hen you close to alignm ent with the fronts of the pyram id
Egyptians cut away the softer walk along the side of a hill w ithout going up or tem ples of Khafre and M enkaure respectively; and
layers to remove the harder down, you are following its strike. By aligning the south side of Khafres pyram id aligns w ith the
layers in blocks for the themselves to this, the builders ensured that the south wall of the Sphinx Temple. These alignm ents
pyramids, tombs and temples.
bases of the three main pyram ids were at approxi are out by ju st about the am ount that we would
Known as Member II and III,
this stone is visible in the body mately the sam e level, although the base of expect from m ethods of sighting and m easuring
and head of the Sphinx. Khafres is about 10 m (33 ft) higher than K hufus. using long cords across a kilometre of sloping
Further south rises the Maadi Some religious or cosmic im pulse beyond the plateau. T he great n o rtheast-southw est Giza diag
Formation, containing many purely practical m ay also have influenced the onal ends to the southw est a t a small hillock of the
fissures, wadis and gullies. ancient surveyors, though we can only speculate Maadi Formation th a t may have been useful as a
This area was quarried for
w hat it was. Perhaps the diagonal pointed n o rth back sig h t for the ancient surveyors, which they
stone and tafia (the natural
desert clay) for pyramid east to Heliopolis, the hom e o f the ben-ben, and could use to align points across the plateau.
support structures. southw est, in the direction of the Netherworld T he formal sym m etry of the pyram id complexes
entrance of the first royal cemetery at Abydos. a t Giza inspires many pyram id enthusiasts to look
106
for more alignm ents, alw ays with the suspicion of In such a rigid organization of space, w ith three A. computer reconstruction
hidden m eanings or lost treasures. A theory of giant pyram id complexes fitted into one necropolis, of the Giza pyramids, with
Robert Bauval suggests that the Giza diagonal is some delineation of borders w;as needed. While the possible harbour lapping
at Khafres valley temple and
inspired by the stars in the belt of the constellation each pyram id stood within its own narrow enclo
the Sphinx Temple.
Orion, which the E gyptians saw as a symbol of sure, the E gyptians also divided the plateau into
Osiris. B ut when the m ap of Orion is positioned three huge rectangular precincts by m eans of stone
over that of Giza and nearby pyram ids, it is clear and clay walls. These are still wrell preserved
that there are stars in Orion for which there are no around the pyram ids of Khafre and M enkaure, but
m atching pyram ids, and pyram ids for which there much less so around K hufus.
are no s ta rs in Orion, or any other constellation. Over the course of three generations builders
continued to position m ajor architectural elements
The classic pyramid complex at Giza. Yet during this time work w as interrupted
A t Giza the pyram id reached its apogee and the in the reign of Djedefre, who went north to Abu
standard features of the Old Kingdom pyram id Roash (p. 120), and perhaps during the few years of
complex - the m ortuary and valley temple - were a king between Khafre and M enkaure who may
expanded and formalized. Sneferus small chapel have begun the unfinished pyram id at Zawiyet el-
and inchoate valley temple a t the Bent Pyramid, A ryan (p. 139). T he last m ajor royal sepulchre at
and his hastily finished pyram id temple at North Giza w as the tom b of K hentkawes (p. 138). Her
Dahshur, are replaced by large, well-built temples mastaba-like tom b had a large doorw ay opening to
with a vastly increased use of hard stone, pillars the m outh of the wadi that had been the main con
and statues. With M enkaure the size ratio between duit for construction supplies. T he channel that
A plan o f the Giza plateau
pyram id and temple changed in favour of a gave birth to the Giza necropolis thus became the
showing the major
reduced pyram id and an enlarged temple. T he approach to the tomb of the queen m other who per alignments and the many
causew ays of the Giza pyram ids reached nearly a haps gave birth to a new dynasty that moved its different elements that make
kilometre east to valley temples close to the flood- necropolis to Saqqara and Abusir. up this classic pyramid cluster.
plain. K hufus w as the longest and it m ay also have
been he who built the huge southern boundary wall
Mokattam Formation
at the m outh of the Main Wadi. Wall and causeway
defined an area of harbours, settlem ent and possi
Khafre
bly a palace at the foot of the plateau (p. 230).
Menkaure
The cemeteries of m astaba tom bs east and w est Op
of Khufus pyram id, representing another advance
Maadi Formation
in form al orthogonal design, are organized in the
streets and avenues of a preconceived plan. Reisner
excavated these cemeteries and saw the necropolis
as a 'com m unity of kas for the court of K hufu to Covingtons Tomb
Air shafts1
Air shafts
Horizontal passage
Ascending passage
Entrance
Enclosure wall
Descending
passage
Two southern
boat pits
Queens pyramids
The Great Pyramid, built by Sneferu may have ruled E gypt for nearly half a cu. m (95,350,000 cu. ft) for his pyram id, causeway,
Khufu who came to the century, in which time he completed his three giant two temples, satellite pyram id, three queens pyra
throne around 2551 BC, was pyram ids at Meidum and Dahshur. His son m ids and officials m astabas, m eans that Khufus
called Akhet Khufu, The
Khnum -khuf (the god K hnum is his protection), builders had to set in place a staggering 230 cu. m
Horizon of Khufu. Its base
length is calculated as 230.33 Khufu for sh o rt (Cheops in Greek), chose the Giza (8,122 cu. ft) of stone per day, a rate of one average-
m (756ft) and it rose to a Plateau, 40 km (25 miles) north of Dahshur, to size block every two or three m inutes in a ten-hour
height o f 146.59 m (481 ft), begin building his own pyram id complex. In term s day. If Khufu did not equal the total m ass of his
with an angle o f slope of of its size, the technical accom plishm ent of its con fathers monuments, he came close in his single
51 50' 40". Its orientation is struction, the g reat concern for cardinality and the pyram id and far surpassed his fathers pyram ids in
3' 6" off true north. In
organization it represents, K hufus pyram id was size and accuracy.
addition to this astonishing
achievement, Khufu also built another astonishing leap forward. T he G reat Pyram id contains about 2,300,000
three queens pyramids, boat Rainer Stadelmann, in his study of the reigns of blocks of stone, often said to weigh on average
pits and a satellite pyramid, the early pyram id builders, concludes that, like his c. 2.5 tons. T his m ight be som ew hat exaggerated;
only recently found. father Sneferu, Khufu reigned longer than the 23 the stones certainly get sm aller tow ards the top of
years given him in the Turin Papyrus, compiled the pyram id, and we do not know if the m asonry of
some 1,400 years later. Even with a reign of 30 to 32 the inner core is as well-cut and uniform as the
years, the estim ated combined m ass of 2,700,000 stone courses th a t are now exposed (the outer fine
108
During our survey of
Khufus pyramid, we noted
that o f a total of 921.44 m
(3,023ft) o f original pyramid
baseline, only 54.44 m (179
ft) remains, much o f it badly
worn, while only 212.48 m
(697ft) o f the foundation
platform survive. It is on the
basis o f these remnants that
the amazing accuracy o f the
original building is
reconstructed by surveyors.
white T urah limestone casing w as stripped off T he m ortuary temple w as dem olished down to
long ago). On the other hand some of the casing bedrock over the centuries. It is square and much
stones at the base may weigh as much as 15 tons, larger than the small chapels associated with the
and the large granite beam s roofing the Kings M eidum and Bent pyram ids. W hat rem ains is some
Causeway,
Chamber and the stress-relieving cham bers above it black basalt pavem ent of an open court, sockets for
I. 739.8 m
have been estim ated to weigh from 50 to 80 tons. the granite pillars of the surrounding colonnade
Such statistics, while repeated frequently, never and w estern recessed bay, and the bedrock cuttings
cease to astound. for the outer wall. The walls were of fine limestone
A s for accuracy: the base is level to within ju st carved in relief. This is the first time we find granite
2.1 cm (under 1 in); the average deviation of the and basalt combined to construct a truly large tem
sides from the cardinal directions is 3' 6" of arc; and ple. There w as an inner sanctuary and storage
the greatest difference in the length of the sides is rooms, but it is not known w hether the five statue
4.4 cm (1 %/\ in). W hy such phenom enal precision? niches and false door that became standard later 200 m
For the royal designers such exactitude may have were already p art of the plan. 500 ft
been imbued with symbolic and cultic significance K hufus causeway walls m ust have been covered
that now eludes us. A more practical explanation is with fine relief carving - as we know from the testi
that it may have been a response to the architectur mony of Herodotus and the discovery of a few
al disaster at the D ahshur Bent Pyramid. To avoid a carved pieces. Its foundations rose to an astonish
repetition the builders founded the outer casing on ing height of more than 40 m (131 ft) to carry the Computer-gemrated
a specially levelled platform constructed on the corridor from the edge of the plateau down to the diagrams o f Khufus Great
bedrock (p. 212) - leaving a low m assif of natural valley temple. East of the escarpm ent these foun Pyramid, showing the
rock inside the pyramid. dations were still extant at the tu rn of complex internal structure.
The G reat Pyram id, like those built by Sneferu, this century. A basalt pavem ent is proba
consisted of casing and core stones, laid in horizon bly the rem ains of the valley temple (p.
tal courses, with packing blocks in between. Large 232). It is otherw ise completely unknown
quantities of gypsum m ortar wrere poured into the and its form remains totally hypothetical.
often wide interstices between the core stones. As well as his own pyram id and tem
G reatest precision w as achieved in the fine outer ples. plus boat pits (p. 118), Khufu also
casing; the core, which is w hat we see now, w as less built three pyram ids for queens (p. 116),
carefully laid, though it is still a marked improve and cemeteries of m astabas - to the w est
ment on the internal fabric of previous pyram ids. for his highest officials and to the east for
A t the corners and tow ards the top higher quality his nearest royal relatives - all laid out in
limestone w as used because of the need for greater a system atic, unified fashion. K hufus
precision and control. satellite pyram id, perhaps for his ka,
rem ained undetected until recently, when
The pyramid complex it w as discovered by Zahi H aw ass during
All the standard elements of the pyram id complex cleaning operations. It is tiny, only 20 m
were present, though they have mostly since disap (66 ft) per side, and has a T-shaped
peared. T he finished pyram id was surrounded by a descending passage plus chamber. The
T urah limestone wall, over 8 m (26 ft) high, enclos side w alls of the cham ber lean inward,
ing a court, 10.2 m (33 ft) wide, paved in limestone. like a tent or canopied structure, a form
Access to this court could only be gained via the th a t m atches the galleries under the east
valley temple, causeway and m ortuary temple. side of Djosers Step Pyramid.
109
The Great Pyramid
A computer reconstruction
o f the Giza pyramids. The
interior o f Khufus pyramid
is explored overleaf
introduce a sarcophagus the size of that found in
Inside Khufu s Pyramid the Kings Chamber.
T he so-called Queens Cham ber (misnamed by
A rab explorers) is higher up in the pyram id,
reached via the Ascending P assage and a horizon
tal passage. It lies exactly on the east-w est centre
axis of the pyram id and w as alm ost completely fin
ished, with only the walls and floor still to be
dressed down. T he junction of the A scending P a s
sage w ith the horizontal passage leading into the
Queens Cham ber w as originally roofed. Evidence
for this takes the form of holes for large beam s for
holding blocks th at roofed the horizontal passage
and provided a continuous floor from the G rand
Gallery to the A scending Passage.
T he Queens Cham ber w as therefore totally
closed off - a characteristic of a serdab, a room for
the ka statu e - the kings spiritual double - such as
the statue of Djoser sealed in a stone box at the
n orth side of his Step Pyram id. W ith a total height
of 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in), a corbelled niche in the east
wall could certainly have contained a larger-than-
life statue of the king.
A fter the cram ped and difficult crawl up the
A scending Passage, about 1.05 m (3/2 ft) wide and
a little taller, the route to the Kings Chamber sud
denly opens out into the breathtaking Grand
Gallery. A t the top is w hat is known as the Great
The passages and chambers Inside K hufus pyram id we find developments that Step, followed by the antecham ber and finally the
inside the Great Pyramid: are unique in pyram id evolution and rem arkable in K ings Chamber. Entirely constructed out of red
some argue that the the entire history of architecture. Many Egyptolo granite, this room is impressive for its sim plicity
Subterranean Chamber and
so-called Queens Chamber gists have long accepted B orchardts suggestion and resonance.
were each in turn intended for th at the pyram ids three cham bers represent two Above the K ings Cham ber are five stress-reliev
the kings burial but were changes in plan, w ith the abandonm ent of the S ub ing cham bers, each with the sam e floor area as the
successively abandoned as terranean Chamber, believed to be the original respective cham ber below. A t the very top, the
plans changed. However, it is intended burial cham ber of the king, and then the stones are cantilevered in the form of a pent roof to
possible that the entire inner Queens Chamber, in favour of the K ings Chamber. distribute the weight and stresses of the m ountain
complex was conceived and
built according to a unified Several clues, however, combine to m ake it probable of m asonry above. T his is an innovative and inge
plan. Old Kingdom pyramids th at all three cham bers and the entire passage sy s nious arrangem ent, for which there are few p aral
frequently have three tem were planned together from the outset. Three lels and no precedent. Graffiti left by the work
chambers. Here the two lower cham bers seem to have been the rule for Old King crews on the walls add a hum an element. Names of
rooms were probably planned dom pyramids.
from the outset to cater for From the original entrance - offset by 7.29 m (24
different aspects o f the kings
spiritual welfare. ft) east from the centre axis - the descending p as
sage plunges down through the pyram id, ending in
the Subterranean Chamber. This was the classic
pyram id substructure: a corridor descending to a
cham ber at or below ground level, as seen at
Meidum. But here, for the first time, the cham ber
w as carved out of the solid bedrock, though it w as
never completed.
One of the real puzzles of this cham ber is a
small, rough passage leading south from one cor
ner. Only one m an could have fitted at the end of it,
inching forward into the blind rock with ham m er
and chisel. W here w as it intended to lead? If it was
to another room, the Subterranean Cham ber cannot
have been for the kings burial, as this w as always
the last cham ber of a series. Moreover, the
Descending Passage is simply too small to
The a ir sh a fts extend like
antennae through the body o f
the pyramid from both the
Kings and the Queens
x ^Chambers. Those from the
Ri^igs Chamber penetrate all
the\(iy to the outside, though
very possibly the py ramid
casing clds(id o ff these purely
'King s
cidtic shaflsyvhich may cdso C ha rr: -
have been originally plugged 10.5 x 5
in the chamber h. 5.8
Air shafts'
oriented to
Orion
112
'Air shafts
oriented to
the northern
polar stars
Entrance
I ^amber,
5.3 m
s ons)
113
The Great Pyramid
o f Khufu
116
The Burial o f Hetepheres
Queens pyramid Gl-a was begun 28 m (92 ft) east of
its final position, as indicated by the beginning of its
passage cut into the bedrock. Aligned with the
abandoned pyramid on the north is the deep shaft
belonging to Queen Hetepheres. In 1925, while George
Reisner was absent in the United States, his
photographer was setting up his tripod when one leg
sank into the ground. Investigation led to the
discovery of a sealed shaft and stairway. The shaft
was extraordinarily deep (over 27 m or 89 ft) and was
blocked with masonry from top to bottom - which
took weeks to clear.
At the very bottom of the shaft was a chamber,
where the excavators found a beautiful alabaster
sarcophagus and, in a niche in the western wall, a
small alabaster box with the string around it still in
place and its sealing intact. This was the canopic
chest for the queens internal organs.
From the moment of discovery, however, it was
apparent that this assemblage was a reburial, since
the pottery was smashed and linen lay disintegrated
among the remains of the boxes that had once
contained it. Pieces of furniture that had been
Reconstruction o f the burial jammed into the chamber could be reconstructed Hetepheress reassembled
assembly o f Queen from surviving gold foil although most of the wood canopy and items o f
Hetepheres, based on had deteriorated. On top of the sarcophagus were furniture. On the front panel
Reisner's meticulous beautiful long poles belonging to a canopy in the o f the canopy was found the
excavation o f each individual form of early papyrus bud columns. This canopy, if Horus name (below) Neb-
fragment o f the disintegrated reassembled, would fit exactly into the chambers of Moot, Lord o f T r u th th a t
remains. The great bed is Sneferu.
the queens pyram ids There were also the parts of
canopy was found disman tled.
two sitting chairs, a carrying chair, a tube for walking
sticks, a headrest and two sets of silver bracelets.
What we have here is the private boudoir of a queen.
The first name found in the tomb was that of
Sneferu But then other texts came to light that
contained the name Hetepheres. She was called
Mother of the King and Daughter of the God and it
became evident that she was the wife of Sneferu and
mother of a reigning king. Seal impressions included
the name Her-Mejedu - the Horus name of Khufu.
The sarcophagus was empty and Reisner noted
that the contents of the chamber were in the reverse
order usually found in tombs. Why? Reisner thought
Curtain
that Hetepheres had originally been buried at
DOX
Dahshur but her tomb had been violated and her
body stolen. Khufus men did not tell him of the
missing body and he arranged for a reburial at Giza,
Carrying in a deep, unmarked shaft for safety. Other
chair
explanations are possible, if not entirely satisfactory.
I suggested that her body is missing because it was
removed to the burial chamber in Gl-a, after the first
Chairs pyramid was begun and then abandoned, perhaps
with a new set of equipment. The original shaft was
then filled in and forgotten until stumbled on by
Disassembled Reisners photographer some four-and-a-half
canopy
thousand years later. Yet another line of speculation
sees this unmarked burial (or reburial) of a queen
mothers grave goods as an indication of disputes
over the royal succession. It is not certain that
Hetepheres was the mother of Khufu, who survived
three older brothers.
117
prow and stern are in the form of pap y ru s stalks,
The Great Pyramid Khufu s Boats the stern one bent over. It is thus a wooden replica
o f Khufu
of a type of p apyrus reed boat perhaps dating
T he large num ber - and size - of boat-shaped pits back to the predynastic period - another exam ple
east of Khufus pyram id give it the appearance of a of the E gyptian fondness for sim ulating their earli
royal p o rt authority or docking place on the jour est reed stru ctu res in more durable materials. A
ney from this world to the Netherworld. One pit is cabin, or inner shrine, is enclosed within a reed-m at
parallel to the causeway and therefore at the very stru ctu re with poles of the sam e papyrus-bud form
threshold of the m ortuary temple. On either side of that we see in the canopy of Hetepheres (p. 117).
the temple, to the n orth and south, are two even T he second boat pit, just to the w est of the m use
larger boat-shaped pits, possibly for boats to tra n s um, w as investigated in 1985 by a team from
p ort the king to stellar destinations. Next to the National G eographic w ith the Egyptian A ntiquities
queens pyram id (Gl-a) is a fourth boat-shaped pit authority. A hole w as drilled through the limestone
and, recently, a fifth has been found east of the beam s and a tiny cam era inserted. It w as hoped
newly discovered satellite pyram id, perhaps for the that the pit had been so well sealed that the air
symbolic tran sp o rt of the kings ka statue. inside would have last been breathed by the ancient
On the south side of the G reat Pyram id are two Egyptians, but there were obvious signs that this
further boat pits that are often discussed together w as not the case. However, it w as ascertained that
w ith those mentioned above, b u t which in fact the pit did contain the disarticulated p arts of a
differ in one im portant respect. They are long, boat, lying in approxim ately their correct relative
narrow and rectangular rather than boat-shaped, positions, though the pit w as shorter than the fully-
and they contain the disassem bled p arts of real assem bled boat would have been.
boats. These southern boat pits do not seem
to have been p art of the symbolic
The royal barques layout of the whole Khufu
T he two southern boat pits were discovered in complex b u t rather are
1954, each covered by a roof of huge limestone a deliberate, ritual
slabs. W hen one of the slabs w as raised from the disposal. Signifi
first pit, the planking of a g reat boat was seen, cantly, the pits
completely dism antled b u t arranged in the sem would have
blance of its finished form.
The boat w as removed from its pit, piece by
piece, under the supervision of Ahmed Youssef, the
m aster restorer who worked on H etepheress funer
Pyramid, as port authority o f ary furniture (p. 117). M ade of cedarwood, the
the Netherworld: the eastern 1,224 separate p arts had num erous U-shaped
side o f K hufus Great holes so that the boat could be stitched togeth
Pyramid is occupied by the er using ropes made of vegetable fibres. After
remains o f his mortuary m any years of painstaking work, the boat
temple (of which just the
w as finally reassem bled like a giant jigsaw,
basalt pavement survives),
the foundation o f his and is now housed in its own boat-shaped
causeway, boat pits, queens m useum next to the pyramid. W hen reassem
pyramids and mastaba tombs. bled the boat m easures 43.3 m (142 ft) long. Its
119
Djedefre, Khufus son and successor, 8 km (5 miles)
to the north on a hillock overlooking the Giza
plateau. By m oving to this spot, Djedefres pyram id
w as nearer due west of Heliopolis, centre of the sun
Djedefre at Abu Roash cult, than Giza. Perhaps he w as motivated by reli
gious reasons since Djedefre is the first pharaoh we
know to take the title Son of Re.
It has been suggested th a t Djedefres removal of
his funerary m onum ent from Giza, its destruction
and K hafres return to Giza indicate a split between
The first Sphinx? The face the sons of Khufu and conflict over the succession.
o f Djedefre in a magnificent However, Djedefres cartouche was found, with
dark purplish quartzite head
w orkers graffiti, on the lim estone beam s covering
found at Abu Roash, The
king is shown wearing the
K hufus boat pit, show ing that he oversaw his
nemes crown. The scant fathers funeral. The French Institute/U niversity of
remains o f the original Geneva A bu Roash Expedition, begun in 1995
surface behind the headdress under Michael Valloggia, is finding little evidence
turn outwards, suggesting the of destruction dating from the Old Kingdom,
beginning o f a lion body. Now rath er it is from the Roman period.
in the Louvre, it is one o f
Today nothing rem ains other than the stum p of
several magnificent pieces o f
sculpture found in the boat pit the core around a natural hillock. Core m asonry
east o f the pyramid o f and m ortar adhere to the bedrock m assif which
Djedefre. would have been preserved in the middle of the
pyram id, as in K hufus and K hafres. G reat quanti
ties of granite from the casing lie all around. A
num ber of blocks have a 60 slope, indicating to
T he very pronounced alignm ents between the some that Djedefre intended a step pyram id. O thers
pyram id complexes at Giza show considerable con have suggested that he w as planning to build a
cern for unity of design over three generations. An m astaba, like the later tom bs of K hentkaw es and
anom aly in this, however, is the pyram id built by Shepseskaf. However, step pyram id accretions gen
erally had a much steeper slope of 72-78 and the
The work o f the Franco- m astaba of Shepseskaf has an angle of 65. So it
Swiss team at Abu Roash is w as previously concluded th at Djedefre w as build
revealing new details about ing a very steep pyram id, like the first stage of Sne
Djedefres pyramid. It was ferus Bent Pyram id a t Dahshur.
probably intended to be 106.2
T he Franco-Swiss excavations at the north cor
m (348ft) to a side. There is
uncertainty about the exact ners and centre of the base of the pyram id have
angle o f slope, with evidence revealed a foundation bed with a 12 slope. If the
for 48, though it has been casing blocks were laid a t this angle, the pyram id
suggested it would have been slope is reduced to 48, though the team suggests a
nearer 52. Its theoretical range near 52, which would conform to Sneferus
height is between 5 7 m (187
M eidum pyram id (E3) and K hufus. T h is would
ft) and 67 m (220ft).
m ean th a t Djedefres m asons returned to inclining
121
w
BSS?33IB)6ltibi55^^
Enclosure
Lower descending
passage
Causeway Subsidiary chamber
Djedefre w as succeeded by Khafre, another son of granite, the pyram id w as cloaked in T urah lime
Khufu. Two older brothers had been in line for the stone. Only the upper quarter of the casing rem ains
throne before K hafre and we m ight p erh ap s im ag - apparently a reflection of the robbers practice of
ine him as a rath er young m an youth, at least, stripping first the corners and base and then w ork
could account for the extraordinary confidence he ing upwards. Just beneath the lowest surviving
showed in laying out a square 215 m (705 ft) to a course of casing stones, a band of regular stepped
side, to form the base of a pyram id th at stood core stone is visible. T he rest of the surface down
shoulder to shoulder with his fathers. Khafres to the base - the greater p a rt of the pyram id -
pyram id is in fact the sm aller of the two, but he dis consists of very rough, irregular, loose stones.
guised this by founding it on bedrock some 10 m W hat is this loose lower band? Is it packing
(33 ft) higher. It also has a slightly sh arp er angle of between core and casing, exposed when the casing
slope, 53 10' to K hufus 51 50' 40". A very slight w as torn away? T h at seem s likely until, climbing
tw ist can be discerned at the top, introduced the corners of the pyram id, one sees that this irreg
because the four corner angles were not quite ular m asonry seem s to continue for some depth
aligned correctly to meet at the apex. into the pyram id body. T he discontinuity m ight
indicate different building styles, perhaps even a
The blocks o f surviving The pyramid hiatus and then resum ption of building. A lterna
casing at the top o f Khafres
pyramid are not flush,
The pyram id w as founded on a terrace which the tively, the core m asonry may sim ply have been laid
suggesting they were cut to ancient builders cut down by c. 10 m (33 ft) below in a more regular fashion tow ards the top in order
the pyramid s slope before the original bedrock surface to the northw est, but to allow the builders greater control (p. 222).
setting. However, the built up with large blocks of m asonry at the oppo The casing stones at the top of the pyram id are
unevenness may be due to site, southeast, corner. T his com pensated for the m uch sm aller - about 1 cubit thick (c. 50 cm/20 in) -
settling when lower courses natural c. 3-6 slope of the M okattam Formation. than the casing stones which survive at the bottom
were robbed.
A part from the bottom course of outer casing in of K hufus pyram id and those of his queens. T heir
122
Khafres burial chamber
(left). The black granite
sarcophagus was originally
sunk into the paving o f the
chamber. A square hole in
the floor at the west end o f
the south wall probably held
the canopic chest.
outside faces are often staggered by a few millime about 11.54 m (38 ft) above the level of the base; the
tres rath er than flush. T his m ight suggest th at at other ru n s from in front of the base line at ground
this level the outer slope w as cut into the blocks level, near the centre of the northern side. Like
before they were laid, due to reduced w orking alm ost all pyram id passage system s, its does not
space. W hat we can say with confidence about align w ith the centre axis of the pyram id, in this
these m asonry variations is that even now - and case lying a little more than 12 m (39 ft) to the east.
K hafres w as the fifth of the giant pyram ids - pyra- It has been suggested th at the pyram id w as origi
mid-building techniques were still largely ad hoc. nally intended to be larger, or th a t its north base
A m ong its m any m eanings, the pyram id w as line w as first planned to be 30 m (98 ft) further
conceived as a p o rt from which the voyage to the north, so that the lower passage, like the upper one,
Netherworld began. The broad terrace to the east of would have been entirely within the body of the
Khafres pyram id is m ade of m assive limestone masonry. But it is hard to im agine th at there was an
blocks weighing up to hundreds of tons. Huge lime earlier plan for a larger pyram id, such is the sculpt
stone piers project beyond the northeast and south ed unity of the pyram id terrace, enclosure wall and
w est corners of the terrace, looking like slipw ays pyram id base. W hat we are seeing is m ore likely
or giant docks. Five narrow boat-shaped trenches evidence of a vacillation between two different p a s
carved into the natural rock extend into the recess sage system s in the course of building.
es between the two piers and the m ortuary temple. T he lower passage descends at an angle to a hor
izontal corridor, 1.7 m high (c. 5 ft 8 in). A su b
sidiary cham ber opens off the horizontal section,
Inside Khafres Pyramid cut out of the bedrock and w ith a pented roof. T he
purpose of this cham ber is not entirely clear. It m ay
Khafres pyram id contains two descending p a s have been a serdab chamber, equivalent to the m is
sages. One begins in the body of the masonry, nam ed Queens Chamber in the G reat Pyramid.
123
Alternatively it may have been simply used for
storing offerings. At the end of the horizontal sec
tion an ascending passage rises, reaching an inter
section with the other passage, itself descending to
the bedrock from high up in the m asonry of the
pyram id.
Since the bedrock was left nearly 10 m (33 ft)
high in the northw est corner of the pyram id while
the tops of the burial cham bers walls are at the
level of the pyram id terrace, the cham ber m ust
have been built in a pit sim ilar to that in Djedefres
pyram id at Abu Roash, though not as deep. The
roof of the burial cham ber is composed of pented,
limestone beam s like the Queens Cham ber and the
upperm ost of the five relieving cham bers above the
burial cham ber in the G reat Pyramid.
The sarcophagus
T he burial cham ber is at a right-angle to the axis of
the passage system , putting the sarcophagus in
this case very close to - but not directly on - both
the n o rth -so u th and the vertical axes of the p y ra
mid. Khafres sarcophagus is of black, hard g ra n
ite, half embedded in the very thick paving which
once covered more of the cham ber floor. Its lid lay
in two pieces. A pit cut into the floor of the cham ber
probably held the canopic chest - the first exam ple
of this found in a pyram id. Its lid would have been
formed by one of the paving slabs of the floor.
Khafres mortuary temple,
Belzoni, having rediscovered the entrance to the
causeway foundation and
valley temple are the best upper passage, made his w ay into this cham ber in
preserved o f the three Giza 1818 but found to his disappointm ent that he w as
complexes. Khafre added the not the first to enter it in post-pharaonic times.
Great Sphinx and its temple. Curiously, bones found in the sarcophagus turned
The burial chamber o f out to be those of a bull. In a much later period
Khafre's pyramid must have bulls were buried as sym bols of the pharaoh him
been built in a pit cut into the self or of Osiris. Rainer Stadelm ann has suggested
bedrock massif. that these bones were probably an offering thrown
into the sarcophagus at some unknow n later date
by intruders, long after the kings body had been
robbed and lost.
124
were two granite cham bers and at the other end of crown of the south, with a back pillar painted to
a corridor running along the front of the temple im itate granite. The pillar projects in an upside-
Five Features o f
were four more cham bers, lined w ith alabaster. In dow n U over the crown, a s did the colonnade roof Mortuary Temples
the fore p art of the temple the entrance hall consist over the pillars of the court of Khafres m ortuary Five standard features o f
ed of two sections, one transverse with recessed temple. Intriguingly, we have a series of striding later mortuary temples were
bays and the other rectangular. The roofs of both royal statues wearing the crown of the south, first found in Khafres:
1 an entrance hall;
were supported by colum ns made of single blocks usurped by Ram esses II b u t made m uch earlier.
2 a broad columned court;
of granite. A long, narrow, slit-like cham ber T heir bases fit closely the sockets around the court 3 five niches for statues o f
branches off from each end of the first hall. It has of the Khafre m ortuary temple. F u rth er study the king;
been suggested that huge statues of the king once should confirm whether or not these derive from 4 five storage chambers;
stood at the back of these dim passages. here. 5 an inner sanctuary - a
The reigns of Khafre and to a lesser extent T he inner walls of the court may have been deco pair o f stelae, a false door
or a combination o f both.
M enkaure saw an explosion of statue m aking - the rated with reliefs above a certain height. Beyond
The five niches may
size and num ber of Khafres statu es were u n p aral the court were five niches, now badly destroyed, for relate to the completed five
leled until the New Kingdom, alm ost 1,200 years more statues of the king. Behind them are five fold titulary o f the king, or
later. But while hundreds of pieces of sm aller s ta t storerooms, perhaps for the offerings made to these the five phyles. The Abusir
ues have been found, no fragm ents of any larger five statues. At the very back of the temple, against papyri indicate that in the
ones remain from the m ortuary temple, though the pyram id itself, w as the inner sanctuary, proba 5th dynasty, three o f the
niches held statues o f the
there were over 52 in Khafres complex of life size bly with a false door niche. A stairw ay-ram p in the
king as ruler o f south and
or larger. T his is because they were removed intact n ortheast corner of the temple climbed up to the north Egypt, and as Osiris.
by royal order, possibly in the 18th dynasty or by roof, while from the northw est corner of the pil
Ram esses II, and recycled for other royal projects. lared court a corridor led to the paved pyram id
Next in sequence came the open court, the pillars enclosure. Outside the temple were five boat-pits,
of which, encased in granite, were so broad that two on the north and three on the south, and possi
they formed piers around the courtyard. In front of bly a sixth w as planned. They are carved into the
them were 12 granite statues standing in pits or rock in a boat shape; two still retain roofing slabs.
sockets in the white alabaster floor. Holscher su g
gested that these were standing statues of the king The valley temple
in the form of Osiris. But Herbert Ricke argued for Down the causeway Khafres valley temple, m arvel
seated statues of the king w earing the nem es scarf. lously well preserved, unlike the m ortuary temple.
O ur excavations of the w orkm ens b arrack s west Its m ajor cham bers are in fact very sim ilar to the A view into the interior of
of Khafres pyram id produced a clue suggesting fore p art of Khafres m ortuary temple. T h is is not Khafres valley temple, with
granite lining, pillars and
that we should reconsider the form of these statues. surprising, since, as a gatew ay or portal to the
lintels intact. The corridor on
These galleries turned out to be not living quarters whole complex, it more or less encapsulates, within the right is the continuation
but a royal w orkshop (p. 238). Among the finds was a single temple, the architectural p attern of an o f the causeway into the
a fragm ent of a model of the king w earing the entrance. temple.
126
by the intelligence of the pharaoh, g u arantor of
The Great Sphinx cosmic order, or maat. T he sphinx, in the design
Return to Giza: Khafres
Pyramid and the Great Sphinx
achieved by the time of the G reat Sphinx, survived
T he largest of the hundreds of statues built in for two-and-a-half millennia in the iconography of
Khafres reign, the Sphinx w as the first truly colos Egyptian civilization. The nem es headdress was
sal piece of sculpture in ancient Egypt. T he lion the particular way of folding the scarf that w as
body is carved to a scale of 22:1 and the head 30:1. exclusive to Egyptian kings. The flaring sides of
E gyptians would not carve statues of such propor the royal nemes scarf replaced the lions mane to The Great Sphinx stands
tions again until the reigns of New Kingdom bring the hum an head into proportion with the guard before the pyramid o f
pharaohs like A m enhotep III and Ram esses II, lions chest. Khafre, for whom this fusion
some 1,200 years later. T he G reat Sphinx, however, has a sm aller head o f man and lion was sculpted
in about 2500 BC. Towering
and headdress in relation to the lion body than in
20 m (66 ft) above the
Location and geology the classic sphinx form, and a considerably elon spectator, it was the first truly
T he Sphinx w as carved from the natural bedrock at gated body. It is not a question of the head being colossal royal sculpture in the
the very base of Khafres causeway. T he rectangu recarved, and cut down out of proportion; the lion history o f ancient Egypt, seen
lar secondary enclosure wall which surrounds body by itself is too long. T he explanation seem s to here looking across the
Khafres pyram id complex would, if extended east lie in the specific geology of the location. Huge fis limestone core blocks o f the
temple dedicated to it.
w ards, take in the Sphinx. The south side of the sures cut through M embers I and II - the bottom
The different geological layers
Sphinx ditch form s the northern edge of K hafres two of the three geological layers from which the the Sphinx was carved from
causew ay as it ru n s p ast the Sphinx and enters Sphinx is carved (p. 106). T he greatest of these fis (p. 106) account for the
K hafres valley temple - the close association of the sures ru n s right across the thinnest p a rt of the variation in preservation
Sphinx with Khafres valley temple m akes it most Sphinxs body. A s they isolated the block of stone o f its parts. The head was
probable that the Sphinx w as carved for Khafre. that w as to become the statue, the E gyptians carved from a much better
building stone (Member III)
Close study by geologist T hom as A igner of the encountered this serious defect and realized that it
titan the soft layers o f the
geological layers in the Sphinx and the individual would prevent them from finishing off the curve of body (Member II), while the
stones of Khafres temples enabled us to unravel the rum p and the haunches, the hind paw s and the base is carved from a petrified
the sequence of quarry in g and building th at creat tail. It is quite likely that they elongated the body to hard shoal and coral reef
ed this complex. T he valley temple w as probably com pensate for it. (Member I).
composed of huge blocks quarried from the layers
that ru n through the upper p a rt of the Sphinx body.
T he standard large core blocks in the Sphinx tem
ple, w ith a soft yellow band between two harder
bands, came from ju st below chest height in the
Sphinx body.
The Sphinx Temple service may never have begun. Twenty-four red
T he floor of the Sphinx Temple is c. 2.5 m (c. 9 ft) g ranite pillars formed a colonnade and am bulatory
lower than the Sphinx terrace, cut down into the around a central courtyard. T he court is an almost
hard stone of M ember 1. The temple seem s to be exact copy of that in Khafres m ortuary temple,
specifically dedicated to the Sphinx, but we know with colossal royal statues before huge pillars made
very little about it because there are no known Old of core blocks of locally quarried limestone. But
Kingdom texts that refer to either the Sphinx or its here there are 10 rather than 12 statues, perhaps
temple. By the time that a cult of the Sphinx was because of lim itations of space. T he court statues
activated in the 18th dynasty, the Old Kingdom sat in sockets cut in the floor in front of each pillar,
temples at Giza had long been abandoned. bringing the base of the statue flush with the
Khafres builders did not complete the Sphinx alabaster paving covering the bcdrock floor. Each
Temple, leaving the exterior without its intended court pillar w as encased in red granite to m atch the
granite casing, which perhaps explains the absence statues. We can only make educated guesses about
of priests and priestesses dedicated to its service architectural symbolism in a text-less temple.
am ong the Old Kingdom tom bs at Giza - temple Ricke, who studied this temple (1967-70) w as keen
128
Sphinx Temple axis The Sphinx Temple and
Central ----------------- ,,-------- Return to Giza: Khafres
courtyard
=r' Khafres valley temple sit side
J-------------- L Pyramid and the Great Sphinx
with 24 by side, in a neat line. They
pillars also share the same
megalithic style o f masonry.
( 1
]
The north shoulder o f
Khafres causeway is the line
Sphinx
o f the south wall o f the
Temple -
Sphinx ditch. These are some
o f the reasons why Khafre is
thought to be the builder
o f the Great Sphinx.
Vestibule
129
W hat did the Sphinx originally look like? To find
Computer the answer I first spent five years (1979-83) mapping
Modelling the the Sphinx, assisted by Ulrich Kapp of the German
Archaeological Institute who produced front and side
Sphinx view drawings with photogrammetry. An overhead
view was painstakingly mapped by hand with
measuring tape. More recently computers have been
brought in to digitize the maps and create a 3-D
wireframe model. Some 2.5 million surface points
were then plotted to put skin on the skeletal view.
temple axis. In ancient tim es it would have passed Restoring the Sphinx
over the w estern colonnadc, across the court and Repair w ork on the Sphinx began some three-and-
into the eastern sanctuary, possibly illuminating a-half millennia ago and has continued throughout
any cult image within. At the very sam e moment the statues history. The w orst deterioration -
the shadow of the Sphinx and the shadow of the patches where the m asonry flakes and crum bles -
pyram id, both sym bols of the king, become merged affected Graeco-Roman and m odern repairs from
silhouettes. The Sphinx itself, it seems, symbolized 1926 to 1988. M ajor excavations were begun in
the pharaoh presenting offerings to th e su n god in 1926 un d er the supervision of the French engineer
the court of the temple. It w as during the brief Emile Baraize. Unfortunately, his 11 years of work
reign of K hafres predecessor, Djedefre, that the w ere never published and many different phases of
fifth, son of Re, element of the kings nam e architecture around the Sphinx were dism antled
emerged. T he first true sun temples were built later, w ithout ever being properly documented. Prior to
in the 5th dynasty, but the Sphinx Temple m ust be the m assive reconstructions of the veneer m asonry
counted as the first solar-oriented temple associat from 1981 onwards, the Roman restoration consist
ed with an Old Kingdom pyram id complex. ed of sm all brick-sized stones, seen for instance on
At the sum m er solstice the sun sets in the sam e the paws. Baraize reset m uch of it th a t he found
place on the horizon for three days before its setting tumbled. This relatively soft white limestone deteri
position begins to move back tow ards the south orated badly. T he soundest restoration w ork dates
again. D uring those three days, viewed from the to the pre-Roman pharaonic period, when the
Sphinx Temple, it sets mid-way betw een the two ancient E gyptians chose large limestone slabs (old
largest Giza pyram ids. W hether by chance or by est phase of restoration) and in general selected
design, the p attern th is forms is the hieroglyph for durable m asonry which developed a brown protec
horizon, akhet, the sun between two mountains, tive patina.
w rit very large indeed across the Giza skyline. A kh WThat is the date of the oldest repairs? T he
m eant to glorify; akhet w as the place of glorifica answ er lies tucked between the forepaws of the
tion where the su n sets and also a circumlocution Sphinx in the shape of the scant rem ains of a
for tom b. A kh e t, or horizon, w as the nam e given to small, open-air chapel built in the 18th dynasty by
the G reat Pyram id of Khufu and, in certain textual T hutm ose IV. The chapel w as excavated by Cav-
contexts, also to the entire Giza necropolis. iglia in 1816 (p. 48), when it w as in a much more
130
There was no need, to add a
face to our reconstruction of
the Sphinx since it already has
one, minus the nose. This
single element was added by
overlaying an alabaster face
o f Khafre in the Boston
Museum o f Fine Arts, whose
features closely matched those
o f the Sphinx. The profile of
the nose was taken from the
famous diorite statue o f
Khafre (far left). The
computer model was then
used to reconstruct the Sphinx
as 18th-dynasty Egyptians
might have done: they
restored Hie lion body with
masonry cladding and very
possibly added a statue o f a
pharaoh, perhaps A menhotep
II. It was Ins son, Thutmose
IV, who carried out the
restoration. When he became
king he added a granite stela
IP1! which became the centrepiece
o f a chapel between the
forepaws. We drew the Sphinx
over the photogrammetric
elevations, then contoured it
mm so the computer could produce
a three-dimensional image.
WM
Wmm
ilpli v fe w
P ;M
te w
mt
131
T hutm oses granite stela has m ade other, less
Return to Giza: Khafre s
constructive, contributions to Sphinx studies. It
Pyramid and the Great Sphinx
depicts the Sphinx couchant upon a high pedestal
with a door in the bottom. T his is most likely sim
ply an artistic motif to bring the recum bent Sphinx
In the upper part o f his to a height equal w ith the shoulder and head of the
Dream Stela, set up in the king. However, that has not stopped it nurturing
embrace o f the Sphinx
the persistent legend that beneath the Sphinx there
(opposite), Thutmose IV
makes an offering to the is a hidden passage or temple.
Sphinx in the form, of the In origin, the stela is a reused lintel of a doorway
god Horemakhet. from Khafres m ortuary temple. Given the enorm ity
of the lintel, it probably derives from the temple
complete condition than today. The centrepiece of entrance at the upper end of the causeway. In fact
its back wall is a granite stela, w eighing 15 tons the pivot sockets on the back of the stela match
and 3.6 m (12 ft) tall, erectcd by T hutm ose IV and those in the threshold of the temple. Given also the
dated to the first year of his reign, 1401 BC. Called match of the earliest restoration stones to w hat is
the Dream Stela, this com m em orates his accession left of those of the walls of the causeway, it
to the throne and tells the story of how, as a young ap p ears that the m asonry of Khafres complex w as
prince (though not crown prince) on a hunting stripped in the 18th dynasty. This continued into
expedition in the vicinity of the Sphinx, he fell the 19th dynasty. It may seem strange or unlikely
asleep in the shadow of the statu es head - indicat that pharaohs would strip the temples of Horas-
ing that sand then lay up to its neck. While he slept, User-ib, Khafre, to resurrect the cult of the Sphinx
the Sphinx, as the em bodiment of the sun (and as Horus-in-the-Horizon, Horemakhet. But since
prim eval king) in all its aspects - Khepri-Re-Atum every pharaoh w as a new incarnation of the god
- appeared in a dream and offered him the throne of Horus, perhaps their individual m onum ents were
In the New Kingdom the
Upper and Lower Egypt in retu rn for repairing its regarded as sim ply the communal property of
Sphinx was seen as an image
of the sun god, and it is body and clearing the sand. T he text breaks off, but Horus.
possible that this was what at the top of the stela Thutm ose etched a scene of W hen its cult w as reactivated in the 18th
was intended also when it was him self giving offerings and libations to the dynasty, the Sphinx became the focus of a great
created in the 4th dynasty. Sphinx. T he Dream Stela is com pelling evidence for m udbrick complex, a kind of royal national park
Another interpretation is that dating the oldest restoration work to the reign of around the ruins of Khafres 4th-dynasty temples.
the Sphinx originally
T hutm ose IV, about 1,100 years after Khafre, not A m enhotep II built a temple on the higher terrace
represented the king as a
presenter o f offerings to the only because of its story, but because the limestone northeast of the Sphinx in the first year of his
sun god in the open court of blocks fram ing the stele are uniform with the reign, dedicated to the Sphinx as Horemakhet.
the Sphinx Temple. restoration on the Sphinxs paw s and chest. Behind Khafres valley temple was the resthouse of
the pharaoh T utankham un and in front there w as a
typical Am arna-style villa, probably also a royal
w* \ resthouse. A broad viewing platform and stairw ay
fronted the Sphinx. Scores of stelae com memorate
the visits of royalty, princes, kings and commoners
d uring the 18th dynasty and later New Kingdom.
Several show a royal statue standing between the
paw s of the Sphinx, ju st at the base of its chest and
in the protective em brace from the rear. T h is w as a
very typical 18th-dynasty configuration. Behind
T hutm oses stele, not only is there room for such a
statue, but there is a huge block of m asonry which
could have served as a plinth for a statue 6-7 m
(20-23 ft) in height - colossal in its own right.
New7 Kingdom inscriptions refer to the Sphinx
sanctuary a s Setepet, T he Chosen. In their first
year of rule, pharaohs came to the chapel between
the forepaw s to make dedications to the Sphinx and
to be ordained and confirmed in their position. In so
doing, they participated in a hypostasis of royal
power from living pharaoh to the ancestral king of
the 18th dynasty (probably Amenhotep II), through
ancient kings like Khufu and Khafre and ultim ately
to Horemakhet, the prim eval god-king whose image
towered above them in the form of the Sphinx.
132
Menkaures pyramid was
named Menkaure is Divine.
Smaller than his predecessors'
pyramids at Giza, its has a
Upper passage
(abandoned)
Queens pyramids
Entrance
Descending
passage
Glll-b
Glll-a
Room with 6
niches Mortuary temple
Causeway
Menkaures queens pyramids W hen archaeologists drew lots for excavating Giza (Right) The easi-west
present some fascinating on the balcony of the Mena House Hotel in 1399, the rectangular chamber, hewn
evidence. The eastern one ivas concession for M enkaure w as won by George Reis from the bedrock, has been Antechamber,
finished in granite and seen as an earlier burial 14.2 x 3.84 m,
ner. He knew beforehand that, while the smallest of
limestone casing. It has the chamber, with the niche at its h. 4.87 m
T-shaped substructure o f a the three Giza pyram ids, its tem ples could provide west end for the sarcophagus.
satellite or ka-pyramid and it the richest finds (his assistant, A rth u r Mace, had Indeed, the niche resembles
lies close to the centre axis of reconnoitered the site). Indeed, M enkaures p y ra bed-niches in ancient
the main pyramid, It did,
however, contain a granite
sarcophagus and it had an
mid offered a uniquely complete pyram id profile.
Reisner, ahead of his time in recording and excava
tion technique, w as able to reconstruct much of the
Egyptian houses. A passage
at the back leads to the space
above the granite ceiling
\
eastern chapel suggesting it beams o f the lower chamber.
was re-used for a queens story of this pyram id: he could study the pyram id
burial (although it has been and its burial chamber, the queens pyram ids, the ap art from token patches around the entrance to
suggested as the place for the m ortuary temple, the causew ay and the valley tem the pyram id and behind the inner m ortuary temple.
kings mummification). The ple. Because M enkaure died after at least 26 years Along with the actual burial, freeing the pyram id
other two small pyramids of rule, leaving his complex unfinished, its remains face seem s to have been an integral p art of activat
were either built intentionally
represent a very revealing frozen moment. The ing the tomb. H andling bosses are still visible on
as step pyramids or left
unfinished, which suggests work w as completed in m udbrick, apparently in m any of the undressed granite blocks.
that, at least here, core and haste, by his successor Shepseskaf. M enkaures pyram id lies at the far end of the
casing did not rise together. T he upper p a rt of the pyram id w as finished in Giza diagonal and on the very edge of the Mokat-
traditional T urah limestone. A t the bottom, 16 tam Formation, where it dips down to the south and
courses of red granite casing were left undressed, disappears into the younger Maadi Formation. Its
134
base area is less than a q uarter of that of the p y ra spite of its reduced size, however, M enkaures com
m ids of Khafre and Khufu, and with an original plex used a g reat deal of granite, which w as Menkaures Pyramid
height of 65-66 m (213-16 ft), it represents about alw ays more costly to q uarry and tran sp o rt than
Vio of the building m ass of K hufus pyram id. The the softer limestone.
ancient builders were perhaps running out of room
at Giza for another huge pyram id. However, there Inside the pyramid
were doubtless other forces a t work. One specula The entrance lies about 4 m (13 ft) above the base of (Below left) The east-west
rectangular chamber, which
tion is th a t as the son of the sun god, pharaoh had the north side of the pyram id. A descending p a s
some see as an earlier burial
now to place more em phasis on temples and their sage slopes down at an angle of 26 2 for 31 m (102 chamber, was probably
endowments, and less on the pyram id as the m ark ft) to a horizontal chamber, w here there is a series of constructed to help
er of his personal tomb. In a process already evi panels carved w ith a repeated very tall and stylized manoeuvre the granite lining
dent in the reign of Khafre - and which continued false door motif. This is the first purely decorative o f the actual burial chamber
throughout the Old Kingdom - while the pyram id element inside a pyram id since Djosers. T he lintel (below centre) and to insert
the huge granite beams o f its
shrank, the m ortuary temple expanded in size and spanning the entrance to the horizontal passage is
ceiling. These were carved in
in the complexity and expense of its decorations. In carved as a drum roll representing the rolled up an imitation o f a curved
reed-mat curtain. A horizontal passage w ith three vault.
portcullises leads from here to a rectangular
antecham ber, oriented east-w est, with the east end (Below) In Menkaures
granite-lined burial chamber
Howard Vyse found his
beautiful dark stone
sarcophagus, carved with
niches and panelling. It ivas
removed to be taken to
England, and was lost when
the ship carrying it sank.
Passage
Position of
sarcophagus
Burial chamber,
6.59 x 2.62 m,
Chamber with h. 3.43 m
6 niches
Niches: 2.57
x 0.70-0.90
m, h. 1.4 m Descending passage,
: anelled 31.7 x 1.05 m, h. 1.2 m
'amber,
63 x 3.16 m Entrance
135
directly under the vertical axis of the pyramid. satellite pyram id and w as later taken over as a b u r
Menkaures Pyramid A nother passage opens in the wall of the cham ber ial place for one of M enkaures queens, perhaps
Wmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm directly above the point where the horizontal p a s K ham erernebty II. All three queens pyram ids had
sage enters. A fter a short horizontal section, this m udbrick chapels and presum ably all received
passage slopes up into, and stops, in the pyram id burials of queens; the body of a young w om an was
core. T he upper passage w as probably abandoned found in the burial cham ber of the middle pyramid.
w hen the floor of th e antecham ber w as lowered.
A sh o rt passage slopes w estw ards from the m id The m ortuary temple and causeway
dle of the floor of this antecham ber, leading down M enkaure began his m ortuary temple, as had
to the burial chamber. On the right of the passage Khafre, with core blocks of limestone that were
is another cham ber with four deep niches in the quarried locally. T he largest of these, found a t the
east wall and two in the north. Similar cham bers northw est corner of the temple, is the heaviest
appear in the later m astaba of Shepseskaf and known at Giza, w eighing over 200 tons. A rchaeo
(Below and opposite)
Menkaure's mortuary temple m ay be forerunners of the three cham bers to the logical evidence suggests that building in stone
included the five elements that left (or east) in the standardized substructure of ceased abruptly and the entire temple w as finished
appeared in Khafres: an 5th- and 6th-dynasty pyramids. in m udbrick by Shepseskaf, M enkaures successor.
entrance hall; broad court; A t the end of the passage, the burial cham ber T he original intention w as to encase the temple in
statue niche; storage w as constructed within a rectangular space carved granite. In the north corridor we see very clearly
chambers; and inner
out of the bedrock and entirely encased in granite. how work was progressing. M enkaures m asons
sanctuary, though the five
statue niches were possibly Its ceiling h a s the appearance of a round barrel h a d just started bringing in a series of granite
replaced by a single colossus vault, b u t it w as carved into the undersides of huge blocks on both sides of the corridor. T hey were cut
of Menkaure. In his valley slabs of g ranite laid in the form of a pented roof. ting back the large limestone core blocks to ensure
temple Reisner found several Inside Vyse found a beautiful dark sarcophagus th at the front faces of the g ranite blocks were flush.
very fine statues of Menkaure with recessed or palace facade panelling. It w as T he unfinished granite casing w as concealed by a
accompanied by the goddess
em pty and its lid w as missing, although fragm ents casing of m udbrick which w as plastered and
Hathor and nome deities, and
also one (shoivn with its of the latter were found, along with the bones and w hitewashed. Though it has all disappeared today,
findspot) with one of his w rappings of a male body in the upper chamber. when Reisner stripped aw ay the m udbrick casing
queens. Unfortunately, the sarcophagus wras lost at sea on he found bright red paint on these core blocks
the ship Beatrice. m arking levelling lines, m easurem ents and the
T he sarcophagus contained a nam es of the work gangs.
m ystery - a wooden coffin A m ong the finds in the m ortuary temple were
inscribed for M enkaure as fragm ents of royal statues. These included the
though it w as the cotfin in head, chest, lap, knees and shins of a larger-than-
which he w as laid to rest. But life alabaster statue of M enkaure th a t m ust have
its style dates it to the Saite been the centrepiece of his entire complex. O rigi
period at the very earliest. nally it stood at the back of a tall and narrow
Radiocarbon dating has east-w est hall at the end of the centre axis of the
proved th at the hum an bones temple. From here, the king looked across the open
found in the upper cham ber court, through the entrance hall, and down the line
date to the Christian period. of the causeway to the land of the living. Behind
Recent radiocarbon dating the g reat statue, on the other side of the back wall
of m um m y p arts from of the m ortuary temple, a t the base of the pyram id,
Djosers burial vault show there w as probably a false door.
them to be much later than T he statue represented the king emerging
the 3rd dynasty, while through the false door, sym bolic portal to and from
female bones from under the underw orld of the pyram id. T here he received
the Step Pyram id date cen the offerings brought to him as head of his house
turies earlier than Djoser. hold for eternity and projected his divine force
Such findings suggest that through the pyram id complex and out into the Nile
burial practices in p y ra Valley for the good of all Egypt.
m ids were more complex Had M enkaures pyram id complex been com plet
than we can appreciate. ed, the causew ay would have been walled and
roofed and extended all the way down to the valley
The queens pyramids temple. It is conventionally stated that Shepseskaf
Three queens pyram ids were completed the causeway, but in m udbrick rather
built to the south of M enkau than limestone. However, it does not stretch beyond
res pyram id. Below the east the point w here it m eets the west side of the old
ern one w as a T-shaped Khufu quarry. From this point down to the valley
substructure, suggesting it temple the causew ay w as probably never more
was initially begun as a than a construction ram p for delivering stone.
Menkaure s pyramid, with the
great gash in its north face
made by Othman in AD 1196.
Below it, some intact granite
casing is visible.
Queens pyramids
Causeway
I. 608 m
The valley temple and pyramid town houses of the pyram id town first crowded up
To find the valley temple, Reisner projected the axis against the front wall of the tem ple and then began
of the causew ay from the entrance hall of the m or to be built over the wall, invading the courtyard of
tuary temple. His first pit brought to light one of the temple (p. 232). T he pyram id tow n became a
the m ost m arvellous pieces in the entire history of kind of sacred slum, expanding as the num bers of
ancient E gyptian art: the dyad of M enkaure strid its tax-exem pt inhabitants increased. So we begin
ing forth in the em brace of his principal queen, to detect the discrepancy between royal intention
K ham erernebty II. for the pyram id complex and popular reality. A t the Valley
T he valley temple lies at the m outh of the main back of the valley temple Reisner found an offering temple 300 ft
wadi, closing w hat had been the principal conduit place still in position with ash from the last offer
for construction m aterials brought to Giza for three ings m ade to the few statu es kept intact in dark
generations. Evidently it w as clear to M enkaures inner chambers.
builders that this w as to be the last of the large
complexes at Giza. The temple w as built in two Inner sanctuary
phases. First, the foundations were laid out by Magazines
137
Khentkawes's tomb measured
45.5 x 45.8m (149 x 150ft),
17.5m (57ft) high, with a
slope o f c. 74. On the granite
0 50 m
1
----------------- Causeway
0 150 ft with 5th-
and 6th-
dynasty
houses
Burial chamber,
3.95 x 4.65 m
Antechamber
138
Pit for burial
chamber..
Entrance
passage
139
The Pyramid o f Userkaf
Magazines
Causeway 50 m
j
7 5 0 ft
Offering chapel
141
where the quintessential icon of the pyram id, the
sacred ben-ben, lay in an inner sanctuary of the sun
temple. T he A busir diagonal was broken by
Niuserre, who inserted his pyram id between
The Pyramids o f Abusir Sahures and N eferirkares , his father. In addition to
the four pyram ids of kings, there are the sm aller
pyram ids of Khentkawes, two, perhaps for queens
(Lepsius XXIV and XXV), and an unfinished p y ra
mid, possibly of Shepseskare.
142
Pyramid court
'
.-Offering hall
5 statue niches
Transverse corridor
Magazines
Satellite
pyramid
Open
court
Entrance
hall
Inside the valley temple a T-shaped hall gave A t the south side o f Sahures
direct access to the causeway, 235 m (450 cubits or mortuary temple was o sacred
771 ft) long, leading straight to the entrance hall of service entrance for deliveries
to the temple magazines.
the m ortuary temple up on the plateau. For their Inside, the -walls were
50 m entire length, the walls of the causew ay were deco decorated with scenes o f Nile
100 ft
rated w ith reliefs, including scenes of gods leading gods and offering bearers.
prisoners taken from E g y p ts traditional enemies. This small portico also gave
Causeway, Such scenes were m eant to ward off any evil or dis access to the satellite pyramid.
I. 235 m
T-shaped order th at m ight threaten the security of the inner
Sahures pyramid The Rising
hall temple. S ahures are am ong the oldest know n reliefs o f the Ba Spirit'stood 78.75
Porticoes.
of this genre, which would be placed a t temple m (258ft) square and 4 7 m
entrances for the next 2,500 years. (154 ft) high, with a slope
T he plan of the m ortuary temple h as been called o f 50 I V 40". His satellite
the conceptual beginning of all subsequent Old pyramid was 15.7m
(30 cubits, or 51 f t 6 in) to
Kingdom examples. A granite-fram ed doorway led
a side, 11.55 m (38 ft) high,
to a closed corridor around a pillared court. Reliefs with a 5 6 slope. This artists
on the north wall show the king fishing and fowl reconstruction is based on
Landing ramps
ing, while on the south he is hunting with his Borchardts.
Causeway
Portcullis
143
courtiers. It is certainly not by coincidence that Inside the pyramid
The Pyramids o f Abusir themes of capturing wild gam e are played out on As with Sahures pyram id, the substructure was
the walls of the dark corridor surrounding the open very badly dam aged. A descending corridor led
court - a bright clearing tamed by the king, the from near the middle of the north side, roofed with
g u arantor of order. T he colonnade of the court is great gabled limestone beam s that discharged the
supported by g ranite pillars with palm capitals, weight to either side. T he burial cham ber was
each with the insignia of Sahure. A w hite alabaster covered with three layers of such beams. No trace
altar stood in the court. Reliefs on the walls show of the sarcophagus w as found inside.
the kings victories over A siatics and Libyans,
including one scene show ing the king about to exe The pyramid complex
cute a Libyan chief while his family beg for his life. Neferirkares m ortuary tem ple appears to have
Beyond the court is a transverse corridor, sep a been finished in haste. T he inner temple with its
rating the front from the inner temple. On the east five statue niches and offering hall were built in
wall are reliefs of sea voyages - one of the earliest stone, but the court and entrance hall were com plet
exam ples of this subject on walls flanking a temple ed in mudbrick, with wood columns in the form of
threshold. Small cham bers to the west were deco bundles of lotus stalks and buds. Only the founda
rated with processions of offering bearers, each tions of the causew ay and valley temple had been
personifying an estate. Side doors gave access to built when work stopped. When Niuserre later took
more magazines, where all the goods hunted, cap over the site of N eferirkares temple for his own val
tured or cultivated were stored - if perhaps only ley temple, the entrance to Neferirkares complex
symbolically. A small alabaster stairw ay directly w as moved up to the m ortuary temple. So, ap p a r
on the temples main axis led up to a cham ber with ently, was the adm inistration of the pyram id which
five niches with an alabaster floor and a double-leaf norm ally would have focused in the town near the
door. Each would have held a statu e of the king.
At the heart of the m ortuary tem ple is the offer Neferirkares pyramid was
ing chapel with the false door, only fragm ents of catted the Pyramid o f the
which survived. T he floor of this cham ber w as Ba o f Neferirkare The
paved w ith white alabaster. Originally it contained length o f the base was about
105 m (200 cubits, or 344 ft)
a black granite statu e and an offering basin with a
A statue o f Sahure, builder and the faces o f the steps
drain of copper tubing. In the north wall a granite incline by about 73. Had the
o f the first pyramid at Abusir
doorway led to five rooms, two of which also had conversion to a true pyramid
limestone basins and copper drains, p art of a com been completed, it woidd have
plex drainage system that ran through the temple. risen to about 72 m (236ft)
Sahures satellite pyram id is in a sim ilar position at a slope o f 54"
to Khufus, a t the pyram ids southeast corner. 'Phis (Opposite) Since Niuserre
would be its standard place until the end of the Old usurped Neferirkares
Kingdom. It w as surrounded by its own small court unfinished valley temple, the
entered by a portico with two round granite pillars entrance, rudimentary
inscribed with Sahures titulary. pyramid town and
administration moved
up to the front of the
The Pyramid o f Neferirkare mortuary temple.
144
valley floor. T hanks to this, one p a rt of the adm in Contrasting pyramid clusters:
N istrative archives, the A busir Papyri, was pre the slumped cores o f the
served. Nine or ten houses were built, probably for Abusir pyramids form a line
0 25 m
in front o f the giant pyramids
0 50 ft those in temple service (p. 234). Over time the wood
o f Giza in the background.
en columns and roofs m ust have deteriorated and
the inhabitants hid the columns in m udbrick walls
that were p art of new rooms.
Entrance hall
Burial chamber
Descending passage
As with the superstructure, the substructure of
The Pyramids o f Abusir the pyram id was badly ruined. The Czech team
ascertained that the m ortuary temple w as built in
tw o stages, and the entrance of the first included
square limestone pillars painted red and inscribed
w ith K hentkaw ess nam e and titles. Sim ilar pillars,
gracing an open court, show the queen holding the
p ap y ru s wad) sceptre and w earing the royal uraeus
on her brow, thought to be exclusive to kingship.
A granite false door w as embedded in the west
wall of the offering hall that backed on to the p y ra
mid. Next to the hall, three deep recesses probably
held statues of the queen. Carved and painted relief
Queen Khentkawes, shown in scenes covered the walls of the inner tem ple depict
a relief from the court o f her ing processions of estates, agriculture and sacri
mortuary temple. Like the fices. On one fragm ent she is given the sam e title as
Khentkawes at Giza (p. 138),
K hentkaw es at Giza (p. 138). B ut the two are proba
she wears the uraeus o f
kingship and holds a papyrus bly not the sam e person - this one w as the mother
sceptre, symbol o f northern of Raneferef and Niuserre. Verner has suggested
Egypt. th at the title should be read as M other of the King
of U pper and Lower Egypt, [exercising office as]
K hentkaw ess pyram id is south of Neferirkares The King of U pper and Lower E gypt.
pyram id and near its centre axis the position T he idea th at K hentkaw es II ruled as pharaoh in
occupied by the satellite pyram ids of Sneferus her own right is supported by the second stage of
Bent Pyram id at D ahshur and K hafres at Giza. her m ortuary temple. It w as extended to the east
T his location hints at a link between the function of and had the east-w est axial alignm ent characteris
satellite pyram ids, related to the kin g s ka, and the tic of kings temples. Five storage cham bers were
role of the queen mother, who transfers the royal ka added south of the entrance. K hentkawes also had
from one generation to the next. A date inscribed on her own satellite pyram id, for which stone was
a block of the pyram id indicates th a t construction diverted from an enclosure wall of the pyram id.
paused in Year 10 of an unnam ed king. On another K hentkaw es w as w orshipped at her small pyram id
block, the word M other w as added above 'Kings for 300 years, until the end of the 6th dynasty. Her
Wife, perhaps when work resumed. Had a son of temple yielded another collection of papyri, which,
Khentkawes become king, enhancing her status? like those from N eferirkares, provide a literary w in
dow on to the life of a pyram id complex
When complete, Khentkawess
pyramid would have stood
about 17 m (56 ft) high and The Pyramid o f Raneferef
25 m (82 ft) square at the
base, with a slope o f 52. The Burial chamber
Czech team, under Miroslav The last pyram id on the A busir diagonal w as long
Verner, retrieved the major known as the Unfinished Pyram id. In 1974 the
elements o f her mortuary Czech Expedition began to excavate it, suspecting
temple, though the inner part it belonged to Raneferef, an ephem eral ruler whose
was badly destroyed. Site had
m o rtu ary temple w as m entioned in the A busir
five storage magazines and
her own satellite pyramid. A Papyri. T heir research showed that the pyram id
potters workshop occupied w as indeed left unfinished, b u t w as made function
one corner. al for the cult of Raneferef. T he site w as less dis
turbed than others because there w as no towering
pyram id to attract robbers, and m ost of the temple
had been finished in m udbrick rather than the lime
Satellite pyramid
stone used by m anufacturers of mortar. T hus the
unfinished pyram id ironically provides m uch infor
Potters workshop m ation about how pyram ids of this period were
built, and how they functioned as ritual centres.
Second
stage
Raneferefs builders levelled the site and laid out
the square for the pyram id base w ith sides of 65 m
(213 ft 3 in) - a respectable size, slightly sm aller
than Sahures. In the middle of the square they dug
Magazines Domestic rooms
a pit, in which the burial cham ber would have been
H---------- n
Entrance built while the core of the pyram id rose around it.
146
Pit for burial
chamber
Hypostyle
hall
Magazines
----------- N
Sanctuary
of the Knife 0 25 m
--------
1 1
0 50 ft
Entrance
(3rd stage)
An open trench, left to allow the builders to bring in accretions should have resembled the layers of an The unfinished pyramid of
the stone for the burial chamber, later contained the onion. Instead, the excavators discovered that the Raneferef was begun with a
entrance passage. Although now missing, the su b core consisted of an outer retaining wad of four or base length o f 65 m (213 fi
3 in ). Its mortuary temple
structure may have been finished when Raneferef five well-laid courses of limestone blocks and an stretches out along it - the
died. Only one step of the core, however, had been inner line of smaller blocks fram ing the trench of L-shape is due to an added
completed, which w as quickly faced with limestone the burial chamber. Between these tw o w alls w as a third stage consisting o f a
at a slope of 78, leaving the tomb in the form of a fill of poor-quality limestone, m ortar and sand. columned courtyard and the
low m astaba. T he top w as finished off with a layer Sanctuary o f the Knife - a
of clay into which desert stones were stuck. No The pyramid complex slaughter house for sacrificial
animals. Since the pyramid
wonder the pyram id is referred to as the M ound in Verner believes the first stage of Raneferef s m ortu
was never finished and the
the fragm ents of p ap y ru s found in its temple. ary temple w as finished quickly, between the kings substructure is notv
Here the Czech team had the opportunity to test death and his burial - a period of perhaps 70 days. completely missing, a
the idea of Lepsius and Borchardt th a t the 5th- It w as a small rectangular building, unusually ori reconstruction is not possible.
dynasty pyram ids were built in steps in accretions ented n o rth-south, at the centre of the east side of
around a tall, narrow central core, like those of the pyram id platform. An entrance on the south led to
3rd dynasty, albeit not with inw ard-leaning cours a vestibule and three cham bers, including the offer
es. If this was the case, under the capping layer, the ing chapel with a red g ranite false door and an
147
bulls could be slaughtered during a 10-day festival.
The Pyramids o f Abusir T he Sanctuary of the Knife w as in operation for a
sh o rt time before the third stage of the temple shut
it down and it w as used for storage.
A columned courtyard w as added to the front of
the temple in the third stage, giving the whole
arrangem ent a T-shape. A new entrance w as su p
ported by two six-stem m ed p ap y ru s columns,
while 24 wooden colum ns lined the court. Only the
bases remain, b u t the im print of the shaft on one
A limestone statue o f indicates th at they were palm columns.
Raneferef shown in the
embrace o f and merging
his identity with, the Horus The Pyramid o f Niuserre
falcon, god of kingship.
The statue was found in
his mortuary temple. It w as perhaps Shepseskare who made a sta rt on
another pyram id between Sahures and the sun
temple of Userkaf. It consists only of the base of
the pyram id core and the beginning of the pit and
altar. Verner believes Shepseskare, who perhaps trench for the substructure. It w as never finished,
reigned for a sh o rt time after Raneferef, m ight have and when N iuserre came to the throne he had to
built this small chapel, because two m ud sealings complete the pyram ids of Neferirkare, his father,
w ith his H orus nam e were found in the vicinity. Khentkawes, his mother, and Raneferef, his brother.
It is certain, in any case, th a t it w as N iuserre who He did not finish the possible pyram id of Shep
added the spraw ling complex of m udbrick walls seskare, perhaps because that pharaoh w as buried
and cham bers. T his second stage enveloped the in a large m astaba that had been prepared before he
earlier stone chapel and spread to the east, extend assum ed the throne for so short a time.
ing the entire length of the pyram id. The entrance Niuserre reigned for more than 30 years b u t his
in the centre of the east side w as m arked by two pyram id is sm aller than N eferirkares and closer in
limestone lotus-stalk columns. Imm ediately inside, size to Sahures. He seem s to have w anted to remain
a transverse corridor led to five large magazines. w ithin this family of kings and inserted his p y ra
Two wooden cult boats were ritually buried in one, mid in the space in the angle between Neferirkares
along w ith thousands of carnelian beads th at may pyram id and Sahures. Spatial limitations may
have adorned them. In the the northern p art of the therefore have determ ined the size of this pyramid.
temple were 10 more magazines, arranged in two T he pyram id core w as built in steps and w as origi
pairs of five. Here another cache of adm inistrative nally sheathed in fine limestone as shown by some
papyri w as found, as well as num erous objects casing blocks found still in position.
including stone vessels and flint knives.
The southern p a rt of the temple w as taken up by Inside the pyramid
one of E g y p ts earliest known hypostyle halls. Four From the entrance a t ground level in the middle of
row s of five wooden columns supported the roof. the north side a passage ran horizontally for the
Only the im print of the columns remained on the thickness of the casing and then sloped down to a
limestone bases, b u t this showed th a t they took the cham ber blocked by three granite portcullises.
form of sheaves of lotus buds. A m ong m any frag Beyond, the passage continued at a more gentle
m ents of statues found in the ru in s of the court, the slope to the antecham ber, deviating slightly to
m ost beautiful show s Raneferef with the Horus fal ensure th at the threshold between the antecham ber
con. Papyri inform us th at the largest statue, in and the burial cham ber w as on the pyram id s verti
wood, w as a special focus of cult activities. There cal axis. The antecham ber and burial cham ber
were also small wooden statues of E g y p ts tradi were clad in fine limestone and roofed with the
tional enemies - Asiatics, Libyans and Nubians - standard three tiers of enorm ous limestone beam s,
that were probably attached to the lower p arts of each 10 m (33 ft) long and w eighing 90 tons.
the throne or dais on which the m ain statue stood.
One of the m ost rem arkable features of Ranefer- The pyramid complex
efs complex w as added at this sta g e - the Sanctu N iuserre took over the terrace and foundations that
ary of the Knife. Its nam e w as found in texts from had been prepared for N eferirkares causew ay and
the temple, as well as in inscriptions on vessels for valley temple. T he valley temple was entered by a
anim al fat. A w ide entrance allowed w orkers to portico with two row s of four columns in the form
bring in anim als to be ritually slaughtered in the of p ap y ru s bundles. Inside, the pavem ent was
court in the northw est corner of the building. Evi black basalt, w ith w alls of fine limestone with
dence from the papyri indicate that as m any as 130 painted relief decoration above a dado of red
148
Satellite 5 statue
pyramid niches
Entrance
hall
Causeway
25 m Niuserre's pyramid was called
Valley red granite. Fragm ents of reliefs from the outer
temple temple depict members of the court; in the inner The Places o f Niuserre
Endure It measured 78.9 m
temple, Niuserre enters the com pany of the gods.
(150 cubits, or 259ft) square
For the first time there is a small square antecham and 51.68 m (164 ft) high
Pylon ber, its roof supported by a single pillar, th at leads with a slope o f 51 50' 35".
in tu rn to the offering hall. Relief fragm ents depict This view is looking north,
Satellite scenes of homage. A nother new element in this across the corner o f
pyramid complex is a pair of m assive blocks of m asonry Neferirkares mortuary
3 portcullis
Burial
at the corners of the pyram id court. These temple. Niuserre built his
blocks
chamber mortuary temple in an L-
appear to be the precursors of the great shape in order to avoid older
Antechamber pylons a t the front of later Egyptian mastabas to the east, and to
temples. N iuserres satellite pyra usurp his fathers causeway.
mid within its own enclosure had He also usurped the
the standard T-shaped substructure of foundations of his fathers
passage and chamber. At the southern edge valley temple to build his own.
of the pyram id cluster are two badly destroyed
possible pyram ids, le p siu s XXIV and XXV, which
Pylon may have belonged to queens of Niuserre.
granite. Limestone figures of fettered enemies may Sun Temples o f Abusir The Abusir pyramids, looking
have stood near the exit to the causeway. across the ruins o f Userkafs
sun temple. The Swiss and
N iuserres builders made great use of basalt, lin Ancient documents, including the A busir Papyri,
German expedition were able
ing the bases of the walls of the entire length of the inform us of six sun temples, one for each king of to reconstruct the four major
causeway with it. Above, the walls were decorated the 5th dynasty except Djedkare-Isesi and Unas. phases o f the temple's
with reliefs, again show ing the king as a sphinx or T he nam e of Sahures, Field of Re, w as found on a construction.
lion tram pling his traditional enemies. The ceiling
was a field of blue, studded with golden stars.
Because it w as intended for Neferirkares pyram id,
the caasew ay had to bend quite sharply to bring it
to the entrance of N iuserres m ortuary temple. To
avoid the older m astabas the tem ple had an u n u su
al shape but kept the principal elements of previ
ous ones, particularly Sahures. The inner offering
chapel is in its traditional place a t the centre of the
east side of the pyram id, lined up with the burial
chamber. Five statue niches, complemented by five
oblong magazines, flank the offering chapel with its
red granite false door and offering slab.
Immediately north of the entrance to the five
statue niches, a deep niche contained a huge lion of
Four phases of a sun temple: block of m asonry in the m ortuary temple of p a rts of a granite obelisk - a new form that
1 a mound in a rectangular Niuserre. We know th at N eferirkares w as called Neferirkare erected in Phase 2 to m atch the obelisk
enclosure; 2 Neferirkare sets Place of Res P leasure; Raneferefs w as Res Offer he had built for his own sun temple, as seen in its
a granite obelisk on a pedestal
ing Table; while M enkauhors w as nam ed The hieroglyphic name. A pedestal building clad in
building, with two shrines in
front; 3 Niuserre rebuilds the Horizon of Re. But archaeologists have found only quartzite and g ranite replaced the tem ples central
inner enclosure in limestone two sun temples, those of U serkaf and Niuserre. In mound, w ith a w inding corridor up to the roof and
and extends older enclosure, layout both resemble a pyram id complex - with a a sacristy. In Phase 3 the enclosure and the area
(re)bidlds valley temple; valley temple, causew ay and upper temple. around the obelisk were again completely rebuilt. It
4 inner enclosure cased in w as probably N iuserre who added an inner enclo
mudbrick, new altar, stalls U serkafs Stronghold of Re
and benches added. sure wall and cham bers of limestone that were not
U serkafs is both the first sun temple to be built by completely dressed before the next phase, 4, saw
a pharaoh in addition to a pyram id and the first the exterior surfaces cased in plastered mudbrick.
royal edifice at Abusir. The only precedent is the A m udbrick altar at the east side of the pedestal
4th-dynasty Sphinx Temple at Giza (p. 128), which building belonged to the last phase, although previ
appears to have been dedicated to the sun and may ous stages m ust also have had one. No signs of
have housed ritual activity sim ilar to th at carried b u rn in g were found around the altar, which was
out in the later sun temples. surrounded by a curiously dim inutive enclosure
U serkafs sun temple w as nam ed Nekhen-Re, wall com pared to the tow ering granite obelisk. Sim
Stronghold of Re, after the ancient nam e of Hier ilar small partition walls describe two stall-like
akonpolis (p. 72). Herbert Ricke, who directed exca fields immediately east of the altar. T he Palerm o
vations of the site in 1955-7, ascertained tha:, in its Stone m entions that in the reign of U serkaf two
earliest form, the upper temple may well have con oxen and two geese were sacrificed daily in his sun
tained the principal elements of its namesake: a rec temple, but the partitions hardly seem adequate for
tangular enclosure and a central mound. One of the holding live animals.
early form s of the sun temples hieroglyphic name More curious yet are five low benches m ade of
show s a m ast projecting from a mound, perhaps a m ud and broken stone. Ricke thought they were
symbolic perch for the sun god in falcon form. places for setting out offerings - like the open-air
As with so m any pyram ids, the temple under altars in the sun temples of A khenaten more than a
w ent several m ajor transform ations - four in this millennium later - or low benches for priests. Here
case - following one upon another before the previ the correspondence between the five benches and
ous one had even been completed. T his continuous the five phyles into which priests and labourers
construction process w as not the work of Userkaf were organized (p. 224) is m ade more compelling by
Obelisk alone, however. Neferirkare and Niuserre were a sm all stela labelled Wer (G reat) phyle found com
responsible for later stages on behalf of Userkaf, pletely hidden inside one bench. No additional ste
the progenitor of the dynasty w ho staked the fam i lae were discovered in the next two benches, and
ly claim to A busir as their eternal home. the last two were left unopened.
The upper temple w as so badly ruined that Ricke Several features of this sun temple would have
could retrieve only the m ajor elements and consid m ade the movement and slaughter of sacrificial
erable deductive skill w as required to piece together anim als less of a problem than in the pyram id tem
Altar
small architectural fragm ents. A m ong these were ples, with their narrow doorw ays and sharp turns.
5 benches
Annex
PHASES 3-4
Causeway
150
The causeway w as divided into three lanes along Heinrich Schaeffer and Ludw ig Borehardt found
its length by low, thin m udbrick walls. Two narrow evidence that, like U serkafs sun temple, N iuserres The Pyramids o f Abusir
pathw ays ran on either side of a central roadw ay w as also first constructed in m udbrick and then
which would have been wide enough for driving rebuilt in stone. W hy was this so? T he renewal of
reluctant oxen up to their fate on the hill. Ricke both temples m ight have com m em orated N iuserres
believed that the side p ath s may have aim ed a t two celebration of the Sed festival. On the other hand,
statue shrines, if these had already been set up in the transform ations could reflect changing ideas
front of the obelisk in Phase 2. about sun temples, analogous to developments seen
A t its lower end, the causew ay entered a walled in the earliest pyramids.
enclosure around the sides and back of the valley Like the valley temples of the 5th-dynasty p y ra
temple. Now, we m ight consider th at the m essy mids, N iuserres w as little more than a m onum ental
business of slaughtering and butchering anim als gatew ay form ing the entrance to the causeway. It
m ight be more easily carried out in installations lay w ithin an enclosure defined by a thick wall.
attached to the valley temples, after which priests B orehardt thought this w as the enclosure wall of a Pedestal
would have ritually offered the m eat in the upper surrounding town but he did not investigate the Obelisk building
temples. T he slaughter hall nam ed the Sanctuary of assum ed settlem ent, so it rem ains conjectural.
the Knife w as built right in front of Raneferefs The valley temple's layout w as only partly
m ortuary temple, but only because no valley tem retrieved because its remains were few and stood in
ple w as ever built for his pyram id. However, the knee-high ground water. A pillared portico of four
broad court around the valley temple and the wide palm colum ns form ed an entrance through a pylon
causew ay of U serkafs sun temple suggest th a t an i like fagade clad in white limestone. In addition to
m als m ay have been led up it: the early, and possi the m ain doorw ay on to the causeway, porticoes on
bly later, enclosure w alls of the upper temple had either side gave access to narrow corridors.
rounded outer corners - a feature also found in T he causew ay ascended to an impressive terrace
Sanctuary of the Knife. form ed by extending a natural hillock to provide a
The valley temple of U serkafs sun temple had platform on which the upper temple w as built. In
Open court
been extensively quarried for stone, but Ricke the first phase, m udbrick walls formed a grid of
reconstructed its plan from fragm ents. It w as con com partm ents filled with debris. T hick m udbrick Magazines
siderably more than the glorified gatew ay repre retaining walls also formed the sides of the terrace.
sented by pyram id valley temples, or by the valley In the second p hase a casing of yellow limestone
temple of N iuserres su n temple, even though blocks w as added over the retaining walls.
Niuserre m ay well have built this one also. The T he upper temple was set within a rectangular
building is rectangular but not oriented to the car enclosure oriented to the cardinal directions. A T- 50 m
dinal directions, pointing generally - b u t not exact shaped entrance hall had five granite-lined door 150 ft
ly - in the direction of Heliopolis. Ronald Wells has ways. Those on the centre axis gave on to a broad Valley temple
suggested that causew ay and valley temple were rectangular court, dominated on the w est by the
oriented to stars that would have ascended in the obelisk, 36 m (118 ft) tall, built of limestone blocks.
sky just before sunrise around 2400 BC, so that the It stood on a pedestal in the form of a truncated
temple w as a kind of astronom ical clock for sacri pyram id, itself 20 m (65 ft 6 in) high, and built of
fices that took place a t dawn. limestone with red granite around the base. T he
The front section of the valley temple w as lost
b u t m ay have contained an entrance hall and m aga Niuserres sun temple has
zines. A n open court w ith a colonnade of 16 rectan elements in common with
gular granite pillars is certain. T he few surviving pyramid complexes, including
elements behind the court left Ricke unsure restricted access through a
valley temple. A simulacrum
w hether there had been seven niches in the rear, or
o f a barque was docked off
only five. If five, it bears a strong resem blance to the southeast corner.
the five niches in m ortuary temples of most Old
Kingdom pyram ids since Khafre. The five niches
could also relate to the five benches in the upper
tem ple and to the five phyles of priestly service.
Five niches also echo the five cham bers built over
the central mound a t the original Nekhen temple
after which this complex w as named and w ith
which our survey of pyram ids began.
Niuserres Delight of Re
In addition to his extensive rebuilding of U serkafs
sun temple, N iuserre built his own, nam ed Delight
of Re. In their excavations of 1898 to 1901,
Niuserre - builder o f a bones were found, in contrast to such evidence in
pyramid at Abusir and a the abattoir next to the pyram id of Raneferef. Per
sun temple at north Abusir. haps offerings were ritually purified by laying them
on the alabaster altar. T he channels and basins cer
tainly suggest th a t liquids were involved. A similar
b u t sm aller installation w as found north of the
obelisk, with seven more basins, this time of lime
stone and containing three drainage holes each.
From the entrance hall a right tu rn led along a
corridor to a set of m agazines built against the
north enclosure wall, probably for short-term sto r
age of offerings. A t the east end a stairw ay led to
the roof. A left tu rn in the entrance hall led to corri
dors w ith a w ealth of fine relief carvings. These
include one of the earliest scenes of the Sed festival
of the kings renewal. In a section that attached to
combined height equalled or surpassed that of the pedestal building the three seasons were depict
N iuserres pyram id. In front of the obelisk and ed. Fragm ents of the harvest (shemu) and inunda
aligned with its centre axis stan d s an altar consist tion {akhet) seasons were preserved, but the season
ing of five slabs of white alabaster. T he central ele of com ing forth (peret) w as lost.
m ent takes the form of a circle, 1.8 m (6 ft) in Just outside the enclosure of the upper temple a
diameter, flanked by four slabs with the top carved huge m udbrick model of a boat, 30 m (98 ft) long,
in relief as the Hetep hieroglyph - a stylized conical w as found. T his colossal sim ulacrum of a ship per
bread loaf on a reed mat. T his is the sign for offer haps signifies the m ythic boat in which the sun god
ing, satisfied or peace, commonly found at the sailed across the ocean of the sky. It also h ints that
base of false doors in Old Kingdom tombs. T he the sun temple, like the pyram id complexes, w as
whole arrangem ent can be read as May Re be sa tis seen as a symbolic p o rt to the world of the gods.
fied. There were no obvious signs of burning -
perhaps b u rn t offerings were placed on another Meaning and function
offering table fitted to a granite socket nearby. T he two sun temples found comprise at least six
Certain features were interpreted by Borchardt building or rebuilding projects. T his has led to the
as belonging to a large slaughter court, including intriguing idea that the various phases of the two
fragm ents of a limestone pavem ent th at had been known m onum ents are in fact the six tem ples men
raised 15 cm (6 in) above the level of the surround tioned in texts - for instance th a t Nekhen-Re w as
ing court. Channels carved in the upper surface p er rebuilt and renam ed Sekhet-Re. But one argum ent
haps ran to a row of nine large alabaster basins ag ain st this is th at in the tom bs of officials of the
th at still survive. Each basin, about 1.18 m (3 ft 8 in) sun tem ples more than one is mentioned, as though
in diameter, had a series of small, circular shallow they were functioning a t the sam e time. An
dips, between 24 and 26, carved around the rim. inscribed block from Sahures sun tem ple was
Borchardt thought that originally there were ten found in the m asonry of N iuscrres pyram id tem
An alabaster altar still stands basins, and th a t the channels drained fluids - either ple, so perhaps the m issing sun tem ples were
in the court o f Niuserres sun
the blood of sacrificed anim als or the w ater used in destroyed for their stone.
temple. It can be read as a
giant hieroglyph for 'May Re cleaning up after the sacrifice - into them. However, Suggestions as to the significance of the sun tem
be satisfied' in the four Miroslav Verner doubts whether this w as a place of ples are numerous, for instance that they were m or
cardinal directions. slaughter at all. No tethering stones, flint knives or tuary complexes for the sun, or for the king in his
identity as the sun before birth and after death.
A nother idea is that they were places where the
communion between the sun and the king could be
consum m ated, ensuring the welfare of the land.
T he A busir Papyri give us a glim pse of the func
tioning of N eferirkares sun temple. On papyrus
scraps and fragm ents we read of provisions deliv
ered by canal twice daily from the sun temple to the
pyram id. One ox a day w as slaughtered and the
m eat sent over to the pyram id. Bread and beer were
also delivered from the sun temple, suggesting that
they may have been produced nearby - perhaps in
the valley enclosure. T he 5th-dynasty pharaohs
seem to have built their sun temples to be a sacred
filter for the goods that sustained their pyram ids.
Not only are we m issing four of the six sun temples
found in texts, we are also m issing a pyram id for
Menkauhor, the king who ruled for eight years
after Niuserre. D ahshur w as a suspected location
because M enkauhors pyram id is m entioned in a
6th-dynasty decree relating to Sneferus pyramid.
The End o f the 5th Dynasty
But Stadelm anns excavations established that a
small unfinished pyram id northeast of the North
Pyram id cannot be M enkauhors. However, Lepsius
pyram id XXIX, the so-called Headless Pyram id (p.
165) at Saqqara is a possibility. In Djedkare-Isesi's temple
Entrance
there is a clear separation
between the front and inner
The Pyramid o f Djedkare-Isesi temples. For the first time a
queens pyramid includes
0 50 m reduced versions of most of
----------------
1 H
Djedkare-Isesi ruled for 32 years or more. He 0 150 ft the standard elements o f the
moved 6 km (3% miles) from A busir and built the kings complex.
Sanctuary
first pyram id in South Saqqara, relatively new
ground except for the m astaba of Shepseskaf. Satellite pyramid
Djedkares pyram id is now aptly nam ed el-Shawaf, 5 statue niches Queen>s
T he Sentinel, for it stan d s on a high sp u r overlook pyramid
ing the village of Saqqara; its ancient nam e was
Beautiful is Isesi. It w as badly dam aged in antiqui 3 portcullises
ty and its excavator, Abdel Salam Hussein, died
before publishing his work. As with N iuserres, the Corridor-chamber
core of the pyram id w as built in steps. The Descending
entrance w as at ground level, ju st east of the centre Pylon
of the north side. Here for the first time, except for
court Entrance
the offering place at the Bent Pyram id (p. 103), were
traces of a small limestone entrance chapel. Causeway
Burial chamber,
Inside the pyramid 7.84 x 3.1 m
A granite-lined passage sloped down to an alm ost
Antechamber,
horizontal corridor-cham ber lined with limestone, 4.02 x 3.1 m
followed by three portcullis slots. Beyond w as
another passage, ending in an antecham ber. O pen Djedkare-Isesis pyramid,
ing off the antecham ber to the w est w as the oblong 'Beautiful is Isesi, had a
burial chamber. To the east were three m agazines, a base length o f 78.75 m
(150 cubits, or 258ft) and
feature we have seen developing in the tom bs of pyramid
a slope o f 52. It rose to a
M enkaure, Shepseskaf and Userkaf. The burial height o f around 52.5 m
chamber, constructed in an open shaft 9 m (29 ft 6 (172ft).
in) deep, w as roofed with three layers of large
gabled limestone rafters.
Fragm ents of alabaster and a faience bead on a
gold filament were found in the burial chamber.
Scattered am ong the debris were enough fragm ents
of the basalt sarcophagus to be able to reconstruct
it. It was sunk into the floor, as was a niche for the
canopic chest, originally concealed by a slab.
154
Unass pyramid, Perfect are sure, suggesting it was falling into ruin. In the roof More than 1,000years after
the Places o f Unas , was Antechamber, of the causew ay a slit w as left open, allowing a Unas, Khaemwaset, a son o f
5 7.75 m (110 cubits, or 189 3.75 x 3.08 m shaft of light to illuminate a gallery of brightly Ramesses II and high priest
ft) square, 43 m (141 ft) o f Memphis, had an
painted reliefs. Only fragm ents were found, but
high, with a slope o f 56". inscription carved to record
these hint at the astonishing array of scenes his restoration o f Unass
th a t once covered the walls: ships tran s pyramid. Djosers Step
porting granite palm columns for Pyramid, visible behind, was
Satellite the temple (p. 202); crafts already falling into ruin when
pyramid men working gold Unas built his tomb.
and copper; estate
labourers gathering
figs and honey, and
harvesting grain; and
lines of offering bearers. Other
scenes included bearded A siatics and
battles w ith enemies, and wild anim als,
such as lions, leopards and hyenas.
Granite columns with palm-
Two boat graves, each 45 m (148 ft) long, lay side
frond capitals graced Unass
by side immediately south of the causew ay at its temples. This pair flank the
Entrance upperm ost bend. From here the causew ay led
chapel
southern entrance to his
straig h t to the granite temple doorw ay th at Teti, valley temple.
U nass successor, completed and inscribed w ith his
ancient by his time. The wise men of the court nam e to com memorate the act. In plan, the m ortu
m ust have seen w hat w as happening to the m onu ary tem ple follows Djedkares, m arking the tran si
m ents and cult of form er kings. By etching in stone tion to the standard arrangem ent of 6th-dynasty
the sacred utterances and spells deep w ithin the pyram id temples. This consists of an entrance hall;
pyramid, Unas would enjoy their effect continually colonnaded court; transverse corridor separating
w ithout having to depend for ever on the services of the front from the inner temple; statu e cham ber
an unreliable priesthood. w ith five niches; square antecham ber w ith its sin
gle pillar; offering hall with a granite false door;
The pyramid complex and the satellite pyramid. There are variations: for
In choosing the site for his pyram id U nas took instance, U nass pylons were not as m assive as
advantage of tw o natural features. A long wadi those of Djedkare; the palm columns of the court
vast of the pyram id provided a good route for his were thinner and taller and the single column in the
causeway and opened on to a lake which form ed a antecham ber is quartzite - from the Gebel A hm ar
harbour for his valley temple, w ith a sophisticated (Red M ountain) near Heliopolis - a hard stone p a r
.rrangem ent of ram ps, quays and a slipway. ticularly associated with the sun.
T he causew ay m ust have been one of the most U nass pyram id had already fallen into ruin by
impressive of any pyram id: at 750 m (2,460 ft) long the New Kingdom. Khaemwaset, son of Ram esses
it w as equal to K hufus. Though the wadi provided II and High Priest at Memphis, left an inscription
a natural route, g ap s had to plugged with embank- on its south side referring to his restoration work,
ments. These contained blocks from Djosers enclo th u s causing the nam e of U nas to live again.
155
Pyramids o f the 6th Dynasty
(Right) Tetis pyramid with Teti is listed as the first king of the 6th dynasty,
the ruins of his mortuary though there is no evidence of a break in succes
temple in the foreground and sion from Unas. Tetis queen, Iput, w as the mother
Djosers Step Pyramid behind. of Pepi I and probably a daughter of Unas. Certain
of Tetis high officials, whose m astaba tom bs are
immediately north of his pyram id, had also served
under Unas. One, named Kagemni, m ust have seen
the building of three pyram id complexes.
156
N
Pyramids o f the 6th Dynasty
50 m
150 ft
Entrance chapel
Sanctuary Antechamber
Burial chamber,
3.75 x 3.12 m
5 statue niches 7.9 x 3.45 m
Satellite pyramid
Open court
Entrance hall
Entrance
chapel
Descending passage
T he satellite pyram id w as found in its standard vessels of alabaster, pottery and copper, alabaster Tetis pyramid, The Places of
place south of the inner temple and m easured 15.7 slabs inscribed with the nam es of sacred oils, and Teti Endure', measured 78.5
m (30 cubits, 51 ft 6 in) square. In the court s u r model gold-leaf covered copper tools. Although m (258ft) to a side and rose
to 52.5 m (172 ft) high at an
rounding it were two basins of red quartzite on the robbed, this burial assembly seem s to have been far angle o f 53 748". The
eastern side and a third on the west; a small lime more m eagre than that of Hetepheres at Giza. enclosure measured 200
stone basin was placed somewhere on the north. cubits (105 m) N -S by 243
cubits (127.57m) E-W.
Pyramids of Iput and Khuit The Pyramid o f Pepi I
Two royal women of Tetis court were favoured
with their own pyram ids, in separate enclosures Teti may have exhausted the topographical oppor
north of Tetis pyram id and behind the m astabas of tunities for pyram id complexes in Central and Audran Labrousses computer
model of Pepi I s pyramid
court officials. Iputs pyram id w as originally a North Saqqara. Pepi I returned to a sp u r of high
complex. Except for the
m astaba, which her son, Pepi I, transform ed into a desert in South Saqqara, defined by the broad Wadi central court, all chambers
pyram id. A. Labrousse ascertained the position of Tafia on the south. His pyram id is now reduced to a and magazines were dark
Khuits pyramid, lost since the excavations of Loret low mound, about 12 m (39 ft) high, with a large covered spaces.
in 1897-9 and Firth in 1922, but it w as only exca
vated by Z. Hawass in 1997. It still stan d s for 7 m
(23 ft) of its original 20-m (66-ft) height.
Loret could not find the entrance of Iputs, for the
simple reason that it had none. T he small pyramid,
with sides 15.75 m (52 ft) long and a steep slope of
65, w as built over a vertical m astaba shaft and
burial chamber. A small red granite false door on
the north side w as p art of an entrance chapel and
a chapel on the east side had its own court, statue
cham ber with three niches, and offering hall with a
limestone false door and a g ranite offering slab.
Iputs rem ains were found in a cedar coffin in a
roughly dressed limestone sarcophagus. A lthough
thieves had broken in, Iputs skeleton w as intact,
along with fragm ents of her necklace and a gold
bracelet. Five crude canopic jars were also found.
The room w as filled with limestone chips to the
level of the sarcophagus lid. On this were model
157
N archaeology. The pink granite canopic chest, with
Pyramids of the 6th Dynasty 0 50 m
1---------- r* its lid, w as still set into the floor niche in front of
messHsatmmstf 0 150 ft the sarcophagus. A complete packet of viscera, p re
sum ably Pepi Is, lay close by - the tightly w rapped
Sanctuary
bundle retaining the shape of the alabaster jar
5 statue niches
which once held it (p. 22). On both the interior and
Burial exterior of the sarcophagus of hard, dark stone
chamber
Satellite w as a line of Pyram id Texts; around it the walls of
pyramid the cham ber were decorated w ith the m otif of the
Entrance
reed-m at booth. As in the pyram ids of U nas and
Open
hall court Teti, the room to the east of the antecham ber w as
left uninscribed.
*I
Pyramids o f the 6th Dynasty
which he describes how he read ied for posterity the (Above) Two o f the bound
proprietor of a pyram id he had found abandoned. prisoner statues that may
But the most dram atic finds of the last few years have lined the court o f
Pepi I s mortuary temple.
have been the queens' pyram ids.
As the king plants trees in
orderly rows in the court
Queens pyramids (the columns) and clears a
An enorm ous accumulation of debris and sand space o f wild foliage (the
covered an area south of Pepi ls pyram id. In 1988 court), so he ties the hands
the French team used electrom agnetic sounding to o f wild nomadic peoples on
Egypts margins. They had
look for boat-pits and queens pyram ids th at they
been deliberately broken at
suspected m ight be buried here. Possible em place the neck and waist.
m ents for three small pyram ids were located and
soon an apex stone and casing stones of a small
pyram id emerged. Eventually three pyram ids
were cleared, all about 20 m (65 ft 6in) square,
roughly aligned in an east-w est row. Each had
its own enclosure and small offering temple.
They were ascribed to the Queen of the W est,
Queen of the E ast and Queen of the Centre.
On the fallen east jam b of the m ortuary tem
ple of the eastern queen w as an image of the
queen, with her name, Nebwenet, and her titles.
T he w estern queens identity is preserved only
159
a s eldest daughter of the king on a small obelisk a gigantic slab between this room and the ante
in front of her pyram id. The nam e of the central cham ber hung suspended after robbers had
queen, Inenek/lnti emerged when her visage, name removed much of the lower supporting walls. But
and titles were found on jam bs and small obelisks the black basalt sarcophagus w as in good condi
flanking the door to her temple. tion, its lid intact but pushed back. Amazingly, it
T he French team suspected yet a fourth queens still contained a mummy, apparently that of a
pyram id - a suspicion confirmed by the discovery young man, as the hair w as braided into the side
of a stela inscribed with the nam e of M erytytyes, a lock of youth. The great anatom ist of Egyptian
royal wife and daughter. Recently a fifth queens mummies, G. Eliot Smith, considered it an intrusive
pyram id has been located. These women of Pepis secondary burial, possibly of the 18th dynasty.
court would be deeply appreciative of the work of U nfortunately the mummy, now in Cairo Museum,
the French, who are fulfilling one of the highest has not yet been properly studied. W hen the French
hopes of literate ancient E gyptians by ensuring team cleared the burial cham ber they found the red
that their nam es live on after death. granite canopic chest, with its lid, in front of one
end of the sarcophagus.
Descending passage
Antechamber, 3.69 x 3.15 m
161
(Above left) The pyramid of Inside the pyramid decorative program m e from Sahures complex. The
Pepi II looking northwest over
From the entrance a passage sloped down to a cor lower p a rt of Pepis causew ay showed the king,
the ruins o f Wedjebtens
pyramid, with packed stone ridor-cham ber with a star-studded ceiling and transform ed into a sphinx and griffin, tram pling on
and clay core walk typical walls covered with Pyram id Texts. Here Jequier his enemies; the upper p art had scenes of offering
o f the complex. found fragm ents of alabaster and diorite vases, bearers. T he causew ay changes direction twice to
perhaps for perfume, and a golden spatula. These take advantage of the m ost even slope.
(Above right) Pepi II spears a may have been used in a ritual perform ed at the A t either corner of the east wall of the m ortuary
hippopotamus, thus asserting
closing of the pyram id corridor. A further section tem ple w as a kind of proto-pylon th at temple
his control over the forces of
chaos in a relief from the of the horizontal passage, lined w ith granite, w as builders had been developing since Niuserre. A
front vestibule o f his blocked by three portcullises. door on the central axis of tem ple and pyram id led
mortuary temple. T he inner cham bers were covered w ith a gabled to a vestibule w here reliefs depicted the kings tri
ceiling decorated with stars. Single gigantic lime um ph over hum an and anim al forces of disorder
stone blocks form the north and south walls of the the latter in the form of a hippopotam us, which the
burial chamber. A round the black granite sarco king harpooned from a boat. A round the open court
phagus, inscribed w ith the kings titulary, the walls w as a colonnade of 18 rectangular quartzite pillars.
were decorated in the niched p attern of the sacrcd Each w as decorated on the side facing into the
reed-m at booth. A t the head and foot ends, the dec court with figures of the king and a god. N otw ith
oration featured false doors, painted green, topped standing the pillars and granite doorw ays, there
w ith a nam e plate of the king. Two low walls west seem s to have been a cheapening of m aterials and
of the sarcophagus supported the lid until it w as decoration the court w as paved in limestone and
pushed sidew ays to seal the kings mummy. Only the w alls of the open court were undecorated.
the niche of the canopic chest rem ained in the floor, A doorway at the south end of the transverse
together w ith its granite lid. corridor opened to the court w ith the satellite p y ra
mid which w as 15.75 m (30 cubits, 52 ft) square and
The pyramid complex had a slope, like m ost late Old Kingdom satellite
If, as we suspect, there were pyram id tow ns below pyram ids, of 63. T he T-shaped passage and small
the tom bs of Djedkare, Merenre, Shepseskaf and cham ber were left unsmoothed. T he door a t the
Pepi II, a substantial line of settlem ents m ust have other end of the transverse corridor led to the main
extended along the base of the escarpm ent by the pyram id court, where three basins sunk in the
end of the Old Kingdom. U nfortunately it has never pavem ent may have collected libation water.
been excavated. Patches of relief from the east wall of the tra n s
Visitors could gain access to Pepi IPs valley tem verse corridor belonged to scenes of the king per
ple either from the desert or from the harbour via form ing the ritual ru n of the Sed festival. Also
ram ps up to an esplanade and platform . A single recovered was a scene from the Festival of Min. A
door, fram ed in red granite and inscribed with Pepi relief of the king about to execute a Libyan chief in
IIs nam e and titles, opened into a small hypostyle the presence of his family is a near-exact copy of a
hall w ith eight rectangular pillars. T h e walls were scene in Sahures m ortuary temple. Reliefs on the
decorated with reliefs of the gods receiving the entrance to the inner temple depicted the king
king, the suppression of enemies and a hu n t in the being suckled by goddesses. The five statue niches
p ap y ru s thickets. O ther room s were undecorated. were framed in red granite; the m iddle one w as
From the scattered fragm ents reconstructed by slightly larger and still held the limestone base of a
Jequier it seem s Pepi IIs artists copied much of his life-size royal statue - the only direct evidence we
162
have that these niches did indeed hold statues. Neiths own satellite pyram id w as 10 cubits (5.25
Between the niches and the offering hall, as in other m, 18 ft) square, with a m iniature passage blocked Pyramids o f the 6th Dynasty
m ortuary temples, is a m asonry m assif w ith an with stone. A rectangular cham ber w as filled with
open core, perhaps a serdab for hidden statues. sherds of pottery vessels. T hree alabaster vessels
T he north doorw ay of the statue cham ber led to were perhaps used in the em balm ing of the queens
five magazines, while that to the south gave access body, or they may have been for offerings for the
to a small vestibule and square antecham ber on the queens ka. Between Neiths satellite and m ain p y ra
route to the offering hall. In the vestibule the king mid 16 wooden model ships w'ere buried in a shal
was once more show n suppressing disorder, slay low grave perhaps the queens ow n funerary fleet.
ing enemies and hunting wild animals. T he roof of Iput IIs pyram id complex w as built on to the
the antecham ber w as supported by a single octago southw est corner of Neiths. It had all the sam e ele
nal quartzite pillar. Here as many as 100 deities and ments, including a satellite pyram id, small obelisks
45 officials received the king. On the n orth wall the at the enclosure entrance, vestibule and court, inner
king sat enthroned, protected by the jackal-headed offering tem ple and magazines, here approached by
Anubis and by Nekhbet. a long corridor w ith several turns. A queen named
N othing rem ained of the false door at the west Ankhes-en-Pepi w as buried between the enclosures
end of the offering hall, which w as covered by a of Neith and Iput, without a pyram id of her own.
vaulted roof. Fragm ents of reliefs reveal scenes of Near the southeast corner of Pepis enclosure
the king seated before a table laden with offerings. w as the pyram id of Wedjebten, another daughter
Behind him stands a sm all figure with the symbol of Pepi I and wife of Pepi II. Like the other two, her
of up-raised arm s on his head - the kings ka (p. 22), tomb contained Pyram id Texts. A small vestibule
here receiving kau, food sustenance. Before the and plain court led to a chapel with an alabaster
king were more than 100 dignitaries and residents offering table inscribed w ith her name. The walls of
of the pyram id tow n bringing ducks, geese, quail, the chapel were decorated with reliefs of the queen
pigeons, gazelle, goats and antelopes, cattle, fruit, before a goddess and scenes of slaughtering cattle.
wine, beer and bread. On the east wall were scenes A fragm ent depicted the base of a throne, sim ilar to
of cattle being slaughtered. Pepi IPs complex also a relief in Neiths chapel. Because of the glimpse it
featured prisoner statues a s did Pepi Is, Tetis and offers of the role of a pyram id in the economics of
Djedkares, but much greater num bers have been the Afterlife, the most rem arkable feature of Wed
found here. Each had been broken a t the neck and jebtens pyram id is her secondary enclosure. Inside
w aist before being cut into sm aller pieces. were cham bers resembling houses and magazines.
Inscriptions refer to a family line of priests. Each A legal document etched
Queens pyramids beneficiary had a cham ber and sm all courtyard in in stone: the doorway to
Wedjebten's secondary
Three queens of Pepi II had their own pyram id - which they set up proxy sym bols of their real
enclosure was inscribed
with entrance chapel, tem ple and tiny satellite households and tombs. By being so honoured, they as gate o f the estate of
pyramid. Neiths w as the finest and probably the were allowed to share the endow m ent of her funer a family line o f Wedjebtens
oldest. Flanking the entrance to her enclosure were ary estate, ju st as she had a share of Pepi IPs. priests.
two small obelisks inscribed with her nam e and
titles, indicating she w as the daughter of Pepi I and
wife of Pepi II. Reliefs on the walls of the court
showed the queen and offerings. Her sm all temple
had five magazines, a cham ber with three niches, s
an offering hall with presentation scenes and a false
door, m issing before Jequiers excavations.
U\ \
T he pyram id w as 24 m (78 ft) square with a 61 ll ] / .
slope. It w as built around a three-step core encased i l l k
in a limestone girdle like that around the kings
pyramid. An entrance chapel contained scenes of
offering bearers. In the south wall a g ranite false
door closed the descending passage which sloped
dow n to the burial chamber, blocked by a single - N
portcullis. For the first tim e in a queens pyram id o 20 m
the cham ber and passage were inscribed with P y ra i-
0 50 ft
mid Texts. A s in the kin g s pyram id, a m agazine to
the east remained uninscribed. T he flat ceiling of The secondary enclosure
the burial cham ber w as carved w ith stars. Neiths around Wedjebtens pyramid
contained small houses and
em pty red granite sarcophagus stan d s in the cham
offering chambers of priests
ber, with her canopic chest of the sam e m aterial and their kin who shared in
before it. A round it the walls were decorated with the queens estate, as she
the niched and false door pattern. shared in that o f Pepi P..
163
the Old Kingdom. Here Jequier found fragm ents of
Pyram id T exts for a king named Hakare-Ibi. In the
Turin Canon, Ibi is given only two years of rule. His
Pyramids o f the First pyram id is sim ilar in dim ensions and layout to the
queens pyram ids of Pepi II - 31.5 m (60 cubits or
Burial
chamber
Entrance
150 ft
164
were reinforced w ith pilasters, and both it and the
burial cham ber were lined w ith limestone robbed
from tom bs in a nearby cemetery, apparently of the
6th dynasty. A block found in a tomb south of the
pyram id, and which may have come from the p y ra
mids own offering temple, had an offering scene
w ith a cartouche with the nam e Khui.
Lepsius Pyramid XX IX
165
crowned the building - m aking the whole structure
a stylized reed-m at divine booth. T he booth
enclosed a central edifice - a masonry-filled build
ing, of which only the square base remained.
Mentuhotep at Deir el-Bahri In the A bbott P apyrus this tomb, as well Intef
IIs (p. 165), is referred to with the word for p y ra
m id (mer). Further, the hieroglyphic determ inative
for the temple in later texts and graffiti is a p y ra
mid. For these reasons the central edifice has been
reconstructed as a solid limestone-clad m assif
M entuhotep (the god M ontu is satisfied) Nebhe- which formed a podium for a pyramid. T his recon
petre (Lord of the Steering Oar of Rc), listed as struction placed M entuhoteps m onum ent neatly
M entuhotep I or II, w as the fourth king of the 11th into any iteration of E gyptian pyram ids. But Dieter
dynasty. He came to the throne in around 2061 BC, A rnold has now shown th a t there probably never
reuniting the kingdom after the F irst Interm ediate w as a pyram id above Intefs tom b and so by the late
Period. His tom b complex w as a gigantic s a ff tomb, Ram essid period of the A bbott P ap y ru s m er may
much larger than those of the Intefs, in a deep bay have been a general term for tom b. A rnold also
in the cliffs on the w est bank of T hebes called Deir pointed out th at the walls of M entuhoteps edifice
el-Bahri. Excavations by E douard Naville in 1903-7 would not su p p o rt the weight of a pyram id and no
and H erbert Winlock in 1920-31 were incorporated casing blocks with the angled face of a pyram id
in a new study of the m onum ent by Dieter Arnold. were found. T his central icon of M entuhoteps com
He clarified four distinct phases (A, B, C, D) in plex was, in A rnolds view, sim ply a solid building
which M entuhoteps builders created his complex. capped by a cornice. It perhaps sym bolized the
R ather than clear a terrace in the desert as his prim eval m ound and therefore carried some of the
Mentuhotep was one o f the predecessors had done for their s a ff tombs, M en sam e m eaning as a pyram id. More recently Stadel
most important kings in the tuhotep reserved the entire Deir el-Bahri bay. He m ann has reconstructed a rounded O sirian mound
long history o f Egypt. He can defined his temple precinct with a wall built of n a t w ithin the edifice - a tem pting parallel to the
be compared with Djoser in ural field stones across its wide mouth. He may well m ound inside the Archaic m astabas at Saqqara
creating a unique and colossal have conceived and built the m ain p art of his tem (p. 80), b u t completely hypothetical.
temple and funerary complex
ple at about the time he changed his H orus name to
as a monument to the
resurrection o f the kingdom. Uniter of the Two Lands. The royal tomb
The two complexes are alike A t the base of the cliff a T-shaped terrace w as From the am bulatory a doorway led to a cloistered
in having been expanded in partly built of m asonry and p artly carved into the court a t the beginning of the leg of the T-shaped
several distinct phases. rock. A ram p rose from the forecourt to this terrace. terrace. In the centre of the court and on the centre
Mentuhotep's tomb complex, On the terrace, low walls bordered a platform on axis of the temple the kings tom b opens as a rec
however, was a gigantic saff
which an am bulatory w as constructed of thick tangular trench. N ear its m outh is a socket for an
or terrace tomb, several
orders o f magnitude larger limestone walls decorated inside and out w ith altar or offering table. T he trench becomes a tunnel,
than those o f the Intefs painted relief carving. The corners of the exterior descending through the bedrock. Niches in thewalls
before him. walls had to ru s moulding, and a cavetto cornice contained hum an figures from wooden models of
Burial chamber bakeries, butcheries, granaries and ships, but none
of the model architectural settings survive. From
this point, the sides and vaulted ceiling of the
tunnel are clad in sandstone. The cladding then
suddenly ends, leaving the rough bedrock exposed.
T he burial cham ber is a marvellous structure,
built in a cavern hewn 44.9 m (147 ft) below the
level of the court and at the end of a tunnel 150 m
(492 ft) long. It is a granite vault with a pent roof
and side walls cut with a slight outw ard lean.
T hree-quarters of the floor space w as taken up by
an alabaster shrine with a top form ed of a single
gigantic granite slab. T he shrine probably once
167
economic im portance of the Fayum. A t Lisht, a
canal called Bahr el-Libeini, thought to be an old
Nile channel, sw ings west to run close to the
escarpm ent at the foot of Amenemhet Is pyram id,
The Pyramids at Lisht perhaps providing a harbour.
A m enem het I returned to the approxim ate size
and form of the late Old Kingdom pyram id com
plex. T he core of his pyram id w as m ade of small
rough blocks of local limestone with a loose fill of
sand, debris and m udbrick. Perhaps the m ost
A nother king began a large tomb th a t m ight have rem arkable feature is the fact that it included frag
replicated the principal elements and scale of Men- m ents of relief-decorated blocks from Old King
tuhoteps complex if it had been finished. It is situ dom m onum ents - m any from pyram id causew ays
ated in a bay on the other side of the Sheikh Abd and temples, including K hufus. Granite blocks
al-Q urna hill, south of Deir el-Bahri. W hose tomb from Khafres complex went into the lining and
w as this? Two kings also called M entuhotep fol blocking of Am enem het Is descending passage.
lowed the first, taking the nam es Seankhkare and We can only conclude th a t they were picked up at
Nebtawire. T he long-accepted attribution to the for Saqqara and Giza and brought to Lisht to be incor
m er m ade sense. He was the next ruler, graffiti of porated into the pyram id for their spiritual efficacy.
his priests were found nearby, and his sh o rt reign
of about 12 years could explain why the complex Inside the pyramid
w as unfinished. Recently, however, Dorothea T he entrance to the pyram id w as in the now -stan
A rnold has argued th a t it w as actually begun for d ard position, at ground-level in the centre of the
the founder of the 12th dynasty, Amenemhet I, north side. Above it w as an entrance chapel w ith a
before he transferred his residence north, perhaps red g ranite false door at the back. A passage,
only in the last decade of his 30-year reign blocked w ith granite plugs, sloped to a shaft direct
(1991-1962 BC). His new capital w as named Iti- ly below the vertical axis of the pyram id. Ground
taivi, Seizer of the Two L ands. w ater has prevented anyone entering the burial
cham ber in m odern times.
169
and p uts it in the class of the pyram ids of Djedefre
The Pyramids at Lisht The Pyramid o f Senwosret I and M enkaure. Today, however, all that rem ains is
a sm allish hillock w ith its casing preserved up to
Senwosret I chose as his site a prom inent hill about eight courses in one spot. T he pyram ids core is one
2 km (lVi miles) south of his fath ers pyramid. It of Senwosret ls innovations. A skeleton of eight
m ay have had its own pyram id town nam ed Khen- walls radiates from the centre to the four corners
emsut, T he Places [of Senwosret] are U nited. How and the middle of each side. T he walls are built of
ever, this could refer specifically to his pyramid. huge, roughly shaped blocks which decrease in size
Kha-Sm wosret, Senwosret A ppears, w ritten with tow ards the top. Each of the eight triangular sec
the sign of a fortified enclosure, m ight be the name tions is subdivided by three cross walls. T he result
of the town. On foundation tablets the nam e of the ing 32 com partm ents were filled with slabs of stone
pyram id w as inscribed as Senwosret Peteri Tawi, set in steps. B acking stones rest on the steps,
Senwosret Beholds the Two Lands. behind the pyram ids outer casing, which together
M aspero ascertained that the pyram id belonged form an exoskeleton. T he fram ework and fill must
Senwosret I s pyramid is to Senwosret I in 1882 when he found objects with have been built together as the pyram id rose.
the first to have an internal the kings nam e inside. Excavations by J.E. Gautier Senwosrets m asons used wooden cram ps to join
skeleton o f limestone walls
and G. Jequier in 1894 were followed by work by the adjacent casing blocks, as show n by sockets cut for
form ing compartments filled
with roughly shaped stones. M etropolitan M useum of A rt between 1906 and them and actual exam ples incised with Senwosrets
Nine subsidiary pyramids 1943. A rnold renewed study at the site from 1984 to name. A small step w as cut in the foundation
plus one satellite pyramid are 1987. More traces of pyram id-building have been blocks and the lowest course of casing w as laid
more than in any other single found here than at any other pyram id. Q uarries on directly above it, so th a t the baseline of the p y ra
pyramid complex. The the southeast, southw est and south of the pyramid mid w as form ed by the court pavem ent. Rather
pyramids base length was
furnished stone for its core. R am ps led from the than providing support, this arrangem ent w eak
200 cubits (105 m/344 ft),
and its intended slope was quarries and h arbour to the pyram id. ened the casing: m ultiple patches are visible where
49 24', which gives an ideal The base length of Senwosret Is pyram id - 200 it survives and east of the entrance a crack zig-zags
height o f 61.25 m (201 ft). cubits - su rp asses all pyram ids since Neferirkare, down the pyram id. A rnold believes another source
of instability w as an open construction shaft under
Outer enclosure with the pyram id. The builders struggles are further
9 queens pyramids dem onstrated by the unevenness of the base - up
to 13-15 cm (5-6 in) difference between the
entrance and two of the corners.
T he entrance to the pyram id opened in the pave
m ent of the court in the m iddle of the north side. It
Entrance has been completely destroyed but fragm ents of
chapel reliefs from the chapel that once stood over it were
Sanctuary
100 m
300 ft
Burial chamber
(below water level)
Entrance Cut
Burial
Present water level chamber
Middle Kingdom water level ---.....................
170
found. T he chapel fitted into a niche in the casing.
Spouts in the shape of lions heads allowed rain
w ater to drain off the roof. T he back wall of the
chapel w as mostly taken up by an alabaster false
door, of which only fragm ents were found. Short
wall panels to either side w ere decorated w ith gods.
The entrance wall had scenes of butchering cattle
and stacked offerings, while the side walls carried
scenes of the king,with his ka, seated at an offering
table, w ith lines of priests and offering bearers.
171
the passage by adding limestone blocks inside. final phase, a sm all bath w ith a pottery pipe to
Every 10 cubits there were niches, in which alm ost drain it w as installed. Here priests could ritually
life-sized statues of the king were placed, wearing cleanse them selves before entering the outer enclo
the red crown of Lower E gypt on the north and the sure to serve the cults of the queens pyramids.
white crown of U pper E gypt on the south. Eight Senwosret I surrounded his pyram id with two
complete statues were found, and some additional enclosures, defined by a outer wall of m udbrick
bases. It is not certain if the walls were decorated and an inner enclosure wall of stone. T he interior
with relief scenes, b u t a painted dado w as stippled and exterior faces of the inner enclosure wall were
red and black to im itate granite. decorated w ith 150 serekh panels.
A doorw ay on the south side of the upper end of Senw osrets m ortuary temple w as already badly
the causew ay w as connected to a small m udbrick destroyed when first excavated in 1894. It suffered
building for priests or attendants. M udbrick walls fu rther in later years, so th at only a few blocks s u r
parallel to the stone w alls of the causew ay created vive in place. Com parison w ith Old Kingdom exam
a secondary lane on either side - a feature common ples reveals th at it w as very sim ilar to m ortuary
to Middle Kingdom causeways. A t the upper end, tem ples from Teti to Pepi II. T he front temple lay
the outer lanes broadened into small courtyards w ithin the outer pyram id enclosure and the inner
with a gate leading into the pyram ids outer enclo temple within the inner one. All the standard ele
sure. A rnolds excavations in the northern court m ents of the late Old Kingdom are present, though
revealed that it had been used first as a site for cut there is no evidence th a t alabaster, basalt or diorite
ting hard diorite, then for p reparing gypsum . In its were used and granite w as used only sparingly.
In 1894 G autier cleared a rectangular pit in an
Senwosret I in Osiride form, A side panel from a throne o f open area between the front temple and the enclo
wearing the Crown of the one o f the statues found in a sures of two subsidiary pyram ids. It contained 10
South. This is one of a series pit in the mortuary temple. complete limestone statu es of Senwosret I seated
o f statues that lined the south Horus and Seth - here Lower on large, block-like thrones. These may have been
side o f the causeway. Those (north) and Upper (south)
on the north side wore the Egypt tie papyrus and lotus set up under the colonnade of the temple court, but.
Crown o f the North. stems around a stylized as A rnold points out, they show no signs of w eath
windpipe, the hieroglyph for ering and the court lacks sockets for them. Perhaps
unity. The whole is topped by the sculptors stopped work and the statues were
the cartouche o f Senvjosret I. buried after plans for the temple decoration were
changed. T he five niches in the statue hall - which
A rnold reconstructed on the basis of Old Kingdom
parallels though there were no traces - probably
held standing statues.
Senwosret I built the last of the satellite p y ra
m ids and the only one known in a Middle Kingdom
pyram id complex. It is more complicated than
most, w ith two subterranean cham bers and evi
dence of two or three phases of construction. In its
first phase the pyram id w as 15.75 m (30 cubits, 52
ft) square and the sam e height. T he slope of 63 26"
06' conform s to Old Kingdom satellite pyram ids
from Sahure on. In a later phase an enclosure wall
w as added to form a court entered by a doorway on
the north. A bout the sam e time the pyram id was
enlarged by the addition of a layer of casing and
backing stones on the north and west, m aking a
new base length and height of 18.38 m (35 cubits,
60 ft), bringing it closer to the standard Old K ing
dom ratio to the main pyram id of 1:5.
T he m ain shaft to the underground cham bers
lies under the southeast quadrant. A t the bottom,
two corridors led to cham bers, both encased with
limestone slabs. T hey are situated on the sam e axis
b u t the northern one is slightly larger. A pparently
the pyram id w as built over the shaft before work
w as finished, so a new shaft w as cut east of the
centre of the pyram ids north side. Those cutting
the new shaft seem to have had difficulty finding
the cham bers, only reaching them on their third
172
attem pt. Robbers also found the chambers. Fhther stru ctu re and a second to the east for access to the
they cleared them completely (except for some cham bers after the first w as sealed by the north The Pyramids at Lisht
pieces of wood) or found them already empty, for chapel. A round Pyram id 2 were found many frag
nothing remained for the archaeologists. m ents of relief decoration from th e east chapel and
The outer pyram id enclosure, defined by m ud from a painted shrine that stood w ithin it, as well as
brick walls, is a busy archaeological area. It con of 32-sided colum ns inscribed with the nam e of
tains priests houses, granaries, low m udbrick princess Itayket. Her burial chamber, sealed w ith
walls, hauling tracks and slideways left over from m ortared limestone slabs, w as simply an extension
building, num erous shallow pits for ritual burials of the entrance corridor. A lthough robbers had
of model dishes, ox bones and beads, and, in the made a hole wide enough only to bring out small
w estern part, a m udbrick boat pit. objects, no trace of sarcophagus, canopic chest or
The pyram id cem etery extended well outside the coffin were found. Pyram id 3 sa t over a main burial
royal enclosure. Here large and impressive m astaba cham ber and a set of five burial niches. T he main
tom bs of high officials are found, such as those for burial chamber, as under Pyram id 2, w as formed
the Vizier M entuhotep w ith its own causeway, by casing the end of the corridor with limestone
Imhotep, the High Priest of Heliopolis, nam ed after slabs. It w as blocked in three places by limestone
his ancestor with the sam e title, and Senwosret- slabs slid sidew ays or. wooden skids in grooves cut
ankh, who had a copy of the Pyram id Texts in his into the passage. T he cham ber w as alm ost filled by
burial chamber. N um erous sm all sh aft tom bs of a beautiful quartzite sarcophagus and canopic
chose attached to these g reat households scatter chest. P yram id 4 also contained a quartzite sa r
about the large m astabas. cophagus, b u t it w as found parked in a crude side
niche outside the limestone-cased burial chamber.
The nine subsidiary pyramids There is no evidence i: ever received a burial.
Also within the outer enclosure are nine small p y ra Red granite pyram idions may have crowned all
mids, all about the sam e size except Pyram id 1 nine pyram ids - fragm ents were found close to
which seem s to have been the first built. Each is sit Pyram ids 3 an d 5. Remains of an over life-sized
uated in its own enclosure, except 8 and 9 which granite female statue were found by Pyram id 6.
share one; each also had a chapel on the east and A lthough P yram ids 8 and 9 form a pair, 9 w as built
north. The angle of slope varied from 62 to 64, the with a core of m udbrick perhaps when, as A rnold
range of late Old Kingdom subsidiary pyram ids. suggests, all available building stone had ru n out.
W ith the exception of Pyram id 1, the small p y ra
mids seem to be paired: 3 - 4 ,4 - 5 ,6 - 7 and 8-9, su g
gesting a close relationship between two royal Subsidiary Pyramids o f Senwosret I
women. In their alignm ents and spacing they skil Pyramid Enclosure Base Slope Height Shafts
fully avoid the corners of the outer enclosure.
Rather than being planned as a set from the 1 100 x75 c 40 c 62.5 36 c 2
beginning, the series w as built incrementally over a 52.5 x 39.37m 21m 18.9 m
long time. P yram id 9 may have been constructed as 2 72 x 54c 32 c
late as the reign of A m enem het II or Senwosret II. It 37.80 x 28.35 m 16.8 m 63.6 16.8 m 2
is curious, therefore, that, while the pyram ids and 3 50 x 50 c 32 c 63.25 16.8 m 2
' heir chapels were completed, including the relief 26.25 x 26.25 m 16.8 m
decoration, the substru ctu res seem never to have
4 46 x 43 c 32 c p ? 3
been finished. In fact it is not certain w hether all
24.15 x 16.8 m
received a burial. A lthough there are several shafts
22.575 m
scattered around the base of each pyram id, none of
5 48 x 47 c 31c 63.917 31 m ?
:hose around 5, 6 and 9 led conclusively to a burial
ham ber associated w ith the pyramid. 25.20 x 16.275 m
24.675 m 16.275 m
The owners of only two of the pyram ids have
been identified. P yram id 1 is assigned to Neferu, 6 49 x 56 c 30 c p p p
wife of Senwosret I, on the basis of three inscribed 25.725 x 15.75 m
granite pieces. A shaft in the centre of the north 29.4 m
side leads to a gently sloping corridor paved with 7 49 x 49 c 30 c p ? p
imestone. T his leads in tu rn to a chamber, lined 25.725 x 15.75 m
with limestone, under the centre of the pyram id. In 25.725 m
'he floor is a receptacle for the sarcophagus, which 8 47 x 86 c 30 c p ? 1
was not found, and an unfinished niche w as for the 24.675 x 15.75 m
canopic chest. Neferus cham bers appear to have 45.15 m
been neither completed nor used. p p p
9 Same as 8 30 c
Pyram ids 2 and 3 had two shafts each, one from 15.75 m [c = cubits]
he north to facilitate the construction of the su b
173
z:zm y '
cross com partm ents were filled with sand. W h f:
the pyram id w as dism antled for its stone, the ma:
limestone chips left behind prom pted the mode:
The Second Phase o f Middle name, W hite P yram id. Its ancient nam e w as Dji
A m enem het, A m enem het is Provided. Since :
Am enem het II began w hat A rnold sees as a second Inside the pyramid
phase in the development of Middle Kingdom p y ra T he entrance is in the m iddle of the north side. 1
mids. Amenem het I and Senwosret I, while incorpo corridor slopes down to a short horizontal p a s s a .
ratin g innovative elements into their pyramids, blocked by two portcullises, one of which slid
were trying to revive the pyram id complex of the tically and the other sideways; beyond is the b u r
late Old Kingdom M emphite tradition. Amenemhet chamber. Pour niches are connected to the cham b
II gave this up and no consistent development is one at either short end and two in the wall oppos
apparent in the pyram ids th at followed. Those who the entrance corridor. These have been co m p ared :
designed and built pyram ids in the 12th dynasty the eastern niches of the Old Kingdom, though:
seem to have been experim enting w ith new form s be for offerings or statues.
combined w ith old elements borrow ed from earlier T he sarcophagus, com posed of sandstone slat -
11th- and 12th-dynasty complexes, the late Old was set into the floor against the west wall, lmn
Kingdom and even the 3rd dynasty. diately in front of the entrance to the chamber
New form s included long rectangular enclosures. sh aft drops a little less than 2 m (6 ft) to a p a ssa .
Senwosret Ills w as oriented n o rth-south, while leading north directly below the entrance corrid
Amenem het IIs w as east-w est. Amenemhet II situ A square hole sunk in the floor at the end of ti -
ated his pyram id near the escarpm ent about passage may have been the receptacle for
halfway along the D ahshur plateau. From now on canopic chest. T he weight of the pyram id w
royal pyram ids would alternate between D ahshur diverted from the flat ceiling of the burial c h a n r
and the area around the m outh of the Fayum. by a hidden roof of six pairs of huge beam s th
A m enem het IIs is one of the m ost poorly investi lean ag ain st one another.
gated and docum ented in the long sequence of
50 m
pyram ids. Jacques de M organ excavated the site in The pyramid complex
0 150 ft 1894-5, b u t devoted much of his attention to the Amenemhet II returned to a broad, open causew
Amenemhet IIs hybrid discovery of the jewellery and personal items of th at sloped steeply down to the edge of the culth
complex: a long rectangular two princesses, K hnum et and Ita, whose burials he tion, b u t no one has searched for his valley temp.-
precinct, as in the 3rd found am ong the row of tom bs west of the p y ra At the point where the causew ay enters the pyr
dynasty, orientated east-west mid within its enclosure wall. mid enclosure on the middle of the east side, tv.
as in the 4th, and with Because of its proxim ity to the edge of the culti m assive structures recall the pylon-like thickenn. -
massive pylons, as in the 5th.
vation, the pyram id w as quarried for the T urah in the sam e position in m ortuary temples sir.
A pendant from a queens limestone which form ed the casing and the core Niuserre. T he space between the m assifs may
tomb west o f Amenemhet Us skeleton of radiating walls, sim ilar to the fram e the entrance hall, but beyond that alm ost nothing
pyramid. work in Senwosret Is pyram id. Here, however, the known about the layout of the temple.
174
The Pyramid o f Senwosret II
Entrance
chapel
Antechamber
Burial chamber Queens pyramid
Entrance Burial chamber,
shaft 5 x 3 m, h. 3 m
100 m
Construction Entrance
300 ft shaft Antechamber chapel
Well
175
the west end of the burial chamber. In front of it, an another strong O sirian symbol. It would have 1>
alabaster offering table w as inscribed for Senwosret interesting to see if these new ideas found expn
II. From the southeast corner of the cham ber a sion in the m ortuary temple on the east side of :
short passage leads to a side room where Petrie enclosure, b u t its ground plan is unknown. Nun*,
found all th at w as left of the royal burial, lying in ous fragm ents attest to the use of granite w '
the dusty debris - a gold uraeus th a t once adorned incised decoration. Senwosret retained a bn
the kings head band. Leg bones, presum ably of the open causew ay but we do not know how it attacl
king, were also found. to the enclosure or temple.
A passage opens in the south wall of the corridor W ithin the north side of the outer en clo su re.'
between the antecham ber and burial cham ber and builders began eight m astabas by isolating bl<
then alm ost loops around the burial chamber, re of bedrock that they then built over with m u d b r
entering it in the northw est corner at the head of the sam e m ethod as the pyram id. These were
the sarcophagus. Stadelm ann has pointed out that addition to the tom bs of princesses. A t the ncc
this last section allows a symbolic exit of the kings end of the row is a small pyram id, originally 27.'
spirit to the north - it would then pass through the (90 ft 6 i n ) square and rising to a height of 18 m
pyram id to emerge in the entrance chapel built in ft). Although Petrie discovered foundation depos/
the traditional spot at the centre of its north side. he never found a single passage or chanr
This arrangem ent reflects the old idea of the kings beneath the pyram id, despite exploring it with t
ascension to the circum polar stars, b u t there may nels and a deep vertical shaft. He did uncover
be an additional them e in the circuitous corridor. It rem ains of a chapel at the north side. P art <
created a su bterranean island - an im portant nam e on a vase, together w ith its position, are :
A diorite statue o f the young
symbol of Osiris, whose w orship w as on the rise only evidence th at the pyram id belonged ti
Senwosret II, from Nag-el-
Medamud. during the 12th dynasty at Abydos. T he well and queen. If it is a satellite pyram id, it, and not S
the cobble-filled trench may also be reflections of w osret Is is the last satellite pyram id, though th
the Osiris myth. are traditionally south of the m ortuary temple.
Senwosret IIs causew ay has never been inve>-
The pyramid complex gated. T he location of the valley temple is km
T he inner enclosure wall had limestone casing that b u t its ground plan w as destroyed. Immediate!;,
w as decorated w ith niches, which, like Senwosret the northw est of it lay the foundations of par*
Is, is a nod to Djosers complex and Archaic funer Senwosret IIs pyram id town, nam ed Hetep Sew*
ary enclosures. Rows of trees of unknow n variety ret, May Senwosret be a t Peace. The footprint
were planted parallel to the outer enclosure wall of this tow n is one of the basic docum ents for
mudbrick. T he grove surrounding the m ound is study of the history of E gyptian urbanism .
176
The pyramid o f Senwosret UJ
The Pyramid o f Senwosret III at Dahshur had a mudbrick
core. covered with a casing o f
fine limestone - blocks of the
Senwosret III returned to D ahshur to build his
casing were bonded with dove
pyram id northeast of Sneferus N orth Pyram id. It tail cramps (below, right). Chi
w as built directly on the desert gravel with a core of its east side was chapel.
m udbricks laid in stepped horizontal courses. The
bricks are of different sizes, suggesting that s ta n
dardized moulds were not used. Some still retained
signs inscribed with a finger in the wet clay, ap p ar
ently to m onitor work. T he bricks were laid w ith
out m ortar - instead sand filled the seams.
Turah limestone blocks joined with dovetail
Magazine
cram ps formed the casing. The bottom
course rested on a foundation, built in
a trench, of roughly squared blocks
Antechamber
on three courses of mudbrick.
Behind the outer casing
the builders laid Kings burial chamber
backing stones on
the m udbrick
steps to tie casing
and core together.
the g ranite sarcophagus filled its west end and a (Below) A black granite statue
Second I Werets burial
niche in the south wall w as for the canopic chest. In o f Senwosret III from Deir
enclosure j el-Bahri.
the north wall a blocked opening is a corridor that
com municated directly with the entrance passage.
Above the vaulted granite roof of the burial cham
ber A rnold found a second stress relieving gabled
roof of five pairs of limestone beam s, each w eigh
ing 30 tons. Above this w as a third, m udbrick vault.
All th at w as found in this p a rt of the pyram id
were pottery vases and pieces of a bronze dagger
East Temple with an ivory handle. There w as nothing b u t dust
in the sarcophagus. The lack of a canopic burial or
other objects, and the absence of a blocking sys
Inside the pyramid tem, prom pts the question w hether Senwosret III
Jacques de M organ, the first archaeologist to enter w as buried here. He built another tomb, perhaps
' he pyram id, tunnelled extensively into and under his real burial place, at A bydos (p. 178).
: before, in November 1895, he hit upon an ancient
'bbers tunnel th a t led him to the kings cham bers, The pyramid complex
.he real entrance lay outside the pyram ids base at As w ith so m any other pyram id layouts, Senwosret
he north end of west side. From here a passage III expanded his in at least two phases. In the first,
>pes under the pyram id, then tu rn s south to an his outer enclosure w as nearly square and con
ntechamber. A small m agazine opens to the east tained the inner enclosure wall, the pyram id with a
nd the burial cham ber lies to the west, an arrange- small temple at the centre of its east side and an
.ent sim ilar to th at of late Old Kingdom pyram ids. entrance chapel at the centre of its north side and
: he burial cham ber w as built in granite b u t the shaft tom bs of royal women. In the second phase,
tils were completely whitewashed w ith gypsum ; the enclosure w as extended both north and south.
Ill
zines and entrance chamber. The walls were de
Mudbrick Pyramids rated with panels containing the royal name :
m m m
B H iB titles. These, like the interior decorations, were t
cuted in very high relief. Based on com paris
with Old Kingdom chapels, fragm ents of scene-
deities moving tow ards the king m ust come fn
an antecham ber in which lower registers shov.
The king as double-plumed rows of officials and the slaughter of cattle,
griffin trampling his enemies inner offering cham ber seem s to have had the s*.
- order defeats chaos - on the dard repertoire: the king enthroned before an of: - t
pectoral o f Merit, from her ing table, with rows of offering bearers, the offer:: .
tomb under the north side o f
list, cattle slaughter and gifts.
Senwosret Ills pyramid
enclosure. The south temple w as also completely destroy -
probably in Ramessid times, though Arnold coi:
T he southern extension enclosed a new temple. A read its outline in the preserved foundations. T
causeway was also added in this phase. fragm ents suggest two sections: a forecourt, v.
No valley temple is known so far. The eastern p ap y ru s bundle columns, and rear sanctuar:
m ortuary temple is small in com parison to previ F ragm ents of lotus colum ns were also found. T
ous exam ples but it was so thoroughly destroyed reliefs depicted the king in the typical cloak w
that it is hardly possible even to reconstruct its for the Sed festival. Deities, such as the ram-head-
plan. A rnold sees its size as evidence of the decline gods Khnum and Herishef, played a prominent r
of the traditional m ortuary cult, reduced to the Arnold believes the south temple may be a p re r :
offering hall with granite false door, storage m aga sor of New Kingdom m ortuary temples at Thebt -
We should include Senwosret Ills Abydos tomb in the ingenious devices, to reach the final chambers
Senwosret Ill's our survey because its layout has many similarities the end of a curving passage. On tearing down nr.
Abydos Tomb with a pyramid complex. That Senwosret should
build another tomb, which some see as his cenotaph,
of the cladding here which could have hidden the
royal burial they found nothing. But when they
at Abydos is consistent with a vising interest in the removed the quartzite facing of a previous cham!>
In addition to a long and cult of Osiris in the Middle Kingdom. It was about they found their royal quar.ry. Behind the cladding -
curving substructure, this time that the tomb of the .lst-dynasty king, Dier, the west wall lay the granite sarcophagus, fitted in .
Senwosret Ills Abydos at Abydos (p. 75), was remodelled as a tomb of Osiris. niche, while the canopic chest was built into the
complex included a small Senwosret Ills complex is immense. Stretched out opposite corner of the chamber. The lid had been
terrace on the cliff, a large over 900 m (2,953 ft), it consists of two main parts: an forced up and broken and the sarcophagus emptie.
T-shaped enclosure, a long extensive subterranean tomb that opens within a T- A long road connected the great enclosure with
desert road and a temple shaped enclosure at the foot of the cliffs; and a temple near the cultivation, which consisted of a
- all aligned on a
mortuary temple a t the edge of the desert. limestone chapel flanked on either side by magazi:
northeast-southwest axis.
The tomb opens via a long dromos in the north and houses. The central building was fronted by a
side of the court at the back of the enclosure. The heavy mudbrick pylon and forecourt with fluted
builders used a variety of defences - dummy columns. As in many pyramid temples, an altar or
chambers, entrances hidden high in chamber walls, offering table stood in the northwest part of the o
passages filled with blocks and shafts - against An elaborate system of channels facilitated the
robbers. But endlessly persistent thieves got past all draining of purification water or other fluids. Relit
fragments show that the decoration was similar t<
Old Kingdom offering halls, but a new element is t
frequent reference to Osiris. Two large seated
quartzite statues of the king graced the front of th
chapel inscribed for Senwosret III, beloved of Osi:
Khenti-Amentiu, Lord of Abydos and beloved of
Wepwawet, Lord of the Necropolis. Smaller ealen
statues stood in the back hall.
There is evidence of 200 years of cult service t<
memory of Senwosret III in this temple. The hears
the layout is the tomb, with one of the most compl
defence systems of any royal sepulchre. Yet it was
made to look like a cenotaph. Perhaps Senwosret a:
his planners thought that the best defence of all w:
to bury the royal mummy in the false tomb, the
cenotaph in the tradition of Abydos, as opposed t<
the pyramid, which for generations had tradition:;
been the kings real tomb.
178
On the north of his pyram id w as a subterranean Amenemhet Ills Dahshur
pyramid contained more
gallery of graves for royal women, more complex
chambers and passages than
than the four superstru ctu res m ight suggest. A any other pyramid since the
principal shaft gave access to a long vaulted corri 3rd dynasty.
dor connecting four sets of cham bers, each for a
sarcophagus and canopic chest, plus one or two
Offering hall -
niches. A nother gallery on a lower level com m uni
cated with 8 niches containing sarcophagi, two of
which were inscribed - for princesses M ent and
- N ___
Senet-senebti. In a pit in the central corridor of the
100 m
lower gallery de M organ found a chest, once inlaid
300 ft Houses
with the nam e Sit-1 lathor, containing 333 pieces of
her treasure. A gold pectoral spelled the nam e of
Senwosret II and a scarab w as inscribed w ith that
of Senwosret III. T he next day he found another The pyramid, Amenemhet is
treasure, belonging to Princess Merit, which con Beautiful, had a base length
o f 105 m (344 ft), an angle Open
tained m any of the sam e elements as Sit-H athors courts
but w as even m ore extensive. It included a pectoral o f 57 15' 50", and an
estimated height o f /
of Senwosret III and another of A m enem het III.
75 m (246ft). /
On the south side of the kings pyram id were
more tom bs of royal women. In 1994 the shaft of Entrance Queens burial
chamber
'm astaba' 9 w as discovered. A tunnel leads to an Aat's burial
antechamber, burial cham ber and canopic cham ber chamber
Kings burial
actually under the southw est corner of the kings chamber
pyramid. A granite sarcophagus fills the w est end
of the burial chamber, the floor of which w as lit
tered with pottery, wood, a few alabaster fragm ents
and scattered bones. T he nam e Weret, wife of Sen South to m b s 1
180
The substructure and most, if not all, of the ried out here, though it may previously have been a m .>4, - v
superstructure of the pyram id, were finished by m asons workshop. The nam e of Am enem het IV Mudbrick Pyramids
Amenemhet Ills Year 15, though a considerable w as found in the valley temple and it may have
p art of the queens layouts had yet to be encased in been during his reign that the pyram id w as
limestone. It m ust have been about this time that reopened to place sarcophagi in two chambers.
the builders were alarm ed by obvious stru ctu ral A rnold w onders if these could have been for
stresses. T he w eight of the pyram id w as pushing Amenem het IV and the last regent of the 12th
down the ceilings and walls so that they sank in dynasty, Queen Sobekneferu. Two more burials
some places up to 3 cm (2 in) below the pavements. bring the total to six royal family m em bers laid to
When the settling of the pyram id caused door rest in the pyramid.
frames to buckle and pushed walls ap art, fractu r T he guardianship of the pyram id w as lax by the
ing them with long fissures, the workers quickly beginning of the 13th dynasty. Local inhabitants
cased unfinished narrow room s w ith m udbrick and began to build granaries in the valley temple and
roofed them with m udbrick vaults. They brought in the first breach of the pyram id happened about
cedar beam s to roof and b uttress broader cham this time. There is evidence of restoration work
bers. W hile such m easures prevented collapse, con perhaps 100 years later, when King Auibre Hor and
tinuing to build in costly stone w as out of the his princess N ubhetcptikhered were buried in two
question. Like Sneferu, whose Bent Pyram id is due of the 10 shaft tom bs in the north side of the outer
west, Am enem het III began another pyram id. enclosure. Were they descendants of the kings
W hat went wrong? A m enem het Ills planners household, ruling, according to the Turin Canon, 12
founded the pyram id too close to the valley floor kings after the end of the 12th dynasty?
where the clay-like bedrock w as further weakened
by ground water. There were also too m any rooms
and corridors beneath the pyramid; and the The Pyramid o f Amenemhet III
builders placed too g reat a tru st in their ceiling at Hawara
constructions which provided no real stress-reliev
ing device above the kings chamber. Buried in the floor of the valley temple of Amen
em het Ills D ahshur pyramid, the Germ an excava
The pyramid complex tors found an architects model of a pyram id
In spite of the fact th at it would not be the royal su b stru ctu re (p. 227). W hile some details differ,
grave, A m enem het Ills D ahshur pyram id had a
emple, causew ay and valley temple. His is the first 1 0______ 100 m
For his pyramid at Hawara,
I2th-dynasty valley temple to be located and p a r 0 300 ft
possibly called 'Amenemhet
tially cleared. It consisted sim ply of two broad Blind passage Lives Amenemhet III chose
pen courts built on ascending terraces. T he front the Djoser-style complex,
.nd side walls of the first were thickened to form a Burial chamber with a long rectangular
north-south enclosure. The
pylon-like gateway. A sh o rt section of causew ay
Entrance pyramids base length was
'.ed to the entrance and then continued from the 105 m (344 ft). It rose about
N
back of the second court to the pyram id enclosure. i: i 58 m (190 ft) at an angle o f
:
The m ortuary temple w as alm ost completely 48 45'.
Site of
destroyed so that it is only an informed guess th a t it Labyrinth
.-as reduced to a front court w ith papyrus-bundle
columns and an offering hall. T he existence of an
entrance chapel in the centre of the north side of
'he pyram id is not certain. A ttached to the north
'id e of the causew ay is a rectangular block of
-(>oms identified as p riests houses.
Entrance
Aat may have been buried in Amenem het Ills
Year 20, after w hich the pyram id w as closed. T he
wo entrance stairw ays, the kings cham ber and
antecham bers, the queens burial cham bers, and
'he entrance corridors to the three ka chapels were
tilled to the ceiling with limestone blocks. O ther
ham bers and corridors were filled w ith mudbrick.
This may have been a precautionary m easure
gainst collapse, although corridors and cham bers
:ti the H aw ara pyram id were similarly filled.
F ragm ents of A ats false door and offering slab
: >und in the buildings on the north of the causew ay Burial chamber
.int th a t the cults of the queens may have been car Blind passage
181
Despite the fad that it now there are sim ilarities w ith A m enem het Ills second tinues as a short passage hidden in the ceiling. It
lacks its limestone mantle, the pyram id a t Hawara. In his Year 15, Amenemhet III w as intended to be blocked by a m assive slab of
mudbrick core o f Amenemhet returned to the site of his g ran d fath ers pyram id at quartzite, weighing 20 tons, that could be slid side
Ill's pyramid at Hawara is
the entrance to the Fayum , choosing a long spit of w ays from a niche in the wall.
still impressive. However, its
vast temple, the legendary low desert. In design and location, this pyramid The ceiling passage leads to a second chamber,
Labyrinth o f Roman tourists, w as a complete departure from th at at Dahshur. from which two passages depart. The first runs
has been quarried down to a Richard Lepsius explored the H aw ara pyramid directly north. Petrie thought it w as another blind
layer o f stone chippings. in 1843. He m apped walls that he thought belonged p assage and he had difficulty exploring it because
to the large m ortuary tem ple south of the pyram id, it w as filled w ith m ud and water. T he m ud is proba
which he correctly identified as the site of the bly disintegrated m udbrick th a t filled the passage.
legendary Labyrinth. Petrie also explored the py ra It is possible th a t the so-called blind passage might
mid, reaching the burial cham ber only after two in fact lead to a south tomb, like that in the D ahshur
seasons and g reat difficulty. pyram id. The second passage, once closed by a
We are not certain of the nam e of Amenemhet wooden door, m akes a right-angled tu rn and runs
Ills H aw ara pyram id. Rock inscriptions in the directly east. At a point just under the southeast
Wadi H am m am at speak of statu es quarried for a diagonal of the pyram id is a third chamber. After
building nam ed Am enem het-ankh, W ho A lw ays another right-angled tu rn the passage continues,
and Forever Lives in the House of the Fayumi, hidden again in the ceiling and intended to be
Amenemhet III ruled for
46 years, and, like his 4th- Sobek, possibly a name for the whole pyram id closed by another large quartzite slab. T he third
dynasty predecessor, Sneferu, precinct; Sobek w as the crocodile deity of the such arrangem ent is under the northeast corner,
built two large pyramids, Fayum. T he pyram id core w as constructed entirely the only one actually closed by its quartzite block
albeit with mudbrick rather of m udbrick w ith an outer m antle of limestone. ing slab. From here a short passage leads to an
than stone cores. Like Sneferu, A m enem het III built his second p y ra antecham ber. A channel in the centre of its south
mid at a lower angle than his first, and probably for wall opens into the trench containing the burial
the sam e reason - a s a precaution ag ain st the threat chamber, slightly w est of the pyram ids centre.
of collapse. T he anxiety of his builders is reflected The burial cham ber is a technical marvel and
even more strongly in the plan of the substructure. completely innovatory. It is beautifully carved from
a single piece of hard sandstone or quartzite, in the
Inside the pyramid form of a rectangular tu b , m easuring 7 x 2.5 x 1.83
T he ground at H aw ara was little better than that m high (23 x 8 x 6 ft), set into an open trench. This
under the D ahshur pyram id, b u t the builders incor w as a considerable accom plishm ent since Petrie
porated changes to protect the kings burial cham estim ated it weighed 110 tons. Before roofing the
ber from robbers an d from the w eight of the cham ber, the kings quart/Ate sarcophagus, it>
pyram id. There are far fewer tunnels and cham bers plinth decorated w ith niches, a second sm aller sar
and the main burial cham ber w as built near the cophagus and two canopic chests were placed in it.
base level of the pyram id. A lthough w orking under difficult conditions - the
The entrance, w est of centre on the south side, is cham ber w as subm erged in ground w ater - Petrie
a stairw ay corridor sloping down to a level deeper reported finding bits of bone inside the coffins.
than the burial chamber. A t the bottom of the stair In the antecham ber Petrie found an alabaster
way is a sm all cham ber from which a sh o rt passage offering table elaborately carved with depictions of
leads to a dead end. Amenem het Ills builders then food w ith hieroglyphic labels, and duck-shapec
elaborated a device used in the A bydos tomb of bowls. These objects bore the nam e of a princess
Senwosret III: the route to the burial cham ber con Neferu-ptah. From Djoser to Am enem het III, tht-
182
male ruler, at the centre of a pyram id cemetery, was
surrounded by royal women and it is the womens Roof block Mudbrick Pyramids
tom bs th a t have given us some of the richest dis
coveries as well as the greatest puzzles of the p y ra Mudbrick vault
mids - Neferu-ptah presents one of these. W ith a
reduction in the num ber of cham bers under the
pyram id it may have been a logical development
th at A m enem het Ills favourite w as buried with
him in his burial cham ber - two queens tom bs
were incorporated within the su b stru ctu re of his
D ahshur pyram id. However, in 1956 another tomb
for Neferu-ptah w as found, southeast of Hawara,
Pented
with a red granite sarcophagus inscribed with blocks
Neferu-ptahs name, along w ith other objects. In the
waterlogged sarcophagus, were traces of two
wooden coffins and fragm ents of linen bandages. Burial chamber Burial chamber Sarcophagi
T he m ystery of Neferu-ptah is heightened by the
fact th at the pyram id burial cham ber could be It is all the more frustrating, therefore, that the The burial vault of
closed only once. Its roof w as composed of three temple is alm ost completely lost to us. Q uarried Amenemhet HI (above) was
large quartzite slabs, one of w hich w as propped up since Roman times, very little is left except a foun protected by triangular lintels,
gabled beams and a mudbrick
on sm aller blocks to leave a space to introduce the dation bed of sand and limestone chips, which only
vault. The last great quartzite
kings (and queens?) m um m y and coffins. In order hints a t its vastness. This w as not a labyrinth in the ceiling slab was lowered to
to close the burial vault, the H awara builders sense of nested passages an d blind corridors. Its close the vault (above, left)
installed the first known san d lowering device. complexity instead arose from the replication of by an ingenious device. Sand
Small pillars supportin g the raised ceiling block small courts and shrines, in an arrangem ent that which had supported props
rested in tu rn on sand filling shafts to either side of Strabo called a palace com posed of as m any sm all holding up the block was
released via side tunnels,
the vault. W hen the sand w as removed by side gal er palaces as were formerly nom es.
allowing the huge piece of
leries (that Petrie took for robbers tunnels), the All the Classical authors write of multiple courts stone slowly to descend to
props descended and the ceiling slab with them, to but disagree on the number. Herodotus spoke of 12 its resting place.
d ose the vault. Not only would this quartzite vault main courts, and said the visitor w as conducted
not buckle as easily as the m asonry cham bers of from courtyards into rooms, rooms into galleries,
the pyram id at D ahshur, b u t the builders also galleries into more rooms, thence into more court
ensured th at the w eight of the pyram id would not yards. He m entioned lower rooms or crypts devot
press directly on it. T he ceiling slabs extended ed to the sacred crocodile Sobek, noted also by
beyond the sides of the vault to rest on a ledge cut Pliny the Elder. Close to the south side of the p y ra
in the sides of the bedrock trench. On top of the mid Petrie found rem ains of two g reat granite
cuartzite roof the builders set a row of triangular shrines, w eighing 8 to 13 tons, each containing two
:mestone blocks. These were then covered w ith a figures of the king. These may have stood near
second roof of high gabled limestone beam s set in their findspot a t the back centre of the temple. Did
pairs leaning against each other. Above this they they occupy a central place like the five statues in
built a third vaulted roof of mudbrick. the Old Kingdom pyram id temples? Also close to
the pyram id Petrie found the rem ains of a colossal
Pyramid complex as Labyrinth granite statue of the king.
The layouts of A m enem het Ills two pyram ids are Other fragm ents m ust have belonged to statues
so different that we m ight w onder if there were ide that stood in the chapels and courts, including ones
ological as well as practical reasons for having two. of the crocodile god, Sobek, as well as other deities
M easuring 385 x 158 m (1,263 x 518 ft.) the H awara like H athor and an unusual palm goddess, statues
enclosure, orientated n o rth -so u th , w as the largest of the king and offering bearers. Stadelm ann sees
if the Middle Kingdom pyram id enclosures. As these statues, probably assigned to their respective
with Djoser, the pyram id w as in the north while the booths and courtyards, as the translation into
entrance w as at the far south end of the east side three dim ensions of flat painted relief scenes that
where, as in Senwosret Ills layout, an open cause graced the walls of prior pyram id complexes. But
way approached from the east. Between the the rows of chapels recall m ost strongly the Heb
entrance and the pyram id lay the m ortuary tem ple Sed court of Djoser, which w as more abbreviated
which here is som ething of a misnomer. T h is w as than the L abyrinths fabled colonnaded courtyards.
apparently such an extraordinary architectural cre It seem s fitting th a t Amenemhet III, who built the
ation th a t it w as seen by visitors in Classical times last m ajor royal pyram id com plex in Egypt, bor
as a unique m onum ent in a class of its own. They rowed and elaborated the architectural expression
called it the Labyrinth, com paring it w ith the of the palace composed of sm aller palaces from
legendary L abyrinth of M inos at Knossos in Crete. Djoser, the builder of the first g reat royal pyram id.
183
Late Middle Kingdom
Pyramids
Am enem het III is succeeded in the king lists by his
son A m enem het IV. There is no know n funerary
complex for this last king of the 12th dynasty,
although one of the unfinished pyram ids of the
late Middle Kingdom may have been intended for
him. A nother possibility is th a t he w as buried in
Amenemhet Ills D ahshur pyram id, along with his Burial
chamber
successor, Queen Sobekneferu who ruled for a few
years in her own right. From the late 12th dynasty
to the end of the 13th, while some 50 rulers are Portcullises
mentioned in texts over a period of about 143 years,
only six to eight pyram ids are known, not all of side. An offering hall with a vaulted roof was
which were completed. Sites range from extreme attached to the southw est corner of the court.
South Saqqara in the north to M azghuna, south of T he chapel indicates that a cult began, even
D ahshur. Once again, the lakes a t the edge of the though the pyram id superstructure w as never fin
desert, particularly Lake Dahshur, m ay have had ished. W hen excavated, the core consisted of one or
m uch to do w ith the choice of these locations. two courses of brick, laid on edge on the desert
gravel. No outer casing stones were found although
a foundation trench indicated the intended pyramid
The Pyramid o f Central Dahshur baseline. The entrance opens in the centre of the
south side to a stairw ay with shallow steps and
A poorly known pyram id south of Am enem het IIs side ram ps sloping to a short horizontal passage.
may belong to this period. Fragm ents of limestone A t this point is the first of two great portcullis
reliefs and the track of a causew ay leading east blocks. The lower p a rt of the passage is blocked by
w ards suggest some degree of completion. A frag a granite slab, so that when the plug w as slid inti
m ent bearing the royal name Am enem het could be place from its recess, it blocked the continuation of
derived from A m enem het IIs complex, or possibly the passage at the higher level. From this higher
belong to A m enem het IV. T he site w as badly dam opening another stairw ay ram p descends to the
aged by digging for a petroleum pipeline in 1975. second portcullis. T h is is sim ilar to the first excep-
that the plug w as left open. From here the route t<
the burial cham ber w as a series of corridor's
The Mazghuna Pyramids arran g ed in three tu rn s around the burial chamber.
The southern Mazghuna A service cham ber at the head of the burial cham
pyramid had a wavy-waU
A m enem het TV and Sobekneferu have been su g ber had a floor trench for introducing the b u n a
enclosure and a fairly
complicated substructure. gested as the ow ners of two unfinished pyram ids down into the coffer. In this antecham ber were
at M azghuna. However, the nam es of neither of found an alabaster vessel in the form of a trussed
Portcullises Burial chamber these regents have been found a t the sites. duck and three limestone lamps. A single block o:
The southern M azghuna pyram id, about 4.8 km red quartzite fills the cham ber and is, in fact, an
(3 miles) south of Sneferus Bent Pyram id, was s u r inner burial cham ber like Amenem het Ills mono
rounded by a wavy-wall of the kind th a t we begin lithic vault at Hawara. Receptacles for the coffin
to see at earlier M iddle Kingdom monuments. A and the canopic chest were carved in the interior.
broad entrance an d vestibule were built into the far Robbers m ade their way inside and left only a sm al >
east end of the south side of the enclosure. Around alabaster kohl pot and a piece of glazed steatite.
the vestibule the ground w as covered w ith a thick T he arrangem ent for closing the lid is another
layer of limestone chips, suggesting th a t it w as a feature borrow ed from the H aw ara pyram id. Tw<
work yard such as were found at the upper ends of large pieces of the lid rested on the rim of the vault,
the causew ays of Senwosret I and Amenemhet III with a gap between. Slabs supported the m issing
Chapel ZB--------------
at Dahshur. A m udbrick chapel occupies the centre lid piece and rested on sand-filled shafts. W hen the
25 m of the east side of enclosure consisting of a large sand was removed through side tunnels, the props
N
0 30 ft central chamber, or court, and m agazines to either carried the middle p a rt of the lid down.
(Left) The pyramid o f Plug block
Entrance
southern Mazghuna had a
base length o f 52.5 m
(172 ft). Though it has a
complicated substructure, the Burial chamber
Sarcophagus
superstructure was never lid
finished.
50 ft
A pyram id at north M azghuna w as planned on a sarcophagus, the workers covered it with plaster (Above) The northern
larger scale than the southern one. The su p erstru c which they also coloured red. On the painted su r Mazghuna pyramid was
never finished, nor did it ever
ture w as never begun, and the system of closing faces they som etim es added series of vertical black
receive a burial - the lid o f
the substructure which resembles that of Ameny- strokes bounded by fine horizontal lines. the sarcophagus was parked
Qemau but is more elaborate - w as not used. The Outside the pyramid, m udbrick walls formed a in its chamber and the
pyram id therefore may date well after the end of causeway approaching from the east. T his m ust blocking slab that would have
the 12th dynasty. Its position as the next pyram id have been the route for bringing in the massive been slid across to lock it in
south after Ameny-Qemaus may not be significant, plug blocks and burial vault, as well as other build position ivas in its recess.
since kings would shift back and forth between ing materials. One block was found on t he cause
m ajor pyram id sites. way where the builders may have left it when work
The passage to the burial cham ber here doubles w as abruptly halted on this pyram id.
back on itself in a U-shape before arriving at the
cham ber - a pattern also found in a Late Middle Burial chamber
186
antecham ber from w hich tw o burial cham bers The superstructure o f
branch north and south. Both of these contained southern South Saqqara
pyramid was barely begun,
quartzite coffers. The lids were found propped on
but it was planned to have
blocks, the coffers never closed. T his small pyram id a base length o f 78.75 m
is generally considered as the burial place of a (258ft) and had a well-built
queen rather than as a satellite, or ka, pyram id of and elaborate substructure.
the king. However, while the last of the ka p y ra
mids, which were alw ays on the south or southeast
of the m ain pyram id, w as found in Senwosret Is
complex at Lisht, it too had two cham bers lined
with masonry, on the north and on the south.
50 m
150 ft
The Southern South Saqqara
Pyramid
187
thin, pointed pyram ids. Simple plastering or w
w ash replaced stone casing on these mudb:
pyram ids, which have all but disappeared. T
were apparently capped by pyram idions, as s i .
New Kingdom Pyramids by th at of Sekhem re-W epmaat Intef V. It is
aged, b u t the four sides are inscribed with t h e :
and titles of the king.
A sm all cult chapel, probably w ith a vaulted
ing, w as built in front of and sometimes agains:
small pyram ids. T he pyram id of the tom'
N ubkheperre Intef VI, which M ariette excavate
1860, m ust have been on the higher ledge of r<
above the terrace on which the chapel st<*
although M ariette did not report finding rem ai:>
a pyram id. He did find tw o small obelisks inscr
with the royal nam e and titles, and sim ilar
m ay have flanked the fronts of all the chapels,
tom b robbery papyri also suggest that a stela
placed at the back of the chapel. A pit or stair- .
which led to the rock-cut burial cham ber w as .-
in the floor of the chapel or in an open front o
T h is w as the sum of our know ledge until '
when the first system atic archaeological inves'
tion of the Dra A bu el-Naga cem etery was bt c :
by Daniel Polz for the Germ an Archaeological I: -
tute in Cairo, later in collaboration with the Un.r r
sity of California at Los Angeles. T he royal to r
have not yet been located with certainty, but i
has found three or four rock-cut tom bs th a t are
ly candidates. One of these, in addition to two .. .
forecourts, has a m ud m ass th at could be
rem ains of a pyram id. A passage leads to a : i
Now covered in spoil heaps, On the eve of the golden age of the New Kingdom, with four pillars where a vertical shaft drops '
the Lh-a Abu el-Naga plain as they struggled to reunite Egypt, pharaohs of the (33 ft). From the bottom a passage, already clear
was once crowned by a line of 17th dynasty would build the last royal pyram id in the 1920s, leads to an anthropoid recess sun- -
thin, pointed royal pyramids.
tom bs in Egypt. the floor which once contained the wooden coffi:
It is interesting to com pare these results with
Pyramid tombs of the 17th dynasty descriptions of local villagers who found the t<:
Opposite K arnak, already the temple of Am un in
the late Second Interm ediate Period, lies the Dra
Abu el-Naga cemetery. Here a landing, personified
later as Khefet-hir-nebes, Opposite her Lord, was
the sta rt of the road to the royal tombs. Ln later
times it led to the wadi road to the Valley of the
Kings. T he 17th-dynasty pyram id tom bs stretched
from here to M entuhoteps causew ay to the south.
Until recently, our sources of inform ation about
this series of six or seven royal tom bs were very
limited. They are listed, along with those of the
11th dynasty, in the A bbott and Leopold-Amherst
Papyri, reports of a commission appointed during
the reign of Ram esses IX in the 20th dynasty to
investigate allegations of tomb robbing (p. 165).
Excavations, carried out under the authority, but
unfortunately often in the absence of Mariette,
were mostly unpublished. There was also some
illicit digging by villagers from nearby Qurnah.
The pyram ids at Dra Abu el-Naga were probably
not much more than 20 cubits (10.5 m/34 ft) at the
base. They m ust have appeared as a row of very
188
of Intef VI in 1827, 33 years before M ariette. They
m ight have seen the interior as it w as left by the The rishi coffin o f Intef VI,
20th-dynasty commission, in the course of being from Dra Abu el-Naga. It was
made o f wood and originally
tunnelled into by thieves b u t not yet robbed. The
gilded. The name rishi comes
villagers are said to have found the mum my of the from the Arabic for feather.
king in his coffin inside a sarcophagus cut from the
natural rock, free-standing b u t attached at the b o t In the 13th dynasty the inner coffin was a black
varnished rectangular wooden box with painted
tom. W ith the kings body were two bows, six flint-
decoration and a lightly vaulted lid with vertical
tipped arrow s, a diadem on the kings head and a
ends. By the time of Intef V coffins were bulky
gold-mounted scarab over his heart. wooden cases in the form of a wrapped mummy
Polz is also revealing the context of these last with a massive foot and the nemes headdress. The
royal pyram id tombs. In the plain at the northern type is called rishi, the Arabic for feather, because
p art of D ra A bu el-Naga the expedition is clearing of the painted, and later inlaid, decoration
a cemetery of household tom bs w ith g reat social depicting the wings of a bird folded round the
diversification. He estim ates that some 17,000 peo body. The human-headed bird transformed the
ple were buried in this cemetery of T heban house coffin into the image of the ba, or soul.
holds, dom inated by the pyram id tom bs of the Tutankhamuns magnificent golden coffins are the
kings along the hillside. most refined examples we know.
In 1913 H.E. Winlock found a sm all pyram id, Four of the more primitive rishi coffins of the
m easuring only 8 m (26 ft 3 in) square, w ith a slope 17th dynasty were found buried in the debris of
the lower Dra Abu el-Naga plain. These are
of 66, in the area called Birabi at the north foot of
reburials, perhaps by the same priests who
M entuhoteps causeway, which he thought m ight
transferred many of the later royal mummies from
have belonged to the tom b of Kamose, the elder
their tombs in the Valley of the Kings to hiding
brother of Ahmose I. places for safekeeping, re-discovered in 1881. A
17th-dynasty rishi coffin found in the Deir el-Bahri
cache contained the body of Seqenenre Tao II,
father of Kamose and Ahmose. The massive
proportions of these coffins convey the same mix
of power and provincialism as was evident in the
art of the earlier Theban revival of the 11th
dynasty. Kamose and Intef VII had particularly
crude coffins which were probably hurriedly
borrowed from a non-royal - other royal coffins
were covered with gold leaf.
The coffins correspond to Winlocks assessment
that the kings who were buried in this cemetery
were a far remove from the mighty and
extravagantly wealthy Pharaohs of great periods.
0 ~ 15 ft
Royal tombs in the New Kingdom
(Above) Could this be the W henever the Egyptian kingdom expanded to the
pyramid o f Kamose? This is full extent of traditional territory - from the Delta
what Winlock suggested when to Elephantine - the royal tom b removed itself far
he found this small pyramid, ther from the local cemetery. We have seen this at
only 8 m (26 f t 3 in) square,
Umm el-Qaab in Abydos, where the lst-d y n asty
with a slope o f 66 near the
south end o f Dra Abu el- royal tom bs move away from the crowded predy
Naga. nastic cemetery. T he giant pyram ids of the early
Old Kingdom achieve exclusivity by sheer size as
well as location and by the axial layout of the tem
ples and causeways.
W hen the New Kingdom w as inaugurated by
Ahmose Is defeat of the Hyksos, the royal tomb
once again became removed. A nd now the artificial
pyram id as the central icon of p haraohs tomb w as
finally abandoned. M onarchs buried them selves in
(Ijift) The pyramidion o f the com munal royal cemetery of the Valley of the
Sekhemre- Wepmaat Intef V
Kings. T h e peak called el-Qurn, w hose p atron god
was found at Dra Abu el-
Naga, It is inscribed with dess w as Meretseger, Lover of Silence, served as a
the kings name and has a natural pyram id over the next 500 years for the
slope o f 60. kings of the 18th to the 20th dynasties.
189
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Ahmose at Abydos
190
(Above) A casemate mudbrick
massif (21 x 23 m or 69 x
75 ft), housed a stela from
Ahmose I, honouring his
grandmother, Tetisheri. He
called the structure a pyramid.
(Left) A subterranean
winding way o f Osiris was
pro vided for the western end
o f Ahmose I s complex, in
hurriedly hewn passages and
chambers.
_er cenotaph are at present upon the soil of the Theban the queen grandm other on this alignm ent fits the Ahmose Is grandmother,
.nd Thinnite Nomes, it is true, but I have told this to you idea th at it is the queen m other who ensures tran s Tetisheri, is shown receiving
.cause my Majesty' has desired to build for her a m ission of the royal ka from one king to the next. offerings on the top o f a stela
yramid and chapel in the Sacred Land (Abydos) near in her mudbrick shrine. She
T he final element in A h m o ses g reat layout w as
le monument of my Majesty. was bearer o f the vital ka
a set of terraces built ag ain st the high cliffs to the force o f Ahmoses royal
T he king stipulates that the pyram id is to be southw est of the cenotaph. Caches of votive ceram lineage or clan.
ndovved with a lake, land, livestock, plantations, ic vessels, model stone vases and boats w ith oars
riests and personnel. The pyram id m ust refer to were buried near the south end. T he ascent up the
le m udbrick shrine where the stela w as erected at terraces w as from the south by a series of steps up
:ie rear of the chapel, rath er than the pyram id through odd trapezoidal rooms. On a higher level a
earer the cultivation. long corridor ran further south. A t the end w as a
Further into the desert A hm ose had a cenotaph small cham ber with a limestone dais, possibly the
ut into the bedrock. Its curving subterranean route base for a statu e of the king looking from the
s again sim ilar to the A bydos tomb of Senwosret southw est, down the long line connecting his ter
A. but it is much more hurriedly and less skilfully races, cenotaph, the shrine of his grandm other, his
xecu ted. T he entrance is a p it no larger than an pyram id and his town and temple.
rdinary persons tom b and an initial horizontal
\
ssage is so low th a t those who enter m ust crawl
<m hands and knees. Rooms on either side of the
ssage are crudely shaped and left unfinished.
.'he corridor then begins to w ind and turn, ending N
a hall with nine pillars on either side m aking a
:al of 18. From here the w ay rapidly descends to
nd in a simple grotto.
So quickly an d poorly w as this cut, it seem s to
;ve been a only a token w inding O sirian under-
rid. It lies across the great axial line through
mple, pyram id and g randm others shrine. We can The arrangement o f pyramid
- this as deliberately aligned to the Niles orienta- J and temple at the valley end
'ii along the A bydos bay, or, if A hm oses and Sen- 1N
] o f Ahmose Ts Abydos
complex reflected Old and
sre t Ills surveyors paid attention to the true
Middle. Kingdom pyramid
ardinal directions, these long axes were laid out -L---
i n c z complexes. An inner temple
rnewhat northeast-southw est, a significant ori- o 30 m may He buried between the
ration throughout pyram id history. A shrine to o 100 ft pyramid and temple.
191
pyram ids were built of m udbrick above the c:
and were hollow in order to relieve the w eigh-
the roof. A niche in the east side of the p y r
contained a statue of the deceased, some-
Private Pyramids kneeling and holding a sm all stela. M any lime
capstones of such pyram ids have been f<
inscribed with figures of the tom b owner pra -
the sun god and seated before a table of offering
Return to Saqqara
After the pyram id w as given up as the marker and At Saqqara, the 18th-dynasty tom bs of high
sym bol of the royal tomb it disappeared from phite officials took the form of small temples v.
funerary architecture for about two centuries. pyram id of m udbrick sometimes built at the
Tow ards the end of the 18th dynasty, necropolis end on the stone roofing slabs of the chapel. I: :
workers and high officials began to build small 19th dynasty tom bs included stone pyram ids
pyram ids above their so-called private tombs. on the ground im mediately west of the chape!.
A lthough there w as no concept of private as In 1982, south of U nass causeway, Geoffrey '
opposed to royal in the m odern sense, the pyram id tin discovered the pyram id of Princess Tia, a ~ -
w as sim ply no longer the exclusive prerogative of of Ram esses II, and her husband of the sam e n;
the king. A rchaeologists have also found rem ains of F u rth er east, Sayed Tewfik excavated more
small New Kingdom pyram ids at sites ranging Ram essid tom bs w ith pyram ids. The tomb < t
from Nubia to Memphis. T heir size w as further two T ia s consists of a paved forecourt w ith a s:
reduced in proportion to the chapel than the 17th- portico, a m assive pylon gateway, a colonr.:
dynasty royal tombs. court w ith a deep shaft in the centre descend in _ t
the burial cham bers, an antecham ber with
W orkers pyramids at Deir el-Medineh columns, and an offering hall. A small p y ra-.'. >
T he artists and craftsm en employed on the great m ade of solid rubble encased w ith limestone,
royal tom bs in the Valley of the Kings had their set slightly askew to the w est side of the chape
own cemetery above the w orkers village of Deir el- pyram idion w as brought to Britain in 1722; d:
A series o f small pyramids Medineh, on the opposite side of the cliffs shielding ings m ade before it w as lost around 1792 pre.-v :
once perched on the hillsides the royal necropolis. On the terraced slope above the scenes on its faces.
above the royal workmens their tom bs perched small pyram ids. T he tom bs
town o f Deir el-Medineh. Lower Nubian pyramids
consisted of a court enclosed by a stone or brick
Below is a possible
reconstruction o f such a tomb wall with an entrance from the east. In the dark D uring the 18th to 20th dynasties sm all pyr;
and opposite is one that has shade of the colonnaded w estern side of the court tom bs were built at A niba and Soleb in L
been reconstructed at the site. w as a chapel w ith a barrel-vaulted ceiling and Nubia. They were provincial imitations, w ith m<
painted wall scenes. It was presided over by the fications, of those a t Thebes. T he pyram id? -
image of the tom b ow ner etched on a stela set in a attached directly to chapels w ith vaulted roofs
recess in the back wall. Deep in the bedrock lay the were entered from sm all courtyards surrounded
burial chamber, its walls painted w ith scenes of the high walls. From the centre of the court a s
gods and the deceased in the Afterlife. The small descended to the burial chamber. Rather than
element vastly exceeding the other in size, the c
bination of court and chapel were proportion;^-
the little pyram id. Here is perhaps the m ost ah
viated form in its long history of the essential
m ents of a pyram id complex: the pyram id as t:
central symbol of both grave m ound and resurr
tion, the chapel as a place to com mune with
dead and leave offerings, and the entrance
grave cham ber set w ithin a hallowed space.
Saite pyramids
A nother kind of pyram id tomb, w ith an inter t
dome or cupola, w as built a t T hebes and Abyd< -
the Saite Period (26th dynasty, c. 600 bc). For s
tim e after M ariette found such tom bs a t Abyd< -
1858, it w as believed they dated to the M iddle K
dom. T he discovery of sim ilar tom bs at Thebes b
the A ustrian Archaeological Institute ascerta- -
their later date. T he domed interiors of the si
192
m udbrick pyram ids are sim ilar in stru ctu re to A reconstructed pyramid
ancient E gyptian granaries and ovens, with a cor belonging to one o f the tombs
belled vault. Domed tombs are known as early as in the workers' cemetery at
Deir el-Medineh, Thebes.
the Old Kingdom - in recent years Zahi Hawass has
excavated a whole series of domed tom bs in the
cemeteries south of the Sphinx, but with exteriors
(Below) Section and plan of
dome- or beehive-shaped, rath er than pyramidal.
a pyramidal tomb at Abydos.
The A bydos pyram ids were built on a rectangu The corbelled vault resembles
lar base or plinth. A ttached to one side w as a small ancient Egyptian granaries
rectangular chamber, entered a t ground level by an and ovens.
arched doorway, and containing a stela of the
deceased. A shaft in the floor led to a lower cham
ber w ith a sm all side passage to the burial cham ber
under the pyram id. A false floor separated the b u r
ial cham ber from the cupola which w as corbelled
up in the body of the pyram id, resembling, in sec
tion, the corbelled cham bers of Sneferu in his Mei
dum and D ahshur pyram ids, although here the
cupola is much larger in proportion to the pyram id.
193
The 800-year hiatus
T he emergent New Kingdom E gyptian state mac-
N ubia a province of Egypt, ruled by the K ings So:
of K ush. The southern limit of E gyptian contn
Pyramids o f Late Antiquity m ay have been Gebel (m ountain o f) Barkal, where
a Temple of Amun w as built. W hen the New King
dom declined into rival principalities, Egyptian
control of Nubia w as lost, probably already by
1070 bc. Historical and archaeological records are
relatively silent about Nubia and Sudan for the fol
It is rath er daunting to reach this point in a cata lowing two centuries. Then a new Kushite kingdom
logue of E gyptian pyram ids - already covering emerged suddenly and w ith force on the stage of
1,000 years and over 90 royal pyram ids, including U pper Egypt.
subsidiary and satellite pyram ids only to realize As early as 770 BC a powerful ruler nam ed Kash-
that twice as many, about 180, were built in Nubia ta hailing from N apata, a t the foot of the Gebe'.
over the course of another 1,000 years. The Nubian Barkal, took control of Lower Nubia and Upper
sequence begins more than 800 years after the last E gypt as far as T hebes where he had his sister
royal pyram id w as built in Egypt. Reviving the tra installed as Divine A doratice of A m un, a position
dition of the royal pyram ids w as only one way in th a t h a d become as politically significant as High
which Nubia w as an upstream reservoir of ancient Priest. T he T hebans hailed K ashta as King of
E gyptian culture well into late antiquity. U pper and Lower Egypt. It w as K ashtas successor
The first kingdom of Kush, as the land was Piye (formerly read Piankhi) who countered princi
known to the E gyptians, grew from a trading post palities in m iddle and northern Egypt. Piye led ;
established on E g y p ts periphery as early as the cam paign th at he described in stelae set up in the
Middle Kingdom. Its centre, the town of Kerma, temples at K arnak, M emphis and Gebel Barkal.
lies ju st below the 3rd cataract. It w as ruled by Only the last survives. It is a rem arkable document,
kings whom the E gyptians of the 12th dynasty p a rt history and p a rt literary recitation that casts
apparently regarded a threat, judging by the series Piye in the traditional role of Pharaoh, the restorer
Nubia - a reservoir o f royal of fortresses built in Lower Nubia. In the final of order against the forces of chaos. There were
pyramids long after they had phase of the cem etery at Kerma, huge round tumuli now four rulers calling themselves K ings of
ceased to be built in Egypt were built over g reat underground circles subdivid E g y p t. And there w as Tefnakhte, self-proclaimed
itself. Above the 3rd cataract
ed by walls. T he unm um m ified body of the king Lord of the West. All are listed in the g reat stc-Ia
the principle pyramid
cemeteries are at el-Kurru, w as placed on a gilded bed, surrounded by trea subm itting to Piye in person except Tefnakhte, w h
Gebel Barkal, Nuri and sures and the bodies of servants, nobles and wives sent tribute and a token letter of surrender. Prior t<
Meroe. w ho w ent to their death as p a rt of the royal funeral. the ceremony of subm ission, Piye set off tc
Heliopolis to w orship the sun god and celebrate his
coronation. T he rites included an intim ate moment
w ith the sacred ben-ben.
Mounting the stairs to the great window to view Re in
the Pyramidion House. The king stood by himself alone.
Breaking the seals of the bolts, opening the doors; view
ing his father Re in the holy Pyramidion House; adorning
the Morning Bark of Re and the Evening Bark of Atum.'
Piye returned to N apata as the founder of a cen-
tury-long Nubian dynasty the 25th of kings of
U pper and Lower Egypt. It seem s fitting that Piye
m ade his pilgrim age to the prim al archetype of the
E gyptian pyram id, the ben-ben, for he w as the first
king in 800 years to be buried in a pyramid.
194
Kashta
Burial
chamber
Stairway
Reminiscent o f early Egypt,
the royal Napatan tombs Tanutamun
developed from gravel tumuli
and mastabas within Shabako
rectangular enclosures to
monuments similar to the
privatepyramids o f the
New Kingdom,
Kashta
Burial
chamber
Stairway
Tanutamun
'He tom bs of Piye and his successors of the 25th T he chapel, which had been built over the stairw ay (Above) The royal cemetery at
dynasty, Shabako, Shabatko and Tanutam un. P y ra after the funeral, w as completely destroyed. el-Kurru contained the tombs
mids once stood above these tombs, but they had T he pyram id of Piyes successor, Shabako, w as o f Kashta, Piyes father, five
earlier generations and Piyes
been entirely removed. sim ilar in layout b u t the burial cham ber w as entire
successors - Shabako,
It is commonly assum ed th a t Piye w as inspired ly subterranean, with a vaulted ceiling cut in the Shabatko and Tanutamun,
by seeing the royal pyram ids in Egypt, b u t his natural rock. T he burial cham ber w as entered by a The cemetery also contained
pyram id tom b bears a closer resemblance to the short tunnel from the bottom of the entrance stair 14 queenspyramids.
.on-royal, private, New Kingdom pyram id tombs. way which began far enough east of the m ortuary
Although the superstru ctu re had been entirely chapel to allow the pyram id to be entered after the
removed when Reisner cleared it, the foundation chapel w as built.
Tench indicates a pyram id w ith a base length of There were also 14 queens pyram ids at el-Kurru,
bout 8 m (26 ft) and a slope of probably about 68. 6 to 7 m (20 to 23 ft) square, com pared to the 8 to 11
\ stairw ay of 19 steps opened to the east and led to m (26 to 36 ft) of the kings pyram ids. N ortheast of
he burial cham ber cut into the bedrock as an open the royal cemetery, Reisner found the graves of 24
:'ench and covered w ith a corbelled m asonry roof. horses and two dogs. Four of the horses belonged
1iyes body had been placed on a bed which rested to Piye, four to Tanutam un; each group may have
:i the middle of the cham ber on a stone bench with form ed a chariot team. Ten horses belonged each to
> four corners cut aw ay to receive the legs of the Shabako and Shabatko. T he anim als had been sac
ed, so that the bed platform lay directly on the rificed, decapitated - the skulls were m issing - and
ei'ich. W hile this w as a native N ubian arrange- buried standing. The bodies were draped with
lent, Piye w as probably em balmed in E gyptian beaded nets hung with cowrie shells and heavy
: y)e, since fragm ents of canopic jars were found, bronze beads. They also had silver collars and gild
>ng with rem ains of shabti servant figures, a nor ed silver plume holders. Are these horses com para
mal com plement of contem porary E gyptian tombs. ble to the boat burials of earlier pyram ids?
195
The Pyramids o f Nuri
300 ft
196
(Above) In our reconstructed
ancient Egyptian bakery,
bread and yeast expert Ed
Wood bakes the kind o f bread
that may have once sustained
flour and ferment. We also discovered a cache of tion squares, these were made of alluvia! mud, the pyramid builders, based
large bell-shaped bedja pots used for baking bread. m udbrick and stone rubble, and had originally on evidence from our
Old Kingdom tomb reliefs show these pots being been paved with clean desert clay. excavations (left). We used the
stacked and heated over an open fire, perhaps to We initially speculated th a t these enigm atic characteristic bedja pots,
tem per their interiors with oil and grease to pre shelves and troughs might have been used for lay some o f the commonest and
crudest pieces of Egyptian
vent sticking. Along the east wall of both bakery ing out bread to be counted by scribes, an activity pottery and yet among the
rooms were egg-carton-shaped baking pits, lying illustrated at the bottom of the relief scene from the most interesting. They are
beneath a cake of ash. Pots placed in these pits tomb of Ti. However, a fine ashy deposit th at con shaped like large bells, with a
would have been fdled with dough, covered with tained fibrous organic m aterial covered the floor. bevelled rim and conical
more upside-down pots and finally surrounded by We had to drip a liquid consolidant on larger pieces interior. The walls are very
hot em bers to bake the dough. to prevent them blowing away in the wind. By thick and full o f chaff temper
which burns out leaving a
Bread and beer were the principal rations of scraping back delicately we retrieved gills, fins and high porosity.
ancient Egypt, sustaining any labour project. But other p arts of catfish and schal (Synodontis). These bread moulds comprise
did this pot-baked b read feed a workforce, or could W ilma W etterstrom, our palaeobotanist, examined 40-50 per cent of Old
it have been specially m ade for temple offerings or soil from the troughs under a microscope and found Kingdom ceramic finds.
ceremonies? It is in fact much easier to make bread it full of tiny broken fish bone. Catfish breed soon
by sim ply slapping dough ag ain st a hot surface, after the inundation that tu rn s the Nile Valley into a
like the Bedouin and other nom ads do. T he ancient lake and spaw ning ground.
E g yptians had only em m er w heat and barley; they T his p a rt of our huge, orthogonally laid-out
had little or none of our far more glutenous building w as used, it seems, for processing fish.
tnticum aestivum or bread w heat. T his m eant th at Fish decomposes quickly, especially w ithout refrig
despite leavening, loaves were very heavy indeed. eration. How w as it stored? T he system atic layout
W orking with National G eographic and bread and suggests large and organized - probably seasonal -
yeast expert E d Wood, we built a replica of this harvests. T he fish must have been dried, and per
bakery and made bread w ith em m er and barley haps smoked and salted. The troughs and benches,
flour and locally cultured wild yeast. The resulting as well as being working platform s, m ay have
loaves were m assively heavy units of starch and served as a ventilation system as the fish were laid Delicate remains o f a fish
calories. Each would have sufficed to feed one p er out on reed frames. We had, literally, found loaves gill or fin, found in our
son for days. Pot baking may have been the Old and fishes - sources of starch, calories and protein excavations in the area of
K ingdom answ er to the need to m ass-produce th at could have fed a workforce. T he entire installa the bakeries.
bread to feed large num bers of people. tion probably dates to the reign of M enkaure - the
A ttached to the bakeries w as a huge m udbrick end of pyram id building at Giza. Since his pyram id
building. A patch of its interior a t the southeast complex w as unfinished when M enkaure died,
corner had been exposed and we uncovered a cache a pyram id workforce w as being fed at the
of pottery dishes, including sm all bowls th at were time our bakeries were in operation. So far we
probably jar covers and cylindrical ceramic pieces have only excavated the upper layers of the
used as bases to stand conical-bottomed vessels site. The deepest, and oldest, layers, exposed
upright. There was also a series of low shelves in the backhoe trench, reveal large burning
(about ankle height) w ith partition walls only c. 20 pits, perhaps the rem ains of cam p fires of a more
cm (8 in) high. Extending well beyond our excava loosely organized labour force.
237
Pyramids o f Late Antiquity
(Above) A computer-
generated diagram o f King
Aspeltas tomb o f the 6th
century b c . By this time
pyramid substructures at
Nuri had been increased
by two or three chambers.
Pyloned chapels were
decorated with relief carving.
faces were decorated w ith reliefs, and a stela built and 6th cataracts, rose to prominence, and kings
into the pyram id m asonry showed the king before began to build pyram ids there. W ith the exception
rhe gods. T he substructures, like the su p erstru c of three or four generations of pyram ids near
The pyramids at Meroe were
tures, were standard. Stairway trenches to the east Gebel Barkal, Meroe remained the royal cemetery
formed from stepped courses
of the chapels gave access to cham bers, which for 600 years, until AD 350. It had been the site of o f good masonry blocks
T aharqas successors increased to two or three the royal residence before it became the location of quarried from the local red
rooms, som etim es inscribing the walls with the the royal cemetery. The transfer from N apata may sandstone.
Negative Confession from the Book of the Dead.
T he N apatan royals were mummified in E g y p t
ian fashion and accompanied in their tom bs by
multiple shabtis - T aharqas alone contained 1,070.
The royal mummies were adorned with gold jew
ellery, crooks and flails for the kings, green stone
heart scarabs, gold chest pectorals and gold caps
on fingers and toes. T he bodies were laid in small
wooden anthropoid coffins covered with gold leaf
and inlaid w ith coloured stone. O uter coffins m ight
be even more elaborate, covered with gold and
stone inlays with the motif of falcon and vulture
wings. T he bodies of kings Anlami and A spelta
568 BC) were placed in huge granite sarcophagi.
A speltas, w eighing 15.5 tons, and its lid, w eighing
4 tons, were carved with Pyram id Texts, chapters
from the Book of the Dead, and E gyptian deities.
the whole cultural and political development s ta r
ed from Meroe. T he cem etery record show s Men
to have been a place of consequence as early as th-
reign of Piye. Lesser royalty and officials wen
buried there as early as the 7th century BC.
T he heartland of Meroitic territory, the moder:
Butana, w as known to Classical authors as th-.
Island of Meroe. A lthough bounded on three sidt -
by rivers - the Nile, the A tbara and the Blue Nile
m ost traffic from N apata took the road along th-
Wadi A bu Dom that cuts across the great bend
the Nile from the 4th to 6th cataracts. T his h e a r
land w as repeatedly a refuge for N apatan an
Meroitic kings when they retreated from worl
100 ft pow ers who penetrated the Nile corridor. Meroe la
ju st beyond the reach of the Roman Em pire, '
which it w as tied economically by trade.
T he settlem ent of Meroe is about half a mile ea>-
of the river and its cemeteries lie in the desert fur
ther east. T he first m ajor king to build his tomb ;
Meroe w as A rkam aniqo (the E rgam enes
Diodorus), who ruled when Ptolemy II. (285-247 iv_
w as king of Egypt. A rkam aniqo built his pyrami
in the South Cemetery, in use since the time of Piv
A nother king and a queen built pyram id tom bs :
the South Cemetery before the crowding caused b;
more than 200 individual graves prom pted k in g s :
move across a narrow valley to a curving ridge
begin the N orth Cemetery. There is a third clusn
of pyram ids at Meroe in the West Cemetery. The>
brick-faced and rubble pyram ids of lesser roy;
have been as early as 590 BC: in 591 BC Psam tik II, family m em bers are surrounded by a galaxy
the E gyptian pharaoh, had cam paigned into Nubia. graves, m any richly furnished, of the im portar
He seem s to have defeated King A speltas troops households of Meroe.
and may have m arched on N apata. But the reason T h e N orth Cemetery is the source of the famoi: -
for, and date of, the transfer are still unresolved. Ferlini Treasure, discovered in 1830 by the Italia
Peter Shinnie, w ho excavated at Meroe, pointed explorer, Giuseppe Ferlini (in pyram id Beg. \
The pyramid field o f Meroe
was huge and croivded. It was out that it is not certain th at the royal residence w as belonging to a queen, A m anishakhto, of the late Is:
in fact divided into the West in fact ever at N apata, since the settlem ent there century BC). It consists of gold rings, necklaces an
Cemetery (plan above), the has not been found. It is known, on the other hand, other ornam ents that he reported he had takt
South Cemetery and the th at Meroe w as settled as early as the 8th century from a secret cham ber at the top of one of th-
North Cemetery. The RC, so it may be th a t it pre-dated N apata, and that pyram ids. T his apparently prom pted subsequei
drawing above is based on
F.W. Hinkel's reconstruction treasure seekers to lop off the tops of m any other-.
of the northern group. But the valuables could only have come from
pyram id substructure, entered, as Reisner asce-
tained, by the standard eastern stairw ay descent
ing to a blocked doorw ay in front of three adjoining
cham bers. Two of the cham bers had square pillar-
carved from the natural rock, while the third, inne-
most, cham ber w as smaller. Ceilings were slight',
vaulted in earlier cham bers, and round vaulted
later ones which were m uch more roughly hewn.
A t Meroe, the body w as buried in the inner m o-'
cham ber in a wooden anthropoid coffin placed on
raised m asonry bier, som etim es carved w ith divir.
The pyramids at Meroe were figures. Relief scenes in the chapels located again s
decorated with reliefs, often
the east sides of the pyram ids included depiction-
showing the ruler seated on a
throne in the shape o f a lion, of mummies. This, and the rem ains of canopi
as here, from the pyramid of equipm ent, suggest th a t the royal body w as st:
Arqamani (Beg. N.7). mummified. A lthough all the royal tom bs at Men
198
had been plundered, Reisners excavations found
evidence that bodies had been adorned with gold Pyramids o f Late Antiquity
and silver jewellery. A rchaeologists retrieved bows,
quivers of arrow s, archers thum b rings, horse
trappings, wood boxes and furniture, bronze
lamps, bronze and silver vessels, glass bottles and
pottery. T he cham ber nearest the entrance con
tained wine am phorae and food storage jars.
A ccom panying kings and w ealthy people to their
graves were com panions an d servants who were
apparently sacrificed at the time of the funeral.
Animals, including yoked horses, oxen, cam els and
dogs, were also slaughtered and interred outside
the entrances of the burial cham bers.
T he steep-sided pyram ids of Meroe were built of
sandstone, 10 to 30 m (33 to 98 ft) high. As at Nuri,
the pyram ids were stepped and built on a plinth,
b ut now each triangular face w as fram ed by
(Left) Plan and restored
sm ooth bands of raised m asonry along the edges
profile of the pyramid at
where the faces met. T he pyram ids at Gebel Barkal Meroe (Beg. N.6) where the
also have this feature. W here the upper p arts of the so-called Ferlini Treasure
pyram ids are preserved, these lines are rounded, was found.
like the torus m ouldings on the corners of E g y p t
ian temples, for the upper fourth of the total p y ra
mid height. It is the very duration of a standard form th at is
Tow ards the end of the Meroitic period, degener m ost im pressive about the N ubian pyram ids. T his
ation apparent in the su b stru ctu re also ap p ears in standardization is more consistent and persistent
the pyram ids, w hich retu rn to a sm ooth face. Cas than that of the late Old Kingdom pyram ids, su g
ing blocks become much sm aller and they are laid gesting a conservatism of royal Nubian culture (Above) An armlet from
on a poorly constructed core. The latest pyram ids over a sweep of history equivalent to the sp an from the pyramid of Queen
Amanishakhto.
were built of rubble and brick and had a plastered Djoser to Ahmose I. The pyram id cam e to Nubia
surface. Meroes decline, beginning in the 1st centu already evolved in its relative proportions, with
ry AD, may have been due to changes in trade p a t substructure and chapel crystallized in the E g y p t
terns an d in its distant relationship with the Roman ian New Kingdom.
economy. The reason m ost commonly cited is that Meroitic civilization w as the last bearer of trad i
Meroe w as overrun by its traditional tribal ene tions and sym bols dating back to m ost ancient
mies. Aided by the camel, the Blemmyes disrupted Egypt. W hen the kingdom disintegrated around ad Two o f the pyramids
old trade routes. Cattle-herding tribes, the Nubai 350, the pyram id as the m arker of a royal tomb of Meroe as restored by
and the Noba, from the savanna to the south and finally became extinct. F.W. Hinkel
southw est of the Nile, may also have been major
threats. A nother power w as grow ing just beyond
the southern reach of Meroe - the civilization of
Axum in the Ethiopian highlands.
199
ow were the pyramids built? This is the question
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204
.
20 5
Limestone quarrying by channelling
Between the m ain K hufu quarry and the Sphinx
lies a triangular area of rock honeycombed with
tombs. Some are cut into and under rectangles >
Quarries bedrock the size of sm all houses, separated by cor
ridors wide enough for an entire tour group to wall
through today. These rectangles are quarry block.-
left by 4th-dynasty quarrym en; the tom bs were a r
much later. The reason we can still w ander throug:
these silent stone corridors, once filled with th-
Each pyram id ideally had a q u arry close at hand chink of stone ham m ers and the chanting of won
th at supplied the bulk of the stone for the pyram id ers, is th at the rock w as not exploited as deeph
core. The location of the q u arry and the nature of in the m ain quarry. A nd that is also w hy this art
the local stone m u st have been prim e considera offers valuable evidence of ancient quarrying.
tions for the pyram id builders. At Giza, the Khufu T he vast q u arry blocks would have been subc
q uarry is now a huge, horseshoe-shaped bite m iss vidcd by narrow er channels - just wide enough
ing from the plateau, some 300 m (985 ft) south of one w orkm an, who would cut his w ay through w;-
the G reat Pyram id. Its floor at its deepest is an a pick. In a few places, alm ost detached from '
extraordinary 30 m (98 ft) below the original s u r parent rock, blocks rem ain about the size of th -
face. T he calculated am ount of stone removed - form ing the core walls of Khafres temples. Ti
c. 2,760,000 cu. m (97.5 million cu. ft) - com pares and the Sphinx ditch were probably the quarries : -
neatly with the total 2,650,000 cu. m (93.5 million those temples, which m ust have been the last -
cu. ft) in K hufus pyram id. m ent of Khafres pyram id complex to be built.
Too neatly in fact. There should be more m issing Wrhy s ta rt by carving such extraordinarily w:
than this: m odern m asons and quarrym en estimate and deep channels, if the blocks they separate-
that between 30 and 50 per cent of stone was w ast only going to be subdivided further? The ansv.
ed in the extraction of the stone. However, the qu ar lies in the absence of iron tools in ancient Egypt.
ry extends an unknow n distance to the south, m odern quarries, channels are cut all around s
beyond the line of M enkaures causew ay - traces of block and then sm all slots are cut along its bott
it were cleared here by Abdel Aziz Saleh for Cairo bed and iron wedges ham m ered in until the bl
U niversity in 1980. And much stone was taken cracks from below. Writh only tools of stone, w
from the Central Wadi, which served as a conduit or copper a t their disposal, the ancient quarryn -
for other m aterials such as T urah limestone and had to use large wooden levers to detach bloc-
granite. We can be certain th at most core stone w as and needed considerably more room to manoeuv:
Granite blocks were cut not quarried locally. More specifically, this was proba In M enkaures quarry, ju st southeast of his p y
with copper or bronze, but bly the q u arry which furnished the bulk of the core mid, g reat lever sockets are still visible. They
were separated from the stone for K hufus pyram id. Cut into the towering low one of the softer, thinner bands of the r
bedrock by channels pounded west face of the q u arry is a series of 4th-dynasty layers at Giza, facilitating the separation of bloc -.
out with hammer stones.
Here the beginnings o f such tombs, three of them for children of Khafre - evi of the thicker, harder stone above. Some have ? .
channels can be seen in a dence th at this q u arry had fallen into disuse by or gested th at these slots were not for levers but
block o f granite at Aswan. during K hafres reign. wooden wedges, the stone cracking as the soal
wood expanded. However, there is some doubt th;
this would work and the m ost likely reconstruct: -
is th a t once a block had been freed except for
base, rows of men would p ry it up using levers.
206
required to match the daily rate of the NOVA quar- 5.5 m (18 ft) long, as were many columns. It seems The larger the final block,
rymen, 322 cu. m (11,371 cu. ft) per day could still inconceivable that large enough boulders existed; the wider the channel for
have been quarried by 1,212 men (1 cu. m (35 cu. ft) more likely they were separated by channelling. separating from the bedrock
had to be. Monoliths for
being about the average size of a pyram id core In the case of granite, however, the channels
Khafres temples were
block). T h at figure can be expanded further to com were worked with hand-held pounders of dolerite channelled out of a quarry
pensate for other advantages of iron tools. (p. 211), a hard stone like black granite. T his tech southwest o f the Sphinx.
nique is well attested for the New Kingdom and
Other types of stone many hundreds of pounders have been found in the
The fine limestone for the outer pyram id casing quarries at Aswan. There are also num erous chan
was quarried at T urah and transported across the nels pounded out by hand and unfinished blocks
Nile Valley. T he quarries now form galleries cut where a single m an has worked away the surface.
deep within the limestone escarpm ent. To follow W hen 1 tried my hand at this it took five hours of
the beds of highest quality stone, the ancient pounding to produce a patch m easuring c. 30 x 30
quarrym en tunnelled in and under the overburden cm (12 x 12 in), worked down by c. 2 cm {% in). To
of poorer material. Beginning with a lead shelf be sent to the g ran ite w as surely to be condemned
cut along w hat would become the gallery ceiling, to the grim m est of the pyram id builders tasks.
they then extracted the stone in terraces or banks.
Merely to cover K hufus pyram id, about 67,390 cu.
m (2,379,842 cu. ft) of T urah limestone w as needed.
Some 934 km (580 miles) to the south a t Asw an
were quarries which yielded the granite blocks that
lined Khufus burial cham ber and plugged his p y ra
mid passage, encased K hafres pyram id temples
and M enkaures pyram id, and were used for
columns of 5th- and 6th-dynasty pyram ids, as well
as for false doors, offering tables and pyramidions.
As much as 45,000 cu. m (1.5 million cu. ft) of g ra n
ite w as quarried in the A sw an quarries in the Old
Kingdom. Yet some claim th at granite w orking had
yet to be developed and that only natural boulders
were used a t this period. These would sim ply have
been pried away along n atural fractures, shaped
NOVA quarrymen produced
and shipped north on great barges. However, the 186 blocks in 22 days by
granite pieces form ing roofing blocks of K hufus hand, but with the significant
burial cham ber and relieving cham bers were over advantage o f iron tools.
207
T he question of how the ancient E gyptians bu:
pyram ids of such extraordinary size and precision
has spaw ned many theories but less experimental
The NOVA Pyramid- archaeology. I team ed up with Roger Hopkins,
stonem ason from Sudbury, M assachusetts, and
(Centre) We tested a
suggested method o f raising
heavy blocks by levering The
framework o f industrially
planed timber was rather
unwieldy and wood was in
short supply in ancient Egypt.
Moving stones
We found that stones w eighing as much as 2.5 tons
could be moved by our NOVA workmen simply by
tumbling. Just 4 or 5 men were able to lever up and
flip over blocks of less than 1 ton. To shift heavier
blocks, a rope w as looped around the top and it w as
then pulled by up to 20 men, with a couple more on
levers behind. T his technique w as ideal for shifting
stones around the construction yard - but it is most
unlikely that sufficient stones could have been tum
bled up a ram p to build a whole pyram id within a
kings lifetime. Faster m ethods were needed.
Wooden sledges on rollers offered a much quick
er way of moving stones, even though, as we soon
discovered, sim ply loading a block on to a wooden
sledge is an operation requiring considerable skill.
Next, on soft sand we built an artificial trackw ay of
planed lumber, though ancient tracks were wider,
with a surface of hardened gypsum or packed clay.
Then we used rollers consisting of small, cylindri
cal pieces of wood. T he lynchpin of the entire oper
ation was the m an who received the rollers from the
back of the sledge and put them down in front, cre posed that it w as achieved by levering. M artin Isler Getting to the point: NOVA
ating a continually rolling roadway. W ith 12 to 20 proposed that there were tem porary stairw ays in masons begin to trim the
men pulling the load a t a swift pace, his was a very the middle of each pyramid face for levering up casing from the top
downwards. We had just three
skilled task. If he laid just one roller at an angle, stones. weeks and 44 workmen to
both sledge and load immediately followed it off When we put levering to the test, unforeseen dif build our pyramid consisting
the track. A huge num ber of rollers would have ficulties emerged. A set of levers is needed on two o f 186 stones and measuring
been needed to move the stones up on to the p y ra sides to lift a block: one side is raised and su p p o rt 6 m (20ft) high. It would have
mid. With neither abundant supplies of wood, nor ed, then the other side is levered up to bring it level. fitted neatly on to the top of
the mechanical lathe th is m ethod m ust have had As the stone is rocked upw ards it is supported on a the Great Pyramid, in whose
shadow we built it.
only restricted application. stack of wood. T his required two deep notches in
Artificial slideways, as found at Lisht (p. 203) each side of a block, which are not found on p y ra
proved a much more efficient method. In our exper mid core stones. Lever sockets are occasionally
iment we built two parallel retaining walls which found in casing stones, but they are clearly for side
were then filled with debris to create an inclined adjustm ent. More critically, the wooden supports
ramp. On top we built a roadbed with wooden were precarious and unwieldy, in spite of our using
crosspieces, following the approxim ate specifica planed lumber. Similar difficulties arose w ith the
tions of those at Lisht. We found that a 2-ton stone fulcrum , which had to rise w ith the load. It seemed
on a sledge could be pulled by 20 men or fewer. to us, therefore, th at some system involving a ram p
This success, in conjunction with evidence of tom b or ram ps w as the most likely m ethod used.
representations, rem ains of ancient em bankm ents M any pyram id theorists resort to levering to
and trackw ays at Lisht, convinced us th a t this w as explain how the capstone and the topm ost courses
the m ost likely m eans the E gyptians used to bring were set, since by that level there w as simply no
in the bulk of the core stones. longer room for ram ps (p. 222). However, to climb
the pyram ids of Khufu and Khafre and look down
Raising stones their steep slopes and narrow steps is to realize that
W hile it is widely agreed th at ram ps were used to great bulk of the pyram id could not have been
raise blocks (p. 215), several theorists have pro raised in this way.
209
Right angles, verticals and surfaces
T he levelling of the pyram ids, in all its finesse, w as
probably achieved w ith sim ple wooden in stru
Tools, Techniques m ents and plum b lines. T he set square enabled
right angles to be laid out or checked, while the
210
(Far left) A block o f
Turah-quality limestone in
front o f the North Pyramid
at Dahshur (left) still retains
thumb-width chisel marks left
from small copper chisels.
Hundreds or even thousands
o f these tools must have been
used to dress the acres of
casing on a giant 4th-dynasty
pyramid.
(Below) Mushroomshaped
hard stones with grooves over
the head have been found at
Giza. Possibly a kind of
proto-pulley, they may have
guided ropes for sharp turns
in the direction o f pull.
Smoothing the pyramid casing at Aswan. They were initially pear-shaped ham-
The m any acres of fine T u rah limestone which merstones, b u t through use they became increas
cover the pyram ids were dressed using chisels only ingly rounded as the m ason repeatedly turned
c. 8 mm C/a in) wide. W ider blades of soft copper them to exploit a new percussion edge when an old
sim ply will not w ork on stone. But it is also consis one wore away. Weighing c. 4 -7 kg (c. 9-15 lb), they
tent with w hat we know already of the Old K ing had to be held in two hands. Once fully rounded
dom: m assive projects were invariably undertaken they were no longer as useful as pounders, b ut a
in small increments repeated innum erable times. num ber have been found beneath very heavy sarco
Nick Fairplay, the English m aster carver w ork phagi at Giza, suggesting that they were recycled
ing w ith m y team, studied the evidence of ancient as pivots and rollers - prim itive ball-bearings.
chisel working. Not only is he able to identify the
striations left by the edge of an individual chisel, The mystery tool
but also precisely at w hat point the corners of the Exam ples of these have been found at Giza, ap p a r
chisel curled and forced the w orkm an to stop and ently dating to the Old Kingdom. They are m ush
"esharpen his tool. T h is had to be done far more room-shaped with one or two holes through the
often than by m odern m asons using steel tools. He stem and three parallel grooves cut into the head. It
estim ates th at a full-time tool sharpener w as has been suggested that they could have been b ear
required for every 100 chiselmen w orking on the ing stones or proto-pulleys, w ith the stem inserted
facing. into a pole or scaffold and the grooves acting as
guides for rope. There is no rim m ed wheel, as in a
Pounding true pulley, b u t the direction of pull could probably
Dolerite pounders were used in the laborious work have been changed by ru n n in g the ropes through
of channelling out blocks from the granite quarries the grooves.
211
Building the Base of
Khufu s Pyramid
Survey and Alignment
I I The foundation The extraordinarily accurate massif (2) were incorporated beyond the extrapolated lines I l l The
levelling o f Khufus pyramid into the platform as successive o f the platform (12).
platform was achieved on the surface of courses were built up. The setting line o f the course
the foundation platform, not A t the northeast corner o f foundation platform (9)
the bedrock. This platform the platform was a very large would have been erased as
( 10) was composed of slab (11). Its extraordinary large slabs were brought in. It
Turah-quality limestone slabs size may indicate that this would also have been covered
with occasional backing stones was the first corner to be by the extra stock o f stone on
o f local limestone (stippled). established. The socket the front face o f the slabs. A
The steps o f the bedrock actually extends 0.9 m (3 ft) line o f rectangular holes (8)
runs along the east and north
sides o f the pyramid. The
holes could have held posts to
which cord was pinned to
form an outside reference line. I V Den,
The lines o f the front face
(4, 9) and upper edge (13) the pyru
o f the platform would have base
been marked on each slab as
it tvas laid by measuring in
from the reference line. When
slabs were dragged in, part o f
the line could have been
removed and later restored.
No post-hole (14) marking
the corner o f the east and
north reference lines has been
found. I f the perpendicular to
the east reference line had
been established by an
intersecting arc, however, it
would not have been needed.
21 2
I Constructing a right-angle
The ancient surveyors could seem to be presen t in the several features of Khufus
have achieved a right-angle in design o f Old Kingdom pyramid.
three ways: mortuary temples, though the In laying out the pyramid
evidence is inconclusive. Here base it was necessary to fix
a) with a set square a unit o f 7 cubits (I royal the setting line for one side
One k g o f an A-shaped set- cubit = 0.525 n ix 7 = 3.675 o f the platform (4). The next
square is placed on the m o r e 12 ft) is used because step was to establish the
already established line and this is the average spacing corner (5). Exactly 10 cubits
the perpendicular is taken between the series o f holes (5.25 m /17 'A ft) due north
from the other leg. The square along the sides o f Khufus o f the northeast corner of
is flipped and the operation pyramid (see below). the. foundation platform is a
repeated. The. exact Tlus method establishes a round hole (6). An arc from
perpendicular takes into perpendicular line 14.7m (48 the corner point (5) touches
account the small angle o f ft) long (0.525 x 7 cubits x 4) another hole (7), due east o f
error between the two - longer than that obtained this and on the extension of
positions - exaggerated in the using a set-square. Note that the north line of the platform.
drawing With legs 2.5 m (8 the triangle could not have This one is rectangular like
ft) long, this set-square is been much larger without those o f the reference lines
larger than any known from hitting the bedrock massif However, the. perpendicular
ancient Egypt, Even so, the established by intersecting
c) by intersecting arcs
perpendicular it provides is arcs with centres at points
The intersections o f two arcs
short considering the line was 5 and 6 falls neither along
obtained by stretching and
extended more than 230 m the north platform line (9)
rotating cords o f the same
(754ft). nor along the line o f holes
radius from two points on the
on the north side (8). But the
b) with a 3-4-5 triangle same line also establishes a
ancient surveyors could have
The Sacred or Pythagorean perpendicular. Some have
measured from any
triangle - three units on one doubted that this method was
perpendicular to establish a
side, four on the other and used because the elasticity of
reference or setting line.
five on the hypotenuse -gives the cord would give inaccurate
a right-angle. Such triangles results, but it might explain
The pyramid base would have slabs were custom-cut. and set
been finally delineated only in an irregular mosaic.
when the pyramid was Today the pavement is
complete and the. extra stock completely missing at the
cut from the casing blocks. A northeast corner o f the
paved pyramid court, extended pyramid and the diagram is
20 cubits (10.5 m or 34 ft) therefore based on a patch
from the foundation platform preserved at the north side o f
nn all sides, bounded by an the pyramid, and along the
nclosure wall (19). north side o f Khufus
Slabs o f the same thickness mortuary temple.
as the foundation platform A t this stage the holes for
brought the pavement flush stakes along the reference
with the platform and lines, were no longer needed,
ompletely hid its front face so the masons closed them
(18), leaving the foot o f the with small stones (20) before
asing (16) as the visual covering them with the court
nseline o f the pyramid. The pavement,
2 0 c u b it s
( 1 0 .5 m )
...or by the sun? Levelling the pyramid base
Survey and Alignment Late, rather arcane texts th at deal with the found As with their orientation, the levelling of the p y ra
ing of tem ples mention the shadow and the stride m ids w as an extraordinarily precise feat. T he base
of R a, the sun-god, hinting at a method using the of K hufus pyram id is level to w ithin ju st 2.1 cm
sun. T his could have been based on the fact that the (c. 1 in). It has been argued th a t this w as achieved
sun rises and sets in equal but opposite angles to using water: Edw ards, for example, suggested that
tru e north. In this method, a pole, or gnomon, is set banks of Nile m ud were constructed to form an
up, using a plum b line to make it as vertical as pos enclosure which w as flooded with water. A grid of
sible, and its shadow is m easured about 3 hours trenches w as then cut, the bottom of each at a uni
before noon. T h at length becomes the radius of a form depth below the water. But the im practicality
circle. As the sun rises the shadow shrinks back of w orking with chisels and stone ham m ers in
from the line and then lengthens in the afternoon. w ater is clear. W hat m ight have been possible was
W hen it reaches the circle again it form s an angle to dig a network of channels, then flood this and
w ith the m ornings line. T he bisection of the angle m ark the level of the w aters surface on the sides.
is tru e north. Once the w ater w as drained off, the channels could
T he sun-and-shadow method may perhaps not be cut to a standard depth from those marks.
be as accurate as that based on stellar observations Such a theory m ight work for pyram ids like Mei
and is certainly less consistent through the year, dum and D ahshur which were built on desert su r
being more exact d uring the solstices. However, the faces and may have flatter bases. But in building
next operation the ancient surveyors had to per the pyram ids of Khufu and Khafre the ancient
form w as extending the line to the length of a p y ra m asons started on a sloping plateau c. 7-10 m
mid side w ithout any deviation. For the NOVA (23-33 ft) higher than the eventual base and in each
pyram id experim ent, Roger Hopkins used a gno case left a m assif of rock in the body of the pyra
(Above) The entrance to
the descending passage of mon 1.38 m (4/4 ft) high to produce a line 1.45 m mid. They only levelled (and then approxim ately) a
Khufus first queens pyramid, (4% ft) long. As his ancient predecessors m ight strip around this m assif and in the case of Khufu >
A notch is clearly visible in the have done, Roger repeated the operation, producing pyram id it w as the surface of the foundation plat
lintel which may mark the a series of north lines, checking the orientation of form th at w as precisely levelled, rather than the
axis of a satellite pyramid the pyram id line as he went. Perhaps it is more real bedrock. For Khafres pyram id the ancient buildei-
that was never built.
istic to envisage gnom ons erected along the base of cut down the northw est corner by 10 m (33 ft), bu:
the pyram id than a series of circular actually built up the opposite, southeast corner.
walls and artificial canals. Any levelling technique using w ater m ust take
into account the problem th a t w ater lifting and
tran sp o rt in the Old Kingdom w as probably limited
to p ots slung from shoulder poles. Even if all this
w ater had been carried up to the plateau, it would
more than likely have evaporated or drained away
before any m easurem ents could be completed. Such
practical hurdles m ake all theories using water
unworkable.
214
Given the fact that the stones of a giant pyram id
like K hufus had to be raised a s m uch as 146 m (479
ft) from the ground, if a ram p w as indeed used it
would have been a colossal stru ctu re in its own
right. According to some ideas about its shape, it
would in fact have required as m uch or m ore m ater
ial than the pyram id itself.
Petrie failed to identify the q uarry for K hufus
pyram id because it w as filled with millions of cubic
m etres of limestone chips, gypsum , sand and tafia
clay. T his debris, partially cleared by Selim H assan
in the 1920s and 1930s, probably includes the
rem ains of the construction ramp, pushed back
into the quarry as the w orkers completed the p y ra
mid. A t Lisht ram ps for the Middle Kingdom p y ra
m ids were made of m udbrick. But at Giza there is
no substantial deposit of Nile alluvial mud. W h at
ever its precise configuration, the ram p m ust have
been m ade of locally available m aterials. T his a rti
ficial combination of gypsum , tafia an d limestone
chips is present in tru ly vast quantities on the
plateau.
21 5
pyram id. T he entire ram p is like an envelope, built
up a t the sam e time as the pyram id and almost
completely cloaking it, w ith a roadw ay on top. 1
arrived at this configuration by studying the topog
raphy of K hufus pyram id - the ram p would star:
at the m outh of the q uarry and ru n for 320 m (1,05<
ft), the distance to the southw est corner of the p y ra
mid, gaining a total rise of 37 m (121 ft) a t a slope c :
about 6 36'. A ram p of very sim ilar dim ensions is
described in the P ap y ru s A nastasi of the late New
Kingdom, when one scribe tau n ts another over
w hether he could build a ram p of such-and-such
specifications. T he next section of road bed would
rise along the west side of the pyram id for a length
of 250 m (820 ft) (slightly longer than the base i
the pyramid) at the increased slope of 7 18'. It the:
would ru n along the north side, and so on for 1
tu rn s all the way up and around the pyram id. T h
angle of slope increases from 10-12, to 14, an*
finally for the last 40 m (131 ft), approaching th
very top, it is as steep as 18 39' - probably to
steep - and the builders may also have been ru n
ning out of room.
O ther theorists disagree with this suggestion
because it involves entirely cloaking the pyram i.
They believe that the builders depended on havir. _
a clear view of m asonry already completed in order
to control the rise and run of the pyram id face
However, as we shall see, the E gyptians wer-
already in effect cloaking the pyram id surface b;
leaving extra stock of stone on every casing stoi>
th at they set (p. 220). Sighting back to already la:
m asonry cannot have been a significant way
controlling the rising pyram id.
Stadelm ann has suggested a ram p to one cor tie
w hich then leant against one side, m uch like th
first p art of the preceding model, for the midd
p a rt of the pyram id. For the lower part, m any sm r
The form o f the ramps that
straight-on ram ps fed the pyram id. At 120 m (39
supplied materials to the
workforce as the pyramid rose ft), a series of small ram ps rested on the steppt
is a persistent puzzle and one faces that would be filled in after the pyram ids
that has given rise to a and corners had been delivered.
number o f different ideas for Finally we m ust include the internal ram p pr
configurations, from a zigzag posed by Dieter Arnold. T his would not need
ramp up one face o f the
sta rt so far away as the straight-on ram p becau>
pyramid to an interned ramp.
In fact most o f the other p art of the rise is actually in the m asonry of the
suggested variations can be pyram id itself. However, there is little evidence
broken down into one or a su p p o rt of such a configuration in the gigant
combination o f two main pyram ids, although there are construction gaps ::
types: a straight, sloping pyram ids of the 5th dynasty for building the inter
ramp up one face o f the
nal burial chambers.
pyramid; or one or several
ramps that begin near the T he NOVA pyram id building project (p. 208) ler
base and wrap around the me more sym pathetic to the idea of ram ps th:
pyramid. It is possible that a clung to the pyram id face. Casing stones left p r
combination o f the two was jecting further than the others - w hether an enti:
used, with a straight sloping course or individual stones staggered across th-
ramp up against one side and
face - could have served as a foundation for
rising to about a third o f the
pyramids height, which from em bankm ent and roadway. Evidence that may sir
this point wraps around the p o rt this configuration has very recently come
pyramid (third row, right). light: Zahi H aw asss excavations have revealed th
216
the additional stock left on the undressed casing
stones at the base of K hufus queens pyram ids
w as a m ajor protruding portion of the blocks.
Archaeological evidence
Knowing the position of K hufus q u arry helps us
make deductions about the configuration of the
ram p. It w as unlikely to have been a straight-on
ramp, running directly from quarry entrance to
near the top of the pyram id, since it would have
been im practicably steep to reach the higher
courses. To m aintain a workable slope it would
have begun to overshoot the q u arry by the time the
pyram id rose to two-thirds of its final height. It is
also unlikely th a t any ram p would have extended
over the areas to the east or west of K hufus p y ra
mid, since we know that he w as building cemeteries E ast of K hufus pyram id and south of the The Sinki pyramid at South
there early in his reign: hieroglyphic texts and g ra f queens pyram ids and the m astabas in the E astern Abydos, a small step pyramid
fiti reveal that the W estern Cemetery for high offi Field, archaeologists from Cairo University exca with its ramp still in situ
against one face.
cials w as underw ay by year 5 of K hufus reign, vated two parallel walls, formed, like so many other
while the E astern Cemetery of m astabas for his secondary walls a t Giza, of sm all broken stone set
nearest relatives and queens had begun by year 12. in tafia clay. One of the walls is thicker and made of
A few pyram id ram ps have been discovered in segm ents c. 10 cubits (5.25 m or 17 ft 3 in) long.
situ, so m ost discussion on the subject is hypotheti Because the excavators cleared the debris between
cal. Ram ps have been found at small, 3rd-dynasty them they now describe a corridor, b u t we suspect
pyram ids. For example, a surviving ram p m akes a that they were retaining w alls the debris fill being
perpendicular approach over the enclosure wall the body of a ram p or construction em bankm ent.
from quarries to the w est of Sekhem khets pyram id Similar stru ctu res have been found, for exam ple an
at Saqqara, abandoned very early in construction. em bankm ent which still leans ag ain st the incom
And at Sinki, South Abydos, G unter Dreyer and plete southern wall of the m astaba field to the west
Nabil Swelim discovered a frozen m om ent in the of Khufus pyram id. A nd George Reisner found
construction of a tiny pyram id with ram p s still in construction em bankm ents filling an unfinished
place, perpendicular to its sides over the lower room in M enkaures m ortuary temple.
steps. And, as we have seen, evidence of the M uch of pyram id construction, including ram ps
roadbeds that ran along the top of em bankm ents and em bankm ents, was sim ply the engineering of
On the basis of archaeological
and ram ps survives at the sites of later pyram ids, huge am ounts of limestone chip, tafia and gypsum .
evidence, Borehardt
such as that of Senwosret I a t Lisht. One advantage of this m aterial w as th at once stru c reconstructed a very thin and
A t Meidum there is w hat appears to be a hauling tures were no longer needed, it easily disintegrated high straight ramp at the
track or possibly the rem ains of a ram p approach into its constituent p arts when stru ck w ith a pick. pyramid o f Meidum.
ing from the southw est. T his trackw ay seem s to
lead directly over the satellite pyram id and, if pro
jected, reaches the higher courses of the p yram ids
w estern side. A nother so-called ram p approaches
from the east, though this is more likely an earlier
causew ay than a construction ram p (p. 99). How
ever, it does align w ith a recess in the face of the
fifth and sixth steps of the second step pyram id,
E2, which led B orehardt to reconstruct it as a very
thin and startlingly high straight-on or sloping
ram p up to the pyram id face at th at point.
At the N orth Pyram id of D ahshur rem ains of
two transport roads approach from southw esterly
quarries. Composed of com pact chips and marly
sand, they come in very close to the pyram id,
im plying that the core stone w as hauled right up to
its base - and so lending su p p o rt to the theory that
the ram p clung to the pyram id. Two other tracks
composed of white limestone chips approach from
the east, m arking the delivery, perhaps, of the
casing stones.
217
met at the top at the central point - so th a t they lit
erally did not m iss the point.
E gyptian m asons determ ined slopes with a m ea
surem ent called seqed, the am ount that a face
Rise and Run slopes back for a rise of one cubit. A set-back of
one cubit for a rise of one cubit results in a 45
slope. In this way slope can be achieved by m easur
ing units of rise and run. To create the slope of
K hufus pyram id, for example, the ancient mason.'
could have m easured up by 14 units and in by 11.
T he geom etry of a pyram id is deceptively simple: a The first pyram ids were built of inward-leaning
square base with its centre point raised to create accretions, w ith the blocks - including the casing
four triangular faces; or, alternatively, a series of stones - laid on a bed that inclined with the angle <
squares w ithin squares, each decreasing in size and the accretion. T he outer face of the casing block
raised slightly to create the slope, or rise and run, in therefore formed the slope of the pyram id. It war-
the face. W hen building a pyram id on a monum en onlv in the Bent Pyram id at D ahshur that Egyptia:
tal scale absolute precision is crucial. If the four m asons began to lay horizontal beds of m asonr
diagonal lines deviated, the builders would have to Casing blocks now had to be trapezoidal, with th
tw ist the top to m ake them m eet - as can just be slope of the pyram id face cut into their outer face.
detected at the top of Khafres pyram id. It: is a persistent idea that the builders m ain
A key question in pyram id construction is there tained the slope by sighting back to already laic
fore how the ancient E gyptian m asons controlled masonry. However, during building, the py ran r
the diagonals and axes of th e sq u are a s they built surface w as probably obscured by debris ar.
the pyram id upw ards. They had to ensure th at all ram ps. Also, throughout construction there \v;
rough extra stock of stone left protruding on th
casing stones on the lower p art of the pyrami
'This m akes us w onder if there w ere clean lines an
diagonals or a sm ooth face to sight back to befor-
the very last stage, when the builders sm oothed th-
casing from top to bottom as they dism antled th
construction ram ps and em bankm ents.
T he m ost com pelling evidence indicates th.
guidelines m arking the plane of the pyram id fa*
were cut into each casing block as it w as laid -
effect, the m asons created the face of the pyram
block by block as it rose, b u t hid the face behir
extra stock of stone. A lthough this is certain, it h; -
been said th a t this m ethod alone would have resu /
ed in deviations to the overall face - th a t any ern
would be cumulative. But errors would also ha'
been com pensating - a deviation in one block offs
by a different deviation in another. Also, checi- -
against deviation could have included referent
m arkers for axes and diagonals on the core, and
the ground some distance away.
218
(Left) The three queens
pyramids o f Menkaure reveal
details o f their construction.
Two o f them were perhaps
never completed.
short distance from, and aligned with, the south (Right) The southernmost of
east diagonal of K hafres pyram id. System atic Khufu''s queenspyramids
m apping of such m arks has hardly begun: the (GI-c), with the stepped inner
core and finer limestone
results may cast m uch light on ancient m ethods of casing still visible. Small holes
controlling rise and run. in the corners o f the core
masonry blocks align with the
The inner step pyramid pyramid diagonals. Three
As we have seen, Sneferu began his pyram id of tiers are visible, each made
Meidum as a seven-step pyram id and then enlarged o f rectangular blocks o f
masonry. Occasionally,
it to eight steps (p. 97). A t both stages, the steps vertical seams can be detected
were sheathed in white limestone with corners fine in these tiers, possibly
enough to serve as a reference for the casing of E3, reflecting the division o f the
the true pyram id, as some theorists believe they workforce into competing
did. But while we can be certain th at M eidum w as gangs. Softer and smaller
originally a step pyram id, the sam e is probably not packing stones lie between the
backing stones and the casing,
true of m ost large 4th-dynasty pyram ids, begin while the upper part o f the
ning w ith the Bent Pyram id of Sneferu. However, pyramid is a huge mass of
the core could have been built as a stepped nucleus, loose, irregularly shaped
slightly or completely ahead of the casing. Then limestone boulders.
ihere is the question of w hether inner step p y ra
mids were built, as at Meidum, of accretions. Some M enkaures subsidiary pyram ids were also built
theorists, following Borehardt, believe th at the so- with a stepped nucleus. T he first, GHI-a, w as begun
called girdle stones through which the A scending as a satellite pyram id lor the king and completed as
Passage of the G reat Pyram id w as carved repre a true pyram id. T he other two are som ething of a
sent the accretions of an inner step pyram id. But puzzle. The fact th a t the outer m asonry of the steps
the sim ple fact is that the m asonry of the large 4th- is so well finished leads some to conclude th a t GIII-
dynasty pyram ids is too complete for us to be cer b and GIII-c were intended to be left as step p y ra
tain either way. mids. Others believe these stepped cores were
K hufus queens pyram ids, Gl-a, Gl-b and GI-c, m eant to have a mantle of packing and casing, cre
ertainly had each a stepped inner nucleus, not, ating tru e pyram ids. T his would have left little
envever, formed of accretions. T hin walls of small room for eastern chapels, so some believe th at they
mestone blocks a t the denuded top and northw est were once encased as step pyram ids, like Djosers.
trner of Gl-a m ight be taken for accretions, b u t Yet they show no residue of casing or packing, as
hey are probably provisional walls for m arking does GHI-a. If stepped because they are unfinished
nd building the steps of the nucleus. It is said true pyram ids, it m eans that, here at least, the
hese were four-step pyram ids, b u t the fourth step entire stepped nucleus w as built before being filled
' little more than a pile of roughly shaped stones out and encased.
on top of the third tier. T he tiers are obscured by T h at M enkaures own pyram id w as built in steps
.r.^er stones that filled in the steps. A t the bottom, or tiers, each of mastaba-like parts, is hinted at by
-tween rem ains of the casing and the core, is a the p attern s of core m asonry show ing in the great
packing of small blocks of soft, yellow limestone. gash in its northern face.
219
Setting Casing Blocks and Pyramid Slope
These diagrams illustrate the 1 Corner block moved above
first stages of setting corner its setting position on rollers.
casing blocks and the first Only the underside is dressed.
blocks to either side. They all 2 Side joint faces o f corner
show the northwest corner o f block dressed,
a pyramid, though the point 3 First normal blocks moved
o f view alternates from in on each side o f corner
looking southeast (straight on block with undersides only
at the corner, I and 111), to dressed. Side joint faces
northeast (II and IV). Steps dressed parallel with matching
1 to 16 are the same on either joint face o f corner block.
side o f the corner block. Exact join controlled by
measuring with cord.
4 Corner block set down off with the correct angle, placed 7 Pyramid face line mark
rollers into its final position. against the vertical smoothed on top surface o f corner
5 Measurement made from face o f block. block. Top surface dressed
outside reference line (for first Extra stock on front o f along outside of pyramid
course at base only) to mark block bevelled away from slope lines.
pyramid baseline on joint line. Corners themselves 8 Second normal block on
faces of corner block. (as opposed to joint faces of each side moved in.
6 Slope (rise 14 units, run 11 corner blocks) left unbevelled 9 Side joint faces cut parai.
units) marked on joint faces so as not to obliterate the with matching joint side of
o f corner block, using either a extension o f the pyramid face first normal block.
plumb line or set square made line.
220
Controls marked on the core masonry bottom had been dressed. Once a casing block had
T he m asonry of these step pyram ids w as clearly been brought to its place next to its neighbouring Rise and Run
itself too roughly constructed to act as a reference stone, the still-exposed opposite and top join faces
for the outer slope. B ut it is possible th at the would be dressed smooth. But before these faces
stepped nucleus w as built in advance of the outer were obscured by other stones, they would be
(Below) The granite lower
casing so that guidelines and reference m arks for inscribed w ith a line m arking the position of the
courses o f Menkaures
laying in the casing could have been transferred up sloping face - perhaps by m easuring up and in set pyramid at Giza were left
and on to its steps. On the southernm ost pyram id increments from a plumbed line or using a wooden partially undressed and so the
of K hufus queens, GI-c, we have found small holes set square of the correct angle. Then, crucially, the extra stock o f stone was
{c. 5 cm (2 in) diameter) in the corners of the tiers of extra stone on the front face of the casing block never cut away to achieve the
core m asonry blocks th at appear to align with the w as cham fered or bevelled as far as this line. pyramids final smooth face.
(Inset) I am pointing to the
pyram id diagonals, though more m apping w ork is A t the final stage in the construction process,
line and bevel that guided the
needed to verify this impression. These could have when the ancient m asons removed the ram ps and trimming o f the pyramid face
been for pegs that held the strin g to m ark an inner dressed down the face of the pyram id, they knew from the extra stock left on
reference square for m easuring out to the pyram id precisely how much stone to shave aw ay to achieve the casing blocks.
facial lines in the casing. On the other hand, the the smooth, flush plane of the pyram id face: they
string m ight have guided the less precise building sim ply stopped at the point where the seam s
of the stepped nucleus. 'Phis w as the purpose of a between adjacent stones closed up to a fine joint.
provisional wall w ith red painted levelling lines Evidence th at this procedure w as used can be
and cubit notations at the northw est corner of Gl-a. seen in the g ranite lower courses of M enkaures
A t the back of the chasm on the north face of pyram id. These were left partially undressed, prob
M enkaures pyram id, created by Saladins son Oth- ably when building halted a t the kings death, and
man (p. 41), the stones of an inner tier still bear a so still carry the extra stock of stone that would
red painted vertical line m arking the pyram id cen have been cut away. W here stones have fallen away,
tre axis. A host of other m arks on the pyram ids the blocks still show the line m arking the slope of
made by ancient masons, architects and surveyors, the pyram id face on their side and top joint faces.
rem ains to be studied. There are crude notches in
the core m asonry on the centre axes above the
entrances of the Bent Pyram ids satellite pyram id,
queens pyram id Gl-a, the back side of the west
wall of M enkaures m ortu ary temple and the upper
m asonry block of K hentkaw ess Giza tomb. Similar
notches exist in core or backing stones at the cor
ners of K hufus and Khafres pyram ids, where they
seem to be alignm ent m arkers for core masonry.
W ithout further study, the discussion of the p u r
pose of such m arks m ust rem ain speculative, but
we m ust look at the evidence th a t the ancient
builders actually left in the stones as we hypothe
size how the pyram ids m ight have been built. Of
course, as soon as the pyram ids of Khufu and
Khafre rose above the bedrock m assif left in their
cores, the builders could have controlled for square
ness by m easuring the diagonals.
222
vives (the other is the N orth Pyram id at Dahshur).
A nd although the stone th at fitted directly beneath
it is missing, H aw ass h as identified the next one
down, the third from the apex. By this height, the
core had been capped and building w as entirely in
T urah casing stone. ()n the top of this third stone,
dressed very finely with a bevel, are lines running
from each corner to the centre - the builders were
carefully controlling the square of each dim inish'
ing course by reference to the diagonals.
T he joint between the pyram idion of K hufus
satellite pyram id and the next stone down w as par-
ticularly subtle. It is not really a mortice and tenon
join; rather the diagonals have been cut into the
underside of the stone to create a convex surface
w ith four triangular faces. The upper surface of the
stone beneath would have been concave so that (Above and right) The
capstone o f Khufus satellite
the two fitted together neatly and the stability of
pyramid as Zahi Hawass
the pyram idion w as assured. found it, lying upside down.
Though it is badly weathered,
The NOVA experience the convex base where it
The potential for trouble a t the top w as amply joined the missing second
dem onstrated in our NOVA pyram id building casing stone underneath is
still visible. The third stone
experim ent (p. 208). Levering became necessary for
down (right) was similarly
die last few courses, since conditions were too cut to receive the second.
cram ped to continue using the m odern front-end
loader which had accelerated w ork fu rther down.
There w as little space to lever and the precarious-
ness of the wooden su p p o rts caused some near dis
asters. Still, differences in m asonry and technique
between one early Old Kingdom pyram id and
another tell us th a t ancient building m ethods were than ours, since the point can be cut off to make a
sometimes ju st as ad hoc. There w as no standard capstone of any size. However, it is a much greater
m anual for pyram id building in the early, experi distance from the bottom to the top. Pyram idions
m ental era of the giant pyram ids. found near th e bases of M iddle K ingdom pyram ids
Setting the NOVA pyram idion w as a dram atic (p. 186) may indicate that they were intended to rise
moment. F irst the workmen fashioned the stone with the pyram id as it w as built. Once our p y ra
itself and improvised a wooden sup p o rt with four midion w as in place, the NOVA w orkm en began the
perpendicular crosspieces to carry it. Then came task of trim m ing down the pyram id face, freeing it
much nervous standing around and argum ent over from the extra stock of stone left on each block, just
how precisely to proceed. All of a sudden, with as their ancient counterparts m ust have done to the
prayers, they acted in unison, hoisting it on to their m ajor lower p arts of their completed pyramids.
shoulders and shouting encouragem ent, they set off
up the spiral ram p nearly at a ru n - it w as extrem e
ly heavy and it w as clear th a t there could be no rest
ing or tu rn in g back. It w as a huge relief to get it in
position w ithout injury or disaster.
Zahi H aw ass recently discovered a relief stone
carving from the causew ay of the 5th-dynasty
pyram id of Sahure at A busir which depicts danc (Right) Setting the capstone,
ing, singing and celebration following the setting of or pyramidion, of a pyramid
the capstone; perhaps the tension and relief th at we must have been a particularly
experienced accompanied the setting of ancient difficult and dangerous
capstones too. operation, as we discovered
in our own NOVA pyramid-
There is little evidence of com parable stone-car
building experiment.
rying in ancient Egypt, although wooden biers
have been found. But it is quite likely that similarly
improvised - m ethods were used to raise and posi
tion capstones. A nd of course even those of the
giant pyram ids need not have been m uch bigger
in place w ithin 30 m (98 ft 6 in) of the base, so that
the higher courses involved far fewer stones.
It is probable that skilled builders and craftsm en
were in the perm anent em ploym ent of the pharaoh.
The Workforce Although the exact num bers are speculative, we
know th at the m ass of the workforce w as m ade up
of crews of peasant conscripts num bering prob
ably 2,000 men. Each crew comprised two gangs of
1,000 w ith each g an g divided into five groups
called zaa, a word th a t in the Ptolemaic Period w as
How many workm en built the largest pyramids? translated as the Greek w ork for tribe - phyle - of
Was it tens of thousands, or even more? Take, for 200 men. T he phyles them selves consisted of ten
example, the G reat Pyram id of Khufu: with about divisions of 20 men (or m aybe tw enty divisions of
2,300,000 blocks not only is it a stupendous m onu 10 men). The com peting gangs had nam es com
ment in term s of size and precision, b u t we m ust pounded with that of the reigning king, such as
reckon with its having been built in 23 years or less, Friends of K hufu or D runkards of M enkaure.
the length the T urin P apyrus gives for Khufus T he five phyles of a g an g alw ays had the sam e set
reign (a longer reign is a possibility). Rainer Stadel of names: the G reat (or Starboard); the A siatic (or
m ann has calculated th at to complete the work, the Port); the Green (or Prow); the Little (or Stern); and
ancient builders had to lay c. 340 blocks a day (a the Last (or Good) Phyle.
single block being approxim ately 1 cu. m (35 cu. ft)). It is possible to separate the general task of
Considering th at daylight hours allowed at best a pyram id building into its constituent operations
ten-hour w orking day, an astonishing 34 blocks and roughly calculate how many men were needed
m ust therefore have been laid per hour - one every for each. We have already done this for quarrying
two minutes. (p. 207); the other tw o m ajor operations of building
Surely this m u st imply a workforce num bering were hauling and cutting/setting the stones.
into the tens of thousands, if not more? Herodotus Because the pyram id of K hufu seem s the most
(writing, admittedly, over 2,000 years after Khufus problem atic sim ply by being the biggest, it will
pyram id w as completed) claimed th a t the pyram id continue to be the. b asis of our analysis, one of a
w as built in 20 years by 100,000 men. It is possible variety of w ays to estim ate the workforce.
- and more credible - that he m eant this as an
annual total, with team s of 25,000 working three- Stone haulers
m onth stints, rath er than the num ber at Giza a t any Let us assum e that the stone haulers could move 1
one time. A figure in the range of 20,000-30,000 is km (0.62 miles) per hour en route from the q u arry t<
generally accepted. T his m ight seem remarkably the pyram id. T he return journey w as done w ith an
few, b u t there are other facts to consider. There is a em pty sledge and so w as much faster. T he distance
Despite the seemingly trem endous slop factor in the pyram id core, with from K hufus q uarry to the pyram id, a c. 6 slope,
impossible statistics, the m any irrcgularly-shaped stones and a fill of sm all could probably therefore be covered in 19 minutes
pyramids o f ancient Egypt er stone fragm ents and debris - this in spite of the by 20 men pulling a 2.5-ton block. Certainly, this
were very human monuments.
fact that Khufus pyram id has probably the best- w as well within the capacities of the NOVA team.
Our own NOVA pyramid
showed that teams o f men laid core m asonry of any pyram id. Building would T he French Egyptologist Henri Chevrier, experi
could easily pull blocks of have been considerably speeded up by this lack of m enting with moving large stones during his work
the required size. precision. And the bulk of the pyram id m ass was a t the K arnak temple, found that 3 men could pull a
1-ton block (V3 ton each) over a track lubricated
with w ater to elim inate friction. Research mt<
European m egaliths has shown that one man car.
pull even more, as much as Vi ton. And during tht
building of the NOVA pyram id (p. 208), we found
that 10-12 men could easily pull a 2-ton block
mounted on a sledge up an inclined roadway. Fur
ther insights are provided by the fam ous scent
from the tom b of D jehutihotep which depicts the
m oving of a large colossus over a lubricated sur
face (p. 203). T h at statue would have weighed c. 58
tons, given the scale and size indicated by the tom'
scene and assum ing it was alabaster - it w as prob;
bly being pulled from the alabaster quarries near
Hatnub. There are 172 men shown, each therefor
pulling c. 16 ton. Modern trials confirm that this -
possible on a fairly friction-free surface.
Calculations suggest that tivo
crews o f 2,000 could have
accomplished the huge feat
o f quarrying, hauling and
crew setting the stones for the giant
Old Kingdom pyramids.
Crews were divided into two
gangs - the two names in this
1,000 gang 1,000 gang diagram were found in
graffiti from Menkaures
Friends of D runkards of
pyramid temple. Normally,
M enkaure M enkaure gangs consisted o f five
groups, or phyles, always with
the same five names. Only the
Littleand Green phyle
names were found at
Menkaures temple. The
translations here are
abbreviations (Great and
x 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
phyle phyle phyle phyle phvle Last are often written who
phyle phyle phyle phyle phyle
Great AsiaticGreen Little Last Great AsiaticGreen Little Last are in the Great or Last).
Phyle names are similar to
ship parts: Great -
starboard: Green - bow;
Little ones - stern. The
(20 men x 10 in each phvle) hieroglyph for Asiatic ^setj^ is
problematic It is most often
read as the word for port fta-
By the sam e ratio (Vx ton per hauler) a 2.5-ton W ith an extra couple of handlers, we have 10 men werj. No boat correspondence
block on a lubricated, level surface could be pulled per block. Like modern m asons, the cutters proba is known for the Last' or
by 7.5 men. If we assum e th at a division (20 men) bly worked inw ards from the corners along the line Lowestphyle name which
could have been read as
moved 10 stones per day - allowing one hour to of each pyram id face. But if we add two additional perfect or beautiful. Phyles,
move the stone to the pyram id and return with an crews startin g in the middle of each face and w ork in turn, were subdivided,
em pty sledge then 340 stones could be moved ing outw ards - the total num ber of setters on the probably into either ten
daily from quarry to pyram id by 34 divisions. casing would be 160. The casing stones would have divisions of 20 men, or
There are points to note on both sides of this equa been the m ost time-intensive because they were twenty divisions o f 10 men.
tion. More divisions could w ork sim ultaneously at custom cut and bevelled as they were laid (p. 218).
the lower levels, when there m ay have been m any On Khufus pyram id, supposing 34 stones were
ram ps, and therefore a higher hauling rate. F ar delivered per hour (an average for the whole p y ra
fewer could work nearer the top, where there w as mid) and th at the stone setters could keep pace,
less space and ram p grad ien ts were steeper. Also, with 10 men setting 1 stone per hour, 340 setters
the stones of K hufus pyram id are not all 2.5 tons - were w orking on the entire pyram id. O ur estim ates
this estim ate of the average block size is frequently of the pace of work may be too tight. If we double
quoted but needs more study. M any stones, p articu the time for setting, arriving at a figure of c. 680
larly near the apex, are smaller, while those of the setters - it still m eans an average c. 1,000 or fewer
core are by no m eans all neat. 2.5-ton cubes, and w orkers would have been needed for the task of
near the base m any blocks exceed 2.5 tons. cutting and setting the stones of K hufus pyramid.
Perhaps one hour per stone is too dem anding a Our calculations suggest th a t K hufus pyram id
rate. If we halved it, so th a t each division moved could have been built by tw o crew s of 2,000. Of
only 5 stones per day, 68 divisions would then be course m any others were required besides q u arry
needed to lay 340 stones per day. A t 20 men to a men and stone haulers and setters. A crew was
division, that gives us a perhaps more realistic esti probably necessary just for building ram ps and
mate of 1,360 stone haulers. T he point is th a t it still construction em bankm ents. Also needed were car
seem s em inently practicable. penters to m ake tools and sledges; m etal-workers to
make and sharpen cutting tools; potters to make
Stone setters pots for use in food preparation and for hauling up
W hat about the men cutting and setting the stones w ater to prepare m ortar; w orkers to carry the
on the pyram id? As Petrie noted, there is sim ply not water; as well as bakers; brew ers - and no doubt
room for m ore than 8 handlers per average 2.5-ton others. 5t is possible that th e num bers building and
block. If we assum e 4 men on levers (in line with m aintaining the infrastructure of K hufus pyram id
our experience on the NOVA pyram id) and 2 more rose to 20,000, perhaps even 25,000. But while that
to push and adjust, that gives 6 men. A dd to th at a implies a very large settlem ent, it also reinforces
further 2 m asons to do the trim m ing - particularly the point th at the pyram ids are hum an monum ents,
necessary for the casing - and we reach a total of 8. entirely achievable by the 4th-dynasty Egyptians.
225
as B arry Kemps estim ate of the maxim um year:;
grain rations stored in the large houses of Senw
ret IIs pyram id tow n of Illahun (p. 231).
Building a Middle Kingdom Middle Kingdom m asons used dovetail cram; -
to join structurally im portant blocks to com pens;:
2 26
areas for storing and dressing stone by the m assive Rainer Stadelmann
quantities of limestone chips and g ranite dust. discovered a draft plan of
Local limestone for the core w as quarried south of Amenemhet Ills innovative
Haivara pyramid substructure
the pyram id. G ranite w as brought in and dressed
- in the form o f a small
on the north. Fine casing limestone w as carried up limestone model buried in
the causew ay A long the routes from the quarries the floor o f the valley temple
sections of slipw ays and roads are still preserved, o f his Dahshur pyramid. The
form ed of wood sleepers m ade of boat p a rts (p. long approach corridors of
203). A large, debris-filled m udbrick ram p, flanked the actual Hawara pyramid
are here foreshortened, but
by m udbrick towers, sloped 8 up tow ards the p y ra We often describe pyram id-building in term s of
one o f the enormous,
mid from the southern quarries. Closer to the p y ra labour recruited in m ilitary fashion or the wage- sideways sliding, blocking
mid, A rnold identified the levelled rem ains of labour of a large modern engineering project. Cou stones is shown in wood. The
m udbrick ram ps on the south and west sides. T heir pled w ith this is a popular notion of the pharaoh as antechamber, burial chamber
close proxim ity to the pyram id suggests rather totally autocratic. Both images obscure the way in and the system for lowering
steep ram ps. T he fact th at they were of m udbrick which pharaohs power was woven through the fab the last ceiling block, as at
Hawara, are all faithfully
and th a t they m ust have run nearly perpendicular ric of ancient E gyptian society, and the degree to
rendered. As a visual aid,
to the pyram id are m ajor differences from the pos which labour for large-scale, public w orks w as it may have been particularly
tulated ram ps used to raise stone at Giza. organized by towns, villages, estates and house important to show the
holds in descending order. Forced as opposed to differences in level.
The control notes voluntary labour may be a m odern distinction, not
On the undressed p a rts of some paving, backing applicable to this flow of men from the provinces.
and casing stones are inscribed marks, perhaps the Pyram id building w as perhaps regarded as a ritual
m ost intriguing evidence from the Middle Kingdom act em bedded in social custom and tradition.
pyram ids. Felix Arnold has distinguished two T he tow ns mentioned in the control notes so far
kinds of these control notes: for controllers and recovered are predom inantly in one area of Middle
scribes. For the controller, a complete note recorded, Egypt; around the old capital, M emphis; Heliopolis
in separate lines, the date of transport, the w ork and the Delta. T his distribution is strikingly sim i
men in charge of the stone and the stage of tra n s lar to the p attern of internal colonization of the Old
port. The route began in the quarry: brought from Kingdom (p. 228). Was the raw labour for the
or removal from the q u arry are common notes. Old Kingdom pyram ids gathered from the newly
T he shipping of stones is mentioned, and we read colonized areas?
of stone delivered at the mereyt, harbour or
em bankm ent. Stones are brought from the (Right) Map by Felix Arnold
em bankm ent and delivered to storage enclosures. showing the geographical
origin o f the workmen
They are also brought or dragged to the pyram id
mentioned in the control notes
or delivered to the ram p . Cowherds are m entioned he studied. Lower Egyptians
who may have driven oxen for pulling stone. are often designated without
The second type of note takes the form of larger specifying a particular town.
signs that som etim es overlap the more meticulous
text. These are team m arks, perhaps w ritten and
read by the illiterate workmen, who rotated in and
out of service for two to four months. Some are
known hieroglyphs while others are invented signs
such as pitchforks and crossed sticks. Felix Arnold (Below) One o f the control
believes the m arks m ay have identified the w orkers notes documented by Felix
home towns, the made-up hieroglyphs representing Arnold at the pyramid of
sm aller villages. T he team m arks may also stand Senwosret I at Lisht, The
for the subdivision of w ork gan g s - tjeset, troops, longer, more detailed note is
for the controller and scribes,
of 10 men in the M iddle Kingdom. In fact they may
while the larger, somewhat
have been both place-names and troop divisions. clumsier marks are team
Some team s are nam ed after the householders to marks - this one is o f the
whose estates they were attached. Memphis team.
227
Pyramid as Landlord
E
228
Personified, estates (left) it. T his process was paralleled by the transition
shown bearing offerings, from from the giant pyram ids to the sm aller stan d ard
reliefs from Sneferu's valley ized pyram ids of the later Old Kingdom.
temple, attached to his Bent
Pyramid at Dahshur (above).
From internal colonization to empire
At the end of the Old Kingdom, w ith the collapse of
the 6th dynasty, Egypt fragm ented into local w ar
dynasty high officials and priests serving the m em ring principalities. By the M iddle Kingdom the land
ory of a king in his pyram id temple began to claim th at the Old Kingdom pharaohs had taken over or
a share of the produce from its estates. T he 5th- newly settled for manorial estates m ust long have
dynasty official Nenkhefetka, for example, lists 14 been tied up in hereditary rights and alienated from
estates in his tomb at Saqqara, two of them named cult centres like Giza and Saqqara. W hat had once
after king U serkaf (called Ladder of U se rk af and been an active economic engine had ground to a
U serkaf is Beautiful in Spirit) and three after complete halt, its m onum ents dism antled, their
Sahure (H athor W ishes th at Sahure Lives, T he stone dum ped into constructions like Am enem het
Spirit Belongs to Sahure and T he Flood of Is pyram id a t Lisht. Yet the inexorable processes of
Sahure). It is no coincidence th at N enkhefetkas colonization and expansion were still under way.
titles include priestly functions in the pyram ids of T he Delta an d broad areas of M iddle E gypt contin
U serkaf and S a h u re . ued to be areas of new settlem ent and land alloca
Also in the 5th dynasty enorm ous tracts of land tions, but these areas now featured sophisticated
in the Delta were given to the sun god, Re, and the tow n centres in their own right. M iddle Kingdom
temple of Heliopolis. Later Old Kingdom pharaohs p haraohs tu rn ed their attentions to the Fayum,
began providing endow m ents and tax exem ptions where the lake had receded leaving new land to
to provincial temples. In U pper Egypt, the nome exploit. Senwosret II and A m enem het III built large
leaders were in charge of the temples. T heir share pyram ids at Illahun and Flawara along the gatew ay
of temple income, and their own local funerary to the Fayum.
estates, were locked into hereditary claims to the Egypt w as now also looking outside its borders
land th at competed with distant cult foundations. in a m ajor way, beyond simple trade for coniferous
T hey grew in power, building large tom bs in their products, wine and oil. M iddle Kingdom pharaohs
provinces, and becom ing m iniature ruling house defended E g y p ts frontiers with fortifications like
holds in their own right, albeit still embedded in the A m enem hets Wall of the Ruler at the northeastern
fabric of the united kingdom. Delta, and the string of forts near the 2nd Cataract.
By the late Old Kingdom the kings immediate Eventually, after the collapse and resurrection of
family members increasingly assum ed a more cere the kingdom in the Second Interm ediate Period,
monial function and high officials were beginning Egypt expanded into empire. In the New Kingdom,
to be people other than senior m em bers of the royal garrisons were stationed throughout Palestine up
family. A true bureaucracy w as emerging, with offi to .Syria and in Lower Nubia - Nubia w as now sim
cials no longer so intim ate with the royal house ply a province of Flgypt. T he early Old Kingdom
hold, but who did now take a share of the produce, pyram ids had not only helped to set E gypt on the
goods and services offered to the pyram id temple. course of becoming a fully consolidated kingdom
T his created centrifugal forces that dispersed the and a true nation srate; the processes they put in
centralized power of the early Old Kingdom motion were finally to culm inate in one of the
throughout the colonies originally intended to feed worlds first empires.
229
We have exam ined the standard elements of th
pyram id complex - the pyram id itself, the temple-
and the causeway - the elements designed for eter
nity. Each pyram id also had a pyram id town, usua
Pyramid Towns ly a t the foot of the plateau, where priests, officii -
and guards lived, plus all the personnel needed t
su p p o rt and supply them, while the pyram id fun
tioned as a ritual centre. And w as this separa:-
from the sizeable, perhaps temporary, accommod:
tion for the huge workforce th a t m ust have b e e
Was all the produce and livestock from provincial required to build each pyramid?
estates literally brought to the pyram id necropolis?
Or w as only a token offering delivered here, while Capital and great house
the m ajor p art w as taken elsewhere? Inscriptions at In discussing pyram id tow ns we m ust consider th
N iuserres sun temple list an annual inflow that siting of the royal household and the role of Men
The Giza necropolis as it included: 100,800 rations of bread, beer and cakes; phis, often referred to as the capital of Egypt. !
might have appeared towards 7,720 loaves of pesen bread; 1,002 oxen; and 1,000 Old Kingdom Egypt, the closest approxim ation ti
the end o f the 4th dynasty, geese. We m ight im agine even greater am ounts for capital city in the m odern sense w as the resident
looking from southeast to
a pyram id like K hufus. Somewhere, somehow, it all of the king. While the king would have had provi:
northwest, with the three
giant pyramid complexes had to be stored, processed and redistributed. rial palaces, it is a long-accepted idea that a princ:
complete. The flood plain is W here were the installations and ap p aratu s for pal royal residence lay close to the pyrami
shown with modern contours. receiving such am ounts of goods and materials? complex while it w as under construction.
/ / Khufus satellite
Khafres galleries / pyramid
(workshops) ------
Location of Khufu's
valley temple reveais-
by basalt pavement
ambric sewage trenc-
Khufus
quarry
Menkaure'
SWarry Khentkawess NORTHERN
to w n .^ / > g e r g t OF
Menkaures
sacred slum RA-SHE OF \
KHAFRE a
>arge r r ..
RA-SHE OF
ancTtrmt.
MENKAURE
clad bu :
palace?
SOUTHERN
Archaic mastaba: Pedesta TJENIU OF
Covingtofvs Tomb building KHAFRE,___
-site /
Bakery (Loaves
and Fishes site)
230
With pyram id and royal residence thus linked, required by their households m ust have moved
the E gyptian capital w as fairly mobile w ithin the with it in large numbers.
pyram id zone along the Nile Valley. T he sam e resi Indeed, the 5th-dynasty official Senedjemib m en
dence m ay have been used by successive kings who tions in his tom b that, as well as constructing a
favoured the sam e necropolis, as at Giza and pyram id for Djedkare-Isesi, he also built him a new
Abusir, but M eness founding of a new town at palace called Lotus Blossom of Isesi. The num
M emphis w as perhaps as much the rule as the bers are difficult to read, b u t it seem s to have m ea
exception. A khenatens fam ous b u t short-lived cap sured around 1,220 x 440 cubits, or 640 x 231 m
ital at A m arna may be the best-preserved exam ple (2,100 x 758 ft). Even if this refers to the outer
of a practice followed by the other pharaohs. enclosure, it w as still larger than the base of
Inscriptions such as th at found in the 5th- K hufus pyram id and com parable to the enclosure
dynasty tom b of N ikanesut at Giza illum inate the of Djosers Step Pyram id - not an inconsequential
organization of larger households. His included 2 structure.
overseers of the estates, 11 scribes, a director of the Tomb texts suggest that the people buried in the
workforce, 2 directors of the dining hall, 2 over cemeteries around the pyram ids were prominent
seers of linen, a seal bearer, 3 butchers, 2 bakers, a residents of nearby pyram id towns. The nam es of
cook and 5 butlers. If the royal household - the these tow ns are often nearly identical to those of
g reat house and g reatest of households - moved the pyram ids. Djed Sneferu (Sneferu E ndures) w as
to a site such as Giza or A busir for three genera associated with Sneferus Meidum pyram id, while
tions, then the butchers, the bakers, the sandal- his two D ahshur pyram ids were accompanied by a
m akers and all the rest of the dependent workforce double town, northern and southern K ha Sneferu
- to say nothing of other officials and everything (Sneferu A ppears). At Giza, two settlem ent nam es
are known, the northern Gerget (Settlem ent) of
Khufu, and the southern Tjeniu (boundary m ark, The Wall o f the Crow, with
a colossal gate which may
cultivation edge) of Khafre. T he form er m ay have
have been the entrance to the
been around K hufus valley temple and the latter Giza necropolis.
may have extended south of K hafres valley temple
and the large stone boundary wall, known now as
the Wall of the Crow.
Until the 5th dynasty, pyram id towns, w ith their
population of craftsmen, farm ers and necropolis
guards, were adm inistered by a second generation
of princes. They and their progeny were in charge
of the kings priesthood even after the royal court
had moved on to another site. Later, the tow ns were
governed by m iddle level and lower officials who
enjoyed the income and tax-exem ption th a t went
with residence and service in a pyram id town.
Senwosret IIs pyram id town a t Illahun housed
an estim ated population of several thousand. In the
w estern and southern p arts there were 220 small
houses, while the northeastern sector w as occupied
by just nine or ten substantial u rb an estates, proba
bly inhabited by the senior officials of the king.
B arry Kemp has compared these households to the
wooden models discovered in the M iddle Kingdom
tomb of Meketre, Chancellor to M entuhotep I (Neb
hepetre). A m ong them is one of a large porticoed
house with a pool in a grove of trees, as well as a
bakery and a brewery, carpentry and w eaving
shops, and also a granary. Like the M eketre models,
each large Illahun estate had a core house with a
portico facing away from the street, and a garden
court. Each also had a granary. Kemp has estim at
ed th a t collectively these granaries could have
stored enough g rain to feed 5,000-9,000 people
annually. It seem s that the inhabitants of the small
dwellings in the rest of the town m ust have worked
for and in the large households in retu rn for their
sustenance and livelihood.
231
have encom passed far more than the sm all housing
near his temple. W here should we look for it?
In the late 1980s a project revealed extensive evidence At a point about due east of the south side of
Lost City of of Old Kingdom settlement spreading out far beyond Khufus pyramid, the trench cut through massive
the Pyramids? the Giza pyramid plateau underneath the modern
city. Major works, by a consortium known as
mudbrick walls of a very large building - could this
be a palace? Unfortunately the section provided by a
AMBRIC, to install sewers involved a network of sewage trench is less than ideal for archaeology, and
trenches and borings in the valley floor east of the it was quickly refilled, leaving many questions
Sphinx and pyramids. The archaeology was directed unanswered.
by Zahi Hawass and monitored by Michael Jones. Later, in 1994, construction work turned up a huge
Remains encountered over a wide area included the limestone and basalt wall, 500 m (1,650 ft) east of
foundation of Khufus causeway and a basalt Khufus valley temple (seen in the photograph, left).
pavement that probably marks his valley temple. Its orientation matches certain older drainage
In a deep trench along a modern canal a channels in the area and it may mark the border of
continuous layer of mudbrick buildings began about the flood basin or harbour fronting Khufus valley
50 m (165 ft) south of the possible location of the temple. The pyramid settlement attached to the giant
valley temple. Here, perhaps, lay Gerget Khufu pyramids of Giza was more than a small cluster of
(settlement of Khufu). Thousands of fragments of planned houses that later turned into a slum. The
everyday pottery, bread moulds, cooking pots, jars, evidence points to a sort of proto-city - downtown
trays and bowls turned up, as well as animal bone, Egypt during Gizas heyday - which continued to be
grinding stones and large quantities of charcoal inhabited by priests who maintained the cults of the
and ash. Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.
232
Providing and provided
Inside the m ortuary tem ple daily services were con
ducted to the m em ory of a pharaoh and the deity
he personified. O ur understanding of temple ritual
is fragm entary, but we do know th at it centred on
Those who Serve:
offerings presented before the royal statues and at
the base of the false door. In essence, the entire tem Priests and Watchers
ple is an elaboration of the place in the sim plest
tom bs where food offerings could be presented to
the ka, vital force of the deceased. T h e king w as the
ka of the living and the entire com m unity shared a w as adm inistered by an imy-ra: overseer (literally,
life force passed from creator god to king, from p a r one who is in the m outh). There were wabu, purifi
Imy-ra
ent to child. The social reflection w as a hierarchy of cation priests, and kheri-heb, a lector priest who
(overseer)
households, the greatest house being th a t of the read the ritual. There were also the hemu-netjer, lit
pharaoh. T he funerary reflection w as the concept erally servants of the god, a title listed in the Wabu Kheri-heb
imakhu, sometimes translated honoured. Jarom ir tom bs of highly placed Egyptians, b u t which (purification (lector
M alek has shown th a t it could m ean provided for, could also be held by sim pler folk like priest) priest)
and it signified receipt of a share of offerings from craftsm en an d farm ers from the nearby
a tomb of a higher statu s household, by a wedjeb, pyram id town. He mu - n e t j e r
or redistribution. A man nam ed N etjerpuneseut In the late 5th and 6th dynasties a
recorded in his Giza tom b th at he w as possessor of more complex social and religious organization (Above) The organization of
provisioning from six kings: Djedefre, Khafre, emerged contem poraneously with the dram atic pyramid temple personnel in
M enkaure, Shepseskaf, U serkaf and Sahure. reduction in pyram id size, the expansion of the the early pyramid age.
(Below) A relief from the
m ortuary temple and the development of the sta n
The evolving temple administration tomb o f an important
dard temple components. T he A busir Papyri from householder showing offering
Tomb texts indicate that temple organization in the the temples of Neferirkare, Raneferef and Khen bearers bringing produce to
early pyram id age w as fairly simple. T he pyram id tkaw es are a textual window on the operation of a the tomb from his estates.
In a relief from the small
square antechamber in the
inner mortuary temple of
Pepi II, officials with the
highest titles in the Old
Kingdom bow to the king
They include Overseer o f
(all?) Khentiu-she, who is not
distinguished by costume or
insignia from those o f lower
status.
pyram id temple at about the tim e of these changes. transform ation of all raw m aterials into sacred su s
In the Tables of Service the temple personnel are tenance for the pyram id and its clientele. A lthough
divided into two broad groups: the hemu-netjer, the the title khentiu-she is only known from the reign of
older title, and the khentiu-she. While the literal Djedkare-Isesi on, Paule Posener-Krieger and Rain
m eaning of the latter term is straightforw ard - er Stadelm ann believe th at the institution goes back
those in front of the she - its actual meaning, and to the time of Sneferu. A decree of Pepi I protecting
the nature of these people, are more problematic. the khentiu-she of Sneferus double pyram id town
In the New Kingdom khentiu-she seem to have indicates th at the tow n and its inhabitants m ust
been gardeners. Translations of its Old Kingdom date back to the time when the pyram ids were built.
m eaning range from settler or tenant farm er to T he hemu-netjer seem to have been less tied to a
palace atten d an t. The problem again lies in the specific pyram id. In the A busir Papyri they appear
word she, which w as used for ideas as diverse as to be of a higher sta tu s than the khentiu-she: they
cultivated land, lake, q u arry , w orkshop. The do not tran sp o rt m eat and provisions; they are list
solution lies in the translation basin and the ed first; they received their allocation of offerings in
aw areness th at the Nile Valley w as organized into the inner sanctum of the offering hall; and their
annually flooded basins (p. 12) that were virtual titles sometimes indicate middle to high rank. It
lakes, w ith trees and gardens on the banks. As we seems, however, their statu s did not preclude them
have seen, from ancient texts we know of institu from perform ing w hat seem to us fairly menial
tions like the ra-she of the pyram id, and the she of tasks alongside people of lower rank. T h u s we find
Pharaoh, perhaps the funerary precinct. However, a Judge and Scribe on guard duty over temple pot
if, as noted above, each pyram id complex w as tery with a dancer and a Coiffeur of the Palace.
Organization o f service in
fronted by a large basin, which w as p a rt of a total However, we gain a clearer understanding of the
Neferirkares temple, both
rotating and permanent, as ensemble of pyram id town, palace, harbour, canal pyram id temple if we realize the im portance of a
revealed in papyri found in entrance (ra) to the basin (she), the attachm ent of title like Coiffeur - one who actually touched the
his mortuary temple. the khentiu-she to both the palace of the living king divine body of the god-king. Royal coiffeurs had a
and the tem ple of the deified king m akes sense. special im portance in the intim ate p arts of the tem
The khentiu-she were residents of the pyram id ple. T he fact that those who touched the kings per
ROTATING town to which they m ay have been tied from birth. son and prepared his m eals had significant roles in
M any who hold this title com pound their name the innerm ost p a rt of the pyram id temple fits w ith
with th at of the king in whose temple they served. our understanding of the pyram id cham bers as the
T his m ade them m em bers of the eternal equivalent of the private rooms of the
PERMANENTA kings extended household, which palace. W hen the king emerges from death each
included all classes - farmers, m orning, his servants attend him before he strides /
gardeners and, later, high offi forth as the statues in the front p art of the temple. /
cials. In the A busir Papyri the T he khentiu-she and hem u-netjer served /
younger khentiu-she were together in phyles, the sam e organizational unit /""
Lector priests \ particularly occupied with as the building crew s and w ith the sam e names.
the transportation of Each phyle w as divided into two sections, so
m eat and other provi that a half-phyle served one m onth in ten. T he
sions into the temple, divisions were nam ed with single hieroglyphs, v "
while elderly mem- denoting ideas like stren g th , life, dom inion. \
Artisans, potters\ ^ ers did guard T his rotating involvement in the temple cult \
pot-washers, \ duty. Together allowed greater num bers to experience the elabo
handymen \ they formed a rate symbolic program m e and aw e-inspiring effects
hum an filter of statu ary and chiaroscuro of the pyram ids than a
for the perm anent staff would.
234
O thers served in the tem ple but did not ap p ear to Besides these any given shift would include about
Those who Serve:
be p art of the rotation, including the wabu - purifi 20 khentiu-she and hemu-netjer, giving a total of
Priests and Watchers
cation priests - the lector priests (possibly three at around 220. A dding the lector priests, the non
a time) and a group called kheriu-nesti, literally rotating personnel, scribes, artisan s and parasite
those who sit in my place, perhaps the heirs of the phyles, the total reaches 300 to 350. Posener esti
hem u-netjer and khentiu-she. There are also indica mated about 70 to 100 people for the rotating ser
tions th a t the regular rotating personnel were su p vice of Raneferef.
plemented by phyles attached to the m astaba In death pharaoh s palace moved from the valley
tom bs in the necropolis. Posener called these p a ra up to the pyram id - the primeval mound at the cen
site phyles since their role in the temple rotation tre of the su n s rotation. The deceased king would
probably gained them a share of its revenue. awake each day, be coiffeured, dressed and pre
At Neferirkares temple the phyles were su p er pared to meet (or be) the lord of heaven - so long as
vised by an Inspector of Priests and an assistant. the daily ritual was conducted by those who serve.
W hat happened on an average day in a pyramid - the ritual meal - followed, but it is not clear if this
Dailv Service temple? Each day there were apparently identical took place before the statues in the court of the front
morning and evening rites centred on a ritual meal. temple, in the offering hall, or both. It consisted of
In the Pyramid Texts the king had five meals a day, libations and a wiping of the offering table.
three in the sky and two on earth. The earthly meals Purifications, censings, ritual meals and libations also
were the responsibility of those who served in the made up the burial ritual. A further feast of each
temple. This ritual meal required the opening of the lunar month focused on the statue of the king as
mouth ceremony on the royal statues in the five Osiris, lasting from the day of the moons invisibility
niches at the interface between front and inner to the appearance of the first quarter. Elaborations on
temples - standard since Khafre. Each statue the ritual sequence were also enacted for feast days of
represented a different aspect of the king. The Abusir deities like Sokar and Hathor.
Papyri reveal that the centre statue represented the At the end of the ceremony one of the khentiu-she
king as Osiris, while the two at the ends portrayed and one of the hemu-netjer emptied the basin that
him as king of Upper and Lower Egypt. We are not had collected the libation water into an outlet
Pyramid and temple as the
sure of the meaning of the other two. under the east wall of the offering hall. Here
eternal palace with
resemblances to the living Each shrine (tjephet, cavern) was opened in we see the importance of the drainage
palace. Here the dead king is turn for a presentation of cloth and an unction systems such as are found in the
attended by priests (hemu- of sacred oil, accompanied by a recitation of mortuary temple of Sahure (p. 144).
netjer) and khentiu-she, sacred formulae for each statue. The Basin, ewer, papyrus roll with
organized into phyles. Each khentiu-she unveiled, cleaned, dressed ritual and other equipment
phyle o f 200 men was divided and adorned the statues, while were then carefully
Antechamber
into sections o f 100 men, the hemu-netjer fumigated x accounted for and
Burial chamber = ,
who served for 1 month in with incense. The 5 statue bed room and Pu tb a c k
W o n a rotating basis. offering ceremony niches = house of morning'
Offering hall = formal
dining room reception
Court = visitation 3 niches = magazines
dais in for food ? (or statues)
court or hall
houses
236
(Above) In our reconstructed
ancient Egyptian bakery,
bread and yeast expert Ed
Wood bakes the kind o f bread
that may have once sustained
flour and ferment. We also discovered a cache of tion squares, these were made of alluvial mud, the pyramid builders, based
large bell-shaped bedja pots used for baking bread. mudbrick and stone rubble, and had originally on evidence from our
Old Kingdom tomb reliefs show these pots being been paved with clean desert clay. excavations (left). We used the
stacked and heated over an open fire, perhaps to We initially speculated th at these enigmatic characteristic bedja pots,
tem per their interiors w ith oil and grease to pre some o f the commonest and
shelves and troughs m ight have been used for lay
crudest pieces o f Egyptian
vent sticking. Along the east wall of both bakery ing out bread to be counted by scribes, an activity pottery and yet among the
room s were egg-carton-shaped baking pits, lying illustrated a t the bottom of the relief scene from the most interesting. They are
beneath a cake of ash. Pots placed in these pits tom b of Ti. However, a fine ashy deposit that con shaped like large beUs, with a
would have been filled with dough, covered with tained fibrous organic material covered the floor. bevelled rim and conical
more upside-down pots and finally surrounded by We had to drip a liquid consolidant on larger pieces interior. The walls are very
hot em bers to bake the dough. to prevent them blowing aw ay in the wind. By thick and full o f chaff temper
which burns out leaving a
Bread and beer were the principal rations of scraping back delicately we retrieved gills, fins and high porosity.
ancient Egypt, sustaining any labour project. But other p a rts of catfish and schal (Synodontis). These bread moulds comprise
did this pot-baked bread feed a workforce, or could Wilma W etterstrom, our palaeobotanist, exam ined 4 0-50 per cent o f Old
it have been specially m ade for temple offerings or soil from the troughs under a microscope and found Kingdom ceramic finds.
ceremonies? It is in fact much easier to make bread it full of tiny broken fish bone. Catfish breed soon
by sim ply slapping dough ag ain st a hot surface, after the inundation that tu rn s the Nile Valley into a
like the Bedouin and other nom ads do. T he ancient lake and spaw ning ground.
E gyptians had only em m er w heat and barley; they T his p a rt of our huge, orthogonally laid-out
had little or none of our far more glutenous building w as used, it seems, for processing fish.
triticum aestivum or bread wheat. T his m eant that Fish decomposes quickly, especially w ithout refrig
despite leavening, loaves were very heavy indeed. eration. How w as it stored? T he system atic layout
W orking w ith National G eographic and bread and suggests large and organized - probably seasonal -
yeast expert Ed Wood, we built a replica of this harvests. T he fish m ust have been dried, and per
bakery and made bread w ith emmer and barley haps smoked and salted. The troughs and benches,
flour and locally cultured wild yeast. T he resulting as well a s being working platform s, may have
loaves were massively heavy units of starch and served as a ventilation system as the fish were laid Delicate remains o f a fish
calories. Each would have sufficed to feed one p er out on reed frames. We had, literally, found loaves giU or fin, found in our
son for days. Pot baking may have been the Old and fishes - sources of starch, calories and protein excavations in the area o f
Kingdom answ er to the need to m ass-produce th at could have fed a workforce. T he entire installa the bakeries.
bread to feed large num bers of people. tion probably dates to the reign of M enkaure - the
A ttached to the bakeries w as a huge m udbrick end of pyram id building at Giza. Since his pyram id
building. A patch of its interior a t the southeast complex w as unfinished when M enkaure died,
corner had been exposed and we uncovered a cache a pyram id workforce w as being fed at the
of pottery dishes, including sm all bowls th a t were time our bakeries were in operation. So far we
probably ja r covers and cylindrical ceramic pieces have only excavated the upper layers of the
used as bases to stand conical-bottomed vessels site. The deepest, and oldest, layers, exposed
upright. There w as also a series of low shelves in the backhoe trench, reveal large burning
(about ankle height) w ith partition walls only c. 20 pits, perhaps the rem ains of cam p fires of a more
cm (8 in) high. Extending well beyond our excava loosely organized labour force.
237
the New Kingdom, particularly that of Aten a t Tell
el-Amarna. B arry Kemp identified its galleries a>
the tem ple bakeries on account of the millions of
fragm ents of bread moulds found there. Earlier
The Royal Workshops excavations there had also produced evidence <>'
craft activity, including faience figures and inlay, a
sculptors trial piece and bronze rings and nails.
T hese galleries clearly had a variety of functions:
perhaps, despite being separated by a millennium
or more, those attached to K hafres pyram id housed
sim ilar - and similarly diverse - activities.
T he galleries had been filled in by sand, so that
only the spines of the w alls were visible. Excava
tion show ed th a t the entire structure had beer,
m eticulously cleaned out in ancient times. Occa
sionally, however, we found p arts of tools, such as
sandstone rubbers, m ade of consolidated sand in a
g ypsum m atrix rather than sandstone proper, and
used for abrading and polishing surfaces. Em bed
ded in corners and the floor were fragm ents of
m alachite, feldspar, carnelian, copper and a piece
of faience tile.
Finally, in the very last few days of the excava
tion, we reached shallow deposits that had not been
cleaned out. In these we found pottery, a bead, bone
and plant materials, collections of basalt chips,
unw orked pieces of granite and a flint core with
flakes broken from it lying close by. M ost excitin.L
of all w as a collection of tiny statue fragm ents,
none longer than an index finger. They included a
black-painted lions paw; a lion sculpture, perhap>
a gam ing piece; and p arts of hum an statues, proba
bly royal figures. These included a finger-length
figurine of the king striding forth, w earing the
Industrial installations Khafres galleries shendyt kilt and the crown of the south. His eyes,
connected with the Giza
W hen we began excavating in 1988-89, our interest eyebrows and beard are painted black and while
pyramids. Each o f Khafres
galleries (plan above right) w as not in finding more tombs, temples or statues, one leg w as clearly broken off, the left arm had
were about 3 m (10 ft) wide - already the focus of tw o centuries of excavation at been saw n off at the shoulder in a smooth, straight
about the maximum width Giza. W hat we sought was evidence of the settle cut. T h is w as a sculptors trial piece. To achieve the
that can be roofed with palm m ents and economic system th a t supported first correct proportions and feel, the craftsm an carved
log and plant material. pyram id building and then the functioning p y ra it and then shaved off those p a rts not to be includ
Evidence o f such roofing was
mid complexes. An obvious startin g point w as the ed in the final sculpture.
found in impressions on mud.
Thresholds were, made o f immense rectangular enclosure along the w estern T h at this w as the refuse from a craft w orkshop
limestone paving which mast side of Khafres pyramid. Perpendicular walls w as finally confirm ed by the discovery of a frag
have run the entire length o f extend like the teeth of a comb from the west wall m ent of a statuette of the king w earing the crown
the galleries. The gallery walls of this enclosure which is 450 m (1,476 ft) long, of the south, standing against a pillar from the top
were pointed with mud from describing about 75 galleries, each 30 m (98 ft) long of which a short roof projects. T he whole is paint
the Nile Valley and had floors
and 3 m (10 ft) wide. W ith another set leading from ed red and stippled black to im itate granite. T ht
paved with a mix o f tafia and
alluvial mud. In Menkaures the north wall, there are nearly 100 galleries in all. piece represents a large statue in a temple c o u r
enclosure (plan above left) In 1881 Petrie excavated two of these galleries with the projecting roof of a colonnade, as found
evidence o f working copper and, despite finding fragm ents of royal statuary, only in the courts in Khafres m ortuary temple and
and alabaster ivas found, as concluded th a t they were w orkm ens barracks. the Sphinx temple. T his figurine, too sm all to be a
well ovens, probably for They have been labelled as such on m ost plans of w orking scale model, is a m iniature conceptual
baking bread, otlier ovens
Giza published since. But if people reside in an area piece. It w as created in the process of deciding
perhaps for pottery
manufacture, possible for any length of time they generate considerable w hat w as to be executed on a large scale and dis
reception halls, and storage quantities of refuse, such as sherds and ash from carded when its head broke off from the back pillar.
pits for pots, foodstuffs and hearth sweepings. There is little evidence of this T he fact th at the galleries had been so careful h
water. here - in fact the area is surrounded by visible emptied implied th a t some of the m aterial worked
bedrock. Rather the galleries resemble the sim ilar there w as precious. So too did the galleries loca
comb-like galleries associated w ith the temples of tion, well away from the sites hypothesized as the
23 8
m ajor areas of settlem ent on the Giza plateau, in pyram id building. Significantly, a large cache of
However, two more substantial deposits contained alabaster boulders and fragm ents w as discovered
a m ix of cooking bowls, plant remains, anim al bone in the open court. T his suggests th a t the installa-
and craft-related items. T his is a caution ag ain st tion in fact served Khafres pyram id complex, for
ascribing one simple function to these galleries, which immense quantities of alabaster were used.
M any m ight be em pty because they were never If so, th at would explain the curious shape of
fully occupied or used. We m ight even wonder if M enkaures precinct walls. T heir elbow enabled
they were to some extent sym bolic - the above- them to incorporate this installation, which then
ground equivalent of the extensive subterranean continued in operation after K hafres reign. As
galleries along the w est side of Djosers Step Rainer Stadelm ann has suggested, we m ay be look-
Pyram id complex. ing at the hemut-semit, the desert or necropolis
w orkshop referred to in w orkm ens graffiti on the
The alabaster workshops g ranite blocks partially casing the w alls of
A nother set of w orkshops is known at Giza, this M enkaures m ortuary temple,
one lying south-southeast of M enkaures pyramid.
It form s p art of the great secondary wall defining The hidden aspect of pyramid
the huge precinct around this pyram id. Here, the building
wall does not describe a neat rectangle, but sw ings M enkaures w orkshop installation w as founded on
considerably south of due east to form a large and buried by deep layers of construction debris -
elbow. In the early 1970s a team from Cairo Uni- stone, gypsum and tafia. P yram id building was in
versity under Dr A bdul Aziz Saleh excavated w hat large p art the m anipulation of m assive am ounts of
seem s to be a small industrial community, nestling this material. Indeed, much of its infrastructure
in the crook of this elbow. m ight be lost beneath it. W hen Khufu began build-
T his installation show s a far more laissez-faire ing, m ost of the plateau w as free for w orkm ens
arrangem ent than the Khafre galleries. It consists installations and settlem ents, b u t for K hafre and
of a broad open courtyard and small house-like M enkaure this w as no longer the case and any sup-
structures built again st the sides of the thick p o rt stru ctu res th a t were in the way would have
precinct wall. In some of the buildings there is a been razed and dum ped elsewhere. T his engineer-
sm all room containing a dais, probably the founda- ing of rubbish in-filling occurred on a vast scale,
tion of a bed. Sloping row s of pedestals surroun- B arry Kemp has dubbed it the hidden aspect of
ded by troughs may be su p p o rts for m aking reed pyram id building.
Fragments o f small limestone
baskets and containers. Two stru ctu res contain In the early 1970s Karl Krorner excavated an area
figurines, perhaps 'trial
ovens which could be pottery kilns, and there are to the southeast of the industrial installation in the piecesfrom galleries west
also 12 horseshoe-shaped h earths perhaps used in M enkaure enclosure, suspecting there m ight be a o f Khafres pyramid.
m aking and sharpening copper tools - a huge task settlem ent there. But though he found settlem ent
debris, it had all been dum ped a t this spot. There
w as also a ram p of construction debris leading up
to the dump. T his ramp, Kromer suggested, may
have been created by the razing and dum ping of a (Below) The precinct ivalls
village or installation because they stood on the site an(^ Sa^ nes west of Khafre s
of a new pyram id - probably M enkaures since seal ^ Z lr X ly Z id J o T m
im pressions bearing the nam es of Khufu and north. (Left) One o f the
Khafre, b u t not M enkaure or Shepseskaf, were galleries attached to the north
found. wall, after excavation.
project an image of King 'Put. An attem pt to render A Roman pyramid: the (Opposite) Ferhaps as far
the idealized serenity and suprem e confidence in tomb o f Gains Cestius, removed from the original
the royal expression of the ancient E gyptian built in 12 b c . pyramids as it is possible to
imagine, the Luxor
sphinx results here in a blank stare.
Hotel/Casino Pyramid in Las
Vegas, guarded by a sphinx
From Rome to the 20th century whose eyes shoot laser beams.
Between ancient E gypt and Las Vegas, a trail of
pyram ids can be traced through time and across
Pyramids have inspired
continents. A ncient Rome carricd the pyram id
artists and architects through
from the close of antiquity to Renaissance Europe. the ages: Piranesi
The best-known, still standing, w as built for Gaius incorporated them into his
Cestius in 12 BC, in the reign of A ugustus. M easur designs for fireplaces (top);
ing 36.58 m (120 ft) tall, it is built of brick-faced Ledoux designed a pyramid
concrete covered with m arble slabs, rising at a far furnace for a foundry
(centre); and Boullee created a
more acute angle than the classic Old Kingdom
plan for a pyramid cenotaph
pyram ids and closer to later E gyptian and N ubian (bottom).
pyram ids. Another, larger pyram id stood in the
necropolis on the Vatican Hill, b u t w as reduced to a toria, garden shrines and mausolea. Claude-Nicolas
small rem nant by the 16th century, and there may Ledoux (1735-1806), who im mersed him self in
have been more am ong the tom bs that once lined Freem asonry and m ystical ideas, designed a gun
the roads leading to Rome. foundry for Chaux with pyram ids as casings for
Following the fall of the Roman Empire, p y ra the furnaces at the corners. His sm oking pyram ids
m ids were kept in the collective consciousness by appear to have been crossed w ith volcanoes.
savants w riting on Romes antiquities, or artists Following Napoleons Expedition to Egypt,
recasting E gyptian m otifs into very un-Egyptian g reater archaeological correctness came to Egyp-
com binations such as obelisks mounted on step tianized designs, with the publication of the
pyram ids, or obelisks m ounted on balls. In the 17th Description de IEgypte, and the earlier and more
and early 18th centuries ever more accurate travel accessible volume by the artist, V ivant Denon, pub
ogues became standard sources for designers. lished in 1802. These sources were augm ented by
Small Cestius-type pyram ids were built on the w ork of artist-travellers such as David Roberts
pedestals and podium s in cemeteries and gardens. (1796-1864) and John Frederick Lewis (1805-76).
In the last quarter of the 18th century designs were T he 19th century saw a profusion of Egyptian-
draw n up for larger pyram idal m onum ents, som e ized houses, gardens, parks, sphinxes, architraves,
tim es on a scale rivalling the largest pyram ids in salons, pylons, bridges and pedim ents. In Germany
Egypt. Mercifully, m ost were never executed. com memorative pyram id m onum ents were built
Two opposite sources influenced 18th-century for princes. In England, T hom as Harrison
visions of pyram ids. Giovanni B attista Piranesi (1744-1829) designed a m onum ental pyram id very
{c. 1720-78) popularized E g y p tian m otifs in his sim ilar to the E gyptian pyram ids in its propor
extraordinarily ornate Rococo designs for cafe inte tions. A t Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire Jam es
riors, fireplaces and fantastical scenery. On the Bateman (1811-97) and M aria W arburton created
other hand, Johann Gottfried H erder (1744-1803) an E gyptian court and sphinxes in stone, b u t with
appreciated the purity and sim plicity of E gyptian pylon entrance and a great truncated pyram id all in
buildings, especially the pyram ids. clipped hedge.
French architects combined the sublim ity of
P iranesis E gyptianizing with the simplicity of
form that Herder em phasized in visions of huge
m onum ents of sim ple m ass and symmetry.
Etienne-Louis Boullee (1728-99), a leader of this
movement, designed m onum ents in the form of
colossal sarcophagi, trium phal arches, domes and
pyram ids. He used the large surfaces of pyram ids
to achieve an awesome, m ournful effect. One of his
cenotaph designs w as a gigantic truncated p y ra
mid with a slope close to the Old Kingdom m onu
ments. In another design, for a m ortuary chapel,
R n illlp p th p c Ia d p /vf VmOYi n v r a r m r l mran
oiAuifcc AAvtieu ine siope ot a nuge pyram id even
more. He designed pyram ids to convey the terror
and desolation of death.
In Europe and Scandinavia pyram ids were built
or designed for sepulchral temples, a dairy, crema-
241
H o u se P y ra m id s
The Late 20th-Century Pyramid Revival Many people have turned to the pyramid form for
their dwellings. Perhaps the best known house
pyramid is that built by Jim Onan and plated with
gold in Wadsworth, Lake County, Illinois. Burt Rutan.
A mericas most innovative designer of airplanes,
rocket ships, and other fast-moving objects designed
a three-story hexagonal pyramid. A1 Pecor, a
Wisconsin native, hypnotherapist and craftsman,
built a white pyramid house in the Sonoran Desert of
Arizona, south of Phoenix for his wife, Diane. The
pyramid rises 13 m (45 ft); the interior rooms include
much Egyptian paraphernalia. T he guest room
features a green carpet sarcophagus in which visitors
lie and gaze at the stars through two huge triangular
windows forming the pyramid peak.
L o n g B each P y ra m id
California State University at Long Beach built a
$20-million Physical Education Pyramid, 56.62 m
(178 ft) tall and 105.23 m (345 ft) square at the base.
C levela n d P y ra m id
Cleveland is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, a $92-million collection of pop music
memorabilia and interactive computers housed in a
five-storey glass pyramid on the North Coast Harbor.
G alveston P y ra m id
The Rainforest Pyramid, located in Galveston, Texas
is 38 m (125 feet) tall and is made of 1,700 pieces of
glass set on to a steel frame. It houses the worlds
largest indoor rain forest. A pyramid shape was
chosen because it offers optimal lighting conditions
and it deflects hurricane-force winds.
G ra n d R a p id s P y r a m id
Steelcase Inc. built a $111-million Corporate
Development Center and office building near Grand
Rapids, Michigan in the form of a broad sleek steel
pyramid that rises from the prairie at a low angle to
seven levels.
242
P yram ids were common grave m arkers in
It was designed by Advanced Structures Inc. in 19th-century cemeteries, such as the pyram id
Venice California for the architectural firm of Hugh
mausoleum to M ad Jack Fuller MP built in 1812 in
& Donald Gibbs. This is a fractal pyramid, composed
the churchyard of St Thom as Beckett in Brightling,
of many smaller pyramidal blocks forming a
multiple-layer space grid. The pyramid contains E ast Sussex, or the many pyram ids (and obelisks)
6,800 moveable seats for spectators, a health club and in H ighgate Cemetery, designed by Stephen
meeting rooms. G eary in 1830 for the London Cemetery Company.
In America, 19th-century E gyptian revivalists
L o u vre P y r a m id favoured obelisks, the g reatest of which w as
In the 1980s I.M. Pei created a sensation by designing the W ashington National M onument designed by
a high-tech glass pyramid entrance in the court of the R. Mills in 1833.
French bastion of culture, the Louvre. The base was T he m ost bizarre idea for a pyramid, one that
composed of stone and exposed concrete, and the would have rivalled the Great Pyram id, w as con
pyramid of custom-cast stainless-steel fittings and ceived by Thom as Willson in 1824 and published in
untinted glass. Because of its stark contrast with the 1842. In the spirit of Boullee, Willson proposed
older buildings, the glass pyramid created much
a pyram id to hold five million bodies, built of
controversy. The French Ministry of Culture and the
brick faced w ith granite, to cover an area of 7.3 ha
Louvre director, Michel Laclotte, chose to complement
the glass pyramid with another, this one inverted and (18 acres) near Primrose Hill, London. S urpassing
subterranean, as part of Le Carrousel du Louvre, a St P au ls in height, the steep pyram id, topped by an
complex of parking lots, fashion houses and obelisk, would contain 94 tiers of vaults.
restaurants between Peis pyramid and the Arc de In 1882 another Thom as Willson, perhaps the
Triomphe. The inverted pyramid, providing light and son of the above, designed a pyram id mausoleum
visual focus, hangs like a chandelier down into the for the assassinated US President Garfield. T his
underground mall. The inverted pyramid was would be topped by an obelisk, w ith an inner dome
designed by Pei, Conn, Freed & Partners. The protecting the catacombs. T he E gyptian Revival
projected cost was $ 2.5 million. continued unabated into the early 20th century
with small pyram ids and obelisks serving as grave (Above) Pyramid as tomb
M e m p h is T ennessee P y ra m id m arkers and commemorative m onum ents. Howard once more, in the monument
In the late 1980s Memphis embarked on the o f Maria Christina o f
C arters discovery of T utankham uns tomb in 1922
construction of 32-storey, $75-million pyramid sports A ustria, 1798, designed by
heralded a second Egyptian revival. Had the Nazis
arena along the banks of the Mississippi River. Called the sculptor Antonio Canova
the Great American Pyramid. It houses a 20,000-seat been successful, dark foreboding pyram ids m ight (1757-1822).
arena for basketball and other events. have been built in the mid-20t.h century. Wilhelm
Kreis and A lbert Speer looked to the designs of
The S a n F ra n c isc o P y r a m id Boullee and Ledoux for inspiration.
The headquarters of the Transamerica Corporation,
San Francisco is so elongated and stylized that it Form and function
barely squeaks into the pyramid category. The The m odern pyram ids on the cusp of the 3rd mil
48-storey, 260-m (853-ft) tall building (including the lennium AD retain the form b u t invert the function
spire) may be the only pyramid that sways when of the giant E gyptian pyram ids of the 3rd millen
shaken by earthquakes. While it is almost twice the nium bc. T he ancient pyram ids were massive, solid,
height of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the base is dum m y hieroglyphic buildings, powerful sym bols
smaller. It was designed by William L. Pereira.
that focused society and cosmos. The m odern p y ra
Construction began in 1969 and was completed in
m ids are light skeletal stru ctu res w hose purity of
1972. The corporate advertising motto is the power
of the pyramid working for you. form nods to their ancient counterparts b u t which
otherw ise have no intrinsic m etaphorical value.
T he ancient pyram ids contained the m ost exclusive
and inaccessible space - the burial cham ber of the
king, a place of death and arcane ritual. The interi
ors of the m odern pyram ids are designed to be
optimally accessible to as m any people as possible
for w ork space and popular entertainm ent.
The pyram ids of ancient E gypt enclosed physi
cal death and celebrated spiritual rebirth. T he m od
ern pyram ids celebrate physical recreation b u t do
not explicitly intend to be spiritual. However, there
is a lightness of being in m ost m odern pyram ids.
Their purity of form four points for the base,
square on the earth, and a centre point draw n up
tow ards heaven - conveys the uplifting of spirit
th at has inspired the hum an career.
joins the original passage system just past the in the great south court with a perfect view of
Visiting the junction between the Descending and
Ascending Passages. From here it is a crouch
the Step Pyramid. Many tours turn right (east)
to cross into the court of the Sed Festival
Pyramids and a climb up the very narrow Ascending
Passage until the Grand Gallery. At the top of
booths, where Lauer has reconstructed the
kings dais and a few of the stone models of the
the Grand Gallery, after ducking through the reed-mat shrines. From the court of the shrines
Antechamber, one enters the Kings Chamber. to the north visitors pass the east side of the
Modern roads have a powerful effect on how we The Boat Museum is well worth a visit. A pyramid and the ruins, on the right, of the
see the pyramids today. They channel visitors truly sublime creation in organic material rather pavilions thought to represent northern and
into pyramid sites along routes that often do not than stone, the boat is a powerful hint of the southern Egypt.
match the conduits of the ancient landscape. sophistication and grandeur of the society that On the north side of the pyramid is the
However, no matter how you approach them, the built the pyramids. serdab box, tilted up towards the northern sky,
giant pyramids seldom fail to astound. If there II: The Sphinx and Khafres complex. A second and containing Djosers statue (now a replica).
is time for study, there is nothing better than major approach to Giza is from the east. The mortuary temple is on a higher terrace,
comparing the drawings, maps and plans of the Originally it was by water (at least seasonally); mounted by stairs from the serdab. It is badly
pyramids to ground truth. Equipment for the today it is a paved road through the bustling ruined, but restorations have made some of its
more exploratory traveller might include a book suburb of Nazlet es-Semman. This route takes plan recognizable.
such as this, pen and paper to note observations the visitor into the north doorway of Khafres Most visitors retrace their steps to pass by
and questions, a camera for visual notes, and, valley temple, through its well-preserved rooms the deep pit of the south tomb, embedded in the
essential for the interiors, a good flashlight. For and up the hallway leading to Khafres southern enclosure wall. Here, a modern stair
all visitors, a hat and supply of water are causeway. Standing on the bedrock shoulder of leads up on to the wall, past the cobra frieze.
necessary, as for sites throughout Egypt. the causeway, visitors look down into the From here, the large tumulus along the western
It is beyond the limits of these pages to Sphinx enclosure. This, too, may soon be side of Djosers enclosure looks like a massive
describe how to see all the major pyramids. reorganized. bank of debris - extensive galleries, never
Fortunately, several of the most significant are The enterprising visitor might walk the thoroughly explored, lie below its entire length.
found in the accessible sites of Giza and length of Khafres complex, for it is perhaps the From the top of the enclosure wall, on clear
Saqqara. Less frequented, but open to the most complete of any Old Kingdom pyramid. days, the southern view includes the mounds of
public, or soon to be, are the sites of Dahshur, Near the pyramid, the mortuary temple is badly the pyramids of South Saqqara, Shepseskafs
Abusir and Meidum. My remarks on visiting ruined compared to the valley temple, but the giant mastaba and. farther south, the pyramids
these pyramids are given in order of major features can be discerned. You may enter of Sneferu and Amenemhet III at Dahshur.
accessibility from Cairo. Khafres pyramid on its north side with the II. Other Saqqara pyramids. As with the Giza
general Giza ticket. pyramids, those at Saqqara are arrayed
Giza III. Menkaures pyramid is approached by car or diagonally northeast-southwest. Farthest to the
Tickets to visit the Giza plateau are purchased foot from the north, by turning off the modern southwest, beyond Unas, lie the ruins of the
at the base of the modern road leading past the road past the west side of Khafres pyramid. unfinished pyramid of Sekhemkhet. The layout
Mena House Hotel at the end of the Pyramids This pyramid, too, can be entered with the is not easily recognized close up, but the
Road. The interior of the Great Pyramid of general Giza admission ticket. Its vaulted burial entrance trench and the niched white limestone
Khufu and the Khufu Boat Museum need chamber is small and elegant. wall along the north side of the first building
separate tickets. Tour leaders purchase tickets Outside, the granite casing is unfinished, and phase can be seen. From the mounds of debris
for the entire bus which then takes visitors up careful observation will reveal how the masons inside the enclosure, the huge low-lying
the paved road to the north side of Khufu. On had already designed the sloping face of the enclosure called the Gisr el-Mudir is visible to
foot, this approach is grand, as Khufu rises on pyramid into the blocks, so that it only remained the west.
the plateau, but the pathway affords a limited to dress back the extra stone. If you walk Descending from Djosers south wall, one
overall understanding of the whole Great around to the east side of the pyramid you can comes to Unass pyramid. The Pyramid Texts
Pyramid complex. Ancient visitors probably enter the mortuary temple. Looking down from on the walls of its chambers are hailed as the
approached Giza from the north only rarely. the ruined entrance of this temple, the worlds oldest written religious literature.
In the evening you can watch the Sound and causeway is a simple band of dark mud and Unfortunately the moisture from thousands of
Light from seats east of the Sphinx and stone lining. The valley temple has disappeared tourists has caused the blue hieroglyphs to fade,
Khafres valley temple. The script is decades beneath the sands since Reisner excavated it. and for some time the pyramid has been closed
old, but lasers have been added recently that to visitors. It is hard to see much of the plan of
project, for example, the interior passage and S aqqara the mortuary temple, although the granite
chamber system on to the Great Pyramid. There is much to see at Saqqara - here I limit frame of the entrance door has been restored.
A reorganization of the Giza Plateau for my remarks to pyramids. The modern visitor Walking down Unass causeway, with low
tourism may soon be implemented. enters the necropolis from the east, before the walls and pavement that still exist or have been
I. The Great Pyramid of Khufu. The original ruins of Unass valley temple, marked by two restored, gives one the sense of what these
access was from the east, via the valley temple palm-form granite pillars that have been structures were like. Part way down are two
and causeway, elements now lost under the restored. Tickets are purchased at the booth on huge stone-lined boat pits.
modern town. Admire the exquisite stonework the right. Ascending on to the plateau, the low For Pyramid Texts the visitor must now go to
of the casing near the centre of the north base mound of Tetis pyramid is on the far right, Tetis pyramid, to the northeast of Djosers and
(the blocks to the west are restored), but also while Userkafs pyramid, looking like a pile of Userkafs, on the other end of the Saqqara
observe the slop factor in the core. Where the rock, is ahead, slightly to the right. diagonal. There is not much to see of the
core stones are preserved you can find chisel I. Djosers Step Pyramid dominates modern pyramid itself and the temple, like that of Unas,
marks from the skilled hand of a mason who tours of the Saqqara Plateau as it must have was practically levelled by lime manufacturers.
worked 4,600 years ago. On the east side you visits in ancient times. In the 3rd dynasty, the The pyramids of South Saqqara - Djedkare-
will find the patch of black basalt pavement of broad wadi leading up from the Abusir lake to Isesi, Pepi I, Merenre and Pepi II are harder to
the mortuary temples court, between two huge the north may have been the main access. get to: either a drive along a desert track west of
open boat pits. Three queens pyramids offer The entrance to Djosers enclosure was at the the main Saqqara Plateau, or, to Pepi II and the
much evidence about building techniques. far south end of the east side. Here modern Mastabat el-Faraun of Shepseskaf, a road
The pyramid is entered by a tunnel blasted tours file through a doorway, barely 1 m wide, through the modern village of Saqqara, which
through the solid masonry. The visitor today and down the colonnade entrance hall to emerge skirts round the cultivation edge.
244
D ahshur defined by the better masonry of the retaining preserved sun temple of Niuserre. Prominent on
The site of Dahshur has recently been opened to walls, in the lower part of the core. This was left the hill are the core of the enclosure wall and of
the public. Tickets are purchased at the end of open for building the chamber and passage, the obelisk pedestal. The ruins of the valley
the road from Dahshur village, about 20 km then filled with looser material. temple have been reclaimed by the desert sands.
south of Saqqara, just before ascending the II. Niuserre. To view the other Abusir pyramids, At the top the causeway core walls are
plateau. retrace your steps back to the southeast corner preserved, which open out to a broad court with
I. The North (Red) Pyramid can be entered with of Sahures pyramid, and walk the diagonal the remains of the obelisk pedestal. Straight
some physical exertion. Here a powerful expansion of the necropolis to the southwest. across the court is the large alabaster altar. A
flashlight is certainly useful. Climbing up the The next pyramid in space but not time is piece of relief carving on a broken granite block
modern steps gives a sense of how the builders Niuserres. You arrive near the ruins of a pylon near the northwest corner of the altar bears the
had to locate the entrance high up in order to that thickened the front eastern corner of the name of the temple, Delight of Re, with the
make a long descending passage to a burial court. To the south is the pavement of the court, obelisk on its pedestal as the ideogram. North of
chamber close to ground level. A wooden and the ruins of the inner part of Niuserres the altar you will find large pieces of limestone
scaffolding and stairway from high up in the mortuary temple. Niuserre bent his temple into pavement carved with low channels. These are
second antechamber leads to the burial an L-shape, and the leg of the V brings you to thought to have been part of the terrace on
chamber. Pits in the floor were dug by those in the entrance hall, roughly outlined by large which animals were slaughtered. They may
search of treasure. Look up at the exquisite pieces of basalt dado. The causeway, diverted have drained to the nine large alabaster basins
corbelling, which also crowns the antechambers. from Neferirkares complex, is flanked by basalt lined up to the east. Three more alabaster
Outside, a walk around the northeast corner pieces which lined the lower parts of the walls basins, less elaborate and with three drainage
of the pyramid brings you to the remains of for its entire length. holes each, are on the north side of the pedestal.
the mortuary temple, as excavated and partially III. Neferirkare. Proceeding southwest, you pass
reconstructed by Rainer Stadelmann, with the southeast corner of Niuserres pyramid, now Meidum
the reconstructed limestone capstone. a rounded mound, to look down across the low Meidum is 50 km south of Saqqara, 70 km
II. The Bent (Southern) Pyramid. A desert road traces of Neferirkares mortuary temple. Very south of Cairo, and so you should plan a full day
leads from west of the North Pyramid to the little remains, although the major outlines can for a trip from Cairo and back. The site is best
Bent Pyramid, a good walk if not taken by car. be seen. Look up at the southwest corner of reached by the Upper Egyptian highway from
The western entrance can be spotted as a small Neferirkares pyramid to see the masonry layers Cairo. You turn off the main road to drive west
opening high up in the casing on its west side, that prompted Egyptologists to think through the village of Meidum, then out into the
but is not easily accessible. At the northeast Neferirkare first intended a step pyramid. desert south of the pyramid.
corner, the path of the causeway is still visible IV. Khentkawes. Crossing the irregular ground The pyramid looks like a tower, complete in
as limestone chips. A walk down the causeway at the south of Neferirkares pyramid, you look its own right - although we know that the shape
brings you to the ruins of the so-called valley down on Khentkawess pyramid and temple. is the result of rebuilding and robbing - rising
temple, of which little is visible. A walk along The pyramid is badly ruined - the pit of the from a prominent white mound of debris. As
the east side of the pyramid brings you to the burial chamber opens through the loose debris. you follow the road west of the pyramid there is
remains of the small chapel, with the stumps of Not much remains of the inner stone temple, a government rest facility. On the north side of
two stelae and the stone canopy that protects a although the bottom of a pillar, painted red and the pyramid is the antiquities authority outpost
hetep offering slab. Rounding the southeast inscribed with the queens figure and titles, for tickets. When you arrive at the end of the
corner of the Bent Pyramid, you come upon its remains standing. Only a small corner of the paved road, Dr Ali el-Khoulis excavations at the
small satellite pyramid. Ahmed Fakhry found satellite pyramid remains standing within its northwest corner give a clear view of the
remains of two more stelae on the east side. The mudbrick enclosure. Farther east, and better masonry of E3 that filled out the step pyramid
entrance to the satellite pyramid is open, but the preserved, are the walls of five magazines. and created a true pyramid. You see the intact
passage is sanded up and is not accessible. Beyond Khentkawes to the south, you see the Turah-limestone casing, with blocks laid
The Middle Kingdom pyramids at Dahshur partially excavated ruins of the pyramids that horizontally. Behind is the yellow limestone
are far from the beaten tourist tracks. The Lepsius numbered XXIV and XXV. which is packing material between core and
pyramid complex of Senwosret III is now being V. Raneferefs pyramid, the last lo the casing. Higher up you can see the limestone
excavated by Dieter Arnold, and is off limits. southwest, may be accessible once the site is corners of E l and E2 peeking through the
opened to the public. Here is a good example of masonry of large core blocks used to fill out F.3.
A busir the very beginning of a 5th-dynasty pyramid - The pyramid is entered by climbing up a
Abusir is soon to be organized for more easy a low mastaba with a central pit and a short wooden stainvay from the top of the
access. The site is approached by a west turn off construction gap on the north side. Only bits of debris, followed by a crawl through the long
the road between Saqqara and Nazlet es- pavement and walls remain of the inner stone descending passage. As you climb the vertical
Semman near Giza, through the bustling town temple, but the mudbrick walls of the rest still shaft to the burial chamber, note the large cedar
of Abusir, if coming from the south. stand to a surprising height, retaining much of logs embedded in the masonry. The burial
1. Sahure. Recently the area of Sahures valley their gypsum-plastered surface. chamber is small and unfinished. Note the
temple has been cleared. Sahures causeway, of VI. The Sun Temples are a good walk south over stump of a cedar log just above the entrance
which the foundation is well preserved, delivers the sands from the Abusir pyramid cluster. You shaft, another higher up, and a complete one
you to the mortuary temples entrance hall and can take the high ground, which means walking across the top - remnants of the system for
court. Two of the granite palm-capital columns up and down desert hillocks, or the low desert lifting the sarcophagus into the chamber?
have been re-erected and bases of other columns close to the cultivation. The ruins of Userkafs You may walk around to the east side of the
can be seen. The ambulatory is recognizable sun temple come first, although if you are not pyramid on the debris, or along its base. This
and parts of Sahures titulary are visible on looking for them you might not notice them. All brings you to the small mortuary temple <>r
stone fragments. Nearer the pyramid, the inner that is left of the upper temple are scattered chapel. From high up you can see the track :
temple is a jumble of stone, but various parts large stones from the obelisk pedestal, the the causeway shooting towards the culm a:: :.
are quite well preserved. terrace of the court and the spoil heaps of From below, you see protruding above the
The pyramid is a fallen heap resulting from excavations. To the west, is a jumble of large chapel roof the tops of the stelae. Each
the removal of the outer casing. A recent stone pieces, including parts of a huge quartzite have been carved with the Horus falo >r.: -:
earthquake has left the entrance and burial drain. Many of the limestone pieces have etched on Sneferus serekh, but were left blank
chamber in a precarious state, and so the hieroglyphs of the workers notations. Almost the mystery of Meidum. The locatii r.
pyramid should not be entered. Stand back from nothing can be seen of the valley temple. satellite pyramid, at the far west enc :
the entrance to observe the construction gap, Moving south you approach the better south side, is marked by pits in The de': -
Land and water management in ancient Egypt: (1977), 2-14
Further Reading Baer, K The low price of land in Egypt,JARCE 1 (1962),
25-45
Bonnet, H., Agyptische Baukunst und Pvramidenkult.
JNES 12 (1953). 257-73
Eyre. C. J.. 'The water regime for orchards and plantations Brovarski, E.. The Doors of Heaven, Orientalia 46, no. 1
Abbreviations in Pharaonic Egypt", JEA 80 (1994) 57-80 (1977), 107-15
AA Agyptologische Abhandlungen Gardiner, A.H., The Wilbour Papyrus, Vol. 2. Commentary Drioton, E.. Review of B. Grdseloff, Das Reinigungzelt",
ASAE Annales du Service des Antiquites de TEgypte (Oxford, 1948) /I S/1 4 0 (1940), 1007-14.
BABA Beitrdge zur agyptischen Bauforschmg und Menu, B. (ed.). Les Problemes institutionels de leau en Grdseloff, B., Das agyptische Reinigungzelt (Cairo, 1941)
Altertumskunde Egypte ancienne et dans I'Antiquite mediterraneenne, Nouvelles donnees concernaut la Tente de Purification'
BdE Bibliotheque d Etude BdE 110 (Cairo, 1992) AS/1E51 (1951), 140
BIFAO Bulletin del'lnstitut franqaise d archeologie Schenkel, W Die Bewasserungsrevolution im alten Agypten Ricke, H., Bemerkungen zur agyptischen Baukunst des
orientate (Mainz am Rhein, 1978) Alten Reiches II, BABA 5 (Cairo, 1950)
BMFA Bulletin o f the Museum o f Fine Arts Willcocks, W. and J.l. Craig, Egyptian Irrigation. 3rd ed., Schott, S., Bemerkungen zum agyptischen Pyramidenkult.
BSFE Bulletin de la Societe franfaise d'egyptologie 2 vols (London, 1913) BABA 5 (Cairo, 1950)
CAJ Cambridge ArchaeologicalJournal T he P y ram id s, th e ir Rise and Fall Spiegel, J., Das Auferstehungritualder Unas-pyramid, AA.
CdE Chronique d Egypte Kemp, B.J.. From Old Kingdom to Second Intermediate 23 (Wiesbaden, 1971)
CRAIBL Compte-Rendus de TAcademie des Period', in Ancient Egypt, A Soda! History (Cambridge, Stadelmann, R., Totentempel 1, LA, 694-9
Inscriptions el Belles-Lettres 1983), 71-182, see 86-92 'Taltempel',/,^ VT.2 (1985), 189-94
CR1PEL Cahier de Recherches de Ilnstitul de Stadelmann, R., Die grossen Pyramiden von Giza (Graz, T his World and th e N etherw orld
Papyrologie et d Egyptologie de Lille Austria, 1990). See 258-62 Allen, J., Genesis in Egypt: The Philosophy o f Ancient.
DE Discussions in Egyptology T h e S tan d ard P yram id Complex Egyptian Creation Accounts, WK. Simpson (ed.), vol. 2
EG Egyptian Archaeology Simple A-group burial tumuli (New Haven, 1988)
GLECS Groupe linguistique pour les etudes Chamio-semitkiues Smith, H Preliminary Reports o f the Egypt Exploration Allen, J.. 'The cosmology of the Pyramid Texts', in J.P.
GM Gottinger Miszellen Societys Nubian Survey (Cairo. 1962). See 64-9 Allen, et al. (eds). Religion and Philosophy in Ancient
JARCE Journal o f the A merican Research Center in Djoser-type vs. Meidum-type Egypt (New Haven, 1989), 1-28
Egypt Arnold, D., Das Labyrinth und sein Vorbilder, MDAIK 35 Gardiner. A.H., The Attitude o f the Ancient Egyptians to
JEA Journal o f Egyptian Archaeology (1979), 1-9 Death and the Dead (Cambridge. 1935)
JNES Journal o f Near Eastern Studies Der Pyramidenbezirk des Konigs A menemhet III in Hornung, E., Agyptischen Unterweltsbucher (Zurich, 1972)
JSSEA The SSEA Journal Dahschur, Band 1: Die Pyramids, vol. 1 (Mainz, 1987) Das Amduat. Die Schrift des verborgenen Raumes, AA 7.
KM T KMT. /I Modern Journal o f Ancient Egypt 13 (Wiesbaden, 1963-67)
LA Lexikon der Agyptologie I. TOMB AND TEM PLE Zu den Schlusszenen der Unterweltsbucher', MDAIK 37
MDAIK Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen T h e Ka. th e Ba and th e Body Em balm ed (1981), 217-26
Instituts, Abteilung Kai.ro Dismemberment and mummification: Lesko, L., The Ancient Egyptian Book o f Tivo Ways
M1FAO Memoires publies par les membres de Assmann, J., Death and initiation in the funerary religion of (Berkeley, 1972)
Tlnstitut frangaise d archeologie orientate du ancient Egypt, in J.P. Allen, et al. (eds). Religion and Piankoff, A.. The Tomb o f Ramses VI. Bollingen Series.
Caire Philosophy in Ancient Egypt (New Haven, 1989), 135-59, vol. 49.1 (New York. 1954)
NARCE American Research Center in Egypt see 137-9. The Mythological Papyri, Bollingen Series, vol. 49.3 (New
Newsletter Hermann, A., Zergliedern und Zusammenfugen. York, i957)
RdE Revue d Egyptologie Religiongeschichtliches zur Mumifizierung, NUMEN 3 Schott, S.. Die Schrift der verborgenen Kammer in
RecTrav Recueil de travaux relatifs a la philologie et a (1956), 81-96 Konigsgrabern der 18. Dynastie, Nachrichten der
I'archeologie egyptienne et assyrienne Spencer, A .J., Death in Ancient Egypt (Harmondsworth, Akademie der Wissenschaften in Gottingen 1.
SAOC Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 1982). See Beginnings of Mummification, 29-44 PhUologische-Historische Klasse Nr. 4 (1958) pp. 315-72
SSEA Society for the Study o f Egyptian Antiquities Wright, G.R.H., The Egyptian Sparagmos, MDAIK 35 'Zum Weltbild der Jenseitsfuhrer des neun Reiches',
VA Varia Aegyptiaca (1979), 345-58 Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in
ZAS Zeitschrift fu r Agyptishce Sprache und Zandee, J., Death as an Enemy (Leiden, I960) Gottingen I Philologisch-Historische Klasse 11 (1965) pp
Altertumskunde. Leipzig/Berlin Ka. Ba and Akh: 185-97
Allen, J.P.. Funerary texts and their meaning, in S. Velde, H. T Funerary mythology, in S. DAuria, P.
INTRODUCTION DAuria, P. Lacovara and C.H. Roehrig (eds), Mummies Lacovara, and C.H. Roehrig (eds), Mummies and Magic:
Chronology and Magic: The Funerary Arts o f Ancient Egypt The Funerary Arts o f Ancient Egypt (Boston, 1988).
Dates used throughout the book follow the chronological (Boston, 1988), 38-49 27-37
table from: Baines, J. and J. Malek, Atlas o f Arwient Bell, L., Mythology and Iconography of Divine Kingship in Letters to the Dead:
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Egypt (1930), 33-9 Zaba, Z., L orientation Astronomique dans Iancienne Atlas des Vorderen Orients (Wiesbaden, 1974)
Supply and T ra n sp o rt Egypte, et la precession de I'axe du monde (Prague, 1933) Jacquet-Gordon, H, U s nomes des domains fu n rc.:>
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monumentale dOunas, BIFAO 69 (1971), 11-41 lsler, M., 'Ancient Egyptian methods of raising weights, P.J. Ucko, R. Tringham. and G.W, Dimbleby ire
Les portes des pyramides et le grande canal de JARCE 13 (1976), 31-41 settlement, and Urbanism (London. 1972). 68 i
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(1947), 39-43 Pyramid,JARCE 20, no. 27-32 (1983) Bietak (ed.), Haus und Palast im alten Agvph > '<V'.---
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Museum. Fifth Series: The Abu Sir Papyri, vol. 65 George B. Johnson 14al, 14cl, 35a, 96ar, 96c, 105a, 156b, 84,85,87,88-9,93,94,95,96a, 97,98,100,102,104,105
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in Sylvia Schoske (ed.), Akten des Vierten E.W. Lane The Thousand and One Nights 1839 40a 165,166a, 167,169,170,174,175,177cl, 179,181,184.
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advantage Herodotus, Histories, Book II, 124, trans. A.
Courtesy The Egyptian Cultural Centre, Waseda Lloyd, p. 39 no crime.. .Great Pyramid Herodotus,
A bbreviations: a-above; b-below; c-centre; 1left; r-right University, Tokyo. Photo Y. Karino 67,118-19 Histories, Book II, 126, trans. A. Lloyd, p. 39 including
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Alinari 42r Drawings and Maps Lloyd, p. 39 for [the Egyptians].. .wore them out
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141ar, 1591,161al, 172al, 174bl, 176a, 178a, 180al, 182b, 213,220,230,236aL 238c on at the Pyramids o f Gizeh, I, p. 170. p. 50 Towards the
191ar Mark Lehner/Jerde Parnership 106-107,109b, 110-115, end.. .great effect H. Vyse and J. Perring, Operations
DAI, Cairo 68,75,227a 124bl, 130-131a, 132b Carried on at the Pyramids o f Gizeh, I, p. 167. p. 51 was
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Peter Clayton 47b, 126-127b W. Flinders Petrie Pyramids and Temples o f Gizeh 1883 39, pp. 274-5. p. 5 4 From the Labyrinth...yet done K.R.
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Zemina 6 ,140-41a, 145a, 146a, 147ar, 148,149b, 152b, C. Piazzi Smyth Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid 1864 discovery.. .had spoken G. Maspero, quoted by L. Cottrell.
159a 56br, 56ar The Mountains o f Plwraoh, p. 160. p. 56 If pink.. .for
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188a, 188b 197ar Innocents Abroad, pp. 621-3. p. 5 9 The excavator.. .it
Foto G. Dreyer/DAI, Cairo 76al Lucinda Rodd 198b contains G. Reisner, from his unpublished excavation
Michael Duigan 169al, 169b, 176b, 199c W.K. Simpson, The Mastabas o f Qar and Idu, 1976 26-27a manual, Archaeological Field Work in Egypt, p. 77 By
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Jim Henderson AMPA 82 M.E. Weaver 125 (1923), p. 247. p. 2 0 2 His majesty...my mistress
Fotoarchiv Hirmer 81,150br, 172 Tracy Wellman 7,13,15,261,27,106,107,129a, 143c, 162,177cr, inscription of Weni, from M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian
Image Bank (Louis Tarpey) 2, (Guido Alberto Rossi) 86-91, 178,183,190,191,194,195.196,198a, 199,227,232,238a Literature, Vol. I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, p. 21-22.
252
barque, see boats colonization 9,227.228
Index basalt 12,18,109,140,141,142,148,149,153,156,202,210,
basin irrigation 12-13,152,232; system 12-13
colonnade 154,155,190,192
columns: lotus 144,148,178: palm 144,153,155.155.202;
Battle of the Pyramids 47 papyrus 148,178
Baufre (4th dynasty prince) 139 Constantine 39
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations beer 202,230,237 control notes 227
Belon, Pierre 43 copper 92,114,157,169,202,206,210,238; statues 73.74,
A-group 18 Belzoni, Giovanni 48-9,50,52,124 159,161
Aac 180 ben-ben 34-5,35,106,142,180,194,240 Coptic language 50; legends 40-1
Abbott Papyrus 165,166 Bent Pyramid 13. 14,39, 4 4 ,99,101,102-4,102, 103,105, corbelling 98,105
Abd al-Latif 41,42 107,109,146,154,181,184,218,219,228,229; valley core, of pyramids 6,12,140,156,161,163,164,168,179,
Abu Ghurob 60,142 temple 103,104,104,228 182,190,218,219
Abu Roash 14,18,36,50,55,66,96,107,120-1,121,124 Berlandini, J. 165 cosmology 28-30,32-3,34-5
Abusir 15,36,38,39,50,60,6 0 ,66,82,83,107,141,150, Birabi 189 cramps, dovetail 170,180,226
152,153; diagonal 83,142; lake 83,142; papyri 27,145, Birch, Samuel 50 Crusades 42
146,147,149,152,232,233,234,235,236; pyramids 13, Blemmyes 199 Currelly, C.T. 190
82,142 52,142, 145, 149,223,231; see also individual boat pits 80,109,118,119,138,173,179 Czech expedition, Abusir 66, 6 6 ,142,145,146,146,147
pharaohs boats 23,25,28,77,123,118-19,119, 125,138, 148,151,
Abydos 14, 72,74-7, 77,78, 79,82,82,84,8 4 ,92,96,96, 152,155,163 dOutremeuse, Jean 42
103,106,138,161,176,177,178,178,182,189,190-1, Book of Aker 30 Dahshur 13,15,3 4 ,36,49,50,57,66,82,97.99,100,101-5,
190,191 192,193,193.196 Book of Caverns 29,30 1 0 1 ,107,108,113, 146,153,168,174,177,177,179,7 79,
Abyss 28,34,35 Book of Gates 30 180,180,181,182,183,184,187,193,214,217,226,231;
accretions 54, 82,94,95,97,147,156, 218 Book of the Dead 24,2 4 ,2 5 ,28,31,197 Lake 13,1 3 ,1 5 ,179,184,185; see also Bent Pyramid;
Adjib 80,57 Borchardt, L. 4 4,60,6 0 ,111,142,147,151,152,217,219 North Pyramid
agriculture 12-13,146,228-9 Boston Museum of Fine Arts 131 Dakhla 16-1
Ahmose 1189,190-91,190, 191,199; pyramid 190-91 Boullaye-le-Gouz 43 Davidson, David (pyramid theorist) 56
Aigner, T. 127 Boullee, Etienne-Louis 241,241,243 Davisons Chamber (relieving chamber, Khufu) 4 4 ,48,51,
air shafts 112,114 bread 202,230,236,237; moulds 232,236,236,237,237, 53
Aker 29 238 dawn 6,33
akh 20,24,2 4 ,25,28,30,31,33,130 breweries 225 de Lesseps, Ferdinand 55
Akhenaten 150,231 brick makers 226; carriers 226; marks 178,226 de Morgan, j. 174,177,179
akhet (inundation) 12 British Museum 48,49,50,52 de Monconys, Balthazar 43
Akhet (horizon) 28,29,33,33,108,130 bronze 210 de Bruyn, Cornelis 43
alabaster 90,117,125,126,137,144,152,153.154,156,157, Bruce, James 45 Deir el-Medineh 192,192,193
258,163,164,166,167,168, 171,176, 179.180,184,186, Brugsch brothers 31,55,158,160 Deir el-Bahri 166-7,167,168,177,189,202,203
202,224,239 Brunton, G. 57,176 Delta 7,12,189, 227.228.229
alignments 57,106-7,120,134,142,156,212 14 burial chamber 15,27,31,33,49,80,8 1 ,87,92,99.154,156, Den 76, 76, 77
Allen, James 33 164,165,180,185, see also individual pyramids Denon, Vivant 46,47,241
Alpinus, Prosper 43 burial ritual 25-7,126 Denys of Telmahre 40
altar 144,148,150.151,152,152,156,166,169,178 butchering 148,150-1,171 Derr, Nubia 45
Amarna 231,238 Buto 72,74,80 descending passage 3 9 ,44,45,48,56,98, 111, 112,123
AMBRIC 204,232 Butzer, K. 7,13 Description de 1Egypte 36, 46, 47
ambulatory 166,167 Diodorus Siculus 39,52
Amduat 30 Cairo 13,41, 46,204 diorite 12,87,167,182,202
Amenemhet 1168-9,168 ,1 6 9 ,174,202,226,229; pyramid Cairo Museum 210 divine booth 26
38,168-9,169,171 Cairo University 217,239 djed pillars 88,92
Amenemhet I I 38,101,171.173,174,184,226,229 Caliph al-Marnun 40,41 Djedefre 9 ,14,107,120-1.121,122,130: pyramid 14,120-1.
Amenemhet III 19,35,39,101,176,176,179-83,179, 180, canal 12,13,25,26,202 124,139,170
181, 182, 183,184,185,189,199,226,226 Cannibal Hymn 33 Djedkare-fsesi 83,147.149,153,155,156,162,231,234:
Amenemhet IV 181,184 Canopic chest 22,92,117,123, 124,153,154,158,158,162, pyramid 83,153-4,153, 154,158,160,163,171
Amenhotep I I 38,131,132 173,177,178,179,180,182,184,187; jar 22,157,171,185, Djehutihotep 203,203, 224
Amenhotep III 127 195; niche 22,180 Djer 22,22,75,76,178
Ameny-Qemau 185,185,189 canopy 117,118 Djet 76, 76,77
American pyramids 242-3 capital city 7,12,202 Djoser 9,14,1 4 ,15,54,83,88,90,95,103, 111, 121,126,
Anastasi Papyrus 216 Carter, H. 60.167 166\ galleries 84,87,90,92,239; Step Pyramid 14,16,27.
ancestors 29-30 cartouche 51,165,169 28,54,55,60,62,62,63 ,66,67,74,77, 77,80,82.82.83.
Ani 25 casing 6,7,12,20,94,95,100,102,109,122-3,122,151, 84-93,84, 85, 86, 87, 8 8 ,9 2 ,97,98,100,102,104,109,
Ankhka (lst-dynasty) 80 156,170,171,172,174,176,190,199,211.213,216,218, 136,140,141,154,155,155, 1 56,156,164,166,171.176,
Anubis 163 220,221,226,227 1 8 0 ,1 8 1 ,182,183,199,240
Apophis (Hyksos king) 190 cataracts 12,196 dock, see quay
apotropaic scenes 33 cattle 199.202.227; draft 203; skulls 79, 79 dolerite 207,211,211
Archaic Period royal tombs 176,190 causeway 18,27,33,35,36,70,82,83,99,100,101,103,104, Dra Abu el-Naga 188.18 8 ,189, 189, 190
Archaic Mastabas 78-81 107,108,1 20,121,143,149.150,151,154,155,156,167, drainage, in temples 144,172,235
Arkamani-qo (Meroitic ruler) 198 169,171.172,181,184,1&5,189,202; see also individual Dreyer, G. 75, 75,76, 76. 77,84,96
Arnold, Dieter 19.27.66,141,165,166,167,171,172,173, pyramids drilling 51,210
174,177,178,179,181,187,216,222,226,227 Caviglia, Giovanni Battista 48-9,4 9 ,50,53,130 Drovetti, Bernardino 48,49
Arnold, Dorothea 168 cedar 103,118,126,202 Duat 27,29,30,33,58
Arnold, F. 227 cemetery 99,107,109,138,165.187.188,189,193,194,194, dummy buildings 84-5
Asiatics 155,190 197,198 Dunham, D. 215
Aspefta (Meroitic ruler) 197,197,198,299 Cemetery U, Abydos 75 dynasty 0 75
Assyria 196 cenotaph 79,100,103,167,190,190,191
Aswan 7,12,202,206,207,211 Cestius, Gaius, pyramid of 241.241 earth-god 28
Asyut 13 Champollion, Jean Francois 50,54,55 Edfu 96
Atbara (river) 198 chapel 9 7 ,100,103,141,153,154,156,157,163,164,168, Edwards, I.E.S. 34,212
Atum 34,35,74,193,194 170,171,173,176,177,181,184,188,197 Egyptian Antiquities Organization 54.6 5 ,67
Auibre Hor 23,181 Chesneau, J. 43 el-Kula 96
Avaris 190 Chevrier, H. 224 el-Kurru 194, 195,195,196-7
Christianity 39,52 el-Qurn 167,189
ba 20,22-4,2 4 ,28,33 circumpofar stars 18,28,90,121,176 el-Tarif J65,165
Bab el-Hosan 167 Clarke, S. 218 Elephantine 7,13,96,189,202
Bahr el-Libeini 13,168 coffin 25,26,52,98,136,157,183,184,188,189,189,198 embalming 22-4,25,27
Bahr Youssef 12 Coffin Texts 23,31 Emery, W. 60,62,66,78, 78, 79,80
bakeries 9,13,225,236-7,237,238 Coiffeur 234 enclosures, Archaic 77, 232; pyramid 14.18.99. 107.1119
Baraize, E. 60,64,65,130 Cole,J.R. 60 125,141,166,169,172,173,174,177.179,181.183.184. : -
253
Engelbach, R. 202,218 hemu-netjer 233,234,235 khentiu-she 105,232,234,235
England 46.52 Herder, Johann Gottfried 241 Khentkawes I (Giza) 107,120,138,138,140,146.146
entrance chapels, see chapels Herneith 78 Khentkawes II (Abusir) 138,142,145-6,145. 146.148
estates 9,228,229,230,231 Herodotus 38-9,54,109,183,225 kheperu 20
hetep (offering) 103,152 Khepri 34,132
faience 74,88,92,153,169,775 Hetepheres 2 2 ,6 5 ,92,116,118.157 kheriu-nesti 235
Fakhry, A. 66 Hetepsekhemwy 77,82,87,154 Khnumet (princess) 174
falcon 31,72, 73,74, 74,99.126 Hierakonpolis 72-4, 72, 74.75,76, 76, 77, 77.80,84,96, Khufu 9,15,18.19.22,23,24,38,39,40.51, 6 5,97,101. . 1
false door 9,27,28,31,33,77,79,80,9 2 ,105,120,135.136, 159 106.107,108,108,114,116,119,121,123,132; block.-
141,146,155,156,157,169,171,178,181,186,207,233; Hinkel, F. 199 202, 225; building pyramid of 212-13,214,216. 217._ -
principle 240 Hoffman, M. 75,76 219,221,222,224,239; casing 109; causeway 39,45. ; .
Farag, N. 57 Holscher, U. 64,125,215 109,1 1 8 ,168,204,232; cemeteries 99,116, 217; Cm;.
Fayum 7,12.14,15.168,174,175,182,202,229 Hor-Aha 74,75,78,80,99 Khufu 231,232; Grand Gallery 44 ,45, 56', 104, 111.
Ferlini Treasure 198,199 Horemakhet (Sphinx) 38,132,132 114; Kings Chamber 4 4 ,45,67,109, 111, 7 72.113.1.
Ferlini, G. 198 horizon 24,28,29,132 114,207; mortuary temple 109,129,169,213; palace
Firth, C. 60,62, 63 Horus 9.20,23,24,28,34,35,72, 73,74,78,80,82,83,90, 204-, pyramid 14, 16,25,29,38,39,3 9 ,40,4 0 .43. 14. '
fish 202,237,238 90 ,96,99,100,105.108,108, 1 17,126,132,148,166 47,48,49, 51, 52-3, 54, 56,5 6 .57, 58.60, 6 5 ,66.67. v*
flood 12-13,28,152 Huni 38,96 9 9 ,1 0 2 ,104.107,108-19.108. 109, 1 1 1 ,1 1 9 ,120,1 -
fortresses 194 hunting 143,144,155,163 122,124,134,135,155,204; quarries 206,215,217;
foundation platform 104,109,116,212.213,214.216 Hussein, A.S. 66,154 QueensChamber67,67, 111, 777,112,114,123, 12.
France 46-7 Hyksos 40,190 queens pyramids 6 5.67,116-17,116, 119,217; sate
French Archaeological Mission at Saqqara 66,158, 159 hypostyle hall 148,162,167 pyramid 6 9 ,109,116. 116,144,222-3,223; Subterrn;
fuel 102,202 Chamber 67, 111, 112, 112,114, 123, 135', valley tem:
Fuller, 'Mad Jack 243 Ibi 31,164 204, 232
funeral 25,27,27.32,80,85,194 ibis 23,24 Khui, pyramid 164-5
Ibrahim Pasha 43 Khuit, queen 157
galleries 82,88,90,94,109,238-9,239 Ibu 25-6,2 7 kingship 72,74
Gantenbrink, R. 67,114 Illahun 15,176,190,226,229,231 Kircher, Athanasius 42,4 2
garden 167 Imhotep 84,8 4 ,173,240 Kite 25,26
Gautier, I.E. 170,172 Imperishable Ones, see circumpolar stare Klemm, R. and D. 66
Geb 28,34,35,74 incense 235 Kreis, Wilhelm 243
Gebel Ahmar 155 Inenek/lnti, queen's pyramid of 160 Kromer. K. 239
Gebel Barkal 194.194,196,197,199 inheritance 30 Kush 194
geology 12-13,106 inner temple 18.142,154.172
German Archaeological Institute 66,67,67,68 Intef 1165,166 labour, see workforce
Gharib, A. 69 Intef I I 165,165,166 Labrousse, A. 157
ghost 24 Intef III 165,166 Labyrinth 39,54,56,182,182, 183
Gisr el-Mudir 82 Intef V I89 lakes 13,13,83,142,155,185,191; pyramid harbours 13. -
Giza 13,14,15,18,36,38,41.4 5 ,48,49,50,52,60,64-5, 65, Intef V II189 lapis lazuli 175
66,67, 70, 72,82,83,92,99,105,106-7,120,122-32.134, inundation, see flood Las Vegas 240,240
136,138,142,142,146.150,157,161,168,169,227,231, IputU 163 Lauer, J.-P. 60, 62 ,63,6 3,66.84,87,158,240
232; geology 106-7; plateau 47,48,49, 58,58,106, 107, lput 31,56,157 Layer Pyramid, see Zawiyet el-Aryan
108,121.204-5,206,215,2 3 0 -1 ,236,238-9; pyramids iron 12,206 Leclant, J. 31
6 ,7 ,6-7, 22,26,3 6 ,39,43,4 3 ,44,45,4 7 ,54,56,67,97, irrigation 12-13 lector priest (kheri-heb) 25,27,2 7 ,233,235
104,106, 107.109,120.134,139,145\ quarries 206; see Isis 23,25,30,35,43,116,174; Temple of 38,116 Ledoux, Claude-Nicolas 241,241,243
also Khafre, Khufu, Menkaure Ita (princess) 174 Leopold-Amherst Papyrus 188
gold 73,74,175,176,179 Itayket (princess) 173 Lepsius, K.R. 54,5 4 ,55,56,96,101,147,182
Goneim, Z. 62,94 Iti-tawi 168 Lepsius pyramids 24.29,50,142,153,156,165
graffiti 5 1 ,53,104,105,114,120,179,239 ivory 74,177 Lepsius Pyramid I (1) 96
grain 202 Lepsius pyramid XXIV (24) 142,149
granaries 190,231,236 Jacquet, H. 228 Lepsius pyramid XXV (25) 142,149
granite 87,109,114,121,124,126,134,135,136,138,139, Jequier, G. 57,161,162,163,164,170 Lepsius Pyramid XXIX (29), see the Headless Pyramid
141,142,144,146,148,152,155,155,162,164,166,168, jewellery 57,147,174,1 74,176,176,177,178,180,198,199 Lepsius Pyramid L (50) 101
169,173,175,176.177,179,180,180.202,202,206,206, Jones, M. 232 letters to the dead 29
207,210,227 Josephus 39 levelling 210,212
Grdseloff, B. 26 Junker. H. 27, 60 levering 202,206,2 08.209,222,223
Great Pyramid, see Khufu Lewis, Frederick 241
Greaves, John 44 ka 20,22-4,28.29,30,33.34.85,92,107, 111, 126,146,163, Libyans 144,148
Green, F.W. 72 180,186,189,233 limestone 12,90,92,105,109,140,147,148,157,158,16<i.
Guillon, A. 67 /ea-chapel 180,181 163,164,171,172,173,176,178,181.202,206.227, m
gypsum 102,172,177,202,203 Kagemni 156 also Turah limestone
Kaiser, W. 84 lion 126,127,149,155
harbour 18,1 8 ,162,168,204, 226,227 Kamose 189,189 Lisht 7,55,60,168-73,202,2 03,215,217,225,226,229
Haroun al-Rashid 41 Kapp, U. 67,130 litanies, see Pyramid Texts
Harrison, Thomas 241 Karnak 39, 7 4,165,188.194 lotus 12,74, 74
Harvey, S. 190 Karakoush 41 Louvre Pyramid 243,243
Hassan, S. 60,64,138 Kashta 194,195 Luxor 7,15
Hathor 137,176.183,235 Kemp, B. 187,226,231,238,239
Hatnub 202,224 Kerise), J. 67 Maadi Formation 106,10 6 ,134,217
Hatshepsut 202 Kerma 194 Maasara 202
haulers 209,224-5 Khaba 95,95 Maat 74,127
hauling tracks (see transport roads) Khaemwaset 38,52,155,155,158 maceheads 72,73,74,180
Hawara 15,19,39,56,175,180,181,182,182,183,184,186, Khafre 9,15,22,38,55,74,106,116,122,125,125,126,132, Mace, A. 134,190
226,227,229 139,141,233; casing 6,122,122,222,222; causeway 124, magazines 18,27,33,75,77,80,80, 8 1 ,137,141,149,152.
Hawass, Z. 26,50,66,67,6 9 ,109,11 6 ,193,216,222,223, 125,12.5,127, 729; complex 127,2C6,207; mortuary 154,157,163,184,190
232 temple 4 5 ,1 2 4 ,124- 5,128,132.238; pyramid 6 ,3 4 ,40, Maillet, Benoit de 44, 45,46
Hayes, W.C. 169 44,45,4 8 ,49.52.56,60, J07,116,120,122-6, 7 22,123, Main Deposit, Hierakonpolis 72, 74
Headless Pyramid (Lepsius XXIX) 153.156,165,165 124, 127,129,135.138,139.146.151,168,206,214,218, Malek, J. 165,232
Heb Sed 92,151,161,169,178,183; court 84 221; quarries 207, satellite pyramid 23,92,126,126; Manetho 39,97,161,164
Helferich. Johannes 43 Southern Tjeniu 231; valley temple 26,66,107,124, 125, manoeuver chambers, Djoser 87,92
Heliopolis 31,34,35,106,121,142,151.155,173,180,194, 125,126,1 2 6 ,1 2 8 ,129\ workshops 238,239,239 Mansouriyah Canal 231,232
227,229,240 Khamerernebtv 9, 736,137 Maragioglio, V. 66
Helwan 78 Khasekhemwy 77, 77,82,84.84 Mariette, A. 55,5 5 ,58,59,126,188,192
Hemaka 78,80 Khendjer 186,1 8 6 Martin. G. 192
254
Maspero, G. 55,58,59,64,171 Nile 7,12,18,20,28,35,39,48,58,72,78,82,83,96,167. private pyramids 19.195
Mastaba 16, see Nefermaat 191,196,198,207,228,231,237 Psamtik 1196
Mastaba 17 99,100,101 Ninetjer 82 Psamtik II198
mastabas 31,53,60,65,66,76,77,78-81. 79,80, 8 1 ,84,84. Nitokerti (Nitocris) 164 Ptah Temple 158
87,88,90,9 5 .101,107,108,119.138,142,148,149,154, Niuserre 142,144,146,148-9,150,1 50,151,1 5 2 .153; purification priests (wabu) 24,25
156,157,164,166,169,173,190,217,235 pyramid 6 0 .1 4 2 ,142, J.48-9,149,152,152,156,162; Purification Tent 25,26.77
Maundevile, Sir John 42 Sun Temple 60,151,151,152,230 pylons 23.149,153,174.181.192
Mazghuna North Pyramid 57,184-5,185,1 85.186,187; nomarch 78-9 pyramid complex 18-19.1 8 ,1 9 ,25-7.31.33. ::7- *
South Pyramid 57,184-5,184, 185,186 nome 12,229 107,109,141. 183,190, see also individual pyrar.
meal, temple service 235 Norden, Frederick 43,45,4 5 ,46,300 Pyramid Texts 28.29,30,31-3.34,55.74-. 1S t - 5 .
Medinet Habu 74, 74 north pole, celestial 28 160,163,173,235
Meidum 7,12,14,1 4 ,15,18,19,22, 23,4 6 ,54,54, 57.66,82, north 222,214 pyramid towns 105,137,138, 142. 162.168.176. .
96,97-100,97, 98, 98, 99, 100.101,102,103,104,105, North Pyramid, Dahshur 14,15,34,66,68,97, L01,104-05, pyramidion 34.3 4 ,35,105,1 0 5 ,173, ISO, IS' . >>: >7
107,108,109, 111, 113,168,193,214,217,217,219,231, 104, 105,177,211,222,222, " 187,188,189,193,207.209,222
Approach 99,217; ramps 217; satellite pyramid 99.217 NOVA experiment 202,2 03,206-7,208-9,208, 20 9 ,214,
Meketre 231 215,215,216,221,223,2 23,225,225 Qa 77, 79,80
Memphis 7,13,15,2 7 ,38,39,40,55,82,83,155,155,158, Nubia 15,18,54,59,192,194,198,199,202,239; pyramids Qadry, A. 67
192.194.227.230.231 192,194-9 Qarun, Lake 12
Menes 39,75,231 Nun 34 Qena Bend 78,165
Menkauhor 150,153,165 Nuri 5 9 ,60,194,196 -7,196, 187, 198 quarries 136,151,156,171.178,182,183.187.197, _ _
Menkaure 9,15,38,44,51,52,53,83,106,107,121,137,139, Nut 24,28,29, 34,35,52,129 206-7,215,227
2 2 5 ,233,236,237; causeway 4 5 ,134,136,206; mortuary quartzite 141,155,156,157,162,173.182.185. Lv
temple 4 5,64,134,136,136\ pyramid 3 4 ,40, 4 1,49, O'Connor, D. 77, 77,84 202
50-], 53, 56, 60,64,67,69,107,120,134-7,134,135,137, obelisk 150,151,202 quay 80.104,123,126,155
140,154,170.207,215,219; quarry 206; queens obsidian 164,180 queen mother 138,145-6
pyramids 47,50,64,134,1 3 4 ,136,219. 219, Offering Ceremony 31,33 queens pyramids 18,108,109.116.15-1.159. Hx>.;
sarcophagus 52, 135,136; valley temple 64,134,136. offering bearers 13,228,228. 233 see also individual pyramids
137,232,232; workshops 238 offering chapel 31,103,141, see also chapel Quibell.J.E, 62, 6 3,72,74
Mentuhotep 0 or II) Nebhepetre 1 65,166-7,166,167,168, offering hail 27,33,3 5 ,178,184
171.188.189.203.231 offering rituals 24,27,31 Ra 84,214
Merenptah 27, 29 offering table 103,158,161,163,166,169,175,202,207 ra-she 232,236
Merenre 83,156,159,160,161,162; pyramid 15,31,55.158, Ombos 96 radiocarbon dating 6,66,88,90.136
160-1,160 opening of rhe mouth ceremony 20,27,31,33,235 Rahotep 22
Meresankh 26 orientation 106,212,214 Rarnesses I I 38,48,52,125.127,155,155
Meresankh III 22,126 Orion 29,3 07 Rarnesses V I35
Meretseger 189 Osiride statues 172,172 Rarnesses IX 188
Merikare 89,16S Osiris 9,20,22,23,25,28,29,30,32,33,34,35,3 5 ,52,79, ramps 2 04,215-17,222,226,227
M erit/ 78,179 107,124,125,142,167,171,176,178,191,191,193, 196, Ranefer 22
Merka (1st dynasty official, Mastaba 3035) 79, 79,80 235 Raneferef 145,146-8,152; papyri 147.148.235; p;.
Merneith 77,78,79 Othman ben Yusuf 41,43 66,142,146-7,1 47,248,150,151
Meroe 15,60,194,197-9,197,198.. 199 Othmans breach, Menkaure 41,137 Re 34,150,151,229; Son of 120,130
Merytytyes 160 reed-mat and wood -frame 26,79.80.88.92.154. > ' -
Metropolitan Museum of Art 57,170 paal (patricians) 79 reference line 213,214,219,221
Milky Way 28 palace 107,231,234,235 Reisner, G.A. 18,59,59,60,64,6 5 ,107. 117.134.:
moat, of Djoser 82,141 palace faqade 77,78,79 195,196,215,217
models 166,231 Palermo Stone 150,228 relief decoration 109,125,141,142,143,143. 1
Mokkatam 13,106,107,122,134,202,204 Palestine 229 156,160-1,162,163.165,167.168.169.171. : 7; .
Montu-Re 167 palettes 73,74 186,190,197,198,202,202
Montuher 38 palm 12 resurrection 28,32
mortal- 7,102,109,202,203,225 papyrus 12,31 Ricke, H. 26,125,128,129,150,151
mortuary temple 18, 26,2 7,44,104,105,107,125,135,143, pavement 18,213 Rinaldi, C.A. 66
144,158,160,172,181,186; see also individual pyramids Pavilions of the North and South 85 rishi coffins 189
mortuary workshop, see wabet Pei, I.M. 243 Rite of the Mound of Jemme 74. 74
mud sealings, see seal impressions Pennsylvania-Yale University Expedition 190 ritual, burial 25-7
mudbrick 77, 77, 79,99,175-83,1 8 2 ,184,188,1 91,192, Pepi 127, 83,105,156,161,161,234; pyramid 19,22,31, ritual meal 235
193,218,216 3 1.33,55,83,157-60,157,158,159,163 ritual run 88, see also Heb Seel
mummification; mummy 22,2 2 ,23, 2 4 ,28,42,156,160, Pepi II83,137,156,163,161, 162,162,163,164; pyramid robbers 9 2 ,102,156.157; stone 92.202.156.157.158 1
166,197,398 15,31,33.55,161-3,161,162,234 173,178,180,183,187.189
myth 32 Per Nu (Lower Egyptian shrine) 79 Robert, M A 200
Per-tver (Upper Egyptian shrine) 72,74, 79 Roberts, David 241
N a p a ta 15 , 6 0 , 194 , 196 , 197 , 198 , 199 peret (corning forth) 12 Rome 42, 241,241
Napoleon 3 6,41,43.44,46-7,4 7 ,48,241 Peribsen 82 rope 7,118
Napoleonic Expedition 46-7 Perring. J.S. 50,52.52, 53,142
Narmer 72,74,75; Narmer Palette 73,74 Petrie, W.M.F. 3 9 ,55, 56-7, 56, 57,58,59,60, 77, 77,97,98, sacrifice 150-1,152,198
National Geographic 237 99,114,145,175,176,182,183,215.225,238 sa#tomb 165,165,166
natron 235 phoenix. 35.35 Sah-netjer (divine booth') 126
Naville, E. 166 phyles 224,234.235 Sahure 144,150.152,223,229,233; pyramid !4- ;
N ebka139 Piranesi, Giovanni Battista 241 143,148,149,150,162; mortuary temple
Nebwenet 159,1 6 0 pit graves 14,18,22 162,235
necropolis 30,99,230 Piye 194,195,195,198 Saladin 41, 45,51, 221
Neferirkare 144,150; papyri 147,233,234; pyramid 3 4 ,55, plug blocks 87,98,104,168,171,184,185 Saleh, Abdel Aziz 206
6 0 ,142,144-5,144, 145,148,150,170; temple 152,156, Pococke, Richard 43,45,45 Salt, H. 48,49
235 Polz, D. 188 Sanctuary of the Knife 148
Nefermaat 99,99,101 population size 7 sand lowering device 183.183,184
Neith, queen 31,163 portcullis 3 1 ,44, 49,80,8 1 ,1 0 2 ,103,1 1 3 ,114,123,135, sandstone 12,196,197
Nekhbet 90,163 148,154,156,164,174,184,185,186 Sandys, George 43,4 3
Nekhen 72, 72.74,75,151,152 Posener-Krieger, P. 147,234,235 Saqqara 13,15,26,31,3 2 .36, 38,4 6,4 9 . 5 - "
nemes 120,125,127,189 potters 225 62,62, (53,63.,66.67, 72, 77. 78-SI. 7*'. ' <. *
.34 JS5 pottery 6.18,26,157 84,90,94,99,9 9 ,101,107,139.140.117. :
Netherworld 20,23,24,26,27,28-30,31,33.5 8 ,75,77,79,
85, 88, 8 9 ,92,106,107,123,154,163,180,187,192
pounders 206,211,2 1 1
precincts, around pyramids 232,236.238, see also
mmmm mm.m
also Step Pyramid
<
Netjerykhet, see Djoser enclosures, pyramid sarcophagus 26^ 31,33.52,57,89.94.98. 1.;
niche 33,80,109,151,154,156,163,166,171,173,174,176, priests 25,26,128,229,230 124, 135,136,140,142,153,154.155.156. . ~
177,189 prisoner statues 148,154,158,159 160,162,164,165,173,174,175.176.177 -
181,182,183.186,187,189,197,211 Syria 228,229
Sit-Hathor-Iunet (princess) 57,176,176
satellite pyramid 18,92,98,102,109,126,134,141,144,149, tafia (desert clay) 84,102,204,215, 217, 226, 239
Acknowledgments
155,180: see also individual pyramids Tanutamun (Nubian ruler) 195,195,196
scarab 35,189 Tarhaqa (Nubian ruler) 5 9 ,196,196,197
For his friendship, support and advice through the
Schaeffer, H. 151 Tawosret (20th dynasty queen) 29
years I would like to thank Zahi Hawass, Director
seal impressions 78,79,84,117,148,236,236 Tefnakhte (Third Intermediate Period) 194
seasons 12 Tefnut 34 General of Giza and Saqqara for the Egyptian
Sed festival, see Heb Sed Tell ed-Daba 190 Supreme Council for Antiquities. 1 am also grateful for
Seila pyramid 96,9 6 ,97 temple ritual 31,233,235 the help and co-operation of the entire staff of the Gi.
Sekhemkhet 62,82,83,94,9 4 ,95,9 5 ,154,156,215,217 temple service 233-5,234, 235 Pyramids and Saqqara Inspectorates of the Supreme
Sekhemre-Wepmaat Intef V 188,189 Teti 156-7,156,161; pyramid 31,33,55, 63,83,156-7,156, Council of Antiquities, particularly Sabry Abd al Azi:
Sekhet-Re 152 157,158,163,164; mortuary temple 156,1 56,172; Director for Giza, and M ansour Rachvan, Senior
Senwosret 1169,172,172,173,174,176,184,190; pyramid queens pyramids 157 Inspector at Giza.
7,170-3,170 .1 7 1 ,174,203,203,217,226 Tetisheri (Ahmose 1grandmother) 190,191,191 My work on the subject m atter of this book would
Senwosret I I 171.173,176,176,179; pyramid 19,57,175-6, Tewfik, S. 192 not have been possible without the support of David
176,226,229; pyramid town 170,231; queens pyramids Thebes 15,39,166,192,1 9 3 ,194 Koch, Bruce Ludwig, Jon Jerde, Matthew McCauley,
179 Thevet, Andre 43 Frank Blanning and James Allen. 1 thank them for
Senwosret in 101,171,177,177,178,178,179,183,190, Thoth 40 serving as directors of Ancient Egypt Research
191,226 Thousand and One Nights 40,41
Associates (AERA). James Allen has been a steadfast
Seqenenre Tao I I 189 throne 172,163
supporter and teacher, and 1have benefited from his
serdab 33,77, 111, 114,123,163; of Djoser 63, 89, 90 Thutmose IV 49,130,1 3 1 ,132,132
serekh 74,78,172 Tia 192,193 scholarship, comments and advice. I wish to thank
Seth, god 23,32,35,96 tjephet (caverns) 27 Rainer Stadelmann for his inspiration, guidance and
Sethe, K. 31 Tomb Uj 75, 75 contribution to our knowledge about E gypts pyram id'
Seti 1196 tools 7,26,202,206,210-11,225,238,239 For sharing thoughts, results of their work and
Shabako 195,195 torus moulding 199 photographs, I am grateful to Jean Leclant, Audran
Shabatko 195 tracks 171,173,202,203,20 3 ,209,226 Labrousse, Miroslav Verner, Dieter Arnold and Nabil
shabtis 59,196,197 transverse corridor 18,144,154,155 Swelim. McGuire Gibson, David Schloen, John
she (basin) 232,236 trees 167,176,190 Swanson and Peter I^covara provided many inspiring
shemu (harvest) 12 Turah limestone 97,103,109,134,138,141,161,164,180, and insightful discussions.
Shepseskaf 120,134,137,139,154,162,233; Mastaba 38,82, 187,202,206,207,211,223 I w'ould also like to thank Aidan Dodson for readinj;
83,120,136,139,154,161 Turin Canon (Papyrus) 38,39,94,108,160,164,181 the manuscript and offering comments and
Shepseskare 142,147,148 Tutankhamun 60,119,189 suggestions. I am grateful to William Kelly Simpson,
Shinnie, P. 198 for his teaching and guidance during my years at Yale
ship 23,202,202, see also boat Umm el-Qaab 75, 75,76,77,189
University, and for introducing me to Tham es and
Shu, god 23,34 Unas 20,31,3 2 ,38,39,83,149,154-5.154, 155,156,202;
Hudson. I am grateful to Lawrence Stager and
Sicard, Claude 45 pyramid 19,33,33, 6 2 ,154-5,154, 155,156,158,192
Underworld, see Netherworld everyone a t the Harvard Semitic Museum for their
simulacra 80,151,152
Sinki pyramid 96,9 6 ,215,217,217 Unfinished Pyramid, see Abusir; South Saqqara; Zawivet support during the time that I prepared this book. 1
Sithathor (princess) 57,176,176 el-Aryan thank William Sumner, Director of the Oriental
sky 28,58 Upuaut II robot (Gantenbrink) 67,112 Institute, for his patience and support. Tom Jaggers
sledge 26,179,202.209 uraeus 146,146,175,176 and John and Peggy Sanders were more than generous
Smith,G. Eliot 160 Userkaf 9,82,1 40,142,1 49,150-1,156; pyramid 19,63, with the time and creativity they pul into computer
Smyth, Charles Piazzi 56,5 6 ,57,114 82-3,140-41,1 4 0 ,1 4 1 ,154,229,233 modelling and illustration. I am grateful for the survey
Sneferu 14,1 4 ,15,34,38,54,57,82,96,97,98,98, 99,100, work of Ulrich Kapp, for whose collaboration I thank
101,102,105,104,105,107,108,116,121,153,181,182, valley temple 18,26,77,100,103,107,151,171,181; see also the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, and
184,193, 219, 228, 228, 229,231,234; pyramid town 234; individual pyramids David Goodman, Senior Surveyor for the Giza Plateau
see also Meidum, Bent Pyramid, North Pyramid valley enclosures 14,77, 77, 79 Mapping Project (GPMP), who, for many years, has
Sobek 182,183 Valley of the Kings 15,30,39,167,188,189,192 been my friend in the field and who designed our
Sobekneferu (12th dynasty queen) 181 Verner, M. 64,138,142,1 46,147,148,152 survey control system. I thank John Nolan and Wilma
Sokar 30,235 viscera 92,117,158
Wetterstrom for their collaboration in the fieldwork
solstice 130 vulture 90
and back home. I am grateful for the support of The
soul 23,24 Vyse, Howard 49,50,52,5 2 ,53,136
American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), and its
southwest 76,103,106,138,191
Speer, Albert 243 wabet 25-6,26, 2 7 ,236,236 Directors, Terry Walz and Mark Easton. Particular
Sphinx 29,38,39,40,40,4 2 ,43,47,4 9 ,51,58,60,64,6 5,67, wadi 77,78,82,155,188 thanks go to Amira Khattab, Assistant Director of
69,106,122,126,127,127,128, 129,130,131,132,132, Wadi Abu Suffian 72,75,83,160,161 ARCE, and Amir Hassan Abdel Hamid, who has acted
193,206,240; Temple 106, 107,128-30,128, 129,132, Wadi Hammamat 182 as Project Manager for the GPMP. This is another bool*
150 Wadi Maghara 94 that owes its existence to the editorial, design and
sphinxes 29,120,126,142,149,162 Wall of the Crow 231,2 31,236 production team a t Tham es and Hudson.
Stadelmann, R. 34,66,67,6 9 ,82,84,97,101,102,104-5, Waseda University 67,67 T his book would not have been possible without the
108,114,121,124,134,153,166,176,183,186,189,216, Washington National Monument 243 love and support of Julia Cort and her extended family
222,224,232,234,239 water; levelling by 210,244; lifting 210 I am deeply grateful for the understanding and
stars, decorative 87,92,142,149,156,162,162,154; wavy-wall 184,184 support of my sons, Ramsi and Luke Lehner. In my
orientation using 212; see also circumpolar wedjat eyes 34,3 4 ,180,180 own Archaic Period, my sojourn in Egypt would not
statues 8 ,9 ,33,55,84,9 0 ,103,107,125,126,128-9,132, Wedjebten, queen 31,1 6 2 ,163,163 have happened without the support of Hugh Lynn
136.136,137,141,144,148,149,154,158,159,161,162, Weni 161,202 Cayce, the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Norrene and Davii
163,167,172,172,176,177,180,182,192, 202,203,203, Wenke, R. 6
Leary, Sam and Rufus Mosely, Arch and Ann Ogden,
234,235 Westcar Papyrus 38,141
Ursula Martin and Joseph Jahoda. Extending from my
stelae 14,29,38,49,57,76,78, 78,81,99,100,103,103,105, White Wall, see Memphis
132,132,150,190,191,193,194,197 Winlock, H. 166,167,189,189 own predynastic until now, this book stems ultimately
step pyramids 96,102,215,218,219 work gangs 224-5,227 from the encouragement and sense of quest
Step Pyramid, see Djoser workers settlement 230,236-7 engendered in me by my parents, Paul and Ethel
stone vessels 90.148,162 workforce, size 200,224-5,227 Lehner, and my mothers fascination, from as far away
Strabo 39, 54,183 Workmens Barracks 238 as North Dakota, for the distant land of Egypt.
stress relieving structures 4 4 ,53,109, 111, 181 workshops 238-9
Sudan 194 Yale University 190
sun 6,35,129,130,141,180 Yoshimura, S. 67
sun-god 31,152 Youssef, A. 67,118,119
sun temple 130,149-51,152
survey, ancient 212-14 Zaba, Z. 66
Swelim, N. 9 6 ,141 Zawiyet el-Aryan 15,95,9 5 ,107,139,139,171
sycamore 167 Zawiyet el-Meitin 96,96
256