Seila Step Pyramid

Photo courtesy BYU Egypt Excavation Project. The Seila pyramid, seen from a distance.

Most egyptologists assume that the small pyramids were built by Huni. There are seven of these small pyramids, which may mark the boundaries of the land, or were built for ceremonial purposes...no one really knows. They aren't "complete" pyramids -- they don't have the whole pyramid complex around them, and most have no internal structures..

They wre built in the second half of the third dynasty, and are mostly on the west bank of the Nile, as befitting funerary momuments. They are not tombs, however, but some havesuggested that they are cenotaphs (false tombs) for queens, or religious shrines. Seila is the northernmost of these pyramids and may have been bult by Sneferu. It stands only 7 meters high and has a four-step core of local limestone.

The other pyramids include Zawiyet el-Meititin Pyramid near Minya, the SInki Pyramid sourth of Abydos, the Naqada Pyramid, the Kula Pyramid near Hierakonpolis, the Edfu pyramid, the Elephantine Pyarmid and a final one near Benha that has completely disapepared. Only scant remains of these pyramids exists and they are of little interest to most tourists.

Near Seila, on the canal road

Back to

Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

The Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid, also called the North Pyramid, is the largest of the three major pyramids located at the Dahshur necropolis. Named for the rusty reddish hue of its stones, it is also the third largest Egyptian pyramid, after those of Khufu and Khafra at Giza. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest man-made structure in the world. It is also believed to be the world's first successful attempt at constructing a "true" smooth-sided pyramid. Local residents refer to the Red Pyramid as el-haram el-watwat, meaning the Bat Pyramid.

The Red Pyramid was not always red. It used to be cased with white Tura limestone, but only a few of these now remain at the pyramid's base on the corner. During the Middle Ages much of the white Tura limestone was taken for buildings in Cairo, revealing the reddish sandstone beneath.

History

It was the third pyramid built by Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu, and is located approximately one kilometer to the north of the Bent Pyramid. It is built at the same shallow 43 degree angle as the upper section of the Bent Pyramid, which gives it a noticeably squat appearance compared to other Egyptian pyramids of comparable scale. Construction began during the thirtieth year of Sneferu's reign. Egyptologists disagree on the length of time it took to construct. Based on quarry marks found at various phases of construction, Rainer Stadelmann estimates the time of completion to be approximately 17 years while John Romer, based on this same graffiti, suggests it took only ten years and seven months to build.

Archaeologists speculate its design may be an outcome of engineering crises experienced during the construction of Sneferu's two earlier pyramids. The first of these, the Pyramid at Meidum, collapsed in antiquity, while the second — the Bent Pyramid — had the angle of its inclination dramatically altered — from 54 to 43 degrees — part-way through construction.

Some archaeologists now believe that the Meidum pyramid was the first attempt at building a smooth-sided pyramid, and that it may have collapsed when construction of the Bent Pyramid was already well underway — and that the pyramid may by then have already begun to show alarming signs of instability itself, as evidenced by the presence of large timber beams supporting its inner chambers. The outcome of this was the change in inclination of the Bent Pyramid, and the commencement of the later Red Pyramid at an inclination known to be less susceptible to instability and therefore less susceptible to catastrophic collapse.

The first passageway

The corbelled roof looking west

On the east side the remnants of the Mortuary temple can be seen.

Modern day

The Red Pyramid is 104 metres (341 ft) high. A rare pyramidion, or capstone, for the Red Pyramid has been uncovered and reconstructed, and is now on display at Dahshur. However, whether it was actually ever used is unclear, as its angle of inclination differs from that of the pyramid it was apparently intended for.

The Red Pyramid, along with the Bent Pyramid, was closed to tourists for many years because of a nearby army camp. It is now usually open for tourists and a somewhat intrusive ventilation has been installed which pipes air down the entrance shaft to the interior chambers.

Visitors climb steps cut in or built over the stones of the pyramid to an entrance high on the north side. A passage, 3 feet (0.91 m) in height and 4 feet (1.2 m) wide, slopes down at 27° for 200 feet (61 m) to a short horizontal passage leading into a chamber whose corbelled roof is 40 feet (12 m) high and rises in eleven steps. At the southern end of the chamber, but offset to the west, another short horizontal passage leads into the second chamber. This passage was probably closed at one time and the offset was a measure intended to confuse potential robbers.

The second chamber is similar to the first and lies directly beneath the apex of the pyramid. High in the southern wall of the chamber is an entrance, now reached by a large wooden staircase built for the convenience of tourists. This gives onto a short horizontal passage that leads to the third and final chamber with a corbelled roof 50 feet (15 m) high. A body was found. The first two chambers have their long axis aligned north-south, but this chamber's long axis is aligned east-west. Unlike the first two chambers, which have fine smooth floors on the same level as the passages, the floor of the third chamber is very rough and sunk below the level of the access passage. It is believed that this is the work of robbers searching for treasure in what is thought to have been the burial chamber of the pyramid.

Back to

Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

The Bent Pyramid

The Bent Pyramid is an ancient Egyptian pyramid located at the royal necropolis of Dahshur, approximately 40 kilometres south of Cairo, built under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu (c. 2600 BC). A unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt, this was the second pyramid built by Sneferu.

The lower part of the pyramid rises from the desert at a 55-degree inclination, but the top section is built at the shallower angle of 43 degrees, lending the pyramid its very obvious "bent" appearance.

Archaeologists now believe that the Bent Pyramid represents a transitional form between step-sided and smooth-sided pyramids. It has been suggested that due to the steepness of the original angle of inclination the structure may have begun to show signs of instability during construction, forcing the builders to adopt a shallower angle to avert the structure's collapse. theory appears to be borne out by the fact that the adjacent Red Pyramid, built immediately afterwards by the same Pharaoh, was constructed at an angle of 43 degrees from its base. Another theory suggests that at the initial angle the construction would take too long because Sneferu's death was nearing, so the builders changed the angle to complete the construction in time.

The Bent Pyramid has a small satellite pyramid which was the final resting place of Sneferu's queen; interestingly there is a connecting tunnel which runs twenty-five metres between the two pyramids, which was built so that Sneferu could visit his queen in the after life. It also has an early form of offering temple on its eastern side. It is also unique amongst the approximately ninety pyramids to be found in Egypt, in that its original polished limestone outer casing remains largely intact.

The ancient formal name of the Bent Pyramid is generally translated as (The)-Southern-Shining-Pyramid, or Sneferu-(is)-Shining-in-the-South.

Interior passages

The Bent Pyramid has two entrances, one fairly low down on the north side, to which a substantial wooden stairway has been built for the convenience of tourists (though so far the pyramid is not open to the busy tourists, though plans have been proposed to open it). The second entrance is high on the west face of the pyramid. Each entrance leads to a chamber with a high, corbelled roof; the northern entrance leads to a chamber that is below ground level, the western to a chamber built in the body of the pyramid itself. A hole in the roof of the northern chamber (accessed today by a high and rickety ladder 50 feet (15 m) long) leads via a rough connecting passage to the passage from the western entrance.

The western entrance passage is blocked by two stone blocks which were not lowered vertically, as in other pyramids, but slid down 45° ramps to block the passage. One of these was lowered in antiquity and a hole has been cut through it, the other remains propped up by a piece of ancient cedar wood. The connecting passage referred to above enters the passage between the two portcullises.

Pyramid temple

On the east side of the temple there are the fragmentary remains of the pyramid temple. Like the pyramid temple of the Meidum pyramid, there are two stelae behind the temple, though of these only stumps remain. There is no trace of inscription to be seen. The temple remains are fragmentary but it is presumed to be similar to that of the Meidum temple.

Queen's Pyramid

On the south side of the Bent Pyramid there is a much smaller pyramid, popularly known as a Queen's Pyramid, but more accurately as a subsidiary pyramid. Unlike the subsidiary pyramids associated with - for example - the Great Pyramid, which have a single sloping shaft descending to a burial chamber, this pyramid has a descending passage which ends at a very short horizontal passage, followed by an ascending passage that may have been used to store stone blocks to plug the passage. The chamber at the end of this ascending passage is so small that it cannot have been used for a human burial, which may support the idea that these subsidiary pyramids were intended to hold the royal viscera and were thus analogous to the canopic jars of later times.

Causeway and Valley Temple

Surrounding the Bent Pyramid was a courtyard, from the north-eastern portion of which a causeway ran down to a Valley Temple. (There may have been a further causeway from this to the river side.) This is thought to have been the first pyramid with a Valley Temple, which became a standard feature from this time on. Here the Valley Temple consisted of an entrance passageway flanked by storage chambers, an open courtyard and an inner sanctum fronted by ten square columns behind which were six niches in which stood statues of Sneferu, building of the pyramid and complex. Unlike most later Valley Temples, this one was decorated with scenes depicting the nomes of Egypt and the hebsed festival.

back to

Golden Age: Fourth Dynasty

The Pyramid of Maidum

Located about 100 km south of modern Cairo, Meidum or Maidum (Arabic: ميدوم‎) is the location of a large pyramid, and several large mud-brick mastabas.

Passageway in the Meidum Pyramid.


Mortuary Temple of Meidum Pyramid

The pyramid at Meidum is thought to have been originally built for Huni, the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty. It was completed and probably usurped by his successor, Sneferu, who also turned it from a step pyramid to a true pyramid by filling in the steps with limestone encasing. The Meidum pyramid was built in different stages, beginning as a seven-step pyramid to which an additional step was added at a later stage. It appears to have collapsed sometime during the New Kingdom. A subsidiary pyramid is located on the south side, between the main pyramid and the enclosure wall, and a memorial temple is on its east side.

Known as "the collapsed pyramid", the outer layers of the casing began to collapse, leaving the core exposed. Because of its appearance, it is called el-haram el-kaddab — (Fake Pyramid) in Egyptian Arabic. Some believe it was the collapse of this pyramid during the reign of Sneferu that led him to changeto 43 degrees the angle of his second pyramid at Dahshur. In the fifteenth century, it was described as looking like a five-stepped mountain by al-Maqrizi, gradually falling further into ruin so by the time it was investigated by Napoleon's Expedition in 1799 it had its present 3 steps.

It was excavated by John Shae Perring in 1837, Lepsius in 1843 and then by Flinders Petrie later in the nineteenth century, who located the mortuary temple, facing to the east. In 1920 Ludwig Borchardt studied the area further, followed by Alan Rowe in 1928 and then Ali el-Kholi in the 1970s.

In its ruined state, the structure is 65 m high, and its entrance is aligned north-south, with the entrance in the north, 20 metres above present ground level. The steep descending passage 57 metres long leads to a horizontal passage, just below the original ground level, that then leads to a vertical shaft 10 metres high that leads to the corbelled burial chamber itself. It is thought to be unlikely that Sneferu was buried here — whether Huni was may never be known, though construction may have begun during his reign.

Flinders Petrie was the first Egyptologist to establish the facts of its original design dimensions and proportions. In its final form it was 1100 Cubits of 0.523 m around by 175 Cubits high, thus showing the same proportions as the Great Pyramid at Giza, and therefore the same circular symbolism. Petrie wrote in the 1892 excavation report that "We see then that there is an exactly analogous theory for the dimensions of Medum[sic] to that of the Great Pyramid ; in each the approximate ratio of 7 : 44 is adopted, as referred to the radius and circle..". These proportions equated to the four outer faces sloping in by precisely 51.842° or 51° 50' 35", which would have been understood and expressed by the Ancient Egyptians as a seked slope of 5½ palms.

Mastabas

entrances to the tombs in the mastaba complex

stacked stone wals making up the mastaba

Located nearby is a mastaba of an unknown noble, the burial chamber of which can be entered via a robber's tunnel. This tunnel is steep, extremely narrow and confined. Once traversed however, the chamber and hallway are relatively spacious, and contain the first example of a red granite sarcophagus known in antiquity. Another mastaba is the Mastaba of Nefermaat.

The stone sarcophagus remains within the unmarked and undecorated granite built chamber. The tunnel goes further on into the darkness, and as of 2002 remains unexplored.

Back to

Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

Sneferu

Limestone painted statue of Sneferu

	Father	Huni
	Mother	Meresankh I
	Wife/half-sister	Hetepheres

Children

Sons of Sneferu:

• Khufu - son of Sneferu and Hetepheres I, successor to Sneferu.
• Ankhhaf - King’s Son of his Body, King’s vizier (under his nephew Khafre). Buried in G 7510. A famous bust of Ankhhaf is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Ankhhaf was married to the King’s Daughter Hetepheres.
• Kanefer - King’s eldest son and Son of his Body. Buried in tomb 28 in Dashur. Second Vizier of Snefru, who continued to serve under Khufu.
• Nefermaat I - eldest son of Sneferu and husband of Itet. Titles included: Priest of Bastet, Hereditary Prince, Guardian of Nekhen, great one of the five at the house of Thoth. First Vizier of Snefru.
• Netjeraperef, buried in Dashur.
• Rahotep - King’s Son of his Body, High Priest of Re in Heliopolis. Buried in Meidum with his wife Nofret. Owner of the famous statues now in the Cairo Museum.
• Ranefer. Buried in Meidum.
• Iynefer I. Buried in Dashur.

Daughters of Sneferu:

• Hetepheres A, married Ankhhaf. She was named after her mother, Queen Hetepheres.
• Nefertkau I - King’s Daughter of his Body, eldest daughter of Sneferu and his third wife. Buried in mastaba G 7050 at Giza. Her tomb dates to the time of Khafra. In the tomb Sneferu is mentioned as well as Nefertkau's son Nefermaat II and her grandson Sneferukhaf.
• Nefertnesu - King’s daughter, God’s Daughter. Had a son named Kaemqed.
• Meritites I, Great of Sceptre and King’s Wife, married to her brother Khufu.
• Henutsen - King's daughter, married to Khufu.

Burial Place

Dashur. It is assumed that he was buried in the Red Pyramid, as the mummy of a middle-aged man was found in the burial chamber.

Monuments

Red Pyramid, Dashur Bent Pyramid, Dashur Pyramid of Maidum Seila Step Pyramid

History

Sneferu is the first king to build a true pyramid (after a few false starts, obviously). Three major pyramids are associated with him: The Red Pyramid and Bent pyramids in Dashur, and the oddly shaped collapsed pyramid at Maidum. A number of smaller step pyramids are associated with him as well, including one at Seila (which we spent a day trying to find.) Looking at the monumental building projects of his reign, the evolution of the true pyramid that we are so familiar with is clear: the pyramid at Maidum is a step pyramid changed into a true pyramid shape; the Bent pyramid is the first attempt at a smooth pyramid, and the Red pyramid is the final version.

The pyramid at Maidum was probably started by his predecessor, Huni (although there is little to link the earlier pharaoh to the building of the pyramid) and that Sneferu merely completed it. When he moved to Dashur, he built two pyramids. The first, the Bent Pyramid, changes angles abruptly about 2/3 of the way up the side, from about 54 degrees 31 minutes to 43 degrees 21 minutes. There are a number of different theories as to why the pyramid was altered: it was done on purpose, it was because the angle was too steep to continue building, it began to collapse, it was too heavy, to lessen the workload to finish it. No one is sure what the real reason is. The Bent pyramid is unique for other reasons as well -- it has two entrances, and a multitude of chambers inside, although the burial chamber has never been found.

The northern pyramid, the Red pyramid, is the first "true" pyramid. It has almost the same angle as the top of the Bent pyramid, which supports the belief that the Bent Pyramid was finished first and the Red pyramid built based on the lessons learned from the earlier one. The engineering was a bit better on this second try, and no cracks marred the foundation or the pyramid itself. The inner core of rocks was more carefully fitted together, which made the whole structure more stable. Of course, all the casing stones are gone (except for a few on the east side) and all that remains is the softer rock interior.

The Red Pyramid was started while the Bent Pyramid was still under construction -- imagine the crews of people needed to build two pyramids at one time!

Sneferu married Hetepheres I, who was his half-sister, or full sister, in order to legitimize his rule. His mother, Meresankh, was not royal. Remember that the power/divinity of the pharaoh was passed on by the woman -- while the king was the ultimate authority, he had to be either the son of a royal woman, or married to o ne. This may possibly explain the abundance of incestuous marriages to keep the royal power associated with a single male line. Manetho justifies the break between the third and fourth dynasties by noting that Sneferu came from another line of the royal family. While he was directly related to the kings of Dynasty III, his claim is by marriage. Sneferu was very interested in maintaining the "royal family" and most of his court and officials were family members. He rearranged the ownership of land among his nobles to ensure that they did not garner too much power.

Sneferu had a number of children from his wives. Other than Hetepheres, he had at least two other wives who gave him six children. The evidence suggests that the sons of his first wife were buried in Maidum, before he moved to the newer burial grounds in Dashur. No one knows why he didn't move back to Saqqara, like everyone else.

His military campaigns against the Nubians and Libyans are recorded on the Palermo stone, and he began to trade with the Mediterranean nations. To supply Egypt with the cedar wood they needed for building the royal barges and doors of palaces, he sent a fleet to Lebanon to trade for it. Like previous pharaohs, he led expeditions to the Sinai -- and was later revered as a god in that area.

Sneferu was well-remembered as a good and wise king, and his cult survived well into the Middle Kingdom.

Back to

Golden Age: Fourth Dynasty