Through the Eras

Architecture and DesignPYRAMIDComplexes of the Later FourthDynastyThe table below lists different pyramid complexesfrom the later Fourth Dynasty built by various kings, thetype of pyramid they likely represented, and where the remainswere located or where the pyramid was most likelybuilt based on ancient record. They are listed in chronologicalorder by reigning king. Absolute dates for these kingsand their buildings still remain unknown. Scholars namedthese pyramid complexes after the kings that most likelybuilt them with the location name as a signifier since theancient names for these buildings are not preserved.SOURCE: Dieter Arnold, “Royal Cult Complexes of the Old andMiddle Kingdoms,” in Temples of Ancient Egypt. Ed. Byron E.Shafer (Ithica, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997): 58–59.King Pyramid LocationSneferu Meidum pyramid MeidumSneferu Bent pyramid DahshurSneferu Red or North pyramid DahshurKhufu Great pyramid GizaDjedefre (aka Radjedf) Abu Roash pyramid Abu RoashKhafre Second pyramid GizaMenkaure Third pyramid GizaNebka Unknown Zawiyet el-AryanShepseskaf Mastabat el Fara'un pyramid SaqqaraCREATED BY GGS INFORMATION SERVICES. GALE.that begin on the north face of the pyramid. The lowerpassage begins at ground level. It leads to a subsidiarychamber 10.41 by 3.12 meters (34.1 by 10.2 feet) witha ceiling 2.61 meters (8.5 feet) above the floor. Thechamber’s location below ground level has led to its comparisonto Khufu’s Subterranean Chamber or Queen’sChamber. American archaeologist Mark Lehner associatedit with a statue chamber. The passage continues beyondthe chamber and ascends to meet the other, higherdescending passage. The passages merge and continue tothe burial chamber, a 14.14 by 5-meter (46.3 by 16.4-foot) room with a ceiling 6.83 meters (22.4 feet) abovethe floor. This chamber contains a black granite sarcophagus.When the Italian explorer Giovanni Belzonientered the chamber in 1818, he found the lid on thefloor and the sarcophagus empty except for some bonesbelonging to a bull. The German archaeologist RainerStadelmann suggested that tomb robbers in antiquityhad left the bones in the sarcophagus, though to whatpurpose is unknown. Khafre’s subsidiary pyramid waslocated in the center of the south side of his pyramid.Only the foundations remain along with the undergroundportion of the building. One of two descendingpassages began outside the actual outline of the pyramidand descended into the bedrock. This passage led to adead end that contained a niche located on the centralaxis of the pyramid. Archaeologists discovered pieces ofwood inside the niche that, when reassembled, formeda divine booth, a distinctive structure the Egyptians usedto house statues. In relief sculptures found in the tombof Khufu’s granddaughter, Queen Meresankh, a divinebooth is depicted holding a statue of this queen. The existenceof an actual divine booth in the subsidiary pyramidof Khafre adds weight to the theory that thesesmaller pyramids housed the burial of a statue. Scholarsused this evidence to associate all of the subsidiary pyramidsfound at Fourth-dynasty pyramid complexes withthe South Tomb in Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex inSaqqara. Khafre’s pyramid temple and valley temple arethe best-preserved of the Giza temples. They also havebeen fully excavated, thus making modern knowledge ofthem much more complete. The pyramid temple containsthe five parts that became the standard in the laterpyramid complexes: the entrance hall, the broadcolumned court, a group of five niches for statues of theking associated with the king’s five official names, agroup of five storage chambers associated with the fivephyles (rotating groups of workers who ran the temple),and an inner sanctuary with a pair of steles and a falsedoor. The material for this 56 by 111-meter (183.7 by364.1-foot) building consisted of limestone megalithscased with either granite or Egyptian alabaster (calcite).It is likely that the complex included many statues, probablyremoved during the New Kingdom by Ramesses II(1279–1213 B.C.E.) for other royal projects.Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 25