Pyramid of Nyuserre

Pyramid of Nyuserre
A photograph of the pyramid's north face. It has the appearance of a rubble mound.
The north face of the Pyramid of Nyuserre
Nyuserre Ini
Coordinates 29°53′44.4″N 31°12′12.8″E / 29.895667°N 31.203556°E / 29.895667; 31.203556Coordinates: 29°53′44.4″N 31°12′12.8″E / 29.895667°N 31.203556°E / 29.895667; 31.203556
Ancient name
<
N5
N35		 F12S29D21
>Y5
N35		 Q1Q1Q1O24

Mn-swt-N.wsr Rˁ
Men-sut-Ni-user-Re[1]
"Enduring are the places of Nyuserre"[2]
Alternatively translated as "The places of Nyuserre Endure"[3] or
"Established are the places of Nyuserre"[4]
Constructed Fifth Dynasty
Type True pyramid
Material Limestone
Height 51.68 m (169.6 ft; 98.63 cu)[5]
Base 78.9 m (259 ft; 150.6 cu)[5]
Volume 112,632 m3 (147,317 cu yd)[6]
Slope 51° 50' 35[5]
Location within Egypt

The Pyramid of Nyuserre, also spelled Pyramid of Niuserre,[7] is the pyramid complex built for the pharaoh Nyuserre Ini[7] of the Fifth Dynasty in the mid 25th century BC.[lower-alpha 1][8] The complex, located in the Abusir necropolis, sits between the complexes of Neferirkare and Sahure. It is noted for its unusual location and many deviations from contemporary architectural designs.

Prior to building his own monument, Nyuserre first completed the unfinished monuments of his father, Neferirkare Kakai, mother, Khentkaus II, and brother, Neferefre. Nyuserre's monument was comparable in size to Sahure's. It was built from stone and sheathed in limestone. The main pyramid is part of a larger complex encompassing a valley temple, built on Abusir Lake; a mortuary temple, built on the east face of the main pyramid; a causeway that links the valley temple to the mortuary temple; and an additional cult pyramid.

The complex is noted for having several unusual features. First, the mortuary temple was constructed into an L-shape rather than the typical T-shape of the time; an alteration which was a result of the presence of mastabas east of the site of the temple. Second, incorporated into the design of the temple was an innovative type of new room, the antichamber carée, that became a standard feature of later monuments. Third, there is an unexplained square platform in the temple which has led archaeologists to suggest that there may be an obelisk pyramidion nearby to it. This is unusual as obelisks were central features of Sun temples, but not of pyramid complexes. Finally there are two structures found in the north- and south-east corners of the complex which appear to have been pylon prototypes. These, too, became staple features of temples and palaces in a later period.

Two other pyramid complexes are found in the vicinity of Nyuserre's. These pyramids, named Lepsius XXIV and Lepsius XXV, may have belonged to the consorts of Nyuserre, particularly Queen Reputnub, or of Neferefre. Further north-west of the complex are mastabas built for the pharaoh's children. The tombs of the priests and officials associated with the king's funerary cult are located in the vicinity as well. Whereas the cults of other kings died out, Nyuserre's cult may have survived the transition from the Old Kingdom to Middle Kingdom, though this remains a contentious issue among Egyptologists.

Location and excavation

The pyramid of Nyuserre is situated in the Abusir necropolis, located between Saqqara and the Giza Plateau.[13] Abusir assumed great import in the Fifth Dynasty after Userkaf, the first ruler, built his sun temple and, his successor, Sahure inaugurated a royal necropolis there with his funerary monument.[14][15] Sahure's immediate successor and son,[15] Neferirkare Kakai became the second king to be entombed in the necropolis.[16][17][18][19] Nyuserre's monument completed the tight architectural family unit that had grown and centered around the pyramid complex of his father, Neferirkare, alongside his mother's pyramid and brother's mastaba.[20][21][22] He was the last king to be entombed in the Abusir necropolis.[23]

In contrast to his predecessors, Nyuserre's mortuary complex is not seated on the Abusir-Heliopolois axis.[24] This is unusual, but can be explained as the result of other factors. First, upon taking the throne, Nyuserre undertook the task of completing the three unfinished monuments of his predecessors and closest family members: his father, Neferirkare; his mother, Khentkaus II; and his brother, Neferefre.[2] The burden of the cost to complete these monuments therefore fell onto him.[25] Second, in order to respect the necropolis' axis, Nyuserre's monument would have had to have been placed south-west of Neferefre's complex, deep in the desert and at least 1 km (0.62 mi) from the Nile valley.[2][25] The cost of this project would have exceeded tolerable limits.[25] Third, the chosen location of the pyramid constrained the construction area to a region around 300 m (984 ft 3 in) by 300 m (984 ft 3 in) allowing for maximum economy of the labour force and material resources.[26] Lastly, Nyuserre wanted to remain with his family[7] and so chose to insert his complex in the space north-east of Neferirkare's complex,[2] between its and Sahure's pyramids.[7][25] The Egyptologist Miroslav Verner succinctly describes Nysuerre's siting as "the best compromise that the circumstances would permit".[8]

In 1838, The British Egyptologist John Shae Perring cleared the entrances to the pyramids of Sahure, Neferirkare and Nyuserre.[27] Five years later in 1843, the Prussian Egyptologist Richard Lepsius explored the Abusir necropolis and catalogued Nyuserre's pyramid as XX.[27] 1902–8, the German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt, working for the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft or German Oriental Society, resurveyed the Abusir pyramids and had their adjoining temples and causeways excavated.[27][28] His results are published in Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Ne-User-Re (1907).[29] The Czech Institute of Egyptology has had a long term excavation project going at the site since the 1960s.[28][30]

Mortuary complex

Layout

Old Kingdom mortuary complexes consisted of five essential components: (1) a valley temple; (2) a causeway; (3) a pyramid, or mortuary,[31] temple; (4) a cult, or satellite,[32] pyramid; and (5) the main pyramid.[33] Nyuserre's monument has all of these elements. The main pyramid constructed from seven steps of limestone.[34] A cult pyramid near the south-east corner of the main pyramid.[35] An unusual L-shaped mortuary temple placed on the southern end of the pyramid's eastern face.[5][35] The valley temple and causeway originally intended for Neferirkare's monument which were co-opted by Nyuserre for his own complex instead.[7][36]

Main pyramid

3 dimensional model of how the pyramid would have looked in its original completed state. From the east is the planned layout of the mortuary temple adjoining the main pyramid. In the north-east and south-east corners are the pylons. West of the south-eastern pylon is the small cult pyramid surrounded by a small walled enclosure. Surrounding the main pyramid is an enclosing wall that represents the courtyard.
A digital reconstruction of Nyuserre's pyramid complex: main pyramid, mortuary temple, cult pyramid, and part of the causeway.

Though Nyuserre had a long reign of around thirty years,[7] he chose to build a smaller pyramid comparable in size to Sahure's.[2][7] Considering the burden of fronting the costs to complete the monuments of his family, Nyuserre compromised and put his pyramid in the only free space available not located in the desert.[2] The pyramid, therefore, found itself seated against the south wall of Neferirkare's mortuary temple and with the ground to the north falling steeply towards Sahure's monument.[25] It was further hemmed in by a group of mastabas to the east that had been built during Sahure's reign.[2][25] This combination of factors may have constricted the size of Nyuserre's pyramid.[7]

The core of the structure was built into seven steps with the cornerstones of the lowest layer being specially anchored to improved the structure's stability. This was then encased with fine white limestone.[34] The stone used for the casing most likely came from limestone quarries west of the village of Abusir.[34] On completion, it had a base length of 78.9 m (259 ft; 150.6 cu) sloping inwards at approximately 52° resulting in a summit height of around 52 m (171 ft; 99 cu)[5] and a total volume of approximately 113,000 m3 (148,000 cu yd).[6] The pyramid is surrounded by an open courtyard paved with limestone blocks.[37] Unusually, the south wing of the courtyard is significantly narrower than the north wing.[37]

Substructure

The substructure of the pyramid follows the basic design adopted by earlier Fifth Dynasty kings in their pyramids, such as those of Neferirkare and Sahure.[2] The burial- and ante- chambers and access corridor were dug out, rather than constructed through a tunnel.[34] The ceiling of the chambers formed three gabled layers of limestone.[34] The beams disperse the weight from the superstructure onto either side of the passageway preventing collapse.[38] Each stone in this structure is about 10 m (33 ft) long and weighs 90 tons.[7] Between each layer of blocks, limestone fragments were used to create a filling which would help shift the weight of the structure on top of it, particularly in the event of earthquakes.[34] At the time, this was considered the optimal use of the blocks to construct the ceiling.[34] Stone thieves have plundered the underground chambers of much of its high-quality limestone considerably weakening the structure and making it dangerous to enter.[39]

Access to the substructure is granted by a north-south running, downwards sloping corridor located on the north face of the pyramid.[2][5] The corridor was lined with fine white limestone and reinforced with pink granite at both ends.[40] At around the midway point, two,[40] or three,[5] large granite blocks acted as a portcullis which blocked the passage when lowered.[40] The passageway terminates at the antechamber, connected to the burial chamber, almost directly underneath the pyramid's summit.[2][5] The damage to the interior structure caused by stone thieves makes accurate reconstruction of its architecture nigh-on-impossible.[40]

Mortuary temple

The basic design of Nyuserre's mortuary temple differs from others built in the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty. Verner describes that the basic layout of a mortuary temple for the period resembled the letter "T" and contrasts this with the "L" shaped layout of Nyuserre's.[41] This alteration was a result of the presence of the mastabas built during Sahure's reign to the east.[5][42] Despite this aesthetic difference, the temple retained all of the fundamental elements established by Sahure's mortuary temple and incorporated new features concurrently.[41]

The initial entry point to the temple is angled towards the south-east.[35] This is followed by a long entrance hall which is flanked on both the north and the south by groups of five storage rooms.[43] The entrance hall was originally vaulted with black basalt paving, limestone walls covered in reliefs and with the dado on the side walls made from pink/red granite.[43] Fragments of the wall reliefs from the temple are often exhibited in German museums.[41] For example, an intricate wall relief from the temple relating a scene from the throne room has been displayed at the Egyptian Museum of Berlin.[lower-alpha 2][44] In the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, the ruler Taharqa, had reliefs from various Old Kingdom mortuary temples, particularly those of Nyuserre, Sahure and Pepi II, reproduced for use in the restoration of the temple of Kawa in Nubia.[45] The hall terminates into a courtyard paved with black basalt and with a roofed ambulatory[lower-alpha 3] that is supported by sixteen six-stemmed papyrus pink granite columns.[43][46]

Map of Nyuserre's mortuary temple. The captions from 1-7 tend from east to west and describe the layout of the entrance hall to chapel. From 7-11 the captions tend north, and describe the chapel through offering hall. The remaining captions, 12-17, describe the location of various features.
An illustration of the layout of Nyuserre's "L-shaped" mortuary temple. In order: (1) Long entrance hall with (2a and b) five storage rooms to the north and south; (3) Courtyard with sixteen granite columns with a (4) sandstone basin for collecting rainwater and (5) an altar; (6) Transverse corridor set on a north-south axis; (7) Chapel with (8) a set of storage rooms; (9) Antichamber carrée with central column; (10) Offering hall with (11) a final set of storage rooms; (12) Alternate entrance; (13) Deep niche housing of the pink granite lion statue; (14) Corridor leading to the cult pyramid; (15) Approximate location of the square platform; (16a and b) North-east and south-east pylon prototypes and; (17a and b) Part of the north and south wings of the courtyard surrounding the main pyramid.

The courtyard was designed to communicate the image of a marshy papyrus grove; a design which, for ancient Egyptians, signified a place where life was constantly renewed. To evoke this image the bases of the columns, for example, were decorated with wavy bas-reliefs which produced the illusion of papyrus growing in water. The middle portions of the columns were decorated with various inscriptions detailing material such as the king's name and titles to the courtyard's protection by the gods Wadjet and Nekhbet. In the ambulatory, the ceiling was decorated with stars to represent the night sky of the underworld. In the centre of the courtyard, there stood a small sandstone basin for collecting rainwater. A highly decorated alabaster altar was once located in the north-west corner of the courtyard. Exiting the courtyard to the west leads into the transverse (north-south) corridor.[43]

From the transverse corridor the temple takes on a northerly direction: a result of the L-shape. In the north-west corner of the transverse corridor separating the public, outer, and intimate, inner, parts of the temple is a deep niche that was decorated with a large pink granite statue of a lion who served to symbolically guard the pharaoh's privacy.[47] Past the transverse corridor lies the chapel, which had been displaced southwards, another result of the temple shape.[46] It is damaged to the point that an accurate reconstruction cannot be made, but it is known that the chapel contained five statue niches.[43] Connected to the chapel was another group of storage rooms.[47] North of the chapel is a square chamber – which the French architect Jean-Phillipe Lauer named the antichamber carrée; a reference to its square shape – decorated with various reliefs, with an elevated floor, and a central column.[41][48] This chamber is one of two new features introduced into temple design, with this particular feature becoming a permanent element of the layout of future mortuary temples[41] until the reign of Senusret I.[47] The aforementioned antichambre carrée leads through to the sacrificial,[41] or offering, hall.[48]

Set along the east-west axis for religious reasons,[lower-alpha 4] and located in its traditional place in the centre of the east face of, and adjoining the, main pyramid, the offering hall was equipped with a false granite door and an altar for performing ritual sacrifices.[5][47][lower-alpha 5] As with the entrance hall, the walls of the offering hall were decorated with reliefs; these depicted scenes related to the ritual sacrifices performed there.[48] Comparably to the ambulatory of the courtyard, the vaulted ceiling of the hall was decorated with bas-relief stars evoking the night sky of the underworld. Under the east wall was a canal connected to a drainage system east of the temple. Exiting the hall to the north leads to a final group of storage rooms.[47] Lastly, there is an alternate entrance point that sits near the intersection between the outer and inner sanctuaries that can be accessed from the outside.[41]

The mortuary temple displays two other significant innovations.[47] One architectural modification can be found incorporated into the design of the temple and has had a marked influence on Ancient Egyptian architecture. Tall tower-shaped buildings with slight slopes were erected on the north- and south-east corners of the temple. The tops of these towers formed a flat terrace, topped with a concave cornice, which could be accessed via staircase.[47][60] Verner refers to these towers as the "prototype of pylons" which became staple features of later Ancient Egyptian temples and palaces.[61] The second addition is more complex and, as yet, unexplained. In the north-east corner of the temple, adjoining the wall, Borchardt discovered a square platform with sides of approximately 10 m (33 ft) in length.[36] Excavations by a Czech team at Ptahshepses', the vizier to the pharaoh and head of all royal works,[28][62] mastaba discovered a large pink granite pyramidion, taken from an obelisk, resting next to a similar square platform in the south-western corner.[36] Verner proposes several hypotheses for the purpose of the square platform in Nyuserre's mortuary temple: (1) The square platform may once have been occupied by a similar pyramidion; evidence supporting this conjecture are a large granite obelisk found in the pyramid complex and stone blocks containing the inscription "Sahure's sacrifice field".[lower-alpha 6][63] (2) The blocks could either be remnants of the building material used for Sahure's sun temple, or, be taken from the sun temple itself. This led to conjecture (3) that the sun temple may be located near Nysuerre's complex and/or (4) that Nyuserre may have either dismantled or usurped the sun temple for himself.[36]

Valley temple, causeway and cult pyramid

Nyuserre co-opted the valley temple and causeway that had been under construction for Neferirkare's monument.[7] As with Sahure's temple, there were two columned entrances into the valley temple.[64][46] The main entrance was through a portico which had two colonnades of four pink granite columns.[7][64][46] The second entrance, found in the west,[46] could be accessed from the outside via staircase, landing on a portico adorned with four granite columns. Each column was shaped to resemble a six-stemmed papyrus and bore the names and titles of the king as well as images of Wadjet and Nekhbet. [64]

The pavement inside the temple was black basalt, the walls were made from limestone with relief decorated red granite dado.[65] The central chamber of the valley temple had significant religious importance. Three niches, one large and two small, in its west wall, may have held statues of the king. Few remnants of the reliefs decorating the walls, such as one that depicts massacres of Egypt's enemies, have been preserved. Other statues were present in the temple such as one of Queen Reputnub and one of a pink granite lion.[64] Limestone figures of enemy captives appear to have stood at the exit of the temple at the base of the causeway.[5]

The causeway's foundation had been laid about two-thirds of the way from the valley temple to the mortuary temple when Neferirkare died.[36] As a result, when Nyuserre took over the site, the causeway had to be diverted from its original destination to its new one,[66] so that it travels in one direction for more than half its distance then bends away to another for the remainder of its length.[5][66] Completion of the causeway was complicated[36] because the remaining construction had to surmount a difference in elevation of 28 m (92 ft), negotiate uneven terrain, and avoid older mastabas.[5][36] To achieve this, the latter part of the causeway required a high base.[36] Parts of this base were reused in the Twelfth Dynasty to build tombs for priests who had served Nyuserre's funerary cult.[67] The bases of the walls of the causeway were lined with black basalt, above which they were decorated with reliefs.[5] One notable large figure relief from the causeway has been preserved. It depicts seven royal sphinxes pinning the king's enemies under their paws.[68] The ceiling was painted blue with a myriad of golden stars evoking the night sky.[5]

Borchardt erroneously ascribed the structure found in the south-east corner of the complex to Nyuserre's consort; it was, in fact, the cult pyramid.[40] The satellite pyramid has its own enclosure and bears the standard T-shaped substructure of passage and chambers.[5] Though its exact purpose is unknown, it may have served to host the pharaoh's Ka.[49]

Other significant structures

Conjectural: wives' tombs

Nyuserre's wife, Reputnub, was not buried within the pyramid complex of Nyuserre.[69] Two small pyramids found on the southern margin of the pyramid cluster, designated Lepsius XXIV and Lepsius XXV, are conjectured to belong to his consorts. These structures are very badly damaged, and Verner expects that no exceptional finds will be made during excavations.[61]

Photograph of the ruined structure of Lepsius XXIV, it is a mound of rubble.
Remains of Lepsius XXIV, possibly the tomb of Nyuserre's consort.

The first of these pyramids, Lepsius XXIV, consisted of the pyramid, mortuary temple and small cult pyramid.[62] Extensive damage to the tomb's structure,[70] due to stone thieves in the New Kingdom, has left the structure in ruins, though some details can be discerned.[71] The mortuary temple was intended to be built on the east face of the pyramid, a feature which confirms that the tomb belonged to a queen. The upside to its destruction is that the interior has been laid bare for archaeologists to study. The pyramid was constructed during Nyuserre's reign, as evidenced by Ptahshepses' name appearing on blocks amidst many other masons' marks and inscriptions.[62] Inside the wreckage of the burial chamber lie the remnants of a pink granite sarcophagus, shards of pottery, and the mummified remains of a young woman, between twenty-one and twenty-five years of age.[62][72]

The mummy is fragmented. This is attributed to the activities of tomb robbers and stone thieves.[72] No name is found inscribed anywhere in the complex, leaving the mummy remains unidentified.[62] Dating suggests that the mummy was either the consort to Nyuserre, or possibly, his short lived pharaoh brother, Neferefre.[62] Queen Reputnub is a potential candidate for the identity of the mummy, though the possibility of other wives remains feasible.[73] Unusually, this mummy has undergone excerebration,[lower-alpha 7] a procedure which Verner states was not known to have been conducted prior to the Middle Kingdom.[71] Professors Eugen Strouhal, Viktor Černý, and Luboš Vyhnánek challenge this, stating that some mummies from the Eighth Dynasty and one from the Sixth Dynasty are confirmed to have undergone the procedure.[74]

Photograph of the remaining mound of rubble of Lepsius XXV
Lepsius XXV: A double pyramid built during Nyuserre's reign.

The sister tomb, Lepsius XXV, is in close proximity to Lepsius XXIV. A superficial study of the tomb revealed that it was built during Nyuserre's reign.[62] Excavations were conducted by Verner's archaeological team between 2001 and 2004.[75] Verner had originally believed that the mortuary temple for this tomb was built on the western face of the pyramid, instead of the usual eastern one.[62] However, his later excavations definitively showed that the pyramid lacked a mortuary temple altogether. It was revealed that the monument consisted of two pyramid tombs placed adjacent to each other. Both tombs are oblong shaped, though the eastern tomb has larger dimensions than the western one. The tombs are oriented along a north-south axis. The owners and relations of these tombs remain unknown.[75] To the north-west of Nyuserre's pyramid is a tomb constructed for three of the ruler's children,[3] which was identified by Borchardt as the "Mastaba of the Princesses".[61]

Later history

Nyuserre was the last king to build his funerary monument at Abusir. His successors Menkauhor, Djedkare Isesi and Unas abandoned the site in favour of sites elsewhere.[28][76][77] Abusir ceased to be the royal necropolis.[78]

Funerary cult

The records of the Abusir papyri evidence that the funerary cults at Abusir remained active at least until the reign of Pepi II in the late Sixth Dynasty.[76] The continuation of these cults in the period following the Old Kingdom, however, is a matter of significant debate.[79] The Egyptologist Miroslav Verner believes that these cults ceased activities by the First Intermediate Period.[28] The Egyptologist Jaromír Malek draws the distinction between surviving estates, which form the economic foundation of the funerary cult, and survival of the cult itself and notes that reliable evidence for the continuation of these cults is absent, except for the cults of Teti I and, possibly, Nyuserre.[80] The Egyptologist Ladislav Bareš suggests that only Nyuserre's cult persisted through the period, albeit in a very reduced form.[81] Professor Antonio Morales considers two forms of cultic activities, the official royal cult and popular veneration of the king, and believes that in the case of Nyuserre both forms of cultic worship survived the transition from the Old Kingdom, throughout First Intermediate Period, and into the early Middle Kingdom.[82] Archaeological trace evidence, including from near Nyuserre's monument, may support this hypothesized survival of cultic activity honouring Nyuserre from the Fifth Dynasty to the Middle Kingdom.[83]

The tombs of two estate chiefs and overseers of the pyramid temple, Harshefhetep I and II,[lower-alpha 8] may serve as evidence for the continuity for Nyuserre's cult. The tombs of these two officials are given plausible dates between the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties – the Herakleopolitan period[85] – or the Eleventh Dynasty.[86][87] If the two priests were from the Herakleopolitan period that would indicate that Nyuserre's funerary cult and the estates of his pyramid were functioning and intact during the First Intermediate Period.[88] Moreover, if this is the case, then Nyuserre's cult survived through to at least the Twelfth Dynasty, under the priest Inhetep.[lower-alpha 9][86]

The false door from the tomb of a female[90] priest or official, Satimpi,[lower-alpha 10] found near the causeway, may be dated to the First Intermediate Period. The burial of priests in this period may be another indicator for the maintenance of the cult.[91]

Burials

From the end of Nyuserre's reign through to the Middle Kingdom, the areas around his monument's causeway and funerary temple[93] became home to other tombs.[76] For example, the tomb of Inemakhet and Inhetep (I)[lower-alpha 11] are south-east of the mortuary temple's entrance. From within the tomb, an inscription reading "honored before Osiris, lord of life, and Iny, lord of reverence" was discovered on some funerary equipment. Two other tombs bearing similar names, those of Inhetep (II) and Inhetepi,[lower-alpha 12] are in the area.[94] The venerated status of Nyuserre is evidenced in the onomastica of the buried individuals who took their names from Nyuserre's birth name, Ini.[95][96]

To the north of Nyuserre's monument is a cemetery split into two regions. The northwestern sector contains tombs built at the end of Nyuserre's reign. The northeastern sector located just north of the mortuary temple, established between the First Intermediate Period and early Middle Kingdom,[97][98] contains tombs of individuals associated with the funerary cult of the king.[97] Other tombs of the priests of Nyuserre's cult are concentrated around the eastern facade of the mortuary temple and at the upper end of the causeway.[81]

The monument was used for occasional burials in the Late Period.[76] East of the mortuary temple, German Egyptologists unearthed thirty-one Greek burials dated between c. 375–350 BC, from 1901 to 1904.[99]

Notes

  1. ↑ Proposed dates for Nyuserre's reign: c. 2474–2444 BC,[8] c. 2470–2440 BC,[3] c. 2445–2421 BC,[9] c. 2420–2389 BC,[10] c. 2416–2388 BC,[11] c. 2359–2348 BC.[12]
  2. ↑ Äegyptiches Museum und Papyrussammlung[44]
  3. ↑ A place for walking.
  4. ↑ The mortuary temple functioned as a symbolic resting place for the pharaoh. Here, priests tending to cult would perform daily rituals and processions for the god king.[49] It was believed that when an individual died, their Ka, Ba and body became separated. The Ka, which can be approximated to mean life force, was sustained with food, hence the food offerings in the offering hall. This room was the most significant in the temple.[50][51] The Ba, which can be approximated to a soul, is the individual which travels into the afterlife in search of the Ka. The body itself ceases to function, but, must not decay or else the Ba will be unable to function.[52] In the afterlife, when the parts are reunited, the individual became an Akh. The pyramid was an instrument which served the purpose of enabling this union to happen.[53] An Akh is the approximate equivalent to a ghost in corporeal terms and represents the resurrected form of the king. It is free to roam the earth and the sky. As an Akh, the king was second only to the gods. The purpose of the burial rites and offerings was to allow the Akh to form.[54] The king would pass through the false door, have his meal, and then return to his tomb.[55] The Ka itself was no longer in this world, and the food wasn't physically eaten, rather, the food was a token of a meal shared between the living in this world, and the deceased in the next.[56] The corridor leading to the chambers in the pyramid served twin functions: first, to allow passage into the pyramid for the burial and second to allow passage back out of the pyramid for the king. The corridor was ascending, for the king, into the region of the sky in the north referred to as "the Imperishable Ones". This was the king's destination, and the place where he would be united with the goddess of the sky Nut. The goddess would eat the Sun at sunset and rebirth it at sunrise. She would, effectively, do the same with the king transforming him into a sun god.[57][58] Because of this, the complex took on an east-west orientation.[59]
  5. ↑ The Egyptologists Miroslav Verner and Mark Lehner differ significantly in their description of part of the mortuary temple. Verner states that "any reconstruction of the five-niche chapel is very hypothetical because of the extensive damage to this part of the temple."[43] This may contribute to discrepancies in description. According to Verner, the chapel has five statue niches and a storage room attached.[47] The chapel transitions into the antichamber carée and then into the offering hall.[47] According to Lehner, the statue niches, false red granite door, and altar are in the "offering chapel" – the description is roughly analogous to Verner's chapel, minus the door and altar, on p. 315 – which is located in the centre of the eastern face of the pyramid – the location is directly analogous to Verner's offering hall on p. 316.[5] Further complicating matters is the accompanying illustration on p. 149 which places the inner sanctuary in the centre of the eastern pyramid face, and the five statue niches to the west of Verner's chapel. The chapel and hall are unlabelled.[5] Lehner also places the red granite lion in a deep niche "immediately north of the entrance to the five statue niches".[5] The lion statue, according to Verner, was located in a deep niche in the northwest corner of the transverse corridor which divides the temples outer and inner sanctum.[43]
  6. ↑ "Sahure's sacrifice field" is the name of Sahure's sun temple. Obelisks were the architectonic midpoints of sun temples, but not mortuary temples. The discovery of an obelisk in Nyuserre's pyramid complex is unique.[63]
  7. ↑ A procedure to remove the brain through the nasal septum.[62]
  8. ↑ transl. Ḥry–š.f–ḥtp[84]
  9. ↑ transl. 'In–ḥtp[89]
  10. ↑ transl. Sʒ.t–jmpj[91] or Sʒt-impy[92]
  11. ↑ transl. Jn–m–ʒḫ.t and Jn-ḥtp[94]
  12. ↑ transl. Jn–ḥtp and Jn–ḥtpj[94]

References

  1. ↑ Borchardt 1907, p. 2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Verner 1994, p. 80.
  3. 1 2 3 Altenmüller 2001, p. 599.
  4. ↑ Grimal 1992, p. 116.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Lehner 2008, p. 149.
  6. 1 2 Bárta 2005, p. 180.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Lehner 2008, p. 148.
  8. 1 2 3 Verner 2001c, p. 589.
  9. ↑ Shaw 2000, p. 482.
  10. ↑ Allen et al. 1999, p. xx.
  11. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 8.
  12. ↑ Dodson & Hilton 2004, p. 288.
  13. ↑ Arnold 2003, p. 3.
  14. ↑ Verner 2001a, p. 5.
  15. 1 2 Bárta 2017, p. 6.
  16. ↑ Verner 2001a, p. 6.
  17. ↑ Verner 2001d, p. 302.
  18. ↑ Dodson 2016, p. 27.
  19. ↑ Bárta 2015, Abusir in the Third Millenium BC.
  20. ↑ Verner 1994, pp. 77 & 79–80.
  21. ↑ Verner 2002, p. 54.
  22. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 145.
  23. ↑ Bárta 2017, p. 8.
  24. ↑ Verner 1994, pp. 79–80.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Verner 2001d, p. 311.
  26. ↑ Verner 2001a, p. 396.
  27. 1 2 3 Edwards 1999, p. 98.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 Verner 2001b, p. 7.
  29. ↑ Borchardt 1907, Titelblatt & Inhaltsverzeichnis.
  30. ↑ Krejčí 2015, Térenní projekty: Abúsír.
  31. ↑ Verner 2001d, p. 293.
  32. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 146.
  33. ↑ Bárta 2005, p. 178.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Verner 2001d, p. 312.
  35. 1 2 3 Verner 2001d, p. 314.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Verner 2001d, p. 318.
  37. 1 2 Verner 2001d, pp. 312–313.
  38. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 144.
  39. ↑ Verner 1994, pp. 80–81.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 Verner 2001d, p. 313.
  41. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Verner 1994, p. 82.
  42. ↑ Verner 1994, pp. 80 & 82.
  43. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Verner 2001d, p. 315.
  44. 1 2 Allen et al. 1999, pp. 91–92.
  45. ↑ Grimal 1992, pp. 347–348 & 394.
  46. 1 2 3 4 5 Arnold 2003, p. 163.
  47. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Verner 2001d, p. 316.
  48. 1 2 3 Verner 2001d, pp. 315–316.
  49. 1 2 Lehner 2008, p. 18.
  50. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 23 & 28.
  51. ↑ Verner 2001d, p. 52.
  52. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 23.
  53. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 20.
  54. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 24.
  55. ↑ Verner 2001d, pp. 52–53.
  56. ↑ Lehner 2008, p. 28.
  57. ↑ Lehner 2008, pp. 28–29.
  58. ↑ Verner 2001d, p. 36.
  59. ↑ Verner 2001d, p. 46.
  60. ↑ Verner 1994, pp. 82–83.
  61. 1 2 3 Verner 1994, p. 83.
  62. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Verner 2001d, p. 321.
  63. 1 2 Verner 2001d, pp. 316 & 318.
  64. 1 2 3 4 Verner 2001d, p. 319.
  65. ↑ Lehner 2008, pp. 149–150.
  66. 1 2 Verner 1994, pp. 81–82.
  67. ↑ Verner 2001d, pp. 318–319.
  68. ↑ Allen et al. 1999, p. 92.
  69. ↑ Verner 2001b, p. 6.
  70. ↑ Strouhal, Černý & Vyhnánek 2000, p. 543.
  71. 1 2 Verner 2001d, pp. 320–321.
  72. 1 2 Strouhal, Černý & Vyhnánek 2000, p. 544.
  73. ↑ Strouhal, Černý & Vyhnánek 2000, p. 550.
  74. ↑ Strouhal, Černý & Vyhnánek 2000, p. 549.
  75. 1 2 Verner 2007, p. 8.
  76. 1 2 3 4 Goelet 1999, p. 87.
  77. ↑ Verner 1994, pp. 19, 80 & 86.
  78. ↑ Verner 1994, p. 86.
  79. ↑ Morales 2006, p. 311.
  80. ↑ Malek 2000, pp. 244–245.
  81. 1 2 Bareš 2000, p. 5.
  82. ↑ Morales 2006, pp. 312–314.
  83. ↑ Morales 2006, pp. 314–316.
  84. ↑ Malek 2000, p. 245.
  85. ↑ Bard 2015, p. 38.
  86. 1 2 Malek 2000, pp. 245–246 & 248.
  87. ↑ Morales 2006, p. 317 & 336.
  88. ↑ Morales 2006, p. 336.
  89. ↑ Malek 2000, p. 248.
  90. ↑ Daoud 2000, p. 203.
  91. 1 2 Morales 2006, p. 329.
  92. ↑ Daoud 2000, p. 202.
  93. ↑ Morales 2006, p. 324.
  94. 1 2 3 Morales 2006, p. 326.
  95. ↑ Daoud 2000, p. 199.
  96. ↑ Morales 2006, p. 337.
  97. 1 2 Morales 2006, pp. 325–326.
  98. ↑ Daoud 2000, pp. 194–195.
  99. ↑ Smoláriková 2000, p. 68.

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