Dahshur

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Dahshur pyramid field on the map by Karl Richard Lepsius (north is on the right)
Dahshur (Egypt)
Dahshur
Dahshur
Location in Egypt

Dahshur ( Arabic دهشور, DMG Dahšūr ) describes an ancient Egyptian pyramid and burial ground of the Old and Middle Kingdom . It is named after the nearby villages of Dahshur and Minschat Dahshur and is located about 26 kilometers south of Giza on the west bank of the Nile , in the governorate of al-Jiza . The necropolis extends 3 kilometers in a north-south direction and extends from the fruitland to 1.5 kilometers deep into the desert.

The necropolis formed the southern border of the 1st Lower Egyptian Gau . The ancient Egyptian name was possibly iu Sneferu ("Island of Sneferu") and appears in the history of Sinuhe . The modern name goes back to the Greek name Ταχυρις ( Coptic ⲧⲁ ϩϭ ⲟⲩⲣ).

Royal tombs

On the rocky plateau of Dahshur there are five pyramids of the 4th to 13th dynasties . King Sneferu was the first king to have two large pyramids built. In the southwest of the area is the bent pyramid with a secondary pyramid adjoining it to the south and a sacrificial site on the east side. A bent path leads from the pyramid to the fruiting land, half of which is a temple for the cult of the king. The associated valley temple of the pyramid complex is presumed to be in the fertile land. The second pyramid of Sneferu ( Red Pyramid ) is two kilometers further north and is still partially covered by sand in the lower third. Belonging to two pyramid complexes pyramid city lies east of the Red Pyramid near the village fruit Shinbab in the country and was named chaj-Snefru .

With the relocation of the royal cemetery to Giza after the death of Sneferu, Dahshur lost its importance. The practice of the royal cult of the dead remained in the pyramid city, however. From the time of Pepi I ( 6th Dynasty ), a decree has been passed down, according to which the priesthood was exempt from duties and taxes .

The rise to the royal building site only succeeded again in the 12th dynasty , since Dahshur was not far from the new royal residence Itj-taui . Amenemhet II had a limestone pyramid ( white pyramid ) built 1.2 kilometers east of the Red Pyramid . The associated pyramid district contains graves of his family and his court, including the double grave of his daughters Ita and Chnumit with unique jewelry finds. In the northeast of the site is the badly crumbled Sesostris III pyramid . The associated district includes four side graves with other important jewelry finds. In the southwest corner, archaeologists discovered three barges of cedar and remnants of other boats. The brick core of the pyramid of Amenemhet III. (Black Pyramid) can be found in the southeast corner of the necropolis. Since the king was buried in his second pyramid in Hawara , it probably only served as a mock grave .

During the 13th Dynasty, King Autibre Hor I had a shaft grave built north of the Black Pyramid for himself and his daughter Nubhetepti-chered . Around the same time, the heavily damaged Ameni Qemau pyramid was discovered in 1957 .

Several steles with votive inscriptions indicate that the cult of the deified Sneferu flourished at the mortuary temple of the bent pyramid in the Middle Kingdom. The cult continued into the New Kingdom . The place remained important until the late period .

The pyramids

4th dynasty 12th dynasty 13th Dynasty

Private graves

The private cemeteries in Dahshur developed at the same time as the royal pyramids. From the time of Sneferu there is a group of tombs southeast of the pyramid of Sesostris III. testified. Some of Sneferu's sons ( Kanefer , Quedschepses and Neferhersnofru ) were buried in mastaba tombs north of the White Pyramid. The tombs of Seschemnefer and Snofruiniischetef , whose extensive tomb paintings are now in Cairo , as well as the tombs of Nianchsnofru and Seanchwati are among the important mastabas from the 6th Dynasty . Another cemetery of the 4th to 6th dynasties (with graves of Iinefer and Duare ) is on the southeastern edge of the site. A single mastaba east of the Red Pyramid comes from the 5th Dynasty .

In the Middle Kingdom, additional cemeteries were built. These show strikingly small mastabas with carefully crafted coffin chambers and stone sarcophagi . Among other things, the grave of Siese south of the pyramid of Amenemhet II is important. There are also numerous burials from the New Kingdom. In the later period there were isolated graves again. A Greco-Roman cemetery was built around the pyramid of Sesostris III.

exploration

The exploration of Daschur has been handed down for the first time by Arab geographers who were particularly interested in the treasures found in the burial ground. The first description of a European comes from Richard Melton , a traveler to Egypt , who in 1660 - like Richard Pococke at the beginning of the 18th century - initially only devoted himself to the bent pyramid. John Shae Perring explored the Red Pyramid in 1837. Further systematic work was carried out in 1842/43 under Karl Richard Lepsius and in 1882 under the direction of Flinders Petrie .

The first large-scale excavations were carried out by Jacques de Morgan towards the end of the 19th century . He dug at the three pyramids of the Middle and at official necropolis of the Old and Middle Kingdom. In addition to all the pyramids, De Morgan found unplanned graves of princesses, some of which still contained rich jewelry.

In the early 1950s, Ahmed Fakhry and Herbert Ricke exposed the entire complex of the bent pyramid. In 1973, during emergency excavations by the antiquities administration, over 350 graves in the north of the area were cleared. Since the 1970s, the desert area adjacent to Dahshur was largely a restricted military area , so that archaeological research was not possible for a long time. This has only changed in the last few years. As a result, there are now numerous excavation teams on site.

Today in Dahshur the German Archaeological Institute (Cairo Department) work on the pyramid complex of Amenemhet II and on the avenue of the Bent Pyramid , the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the pyramid of Sesostris III. and Waseda University in Dahshur-North at graves of the New Kingdom.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Dahshur  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Dahshūr  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dietrich Wildung: Lexikon der Ägyptologie I. 1975, p. 984.
  2. ↑ Dietrich Wildung: Lexikon der Ägyptologie I. 1975, pp. 984–985.
  3. ↑ a b Dietrich Wildung: Lexikon der Ägyptologie I. 1975, p. 985.
  4. ↑ Dietrich Wildung: Lexikon der Ägyptologie I. 1975, pp. 985-986.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Dietrich Wildung: Lexikon der Ägyptologie I. 1975, p. 986.
  6. ^ Owen Jarus: Burial Chamber of Princess Possibly Found in Ancient Egypt Pyramid , in Live Science

Coordinates: 29 ° 49 '  N , 31 ° 13'  E