Mastaba K2
Mastaba K2 is the name of an ancient Egyptian tomb superstructure near the present-day town of Beit Khallaf in Egypt . It is the second largest mastaba in the area.
architecture
Mastaba K2 originally measured 64.9 × 23.6 meters and was made of adobe bricks . Interestingly, two flights of stairs led into two independent chamber systems. The main burial chamber contained the remains of a wooden coffin with the bones of an unusually large man. In addition, numerous clay seals were found, four of which have the Horus name of King ( Pharaoh ) Sanacht .
allocation
Despite the clay seal, assigning the grave to historical persons remains difficult. For a time Mastaba K2 was considered as Sanacht's grave, today it is considered the burial place of a high official, prince or queen. The reason for the earlier assumptions were remains of bones that indicate a very tall man about 1.90 m in length, which is reminiscent of an anecdote by the historian Manetho, who describes a king named Sesôchris as "three cubits high and five spans wide". Wolfgang Helck, however, assigns Sanacht an unfinished facility west of the Djoser pyramid.
literature
- John Garstang : Mahasna and Beit Khallaf . British School of Archeology in Egypt 7. London 1903.
- Nabil Swelim : Some Problems on the History of the Third Dynasty - Archaeological and Historical Studies , Volume 7. The Archaeological Society of Alexandria, Alexandria 1983.
- Wolfgang Helck : Investigations on the Thinite Age (= Ägyptologische Abhandlungen. (ÄA) Vol. 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4 .
- Nicolas-Christophe Grimal : A History of Ancient Egypt . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-631-19396-0 .
- Dieter Arnold (Author), Helen Strudwick, Nigel Strudwick (Eds.): The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture . IBTauris, London 2003, ISBN 1-86064-465-1 .
Web links
- Mastaba K2; by Nabil Swelim (PDF; 86 kB)