Neferhetepes pyramid
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The Neferhetepes pyramid or also the queen pyramid of Neferhetepes is located near the Egyptian Saqqara . The building was erected as a burial place for Queen Neferhetepes (* approx. 2570 BC). Neferhetepes was the wife of Pharaoh Userkaf and can therefore be assigned to the 5th dynasty . The queens pyramid is located immediately southeast of the Userkaf pyramid . Today the pyramid is in a bad structural condition.
General
The queen pyramid of the Neferhetepes was not a stand-alone structure, but a pyramid district with a temple, which is only about 10 m from the wall of the Userkaf pyramid intended for the burial of her husband . The proximity of both buildings suggests a good family relationship between her husband Userkaf and Neferhetepes.
discovery
The pyramid was discovered in 1928 during an investigation of the Userkaf necropolis by the British Egyptologist Cecil Mallaby Firth . Allocation to Queen Neferhetepes took place the following year, but it was not until 1943 that Bernard Grdseloff obtained clear evidence through a discovery at the grave of Persen , a priest at the court of Userkaf and Neferhetepes. His grave was in the immediate vicinity of the pyramid district. One of the stones of this grave had an inscription which clearly shows the name and rank of the queen. This stone is exhibited today in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin . Audran Labrousse found further evidence confirming the assignment in 1979 when he examined gravestones in the temple ruins.
Construction of the pyramid district
The alignment of the queen pyramid and the enclosure corresponded to the cardinal points and thus followed that of the much larger Userkaf pyramid. The entire pyramid complex extends at right angles in an east-west direction. Thanks to the smaller size compared to the Userkaf pyramid, it was possible to adapt it spatially. The access to the pyramid district was located in the southeastern area of the surrounding wall and led into an open inner courtyard that extended in an east-west direction. Here the ritual cleansing and preparation of the offerings took place. In the halls there were representations of animal processions and bearers of offerings moving towards the queen's sanctuary .
Due to the severe destruction of the temple area, it is difficult to make any reliable statements about its structure. However, reliefs were found in the rubble, suggesting that they were on the temple walls.
The pyramid
The pyramid originally had a height of approx. 17 m and a base length of approx. 26 m. The angle of inclination is 52 °. The three-tier core masonry is largely in ruins today.
The cover of the pyramid was made of limestone , which came from the limestone quarries of Tura on the east bank of the Nile.
There was a small burial temple near the pyramid, of which hardly any traces can be seen today. It was also made of limestone. It was also granite used for construction.
literature
- Audran Labrousse, Jean-Philippe Lauer : Les complexes funéraires d'Ouserkaf et de Néferhétepès. 2 volumes (= Bibliothèque d'étude. Vol. 130). Imprimerie de l ' Institut français d'archéologie orientale , Cairo 2000, ISBN 978-2-7247-0263-7 .
Web links
- Alan Winston: The Pyramid Complex of Userkaf at Saqqara in Egypt
Individual evidence
- ↑ Years after Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3 .
- ↑ Audran Labrousse . From: clio.fr , last accessed on August 15, 2014.
Coordinates: 29 ° 52 ′ 21.9 ″ N , 31 ° 13 ′ 7 ″ E