Medium Pyramid

Just across from the Fayoum in the Nile Valley, south of Cairo, situated alone on the edge of the Western Desert above the lush green fields at Meidum is a tower shaped structure some sixty-five meters high that was once a pyramid that we believe was built by the 4th Dynasty King, Snefru (Sneferu, Snofru). However, there is no sure agreement on this among Egyptologists. Some believe that the early phases of construction were done by Huni, his predecessor, and that Snefru was only responsible for the completion of the Pyramid. However, Huni's name was not found at the pyramid, and various written documents suggest that it and the nearby residential city belonged to the reign of Snefru. Also, many of the nearby tombs also belong to the family of Snefru.

In may ways, Meidum is the most mysterious of all the great Pyramids. When Snefru came to the throne around 2575 BC, Djoser's complex at Saqqara was the only large royal pyramid that stood complete. But Snefru would become the greatest pyramid builder in Egyptian history by completing not one but three of them.

The early locals of this century called the Meidum Pyramid el-haram el-kaddab, meaning "false pyramid" and because of its form, it attracted attention as early as the Middle Ages from travelers. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the famed Arab historian Taqi ad-Din al-Maqrizi thought it looked like a huge, five stepped mountain. However, it eroded so badly that when Frederik Ludwig Norden visited it in the eighteenth century, the pyramid seemed to have only three levels. But it was not weather that eroded it so, but human beings.

Another View of Snefru's Meidum Pyramid in Egypt near the Fayoum

When Napoleon's expedition passed by Meidum in 1799, his well known draftsman, Denon, had only enough time to make a few sketches and prepare a short description of the pyramid. Later, Perring made a much better investigation of it, including making measurements in 1837. Afterwards, the Lepsius expedition of 1843 studied it in some detail. Nevertheless, its internal structure remained a mystery.

Then, in an extensive effort to discover and document the pyramid texts, Maspero was finally able to open it, along with some mastabas in the area, but archaeological investigation would not start for another ten years. It was Petrie, the founder of modern Egyptology, in collaboration with Egyptologist Percy Newberry and the architect, George Fraser, who led this excavation. They were responsible for not only fully investigating the inside of the pyramid, but also unearthing the pyramid temple, an approach causeway and a series of private tombs in the area around the pyramid. However, this would not be the last that the pyramid would see of Petrie.

After a long interruption, Petrie returned to Meidum with the Egyptologists, Ernest MacKay and Gerald Wainwright. This time they conducted excavations at the northeast corner of the pyramid, in the so-called South Pyramid, and in other places. They tunneled into the pyramid, showing that its core consisted of five accretion layers with an outer surface built of carefully dressed limestone blocks. However, as thorough as Petrie's work always was, his research into this pyramid seems to have raised more questions than it answered.

Саккара

Пирамида Джосера. Южная сторона пирамиды и ее юго-восточный угол, которые обычно используют для иллюстрации нескольких стадий строительства, - практически полный новодел. Стадии строительства лучше видны на восточной стороне. Но тут видна и сильнейшая разница в технологиях двух этапов, которая указывает на то, что рабочие Джосера строили пирамиду поверх гораздо более древних руин сооружения, созданного высоко развитой цивилизацией задолго до фараонов.

Дашур
Ломаная пирамида

Качество кладки и облицовки указывает как на высокие технологии (несопоставимые с обществом времен фараонов), так и на то, что подобная форма пирамиды задумывалась строителями с самого начала, а не является следствием изменения планов по ходу строительства. Характер отсутствующих частей облицовки указывает на то, что она не обрушилась сама, а была кем-то преднамеренно снята.

As one of the most unusual pyramids in Egypt, as well as one of the best preserved (much of its casing remains), it has attracted considerable attention over the centuries. Early visitors included European travelers such as Richard Pococke, Robert Huntington, Robert Wood and Edward Melton. Yet strangely, a serious archaeological investigation of the structure was not made until the 19th Century, when the great pyramid explorers Perring, Lepsius and later still, Petrie came to explore the structure. Later still, after World War II, Abdel Salam Hussain and Alexandre Varille further investigated the Bent Pyramid, but regrettably their work was lost.  

The Bent Pyramid is unique for two reasons. The first is the angle change. There are two theories for this change. The first is that the builders may have gotten tired and wanted to reduce the volume and to finish faster. Another is that when the pyramid at Maidoun collapsed, the architect lost his nerve and changed the angle. The angle at Maidoun was 52 degrees as is the base of the Bent Pyramid. At the bend, the angle is changed to 43.5 degrees up to the peak.

The second reason is that it has two entrances. The first is in the middle of the northern side and is about 12m above the ground. It leads to the upper chamber. The second entrance is on the western side and is just above the ground. It leads to the lower chamber. The floors of both chambers were built 4m deep with small stone blocks.  

Красная пирамида

Высочайшее качество строительства с мегалитичностью никак не соответствует уровню Древнего Царства. Внутренние помещения сохранили следы древних организованных археологических работ, а также небольшого косметического ремонта. Храм из необожженных кирпичей пристроен с восточной стороны заведомо существенно позже времени сооружения самой пирамиды и по совершенно иным (примитивным технологиям). Установленный здесь же "пирамидион" собран из отдельных обломков облицовки и современного бетона явно на потребу туристам и явно никогда не был на вершине пирамиды (поскольку не был даже вообще когда-либо единым целым).