| Pyramid of Menkaure | |
|---|---|
 The pyramid in 2004 | |
 Interactive map of Pyramid of Menkaure | |
| Menkaure | |
| Coordinates | 29°58′21″N31°07′42″E / 29.97250°N 31.12833°E /29.97250; 31.12833 |
| Ancient name | |
| Constructed | c. 2510 BC (4th dynasty) |
| Type | True Pyramid |
| Material | limestone,core red granite,white limestone,casing |
| Height | 65 metres (213 ft) or 125 cubits (original) |
| Base | 102.2 by 104.6 metres (335 ft × 343 ft) or 200 cubits (original) |
| Volume | 235,183 cubic metres (8,305,409 cu ft) |
| Slope | 51°20'25'' |
Thepyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three main pyramids of theGiza pyramid complex, located on theGiza Plateau in the southwestern outskirts ofCairo,Egypt. It is thought to have been built to serve as thetomb of theFourth Dynasty King Menkaure.
Menkaure'spyramid had an original height of 65.5 meters (215 ft), and was the smallest of the three major pyramids at theGiza Necropolis. It now stands at 61 m (200 ft) tall with a base of 108.5 m (356 ft). Its angle of incline is approximately 51°20′25″. It was constructed oflimestone and Aswangranite. The upper portion was cased in the normal manner withTura limestone. The construction of the outer casing of the pyramid was halted at sixteen to eighteen layers of granite following Menkaure's death, only seven of which remain today due to vandalism and erosion.[2][3] Part of the granite was left in the rough.
The descending passage to lower burial chamber is in the 'large apartment' floor, probably original hidden by floor blocks.[4] It is theorised that originally the pyramid was planned to be smaller, with the blind alley being the originally planned entrance passage.[5]
A boathieroglyph was found painted on a limestone block near the pyramid, which may indicate the presence of a boat pit for asolar barque.[6]
The pyramid's date of construction is unknown, because Menkaure's reign has not been accurately defined, but it was probably completed in the26th century BC.[citation needed] It is a few hundred meters southwest of its larger neighbors, thepyramid of Khafre and theGreat Pyramid ofKhufu in the Gizanecropolis.
The pyramid was likely robbed as early as theFirst Intermediate Period, given that authorsBob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs claim that "all the pyramids were robbed" by theNew Kingdom, when the construction of royal tombs in theValley of the Kings began.[7]
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In 1837,Howard Vyse andJohn Shae Perring discovered thebasaltsarcophagus of Menkaure, described as beautiful black and rich in detail with a bold projectingcornice, which contained the bones of a young woman. It was loaded onto the shipBeatrice, but wrecked off the Spanish coast on the way to Great Britain.[8]
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A wooden anthropoidcoffin inscribed with Menkaure's name and containing the remains of a mummy were found in the upper burial chamber and later transferred safely to the British Museum.[8] The coffin was radiocarbon-dated to 1212–846 BC, from the late New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period. The male body and its shroud were carbon dated to the early Islamic Period.[9]
In the mortuary temple, the foundations and the inner core were made of limestone. The floors were begun with granite and granite facings were added to some of the walls. The foundations of the valley temple were made of stone. Both temples were finished with crude bricks. Reisner estimated that some of the blocks of local stone in the walls of the mortuary temple weighed as much as 220 tons. The heaviest granite ashlars imported from Aswan weighed more than 30 tons.
It is assumed that Menkaure's successorShepseskaf completed the temple construction. An inscription was found in the mortuary temple that said he "made it (the temple) as his monument for his father, the king of upper and lower Egypt."
Subsequent architectural additions and twostelae from the Sixth Dynasty suggest that a cult for the Pharaoh was maintained, or was periodically renewed, for two centuries after his death.[10]
The Menkaure Valley temple was excavated between 1908 and 1910 by AmericanarchaeologistGeorge Andrew Reisner.[10] He found a large number of statues, mostly of Menkaure alone, and as a member of a group. These were all carved in the naturalistic style of theOld Kingdom, with a high degree of detail.[11]
South of the pyramid of Menkaure are three smaller pyramids, designatedG3-a,G3-b, andG3-c, each accompanied by a temple and substructure. The easternmost is the largest and a true pyramid. Its casing is partly of granite, like the main pyramid, and is believed to have been completed due to the limestone pyramidion found close by.[12] Neither of the other two progressed beyond the construction of the inner core.[11]
Reisner speculated that the structures were likely tombs for the queens of Menkaure, and that the individuals buried there may have been his half-sisters.[13] The archaeologistMark Lehner argues that pyramid G3-a has a layout akin to aka pyramid, which would have housed a statue of the king rather than a body. The fact that the structure once contained a pink granite sarcophagus,[14] has led scholars to speculate that it may have been reused as a queen's burial tomb, or that it served as a chapel where the body of Menkaure was mummified.[15]
In 1196,Al-Aziz Uthman,Saladin's son and theSultan of Egypt, attempted to demolish the pyramids, starting with that of Menkaure. Workmen recruited to demolish the pyramid stayed at their job for eight months, but the task was expensive and slow. Workers were only able to remove one or two stones each day at most. Some usedwedges and levers to move the stones, while others used ropes to pull them down.[16][17]
When a stone fell, it would bury itself in the sand, requiring extraordinary efforts to free it. Wedges were used to split the stones into several pieces, and a cart was used to carry it to the foot of the escarpment, where it was left. Despite their efforts, workmen were only able to damage the pyramid to the extent of leaving a large vertical gash at its northern face.[16][17]
In January 2024, a project to study and document the outer granite blocks which had fallen off of the facade began, with the goal to reinstall them.[19] The project was planned to take three years to complete.[20][21] Weeks after the announcement, the project was cancelled following backlash by researchers and a report by a team of experts called in by Egyptian officials and led byZahi Hawass, Egypt’s former minister of antiquities which “unanimously objected to the re-installation of the granite casing blocks scattered around the base of the pyramid”.[22]
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| Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) |
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| 1st Intermediate Period (2181–2040 BC) |
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| Middle Kingdom (2040–1650 BC) |
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| Second Intermediate (1650–1570 BC) |
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| New Kingdom (1570–1070 BC) |
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