Behenu was an ancient Egyptian queen of the Sixth Dynasty . She is thought to have been the wife of either Pepi I or of Pepi II .
116-521: The remnants of her pyramid were first discovered in 2007, and news of the discovery of her burial chamber was made public in March 2010. The complex was discovered in the vicinity of the pyramid of the Pepi II, and it is thought that she was "most probably" the wife of this pharaoh, but no inscription has been uncovered that would positively link her to him. A set of Pyramid Texts was uncovered along with
232-439: A cartouche of Unas's name, indicating that it may have contained a statue of the king, whereas the others contained statues of the queen. Directly north of the mastaba were the tombs for Unas's son Unasankh and daughter Iput. Another daughter, Hemetre, was buried in a tomb west of Djoser's complex. A small chapel, called the "north chapel" or "entrance chapel", was situated adjacent to the pyramid's north face. It consisted of
348-402: A base length of 11.5 m (38 ft; 22 cu), a fifth of that of the main pyramid. The pyramid's covering slabs were inclined at 69°. This was typical for cult pyramids which had a 2:1 ratio-ed slope, and thus a height equal to the length of the base, i.e. 11.5 m (38 ft; 22 cu). A small channel was dug in front of the pyramid entrance, perhaps to prevent run-off from entering
464-563: A burial chamber but was not used for burials, and instead appears to have been a purely symbolic structure. It may have hosted the pharaoh's ka , or a miniature statue of the king. It may have been used for ritual performances centring around the burial and resurrection of the ka spirit during the Sed festival. The cult pyramid in Unas's complex has identifiable remains, but has otherwise been destroyed. The preserved elements suggest that it had
580-588: A causeway constructed using the same wadi as a path; a mortuary temple similar in layout to that of Unas's predecessor, Djedkare Isesi 's, and a cult pyramid in the south of the mortuary temple. The pyramid, mortuary temple and cult pyramid were enclosed by a 7 m (23 ft; 13 cu) tall perimeter wall. The perimeter wall from the north-east to north-west corner is about 86 m (282 ft; 164 cu) long, and stretches 76 m (249 ft; 145 cu) from north to south. Though Unas's reign lasted for around thirty to thirty-three years, his pyramid
696-475: A coffin in a shaft under the east wall of the chapel. The Chief Inspector at Saqqara, Mounir Basta , discovered another rock-cut tomb just south of the causeway in 1964, later excavated by Ahmed Moussa. The tombs belonged to two palace officials – manicurists – living during the reigns of Nyuserre Ini and Menkauhor, in the Fifth Dynasty, named Ni-ankh-khnum and Khnum-hotep . A highly decorated chapel for
812-406: A downward sloping corridor, followed by a 'corridor-chamber' with three granite portcullises that guarded the entrance into the horizontal passage. The horizontal passage ends at the antechamber of the substructure and is guarded by a fourth granite portcullis. The antechamber connects to two further rooms, a room with three recesses for holding statues – called the serdab – to the east, and
928-641: A new era of tomb building in the New Kingdom. Starting with the reign of Thutmose III in the Eighteenth Dynasty and up until possibly the Twentieth Dynasty , Saqqara was used as a site for the tombs of private individuals. The largest concentrations of tombs from the period are found in a large area south of Unas's causeway. This area came to prominent use around the time of Tutankhamun . Unas's pyramid underwent restorative work in
1044-546: A pair of limestone-lined boat pits at the upper end of the causeway. In the 1970s, Ahmad Moussa excavated the lower half of the causeway and the valley temple. Moussa and another archaeologist, Audran Labrousse [ fr ] , conducted an architectural survey of the valley temple from 1971 to 1981. The pyramids of Unas, Teti , Pepi I and Merenre were the subjects of a major architectural and epigraphic project in Saqqara, led by Jean Leclant . From 1999 until 2001,
1160-431: A portico with two columns. These were approached by narrow ramps. West of the two halls was the main cult hall. It had a second chamber with three storerooms to the south and a passageway leading to the causeway to the north-west. The causeway connecting the valley temple to the mortuary temple of Unas's pyramid complex was constructed along the path provided by a natural wadi. The Egyptologist Iorwerth Edwards estimates
1276-403: A result of climatic changes in the middle of the third millennium B.C. The discovery of a similar relief painting on the blocks of Sahure 's causeway casts doubt on this hypothesis. Verner contends that the nomads may have been brought in to demonstrate the hardships faced by pyramid builders bringing in higher quality stone from remote mountain areas. Grimal suggested that this scene foreshadowed
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#17327653828631392-470: A set of texts in the pyramids of Pepi I and Merenre I . Those same texts were discovered in Unas's tomb, making this their earliest known appearance. From 1899 to 1901, the architect and Egyptologist Alessandro Barsanti conducted the first systematic investigation of the pyramid site, succeeding in excavating part of the mortuary temple , as well as a series of tombs from the Second Dynasty and
1508-431: A single room, with an altar and a stela bearing the hieroglyph for "offering table". Only trace elements of the chapel remain. These chapels had a false door and a decoration scheme similar to the offering hall, which the archaeologist Dieter Arnold suggests indicates that the chapel was a "miniature offering chapel". The entrance into the substructure of the pyramid lay under the chapel's pavement. The substructure of
1624-700: A sow eating her offspring so also is the King as the dawn sun. Utterance 217 describes the King in stellar form as being "swallowed up" at dawn with the other stars. The Cannibal Hymn represents a discrete episode (Utterances 273–274) in the anthology of ritual texts that make up the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom period. Appearing first in the Pyramid of Unas at the end of the Fifth Dynasty ,
1740-466: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts , dating to the late Old Kingdom . They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts . Written in Old Egyptian , the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranean walls and sarcophagi of pyramids at Saqqara from the end of
1856-538: Is associated with the sun cult, a natural development caused by the coloration of the material being sun-like. Remnants of a granite false door bearing an inscription concerning the souls of the residents of Nekhen and Buto marks what little of the offering hall has been preserved. A block from the door has been displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The purpose of the cult pyramid remains unclear. It had
1972-600: Is considered to be the standard version of the texts. Samuel A. B. Mercer published a translation into English of Sethe's work in 1952. British Egyptologist Raymond O. Faulkner presented the texts in English in 1969 in The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts . Between 1926 and 1932, Gustave Jéquier conducted the first systematic investigations of Pepi II and his wives' pyramids – Neith , Iput II , and Wedjebetni . Jéquier also conducted
2088-400: Is guarded by three granite slab portcullises in succession. The passage ends at an antechamber, a room measuring 3.75 m (12.3 ft) by 3.08 m (10.1 ft), located under the centre axis of the pyramid. To the east, a doorway leads to a room – called the serdab – with three recesses. The serdab measures 6.75 m (22.1 ft) wide and 2 m (6.6 ft) deep. To
2204-493: Is otherwise ruined. Quartzite is an atypical material to use in architectural projects, though examples of it being used sparingly in the Old Kingdom exist. The material is associated with the sun cult due to its sun-like coloration. The underground chambers remained unexplored until 1881, when Gaston Maspero , who had recently discovered inscribed texts in the pyramids of Pepi I and Merenre I , gained entry. Maspero found
2320-537: Is the presence of the Second Dynasty Hotepsekhemwy's large tomb which spans the width of the whole temple and crosses directly under the recess. The architects of the pyramid appear to have preferred for the enclosure wall to run over the tomb's passageway, rather than over the top of the subterranean gallery. The cult pyramid has its own secondary enclosure that runs along the north face of the pyramid and half of its west face. This secondary wall
2436-650: The Coffin Texts as Spell 573. It was dropped by the time the Book of the Dead was being copied. Pyramid of Unas The pyramid of Unas ( Egyptian : Nfr swt Wnjs "Beautiful are the places of Unas") is a smooth-sided pyramid built in the 24th century BC for the Egyptian pharaoh Unas , the ninth and final king of the Fifth Dynasty . It is the smallest Old Kingdom pyramid, but significant due to
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#17327653828632552-515: The Eighteenth to Twentieth Dynasties, and a collection of Late Period monuments known as the "Persian tombs". The causeway joined the temple in the harbour with the mortuary temple on the east face of the pyramid. The mortuary temple was entered on its east side through a large granite doorway, seemingly constructed by Unas's successor, Teti . Just south of the upper causeway are two long boat pits. These may have contained two wooden boats:
2668-657: The Fifth Dynasty , and throughout the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, and into the Eighth Dynasty of the First Intermediate Period . The oldest of the texts have been dated to c. 2400–2300 BCE. Unlike the later Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead , the Pyramid Texts were reserved only for the pharaoh and were not illustrated. The use and occurrence of Pyramid Texts changed between
2784-541: The Kher-Heb (the chief lector priest), along with assistants, opening the eyes and mouth of the dead while reciting prayers and spells. Mourners were encouraged to cry out as special instruments were used to cut holes in the mouth. After the ceremony was complete, it was believed that the dead could eat, speak, breathe, and see in the afterlife. The Egyptian pyramids are made up of various corridors, tunnels, and rooms, each of which have differing significance and use during
2900-478: The Late Period . Later excavations by Cecil Mallaby Firth , from 1929 until his death in 1931, followed by those of the architect Jean-Philippe Lauer from 1936 to 1939, were conducted with little success. The archaeologists Selim Hassan , Muhammed Zakaria Goneim and A. H. Hussein mainly focused on the causeway leading to the pyramid while conducting their investigations from 1937 to 1949. Hussein discovered
3016-471: The Supreme Council of Antiquities conducted a major restoration and reconstruction project on the valley temple. The three entrances and ramps were restored, and a low limestone wall built to demarcate the temple's plan. Unas's complex is situated between the pyramid of Sekhemkhet and the south-west corner of the pyramid complex of Djoser . It is in symmetry with the pyramid of Userkaf situated at
3132-531: The Twelfth Dynasty bearing the name Unasemsaf and 2) A statue of a Memphite official, Sermaat, from the Twelfth or Thirteenth Dynasty , with an inscription invoking Unas's name. The Egyptologist Jaromír Málek contends that the evidence only suggests a theoretical revival of the cult, a result of the valley temple serving as a useful entry path into the Saqqara necropolis, but not its persistence from
3248-452: The pyramid of Menkauhor . The site required the construction of an exceptionally long causeway to reach a nearby lake, suggesting the site held some significance to Unas. The pyramid was briefly examined by John Shae Perring , and soon after by Karl Richard Lepsius , who listed the pyramid on his pioneering list as number XXXV. Entry was first gained by Gaston Maspero , who examined its substructure in 1881. He had recently discovered
3364-409: The solar barques of Ra , the sun god. The temple was laid out in a similar manner to Djedkare Isesi 's. A transverse corridor separates the outer from the inner temple. The entry chapel of the inner temple has been completely destroyed, though it once contained five statues in niches. A feature of the inner temple was a single quartzite column that was contained in the antichambre carrée . The room
3480-429: The "Cannibal Hymn". In the hymn, Unas consumes the gods to absorb their power for his resurrection. The Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson identifies the hymn as a mythologizing of the "butchery ritual" in which a bull is sacrificed. The serdab remained uninscribed. The southern section of the walls of the corridor contain texts that focus primarily on the resurrection and ascension of the deceased. The mere presence of
3596-557: The Cannibal Hymn preserves an early royal butchery ritual in which the deceased king – assisted by the god Shezmu – slaughters, cooks and eats the gods as sacrificial bulls, thereby incorporating in himself their divine powers in order that he might negotiate his passage into the Afterlife and guarantee his transformation as a celestial divinity ruling in the heavens. The style and format of the Cannibal Hymn are characteristic of
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3712-633: The Coffin Texts was begun in the reign of Pepi I and completed by the Middle Kingdom . The Coffin Texts formed the basis for the Book of the Dead in the New Kingdom and Late Period. The texts would resurface in tombs and on papyri for two millennia, finally disappearing around the time that Christianity was adopted. Unas's valley temple is situated in a harbour that naturally forms at
3828-471: The Middle Kingdom and later, including a near complete replica of the texts in the tomb of Senwosretankh at El-Lisht . Ancient Egyptian belief held that the individual consisted of three basic parts; the body , the ka , and the ba . When the person died, the ka would separate from the body and return to the gods from where it had come, while the ba remained with the body. The body of
3944-755: The New Kingdom (1550 BCE – 1070 BCE), Pyramid Texts were found on tombs of officials. French archaeologist and Egyptologist Gaston Maspero , director of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo , arrived in Egypt in 1880. He chose a site in South Saqqara, a hill that had been mapped by the Prussian Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius in 1842, for his first archaeological dig. There, Maspero found
4060-518: The New Kingdom to be reused in the construction of new tombs. Unas abandoned the practice of building pyramids for his consorts; instead, Khenut and Nebet were buried in a double mastaba north-east of the main pyramid. Each queen was accorded separate rooms and an individual entrance, though the layout of the tombs is identical. Khenut owned the western half, and Nebet owned the eastern half. Their chambers were extensively decorated. The chapel for Nebet's mastaba contains four recesses . One bears
4176-482: The New Kingdom. In the Nineteenth Dynasty , Khaemweset , High Priest of Memphis and son of Ramesses II , had an inscription carved onto a block on the pyramid's south side commemorating his restoration work. Late Period monuments, colloquially called the "Persian tombs", thought to date to the reign of Amasis II , were discovered near the causeway. These include tombs built for Tjannehebu, Overseer of
4292-623: The Old Kingdom. Despite renewed interest in the Old Kingdom rulers at the time, their funerary complexes, including Unas's, were partially reused in the construction of Amenemhat I 's and Senusret I 's pyramid complexes at El-Lisht. One block used in Amenemhat's complex has been positively identified as originating from Unas's complex, likely taken from the causeway, on the basis of inscriptions containing his name appearing upon it. Several other blocks have their origins speculatively assigned to Unas's complex as well. The Saqqara plateau witnessed
4408-413: The Old Kingdom. It had a core built six steps high from roughly dressed limestone , encased in a layer of carefully cut fine white limestone. It had a base length of 57.75 m (189 ft) with an incline of 56° which gave the pyramid a height of 43 m (141 ft). The substructure was accessed through an entrance in the pavement of a chapel on the north face of the pyramid. The entry led into
4524-453: The Old, Middle , and New Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt. During the Old Kingdom (2686 BCE – 2181 BCE), Pyramid Texts could be found in the pyramids of kings as well as three queens, named Wedjebten , Neith , and Iput . During the Middle Kingdom (2055 BCE – 1650 BCE), Pyramid Texts were not written in the pyramids of the pharaohs, but the traditions of the pyramid spells continued to be practiced. In
4640-731: The Pharaoh himself. Kurt Sethe's first edition of the pyramid texts contained 714 distinct spells. Later additional spells were discovered, for a total of 759. No single edition includes all recorded spells. The following example of a spell comes from the pyramid of Unas. It was to be recited in the South Side Burial Chamber and Passage, and it was the Invocation to New Life. Utterance 213: Ho, Unis ! You have not gone away dead: you have gone away alive. Sit on Osiris 's chair, with your baton in your arm, and govern
4756-458: The Pyramid Texts were primarily concerned with enabling the transformation of the deceased into an akh (where those judged worthy could mix with the gods). The spells of the Pyramid Texts are divided into two broad categories: Sacerdotal texts and Personal texts. The sacerdotal texts are ritual in nature, and were conducted by the lector priest addressing the deceased in the second person. They consist of offering spells, short spells recited in
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4872-444: The Pyramid Texts. Unas' sarcophagus was left without inscription. The king's royal titulary did not appear on the walls surrounding it, as it does in later pyramids. The west gable of the burial chamber is inscribed with protective spells; in later pyramids the gable was used for texts commending the king to Nut , and, from Pepi I onwards, also for Sakhu, or 'glorifications', for the transformation into an Akh. The other walls of
4988-433: The apex at an angle of approximately 56°, giving it a height of 43 metres (141 ft; 82 cu) on completion. The pyramid had a total volume of 47,390 m (61,980 cu yd). The pyramid was smooth-sided. The pyramid has since been ruined, as have all others of the Fifth Dynasty, a result of its poor construction and materials. The pyramids of the Fifth Dynasty were further systematically dismantled during
5104-456: The being of every god, Who eats their entrails When they come, their bodies full of magic From the Isle of Flame... But as the same spell also declares: May I be with you, you gods; May you be with me, you gods. May I live with you, you gods; May you live with me, you gods. I love you, you gods; May you love me, you gods. The Cannibal Hymn later reappeared in
5220-409: The brightly painted decorations on the walls. The archaeologist Peter Clayton notes that these depictions were more akin to those found in the mastabas of nobles. The Egyptologist Miroslav Verner highlights one particular scene from the causeway depicting famished desert nomads. The scene had been used as "unique proof" that the living standards of desert dwellers had declined during Unas's reign as
5336-516: The burial and ritual processes. Texts were written and recited by priests in a very particular order, often starting in the Valley Temple and finishing in the Coffin or Pyramid Room. The variety of offerings and rituals were also most likely recited in a particular order. The Valley Temple often contained an offering shrine, where rituals would be recited. Pyramid texts were found not only in
5452-568: The burial chamber are primarily dedicated to ritual texts. The north wall, along with the northern part of the east wall and passage, is dedicated to the Offering Ritual. Spatial considerations required that part of the ritual be inscribed on other walls, and likely explains the omission of the Insignia Ritual altogether from the pyramid. The Offering Ritual, from the 'initial libation' to the 'dedication of offerings', occupies
5568-461: The burial chamber with the ruler's sarcophagus to the west. The roofs of both the antechamber and burial chamber were gabled . With the exception of the walls immediately surrounding the sarcophagus, which were lined with alabaster and painted to resemble reed mats with a wood-frame enclosure, the remaining walls of the antechamber, burial chamber, and a section of the horizontal passage were covered with vertical columns of hieroglyphs that make up
5684-408: The burial chamber. This is only the second known instance of these ancient religious texts being used in association with a queen instead of the pharaoh. This Ancient Egypt biographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Egyptian biographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This biography of a member of an African royal house
5800-405: The causeway of Khufu's pyramid . The causeway is also the best preserved of any from the Old Kingdom. Construction of the causeway was complicated and required negotiating uneven terrain and older buildings which were torn down and their stones appropriated as underlay. The causeway was built with two turns, rather than in a straight line. Around 250 m (820 ft) worth of Djoser's causeway
5916-460: The causeway. A significant stretch of Djoser's causeway was reused for embankments. Tombs that were on the path had their superstructures demolished and were paved over, preserving their decorations. Two Second Dynasty tombs, presumed to belong to Hotepsekhemwy , Nebra , and Ninetjer , from seals found inside, are among those that lie under the causeway. The site was later used for numerous burials of Fifth Dynasty officials, private individuals from
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#17327653828636032-465: The chambers were lined with Tura limestone, while those surrounding Unas's sarcophagus were sheathed in white alabaster incised and painted to represent the doors of the royal palace facade, complementing the eastern passage. Taken as symbolically functional, these allowed the king to depart the tomb in any direction. The walls appear to contain blocks reused from one of Khufu 's constructions, possibly his pyramid compex at Giza, as an earlier scene of
6148-767: The columns were reused centuries later in buildings in Tanis, the capital of Egypt during the Twenty First and Twenty Second Dynasties. Other columns have been displayed in the British Museum, and in the Louvre. Relief decorations that were formerly in the courtyard have also been reused in later projects, as shown by the presence of reliefs of Unas in Amenemhat I's pyramid complex in El-Lisht. North and south of
6264-573: The complexes of Sekhemket and Djoser , in North Saqqara . Anchored to the valley temple at a nearby lake, a long causeway was constructed to provide access to the pyramid site. The causeway had elaborately decorated walls covered with a roof which had a slit in one section allowing light to enter, illuminating the images. A long wadi was used as a pathway. The terrain was difficult to negotiate and contained old buildings and tomb superstructures. These were torn down and repurposed as underlay for
6380-445: The conducting of harvests, scenes from the markets, craftsmen working copper and gold, a fleet returning from Byblos , boats transporting columns from Aswan to the construction site, battles with enemies and nomadic tribes, the transport of prisoners, lines of people bearing offerings, and a procession of representatives from the nomes of Egypt. A slit was left in a section of the causeway roofing, allowing light to enter illuminating
6496-417: The courtyard was a transverse corridor creating an intersection between the columned courtyard at its east and inner temple to its west, with a cult pyramid to the south, and a larger courtyard surrounding the pyramid to the north. The inner temple is accessed by a small staircase leading into a ruined chapel with five statue niches. The chapel and offering hall were surrounded by storerooms; as elsewhere in
6612-427: The discovery of Pyramid Texts , spells for the king's afterlife incised into the walls of its subterranean chambers. Inscribed for the first time in Unas's pyramid, the tradition of funerary texts carried on in the pyramids of subsequent rulers, through to the end of the Old Kingdom, and into the Middle Kingdom through the Coffin Texts that form the basis of the Book of the Dead . Unas built his pyramid between
6728-489: The doorway constructed following Unas's death. The entrance hall had a vaulted ceiling, and a floor paved with alabaster. The walls in the room were decorated with relief paintings that depicted the making of offerings. The entrance hall terminates in an open columned courtyard, with eighteen – two more columns than in Djedkare Isesi's complex – pink granite palm columns supporting the roof of an ambulatory. Some of
6844-472: The entrance hall and columned courtyard were storerooms. These were stocked regularly with offering items for the royal funerary cult , which had expanded influence in the Fifth Dynasty. Their irregular placement resulted in the northern storerooms being twice as numerous as the southern. The rooms were used for burials in the Late Period, as noted by the presence of large shaft tombs. At the far end of
6960-433: The excavations of Qakare Ibi 's pyramid. He later published the complete corpus of texts found in these five pyramids. Since 1958, expeditions under the directions of Jean-Philippe Lauer , Jean Sainte-Fare Garnot , and Jean Leclant have undertaken a major restoration project of the pyramids belonging to Teti, Pepi I, and Merenre I, as well as the pyramid of Unas. By 1999, the pyramid of Pepi had been opened to
7076-404: The gods to help, even threatening them if they did not comply. It was common for the pyramid texts to be written in the first person, but not uncommon for texts to be later changed to the third person. Often this depended on who was reciting the texts and who they were recited for. Many of the texts include accomplishments of the pharaoh as well as the things they did for the Egyptian people during
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#17327653828637192-414: The gods. Examples of these rituals are the opening of the mouth ceremony , offering rituals, and insignia ritual. Both monetary and prayer-based offerings were made in the pyramids and were written in the pyramid texts in hopes of getting the pharaoh to a desirable afterlife. Rituals such as the opening of the mouth and eye ceremony were very important for the Pharaoh in the afterlife. This ceremony involved
7308-556: The great thing that has happened in his embrace – the god's birth. It is Unis: Unis, see! It is Unis: Unis, look! It is Unis: hear! It is Unis: Unis, exist! It is Unis: Unis, raise yourself from your side! Do my command, you who hate sleep but were made slack. Stand up, you in Nedit. Your good bread has been made in Pe; receive your control of Heliopolis . It is Horus (who speaks), having been commanded to act for his father. The storm-lord,
7424-561: The individual, interred in the burial chamber, never physically left; but the ba , awakened, released itself from the body and began its journey toward new life. Significant to this journey was the Akhet : the horizon, a junction between the earth, the sky, and the Duat . To ancient Egyptians, the Akhet was the place from where the sun rose, and so symbolised a place of birth or resurrection. In
7540-405: The king (identified by his Horus name Medjedu ) fishing with a harpoon was discovered beneath those carved for Unas. The ceiling of the burial chamber was painted blue with gold stars to resemble the night sky. The ceiling of the antechamber and corridor were similarly painted. Whereas the stars in the antechamber and the burial chamber pointed northward, the stars in the corridor pointed towards
7656-531: The king's control over his sustenance in the form of a response to the offering ritual. The offering ritual texts continue onto the north and south walls of the passageway splitting the resurrection ritual which concludes on the south wall. In the rituals of the burial chamber, the king is identified both as himself and as the god Osiris , being addressed as "Osiris Unas". The king is also identified with other deities, occasionally several, alongside Osiris in other texts. The Egyptologist James Allen identifies
7772-463: The kings in a few additional ways. Like those of the kings, the use of both the first and third person is present in these pyramid texts. Neith's name is used throughout the texts to make them more personal. Many of the pronouns used throughout her pyramid texts are male, indicative of the parallels between the texts of the kings and queens, but a few female pronouns can be found. The texts also contain spells and utterances that are meant to be read by both
7888-531: The last piece of ritual text on the west gable of the antechamber: Your son Horus has acted for you. The great ones will shake, having seen the knife in your arm as you emerge from the Duat. Greetings, experienced one! Geb has created you, the Ennead has given you birth. Horus has become content about his father, Atum has become content about his years, the eastern and western gods have become content about
8004-551: The layout and structure of those that belonged to these queens were much simpler. But the layout of the texts corresponded to similar walls and locations as those of the kings. For example, the Resurrection Ritual is found on the east end of the south wall. Due to the fact that the pyramid of Neith did not contain an antechamber, many of the spells normally written there were also written on the south wall. The texts of Queen Neith were similar and different from those of
8120-424: The living; with your water lily scepter in your arm, and govern those of the inaccessible places. Your lower arms are of Atum , your upper arms of Atum, your belly of Atum, your back of Atum, your rear of Atum, your legs of Atum, your face of Anubis . Horus 's mounds shall serve you; Seth 's mounds shall serve you. The various pyramid texts often contained writings of rituals and offerings to
8236-403: The main pyramid and inner temple has an identifiable anomaly. Four m (13 ft; 8 cu) from the cult pyramid's west face the wall abruptly turns to the north before receding for 12 m (39 ft; 23 cu) toward the main pyramid. It stops 2.6 m (8.5 ft; 5.0 cu) from the main pyramid and turns once more back onto its original alignment. The only explanation for this
8352-428: The mummy of a man in the sarcophagus of the burial chamber. This time, he visited Mariette personally, who again rejected the findings, saying on his deathbed that "[i]n thirty years of Egyptian excavations I have never seen a pyramid whose underground rooms had hieroglyphs written on their walls." Throughout 1881, Maspero continued to direct investigations of other sites in Saqqara, and more texts were found in each of
8468-401: The name of Ninetjer indicating probable ownership. The superstructures of the tombs were demolished, allowing the mortuary temple and upper end of the causeway to be built over the top of them. The interior walls of the causeway were highly decorated with painted bas-reliefs, but records of these are fragmentary. The remnants depict a variety of scenes including the hunting of wild animals,
8584-463: The nationwide famine that seems to have struck Egypt at the onset of the First Intermediate Period . According to Allen et al., the most widely accepted explanation for the scene is that it was meant to illustrate the generosity of the sovereign in aiding famished populations. A collection of tombs were found north of the causeway. The tomb of Akhethetep , a vizier, was discovered by a team led by Christiane Ziegler . The other mastabas belong to
8700-461: The north wall; it is arrayed into three horizontal registers. The set up and layout of the Unas pyramid were replicated and expanded on for future pyramids. The causeway ran 750 meters long and is still in good condition, unlike many causeways found in similar ancient Egyptian pyramids. In the pyramid of Unas, the ritual texts could be found in the underlying supporting structure. The antechamber and corridor contained texts and spells personalized to
8816-399: The north-east corner, in Saqqara. Old Kingdom mortuary complexes consist of five essential components: (1) a valley temple; (2) a causeway; (3) a mortuary temple; (4) a cult pyramid; and (5) the main pyramid. Unas's monument has all of these elements: the main pyramid, constructed six steps high from limestone blocks; a valley temple situated in a natural harbour at the mouth of a wadi ;
8932-567: The offering hall and storeroom. The room contained a single column made of quartzite – fragments of which have been found in the south-west part of the temple – quarried from the Gabel Ahmar stone quarry near Heliopolis. Quartzite, being a particularly hard stone – a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale – was not typically used in architectural projects, but was used sparingly as a building material at some Old Kingdom sites in Saqqara. The hard stone
9048-430: The oldest, and are the most difficult to interpret. These utterances were meant to be chanted by those who were reciting them. They contained many verbs such as "fly" and "leap", depicting the actions taken by the pharaohs to get to the afterlife. The spells delineate all of the ways the pharaoh could travel, including the use of ramps, stairs, ladders and, most importantly, flying. The spells could also be used to call
9164-424: The one with spittle in his vicinity, Seth – he will bear you: he is the one who will bear Atum. The antechamber and corridor were inscribed primarily with personal texts. The west, north and south walls of the antechamber contain texts whose primary concern is the transition from the human realm to the next, and with the king's ascent to the sky. The east wall held a second set of protective spells, starting with
9280-406: The oral-recitational poetry of pharaonic Egypt, marked by allusive metaphor and the exploitation of wordplay and homophony in its verbal recreation of a butchery ritual. Apart from the burial of Unas , only the Pyramid of Teti displays the Cannibal Hymn. A god who lives on his fathers, who feeds on his mothers... Unas is the bull of heaven Who rages in his heart, Who lives on
9396-515: The path of the causeway were built over, preserving their decorations, but not their contents, indicating that the tombs had been robbed either before or during the causeway's construction. Two large royal tombs, dating to the Second Dynasty, are among those that lie beneath the causeway. The western gallery tomb contains seals bearing the names of Hotepsekhemwy and Nebra , and the eastern gallery tomb contains numerous seals inscribed with
9512-401: The pharaoh to reach the heavens, one of which is by climbing a ladder. In utterance 304 the king says: Hail, daughter of Anubis , above the hatches of heaven, Comrade of Thoth , above the ladder's rails, Open Unas 's path, let Unas pass! Another way is by ferry. If the boatman refuses to take him, the king has other plans: If you fail to ferry Unas, He will leap and sit on
9628-403: The point where the mouth of a wadi meets the lake. The same wadi was used as a path for the causeway. The temple sits between those of Nyuserre Ini and Pepi II . Despite a complex plan, the temple did not contain any significant innovations. It was richly decorated – in a fashion similar to the causeway and mortuary temple – and the surviving palm granite columns that stood at the entrance into
9744-631: The presentation of an offering, and recitations which are predominantly instructional. These texts appear in the Offering and Insignia Rituals, the Resurrection Ritual, and in the four pyramids containing the Morning Ritual. The writing in these texts (Dramatic Texts) suggests the formulation of these texts may have occurred around the time of the Second and Third dynasties. The remaining texts are personal, and are broadly concerned with guiding
9860-518: The public. Debris was cleared away from the pyramid, while research continued under the direction of Audran Labrousse [ fr ] . The corpus of pyramid texts in Pepi ;I's pyramid were published in 2001. In 2010, more such texts were discovered in Behenu 's tomb. To date, Pyramid Texts have been discovered in the pyramids of these pharaohs and queens: The spells, or utterances, of
9976-416: The pyramid is similar to that of Unas's predecessor, Djedkare Isesi. The entry leads into a 14.35 m (47.1 ft) long vertically sloping corridor inclined at 22° that leads to a vestibule at its bottom. The vestibule is 2.47 m (8.1 ft) long and 2.08 m (6.8 ft) wide. From the vestibule, a 14.10 m (46.3 ft) long horizontal passage follows a level path to the antechamber and
10092-447: The pyramid was built six steps high, constructed with roughly dressed limestone blocks which decreased in size in each step. The construction material for the core would, ideally, have been locally sourced. This was then encased with fine white limestone blocks quarried from Tura . Some of the casing on the lowest steps has remained intact. The pyramid had a base length of 57.75 m (189.5 ft; 110.21 cu) converging towards
10208-454: The pyramid. The first slabs of the descending corridor are declined at 30.5°. The pit measures 5.15 m (17 ft; 10 cu) north-south and 8.15 m (27 ft; 16 cu) east-west. The burial chamber was cut 2.03 m (7 ft; 4 cu) deep into the rock, sits 2.12 m (7 ft; 4 cu) beneath the pavement and measures 5 m (16 ft; 10 cu) by 2.5 m (8 ft; 5 cu). The "great enclosure" of
10324-695: The pyramids of Unas , Teti , and Pepi II . Maspero began publishing his findings in the Recueil des Travaux from 1882 and continued to be involved until 1886 in the excavations of the pyramid in which the texts had been found. Maspero published the first corpora of the text in 1894 in French under the title Les inscriptions des pyramides de Saqqarah . Translations were made by German Egyptologist Kurt Heinrich Sethe to German in 1908–1910 in Die altägyptischen Pyramidentexte . The concordance that Sethe published
10440-424: The reunion of the ruler's ba and ka leading to the transformation into an akh , and to secure eternal life among the gods in the sky. The writings on the west gable in Unas's burial chamber consist of spells that protect the sarcophagus and mummy within. The north and south walls of the chamber are dedicated to the offering and resurrection rituals respectively, and the east wall contains texts asserting
10556-404: The ruins of a large structure, which he concluded must be the pyramid of Pepi I of the Sixth Dynasty . During the excavations he was able to gain access to the subterranean rooms, and discovered that the walls of the structure were covered in hieroglyphic text. Maspero contacted the 'director of the excavations' in Egypt, Auguste Mariette , to inform him of the discovery. Mariette concluded that
10672-414: The same texts inscribed on the walls of Unas's pyramid, their first known appearance. The 283 spells in Unas's pyramid constitute the oldest, smallest and best preserved corpus of religious writing from the Old Kingdom. Their function was to guide the ruler through to eternal life and ensure his continued survival even if the funerary cult ceased to function. In Unas's case, the funerary cult may have survived
10788-458: The smallest and best-preserved collection of Pyramid Texts known from the Old Kingdom. Though they first appeared in Unas's pyramid, many of the texts are significantly older. The texts subsequently appeared in the pyramids of the kings and queens of the Sixth to Eighth Dynasties, until the end of the Old Kingdom. With the exception of a single spell, copies of Unas's texts appeared throughout
10904-426: The spells within the tomb were believed to have efficacy, thus protecting the king even if the funerary cult ceased to function. Parts of the corpus of Pyramid Texts were passed down into the Coffin Texts , an expanded set of new texts written on non-royal tombs of the Middle Kingdom, some retaining Old Kingdom grammatical conventions and with many formulations of the Pyramid Texts recurring. The transition to
11020-584: The spirit herself as well as others addressing her. After death, the king must first rise from his tomb. Utterance 373 describes: Oho! Oho! Rise up, O Teti ! Take your head, collect your bones, Gather your limbs, shake the earth from your flesh! Take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not, Stand at the gates that bar the common people! The gatekeeper comes out to you, he grasps your hand, Takes you into heaven, to your father Geb . He rejoices at your coming, gives you his hands, Kisses you, caresses you, Sets you before
11136-480: The spirit out of the tomb, and into new life. They consist of provisioning, transition, and apotropaic – or protective – texts. The provisioning texts deal with the deceased taking command of his own food-supply, and demanding nourishment from the gods. One example of these texts is the king's response in Unas' pyramid. The transition texts – otherwise known as the Sakhu or Glorifications – are predominantly about
11252-419: The spirits, the imperishable stars... The hidden ones worship you, The great ones surround you, The watchers wait on you, Barley is threshed for you, Emmer is reaped for you, Your monthly feasts are made with it, Your half-month feasts are made with it, As ordered done for you by Geb, your father, Rise up, O Teti, you shall not die! The texts then describe several ways for
11368-446: The structure must be a mastaba , as no writing had previously been discovered in a pyramid. Maspero continued his excavations at a second structure, around one kilometre (0.62 mi) south-west of the first, in search of more evidence. This second structure was determined to be the pyramid of Merenre I , Pepi I 's successor. In it, Maspero discovered the same hieroglyphic text on the walls he had found in Pepi I's pyramid, and
11484-405: The temple evidence their high quality craftsmanship. The main entrance into the temple was on the east side, consisting of a portico with eight granite palm columns arranged into two rows. A narrow westward corridor led from the entry into a rectangular north–south oriented hall. A second hall was to the south. Two secondary entrances into the halls were built on the north and south sides. Each had
11600-430: The temple, there were more storerooms to the north than south. The antichambre carrée – a square antechamber – separated the chapel from the offering hall. The room measures 4.2 m (14 ft; 8.0 cu) on each side, making it the smallest such chamber from the Old Kingdom, but has been largely destroyed. It was originally entered through a door on its eastern side, and contained two additional doors leading to
11716-476: The texts in the Old Kingdom. Copies of all but a single spell, PT 200, inscribed in the pyramid appeared throughout the Middle Kingdom and later, including a near-complete replica of the texts inscribed in the tomb of the 12th-Dynasty High Priest Senwosretankh at El-Lisht . Unas' pyramid , situated between the pyramids of Djoser and Sekhemkhet in North Saqqara, was the smallest of those built in
11832-407: The texts, the king is called upon to transform into an akh in the Akhet. The akh , literally "effective being", was the resurrected form of the deceased, attained through individual action and ritual performance. If the deceased failed to complete the transformation, they became mutu , that is "the dead". The function of the texts, in congruence with all funerary literature , was to enable
11948-427: The time of their rule. These texts were used to both guide the pharaohs to the afterlife, but also to inform and assure the living that the soul made it to its final destination. The texts first appeared in the pyramid of the last pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty, that belonging to Unas . A total of 283 spells appear on the subterranean walls of Unas' pyramid. These spells are the smallest and best-preserved corpus of
12064-475: The tomb was discovered the following year. The chapel was located inside a unique stone mastaba that was connected to the tombs through an undecorated open court. The mortuary temple in Unas's pyramid complex has a layout comparable to his predecessor, Djedkare Isesi's, with one notable exception. A pink granite doorway separates the end of the causeway from the entrance hall. It bears the names and titles of Teti , Unas's successor, indicating that he must have had
12180-409: The tombs of kings, but those of queens as well. Queen Neith, who was the wife of Pepi II, is one of three queens of the 6th dynasty whose tomb contains pyramid texts. The pyramids of the other two queens (both also thought to be wives of Pepi II), Iput II and Wedjebetni, also contained tombs inscribed with texts. Those of Neith have been kept in much better condition. Compared to the tombs of the kings,
12296-480: The transformation of the deceased into an Akh, and their ascent, mirroring the motion of the gods, into the sky. These texts form the largest part of the corpus, and are dominated by the youngest texts composed in the Fifth and possibly Sixth dynasties. Apotropaic texts consist of short protective spells for warding off threats to the body and tomb. Due to the archaic style of writing, these texts are considered to be
12412-512: The turbulent First Intermediate Period and up until the Twelfth or Thirteenth Dynasty , during the Middle Kingdom. This is a matter of dispute amongst Egyptologists, where a competing idea is that the cult was revived during the Middle Kingdom, rather than having survived until then. The pyramid is situated on the Saqqara plateau and lies on a line running from the pyramid of Sekhemkhet to
12528-527: The viziers Ihy, Iy–nofert, Ny-ankh-ba and Mehu. The tombs are conjectured to belong to Unas's viziers , with the exception of Mehu's tomb, which is associated with Pepi I. Another tomb, belonging to Unas-ankh, son of Unas, separates the tombs of Ihy and Iy-nofert. It may be dated late into Unas's reign. Ahmed Moussa discovered the rock-cut tombs of Nefer and Ka-hay – court singers during Menkauhor 's reign – south of Unas's causeway, containing nine burials along with an extremely well preserved mummy found in
12644-432: The walls to be 4 m (13 ft) high, and 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) thick. The passageway was about 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) wide. It had a roof constructed from slabs 0.45 m (1 ft 6 in) thick projecting from each wall toward the centre. The causeway, at between 720 m (2,360 ft) and 750 m (2,460 ft) long, was among the longest constructed for any pyramid, comparable to
12760-402: The west lay the burial chamber, a room measuring 7.3 m (24 ft) by 3.08 m (10.1 ft), containing the ruler's sarcophagus. The roof of both the antechamber and burial chamber were gabled , in a similar fashion to earlier pyramids of the era. Near the burial chamber's west wall sat Unas's coffin, made from greywacke rather than basalt as was originally presumed. The coffin
12876-515: The wing of Thoth, Then he will ferry Unas to that side! Utterances 273 and 274 are sometimes known as the "Cannibal Hymn", because it seems to be describing the king hunting and eating parts of the gods: however, as Renouf pointed out when it was first published: As has been observed, the spell is echoing how the Goddess Nut (as the Sky) causing the stars to disappear at dawn is likened to
12992-586: The zenith. The remaining walls of the burial chamber, antechamber, and parts of the corridor were inscribed with a series of vertically written texts, chiselled in bas-relief and painted blue. The inscriptions, known as the Pyramid Texts, were the central innovation of Unas's pyramid, on whose subterranean walls they were first etched. The Pyramid Texts are the oldest large corpus of religious writing known from ancient Egypt. A total of 283 such spells, out of at least 1,000 known and an indeterminate number of unknown ones, appear in Unas's pyramid. The spells are
13108-578: Was about 1.04 m (3 ft; 2 cu) thick, and had a double-door 0.8 m (2.6 ft) thick built close to its start. Evidence suggests that Unas's funerary cult survived through the First Intermediate Period and into the Middle Kingdom, an indication that Unas retained prestige long after his death. Two independent pieces of evidence corroborate the existence of the cult in the Middle Kingdom: 1) A stela dated to
13224-404: Was the smallest built in the Old Kingdom. Time constraints cannot be considered a factor explaining the small size, and it is more likely that resource accessibility constrained the project. The monument's size was also inhibited due to the extensive quarrying necessary to increase the size of the pyramid. Unas chose to avoid that additional burden and instead kept his pyramid small. The core of
13340-508: Was undamaged, but its contents had been robbed. A canopic chest had once been buried at the foot of the south-east corner of the coffin. Traces of the burial are fragmentary; all that remain are portions of a mummy, including its right arm, skull and shinbone, as well as the wooden handles of two knives used during the opening of the mouth ceremony. The mummy remains have been displayed in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo . The walls of
13456-407: Was used to provide embankments for Unas's causeway and to plug gaps between it and the wadi. South of the uppermost bend of the causeway were two 45 m (148 ft) long boat pits of white limestone, which might originally have housed wooden boats with curved keels representing the day and night vessels of Ra , the sun god. The boats lay side by side in an east–west orientation. Tombs in
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