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Volume 15 issue 3 December 2014

ANCIENT EGYPT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

THE PYRAMIDS OF SNEFERU

This issue NETFISHING continues its look at the history of Egypt by seeing what the World Wide Web has to say about King Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, and the three pyramids he appears to have constructed.

The rise in the worship of the sun-god Ra, of Heliopolis, may have brought about a change in the architecture of the burial place of the kings at the end of the Third Dynasty. The step-pyramid design (believed to be related to the stellar cult of the stars of the Northern sky) was changed into a true geometric pyramid design (a form associated with the cult of the sun-god Ra and the ben-ben stone, the very symbol of the solar cult itself). These changes are first evident at the pyramid of Meidum, which was originally constructed as a step pyramid (possibly by king Huni) but at some later date had its steps ‘filled in’ to produce the flat-sided design of a true geometric pyramid. Indeed the architectural development of the pyramid becomes our window on the development of the Old Kingdom and the reigns of its kings. King Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, is actually credited with the construction of three pyramids: the Meidum Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid of Dahshur, and the Red Pyramid (sometimes called the Northern Pyramid of Dahshur). Refer:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/snefru.htm

www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/Sneferu.html

www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn04/01sneferu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneferu

Graffiti in the Mortuary Temple at Meidum shows that, in the New Kingdom, this pyramid was considered to be the work of King Sneferu, and so this pyramid is often accredited to him. Modern Egyptologists, however, tend to believe that the Medium Pyramid was originally the work of King Huni, Sneferu’s father, and Sneferu only oversaw the latter stages of its construction.

Refer:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/meidump.htm

www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/meidum_index.html

www.phouka.com/tr/egypt/photos/maidum/pyramid-01.htm

www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/pyramid-meidum.html

www.ancient-egypt.org/history/old-kingdom/4th-dynasty/snofru/pyramids/meidum-pyramid.html

http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/the-pyramid-of-snefru-at-meidum/

If the Meidum pyramid was constructed by Sneferu then why did this king build another pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, at Dahshur? The outer shape of the Bent Pyramid is itself a major cause of conjecture. Why the change in the angle of the outer casing blocks leading to the distinctive ‘bend’ in the pyramid? Clearly there was some internal structural cracking, but did this bring about the revision to its design, in that the upper part of the Bent Pyramid was ‘finished off quickly’ with horizontal courses of stone which would have been easier to lay – but if the pyramid was ‘flawed’ why go to the trouble of finishing it off at all?

The idea that the design was ‘changed’ presupposes that the original lower angle of the pyramid was the one the Egyptians had intended to use throughout its design – which would have brought the top of the pyramid to something over 700 feet in height – clearly something beyond the building capacity of the Egyptians of the time. So can we actually believe that this was their original intention, to attempt to build something so high, and then belatedly discover that it was not possible and change the design? It seems far more credible that the design was planned from the very beginning to have a change in angle. Perhaps the Bent Pyramid was an attempt to represent a huge ben-ben stone, atop a pedestal in the desert of Dahshur, with the king being buried in the very symbol of the solar religion, the ben-ben stone itself ? Refer:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/snefrubentp.htm

www.phouka.com/tr/egypt/photos/dashur/bent-01.html

www.ancient-egypt.org/history/old-kingdom/4th-dynasty/snofru/pyramids/bent-pyramid-at-dashur.html

www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/bent-pyramid-dashur.html

http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/dahshur-pyramid-of-snefru-bent-pyramid/

http://guardians.net/egypt/pyramids/dahshur/Sneferu/TheBentPyramid.htm

Despite the fact that the Bent Pyramid was finished, for some reason it was abandoned and Sneferu constructed an entirely new pyramid, the Red Pyramid, which, this time, was built at a much lower angle – clearly something had been learnt from the construction of the earlier pyramids. In view of the fact that members of Sneferu’s family were buried nearby it is believed that it was this pyramid that eventually served as the king’s final burial place. Refer:

www.ancient-egypt.org/history/old-kingdom/4th-dynasty/snofru/pyramids/red-pyramid-at-dashur.html

www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/red-pyramid-dashur.html

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/red.htm

www.phouka.com/tr/egypt/photos/dashur/red-01.html

http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/dahshur-pyramid-of-snefru-red-pyramid/

Victor Blunden

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