The pyramid in Medum
The pyramid of Sekhemkhet, the son of Djoser, is half a kilometer from the father’s pyramid and there is an excellent book about her “The Lost Pyramid” by M. Goneim, who himself unearthed it. But even more mysterious pyramids remained to the third dynasty, to which it is very difficult to get (they are in a closed zone), and besides, they are in the desert, and far from Saqqara. There is a completely mysterious pyramid in Sale, in the eastern part of the Fayum oasis. Moreover, it is clear that they are destroyed, but still it is the pyramids. There are as many as four small pyramids in El-Kul, just 3 kilometers from the Nile. The Belgians explored them in 1946 and 1949, but ... they still couldn’t find their entrances, and what’s inside them is still a mystery. And, by the way, who has money and desire, he, quite, can do it. After all, whose they are and what is hidden under them, no one knows! And besides, there are seven of them - that's enough for everyone!
Mysterious pyramid in Sale. South side. It is located on the mountain between Fayoum and Nile, 6 km north of the railway that connects the cities of Vast and Fayoum. The archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt found it in 1898. In the 1987 year, near it, the ruins of the altar and two steles were found, and for some reason, one of them was the cartouche of Pharaoh Snofru. The most important thing in it is that its sides are almost exactly oriented to four sides of the world, which has not been observed before.
Well, now we say goodbye to the pyramids of Pharaoh III dynasty and drive (by speedometer, 80 km from Cairo) to the village of Medum, from which only 3 km to the most unique pyramid in Egypt - Medum. She 4600 years, but the pyramid, it has little resemblance, rather, it is the basis of some ancient ... lighthouse.
A section of the pyramid in Medum: 1 - tiers filled with sand, 2 - presumably, the last tier of the pyramid, 3 - burial chamber, 4 - part of the towering over the sand.
In fact, however, this is the first "true" in Egypt, and not a step pyramid, which was built before it. But ... only the third and fourth steps remained of her, and all her facing from her collapsed, revealing the inner core. However, under sandy sediments, it is still preserved, and it can be used to determine its size, and even the estimated height. Which, presumably, could reach 118 meters at the base of an 144 x144 meter.
The entrance to the pyramid in Medum is located in its lowest open layer, about 20 meters above the ground. It was discovered in 1882 year. There was no sarcophagus in the burial chamber, only fragments of a wooden coffin, which, according to the style of production, belonged to the Ancient Kingdom, were found. The burial chamber is located just below the top of the pyramid.
Exit out.
Moreover, it is obvious that it began to be erected as a stepped one, but then the steps were laid with stone and faced. They even found a tile on which the ancient architect depicted her drawing with three and four steps. However, a written indication of which king ordered it to be built has not been found so far. It used to be thought that it belonged to Pharaoh Snofr - the first king of the IV dynasty, but now it is believed that Pharaoh Huni was its builder - the last king of the III dynasty and, possibly, Father Snofru, and he only ordered her to finish. Why so began to consider? But the fact is that then Snofru ordered to build two more pyramids for himself (!) In Dashur, and they are very different from Medum. That is, we can say that the first stage of the evolution of the construction of the pyramids was completed on it: starting with the stepped Djoser, it ended with the first "true", although only outside, the Snofra pyramid!
The internal plan of the Medum pyramid chambers
Pay attention to the false ceiling of the chamber. It is obvious that the Egyptians did not know while to make a real vault, and arranged ceilings "ladder".
The same false arches are also found in the Mayan pyramids and temples. By the way, the work is very rough.
That's how we came to the name of this pharaoh, who played in the Egyptian "pyramid building" a very important role, but for most people completely unknown. Therefore, we first tell a little about him, and then about his pyramids.
The “Palermo Stone” (about what it is, needs to be told separately) describes Snofru (2575's rule - 2551 BC) as the ruler of the active and militant. So, hike around 2595 BC. er to Nubia, south of the 1 th threshold, allowed 4000 captives of men to be brought, more 3000 women, and in addition 200000 bulls and rams. About four or six years later, 1100 people and 13100 cattle he captured in the country Tehena, that is, in modern Libya. Xnumx sent an expedition from 40 to the Phoenician port of Byblos, and they returned with a cargo of Lebanese cedar for the construction of temples and large ships. The Sinai Peninsula was colonized, rich in copper and turquoise. There is an image of Snofru, who strikes enemies, and where he is named "The winner of the barbarians." Well, it is clear that the copper mines were of economic and political importance for Egypt, so that one of the mines was given its name; and he was considered the patron god of these lands. Simultaneously, Snofru, who ruled 24 of the year, ended up in stories Egypt is also the greatest builder, and that absolutely unique pyramids were built in his reign.
In addition to the pyramids, mastabs are located next to them in Dashur. Here is one of them # 17.
Moreover, if there are no sarcophagi in the pyramids of Snofru, then it is in mastaba No. XXUMX!
In total, the three pyramids belong to the time of his reign: the Medumskaya tomb (perhaps the cenotaph is a “false” burial, or the “completion” of what Huni began), the Southern (“broken”) pyramid in Dashur, and here, to the north her - Northern ("Pink" or "Red") pyramid.
South or "broken pyramid" and its pyramid-companion.
Egyptologists could not figure out why Snofru decided to abandon the step-shaped pyramid, and ordered to make the side faces straight. However, both of his pyramids bear the imprint of searches, which obviously is worth looking at them. The fact is that the Southern Pyramid in Dakhshur is called “broken line”, and not without reason. Unlike other pyramids of the Old Kingdom, it has two entrances - on the north side and on the west. The entrances on the north side of the pyramids were made in the era of the Old Kingdom. But why the entrance was also needed in the west? There is no sarcophagus in it, but this is exactly the Snofru pyramid, since its name was found in it, and it was also found on a stele in the fence of the pyramid-companion - a very small pyramid built next to a large one.
View of the "broken pyramid" from the north-west corner.
The angle of inclination of its faces first has 50 degrees 41 minutes, but at 45 height it “breaks” and changes the inclination to 42 degrees 59 minutes to finish work quickly. Currently, its height is equal to 100 meters, but it could be higher with the initial inclination of the walls - 125 meters! It was suggested that the pyramid at Medum and the southern pyramid at Dashur were built almost simultaneously, and when the plating collapsed at the pyramid in Medum, the angle of inclination of the sides on the pyramid at Dashura was decided to be reduced, and when it was actually half built.
Schematic plan of the "broken pyramid".
Archaeologists managed to find out that the pyramid was rebuilt three times, as indicated by the location of stone blocks in it. They wanted, apparently, to make it more durable construction, but “it turned out as always,” that is, only worse. The pressure of the stone blocks on the inner chambers increased, which caused the appearance of cracks, which could lead to a collapse.
"Pink" or "Red Pyramid" Snofru.
At the first stage, the foundation was folded and about 12,70 meters of tunnels at the entrance (descending corridor) and approximately 11,60 meters of the corridor leading upward were made. At the second stage, the builders decided to reduce the angle of inclination to 54 °, and to do this, increase the length of each side of the pyramid base by as much as 15,70 m. The base length of the updated pyramid now became 188 m. Calculations show that 54 m, its height could be 188 m, and the volume - 129,4 m³. But here, at an altitude of 1,592,718,453 meters, construction suddenly stopped.
Schematic plan of the pyramid Snofru.
At the third stage of construction, a radical change was made in the slope of the upper - unfinished part of the pyramid - it was reduced to 42 degrees 59 minutes. Accordingly, the overall height of the pyramid is now also reduced to 105 m. Why so, there are two options, and both have their supporters and opponents. The first explanation is the simplest. Pharaoh died, and his heir ordered to quickly finish the pyramid. The explanation of the second is more complicated. It was built in the same way as the step pyramid at Saqqara, but its upper parts collapsed and ... the builders changed the angle of its faces to keep the lining better! It is believed that there is more evidence in the second hypothesis, since at the base of the pyramid there are too many debris that could fall only from above, because otherwise they would simply have no place to take. Well, yes, and then the king died, and did not begin to clean them.
Entrance to the pyramid.
The northern pyramid can rightly be called the first "true" pyramid in Egypt, because ... it really is a pyramid - without steps and kinks. Why is it called pink or red? This is due to the color of stone blocks in the rays of the setting sun, acquiring either pink or red. When it was built, its walls were covered with slabs of white limestone. But then the lining of the pyramid lost. And it was on several facing blocks found near the pyramid that they found the name Snofru, written in red paint. That is, it is clearly his pyramid.
Descend into the pyramid.
The passage from the first chamber to the second.
"False" (stepped) vault, and some fools on it, of course, signed.
The height is the third (!) Pyramid in Egypt, after the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre in Giza. Its dimensions are really very large: 218,5 on 221,5 meters, and height - 14,4 m. It has a very low slope of the walls - 43 degrees 36 minutes. As if the architects were afraid that if it was "cool", then ... it would fall apart. The volume of the pyramid is 1 694 000 m³. Perhaps both pyramids were built at the same time. And the verified slope of the “pink” pyramid was later used on the construction of the upper part of the “broken pyramid”. It is possible to enter inside through the entrance on the north side, which leads down into three interconnected cameras, each of which has a height of about 17 meters. All of them are accessible to tourists, but for this you need to go to Dashur!
Here on these stairs you need to climb into the burial chamber. If there was something there and thieves got here, then imagine how they, the poor, had to work hard to get there ?!
PS: On the catcher, they say, and the beast runs. We did not have time to prepare the first material about the pyramid of Djoser, as the press reported that the Egyptian Museum in Cairo exhibits the oldest papyrus, which describe the construction of the pyramids in Giza. Today, six of the 30 papyruses found in 2013 were exhibited in the area of the small town of Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea. All of them belong to the era of Pharaoh Cheops or Khufu, and today they are the oldest texts known to science, which describe events that took place about 4500 years ago.
The southern side of the "Pink Pyramid". It is clearly seen that the angle of inclination is “not the same”.
The director of the Egyptian Museum, Tarek Taufik, stated that these papyrues absolutely clearly prove that they were built by the most ordinary people, and not at all by “gods” from Atlantis or equally mythical “aliens”. These documents tell in detail how and from where materials were delivered to the construction site and what fed the workers.
Pyramid facing blocks (north side).
So, one of the papyrus belonged to a senior official named Merrer. From the text it is clear that he was responsible for transporting the huge blocks to the pyramid of Cheops from the quarries in the south of the Sinai Peninsula. At first they were transported by sea, and afterwards - along the Nile and the channel specially dug for this. In addition, a three-month period of work is described in the papyrus of Merrer and daily reports on the delivery of building materials to the pyramid are given. So more, in fact, you can not argue about anything. Everything fell into place.