The Meidum Pyramid

• 16 / 5 / 2023

The pyramid of Medom was built during the Old Kingdom during the reign of King Sneferu of the fourth dynasty in Medom (2620 BC); three terraces are currently visible from it, and it was the fifth largest pyramid in Egypt when it was created. It seems that this pyramid was not intended to be a tomb for Sneferu, but to be a tomb or a false pyramid.

The Medom pyramid is distinguished by the heart shape of the pyramid, which looks like a high terrace surrounded by sand and rubble, which makes The Shape of the pyramid far beyond imagination.

His studies

The unusual shape of the pyramid attracted the attention of residents and visitors, who call it the "false pyramid". Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi wrote about it during the twelfth century AD and described it as a building consisting of 5 terraces, which shows that erosion factors, in particular the use of its stones in other buildings, did not reach its present form at that time.

Pyramid construction

The pyramid of Medom was the first construction erected by Sneferu after he accedes to the throne in Egypt. He chose a place for its construction close to the seat of his reign, "Jedi Sneferu", which is now near Medom, and that area was not previously reserved for royal tombs.

The ancient Egyptian engineers chose the area on the grounds that it was a rocky plateau that could withstand the pyramid that would be erected on it, provided that it was close to the capital. Construction began on the method that was known at that time in the way of the construction of the Step Pyramid; some modifications were made, such as the construction of The Mummy chamber inside the pyramid instead of being built underground.

After work began on it for years, and Pharaoh's health was good and he hoped to live a long time, the design of the building was changed to be a large pyramid. With the completion of the construction, Sneferu abandoned this project, which was planned to be his tomb, and after the transfer of the seat of government, he began to build the inclined pyramid in Dahshur. And the pyramid became the function of a" kinotav", that is, a false Tomb.

The supervisor of the construction was "Nefer Maat", the son of the king, who was his vizier, and his titles were "director of royal constructions" and the title of tiati (vizier). His Mastaba (number M16) is located a few hundred meters north of the pyramid.

The pyramid

The current form of the pyramid represents a tower with three terraces, surrounded by high debris, which indicates the collapse of the outer casing layer and the stones that used to fill the terraces between the terraces.

The stones used to build the pyramid were derived from a quarry about 800 meters south of the construction site.

Stages of construction

From the condition in which this pyramid is located, we can deduce that it was built in stages, as there are still remains of all stages of construction. From them, the construction technique can be derived, as well as from" manuscripts " (graffiti) on some building stones with the names of workers, and some of them bear the name of Pharaoh Sneferu.

The archaeologist "Peter petri" shows his drawings to illustrate the evolution of the stepped pyramid into a full pyramid, which was done in stages: the origin of The Shape of the pyramid was that it was a pyramid with seven terraces similar to the construction of Djoser's pyramid, but after the completion of the fifth terrace, the casing was built around it to top it to be with eight terraces. It seems that it was during the last years of Sneferu's reign that he decided to change the shape of the step pyramid to a full pyramid with an angle of inclination of 51°50’35’ . Thus, the heart of the pyramid of Saqqara is an inscribed pyramid like the pyramids of the Third Dynasty, its steps are covered to take the form of a complete pyramid.

First stage (E1)

The first stages of construction were identical to the method of construction of the step pyramid that was followed during the Third Dynasty. It consists of 75° inward-sloping stone layers of limestone from neighboring quarries, which are covered from the outside by a shell of flat-surfaced stones of white limestone.

 After the completion of the fourth or fifth terrace, the construction design was changed according to the second stage.

Up to that point, the Mummy chamber had been built in the heart of the pyramid rather than underground as was customary with the step pyramid.

Second stage (E2)

The second stage began with the elevation of the pyramid to eight terraces. For this, an inclined cover was built for the pyramid, tilted at an angle of 75 degrees, which expanded the ribs of the base of the pyramid to 120 meters, to reach a height of 85 meters. The covering that was done during the first stage was still in place, and the process of expansion outside it began. After the completion of the second stage, it was also covered with flat packing stones. The completion of this stage was during the 14th year of the reign of Sneferu, and the pyramid of Sneferu was the second pyramid in height compared to the pyramid of Djoser, which was built by him.

Despite the completion of the construction of the pyramid, Sneferu decided to build two large pyramids in Dahshur, which indicates that he would not take the pyramid of Heddom as his tomb after his death. For this reason, the buildings attached to the pyramid, such as the mortuary temple and others, were done in a quick manner.

The third stage (E3)

The development of pyramid construction from a stepped pyramid to a full-fledged pyramid began during the 28th or 29th years of the reign of Sneferu. This dating is based on the writings of workers on the building stones during that phase, which refer to the censuses 15, 16, and 17 that were carried out in Egypt to count cattle every two years, which means the years 30-33 of the reign of Sneferu.

Since the stones of the pyramid were laid horizontally during this stage, as was the case in the last stages of the construction of the inclined pyramid, this technique was also followed with the Red Pyramid.  The third stage was also covered with white limestone from the Tora quarries located on the East Bank of the Nile; this is what we find today under the ruins surrounding the pyramid.

The slope of the pyramid spaces was 51°50 ' more than the slope of the Red Pyramid, and about that slope was followed later when building the Great Pyramid, built by Pharaoh Cheops during the Fourth Dynasty.

The expansion of the midum pyramid rib to 147 meters made it 93 meters higher than the completion, which makes it ranked fifth among all the pyramids of Egypt in terms of its height. The size of the Medom pyramid was 638.733 m³.

But it is not entirely known whether the third stage of construction has been completed. Perhaps in the past, some construction platforms were left, which made it easier to take the stones of the pyramid to build other buildings. Perhaps this is an explanation for the theft of attic stones from the pyramid, unlike what happened to the other pyramids. The theory that the outer parts of the Medom pyramid collapsed on themselves has not been scientifically proven after examining and studying the ruins.

Underground structure

The design of the lower structure of the pyramid takes on a new aspect in comparison with the pyramid of Saqqara, which was built before it. The funerary chamber was raised above the body of the pyramid. The underground parts were not only built by digging into the rock, but also had a long open pit lined with stone blocks.

The entrance to the pyramid is located in the northern facade at a height of 18 meters. From it begins an entrance with a height of 5 and 1 meters and a width of 90 and 0 meters downwards. And after a short entrance to the bottom, there is a deep well that was probably to receive water that might leak from the pyramid, to prevent water from entering the other chambers. The entrance ends with a first room that has two right and left corners, 7 and 1 meters high, and measures 2.60 meters × 2.20 meters. A second chamber branches off from here, measuring approximately the same as the first chamber (2.65 m × 2.10 m), and is located on the right side of the entrance. Both entrance chambers have a low ceiling, and the ceiling of both chambers is roofed with wide monolithic and intact stones that have no cracks. The two entrance chambers were probably closed by a large stone, displaced from the side corners of each chamber.  The Amani archaeologist "Stadelman" sees in this the three-chamber system that was followed in the design of the pyramids later during the Fourth Dynasty.

A new vestibule with a length of 5 and 4 meters starts from the second entrance chamber, then a vertical opening upwards leads to the main chamber. The funerary chamber measures 5,90 meters × 2,65 meters and is 5,05 meters high, and is in a north-south direction. The roof has a stepped Dome, distributing the pressure of the pyramid on both sides of the funerary chamber. There is no coffin in the main chamber, and there are no signs that there was a coffin in it before. There are wooden planks in the room and in the vestibule, probably to transport the wooden coffin to the funeral chamber.  There are no storage places in the entrance system or the Chambers, unlike their abundant presence in the pyramids of the Third Dynasty. In 1999, the archaeologists "Gillis Dormion" and"Jean-Yves verdheart" discovered pressure-reducing ceilings above the chambers and corridors, so that the weight of the pyramid does not fall on the stones of the ceilings of the chambers. These domed roofs began for the first time in the pyramid of Medom to protect the chambers from the enormous weight of the pyramid above them, since in the corridors and chambers that were built before that, they were carved into the rock floor or their roofs were made of very thick stones.

Pyramid complex

The pyramid complex was surrounded by a wall 2 meters high, 236 meters long, and 218 meters wide in an easterly direction, and nothing remains of it except the remains of a slide. The purpose of the fence was to hold a place for other buildings that were built later. And the vestibule around the pyramid was paved with dry clay.

Pyramid temple

There is nothing left of the mortuary temple, which was completed during the second stage (E2), as taking its place had become necessary for the construction of the third stage (E3) of the pyramid. It is believed that the place of this mausoleum was east of the pyramid.

The pyramid temple consists of two chambers that open onto an open foyer leading to the pyramid. In the foyer, there is a sacrificial table and two large stone plaques on which there are no inscriptions. The measures of the two chambers. 9 meters by 9,18 meters, and their roofing stones are still in their positions. Thus, it is the oldest complete roof of a building in the state

In the two chambers of the mortuary temple, there are no storerooms and no false doors, as is customary in large mortuary temples.  The good condition of the funerary temple is because it was hidden under the ruins.

The pyramid of worship

South of the pyramid of Medom, there is a small secondary pyramid whose remains were found by the archaeologist "Petri". It represents the oldest example of a cult pyramid.

The structure that was high for the pyramid is gone, and its underground plant is demolished. The archaeologists "Vito Maraggioglio" and "Celeste Rinaldi" have reconstructed the remaining fragments that indicate the existence of a former stepped pyramid with a rib of 26 meters, consisting perhaps of three or four terraces on top of each other. The structure of the pyramid was made up of stone layers tilted inward, as in the structure of the Medom pyramid.

The design of the underground structure of the small pyramid was also similar to the infrastructure of the Medom pyramid. An inclined entrance from the pyramid leads north to the main chamber. Excavations at the site of the small pyramid revealed a limestone panel on which there was an inscription of Horus.

There are no signs that the small pyramid was covered from the outside with stones to make it into a full pyramid (level surfaces).