Dahshur Pyramids: The Bent, The Red and The Crumbly Pile of Rock

Red Pyramid. Built by Snefru. Dahshur. Photo by Genevieve Hathaway.

Three of my friends and I rented a taxi and drove to the site of Dahshur.  The pyramids are located next to a military base, and at this time tourists were not allowed to visit them.  When we pulled up the military men pulled our driver out and spent a good while interrogating him.  After they had thoroughly grilled him they turned to us.  We gave them a big smile, a “We would LOVE to visit your pyramids,”  a few bats of our eyelashes followed by “mumbkin” (Is it possible? in Arabic), and a few baksheesh passing through the window.  Apparently that did the trick; we were then off through the gates to the pyramids.

So, you think Khufu was bad with his Great Pyramid, he had nothing on Dad (Sneferu) who built at least 3 Pyramids, maybe even 4 or 5.  The Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid were

Red Pyramid. Dahshur. Photo by Genevieve Hathaway.

both built by Sneferu (in addition to Meidum) The Red Pyramid is massive, surpassed only by Khufu’s and Khafre’s pyramids.  We bribed the antiquities guards with more baksheesh to let us climb around inside the Red Pyramid. This may have been the pyramid that Sneferu was buried in.  No burial has been found, but what clued archaeologists off to it’s potential as a burial site are the satellite pyramids.  Pyramids that were used by the king as his burial site all had satellite pyramids – no satellite pyramids, no Pharaonic burial (the Pyramid then was just for kicks).

Bent Pyramid. Built by Snefru. Dahshur. Photo by Genevieve Hathaway.

Next it was onto the Bent Pyramid.  The Bent Pyramid is called so because the engineers made a small error in design and the initial slope was too steep to support the structure causing them to have to change the slope at the top.  It is also the only pyramid with two entrances.  Sneferu wasn’t buried in the Bent Pyramid; but one archaeologist (the only one who worked inside the Bent Pyramid before it collapsed) said that on windy days he could hear echoes from some chamber near the ones he was excavating.  This mysterious chamber has not yet been found. (But rumor has it Hawass may open the Bent Pyramid to tourists.)

After visiting two of Sneferu’s masterpieces we drove toward the Black Pyramid, which was built by Amenemhat III during the Middle Kingdom.  Unfortunately, by the Middle Kingdom,

Black Pyramid. Pyramid of Amenemhat III. Dahshur. Photo by Genevieve Hathaway.

pharaohs were using shitty building materials and crappy building techniques, and so Amenemhat III’s lovely pyramid fell apart.  Basically all we had to look at was a pretty, old pile of rocks.  But, what a cool pile of rocks it is!  Amenemhat III, being the sly fox that he was, realized that his Black Pyramid wasn’t going to last, buried himself somewhere else and stuck his wife in the Black Pyramid.  So then she got the joy of having the pyramid fall apart around her.

Interior of Red Pyramid. Dahshur. Photo by Genevieve Hathaway.

~ by gshathaway on November 5, 2009.