The Sixth Dynasty rolled in like the thunderhead that portents a rising storm. There had been tension between the royal line from which Teti descended and the one which had just vacated the throne. Court officials had grown accustomed to wealth. Provincial nobles were flexing their will to independence. Famine. Waves of refugees. Ongoing religious reform. Teti’s agenda could be summarized in two words-damage control.
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Tags: Iput I, Memphis Necropolis, Mereruka, Old Kingdom, Pepi I, Pyramid Complex, Pyramid Texts, Pyramids, Saqqara, Sixth Dynasty, Solar Cult, Teti, Teti's Pyramid, Unas, Unas' Pyramid, Userkare
Originally commissioned by President Anwar Sadat to memorialize the soldiers who died in the October 1973 War, the President himself would die within sight of the memorial, which would become his final resting place.
This modern-day pyramid symbolizes the eternal spirit of the Egyptian people and their long, complex history.
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Tags: Anwar Sadat, Cairo, Egyptian Tombs, Islamic Egypt, Modern Egypt, October 1973 War, Sami Rafi, Unknown Soldier Memorial
The King is dead, long live the King.
The death of Pharaoh Unas prompted the most fragile transfer of power in the Old Kingdom to date, but it would hardly be the last, or the worst. Without an heir, or at least one who ascended to the throne, the fact that the crown passed from one dynasty to another peaceably amidst a time of growing turmoil is a testament to what remained of Egypt’s institutions.
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Tags: Ancient Egypt, Fifth Dynasty, Kagemni, Memphis Necropolis, Old Kingdom, Pyramid Complex, Pyramid Texts, Pyramids, Saqqara, Sixth Dynasty, Solar Cult, Teti, Unas, Unas' Pyramid
In the last photo essay I posted, I stated that Egypt’s most important natural resource was her history. That was incorrect.
The number one most important natural resource of any country is its people, and its most important people are its children.
This photo essay is dedicated to Egypt’s children.
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Tags: Felucca, Islamic Egypt, Mausoleum of Aga Khan, Mortuary Temple of Djoser, Nile River, Nubia, Saqqara, Waterwheel
In every recession there are winners and losers. Meet Chief Justice and Vizier Mereruka, one of the winners. Even as the kings during his lifetime were building ever-smaller and cheaper pyramids, this officer of the royal court built the Taj Mahal of the Sixth Dynasty.
Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But Mereruka stands out as an excellent example how the power dynamics were shifting as the Old Kingdom entered its twilight years.
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Tags: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian Tombs, Fifth Dynasty, Kagemni, Mastabas, Memphis Necropolis, Mereruka, Old Kingdom, Saqqara, Sixth Dynasty, Solar Cult, Teti, Unas
Pharaoh Userkaf is one of the many Egyptian kings who have left very few clues regarding his biography and reign. Well, he did leave a pyramid and a few temples from which we have been able to extract a couple of details.
Actually, these structures contain some intriguing clues about Userkaf and his times, and a shadow of things to come.
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Tags: Djedefre, Djoser, Fifth Dynasty, Fourth Dynasty, Heliopolis, Memphis Necropolis, Pyramid Complex, Pyramids, Saqqara, Shepseskaf, Solar Cult, Step Pyramid of Djoser, Userkaf, Userkaf's Pyramid
The number one natural resource in Egypt is history. Unlike its oil-rich neighbors, the Egyptian economy relies on the foreign money of tourists who fly into Cairo from all points of the compass to see colossal monuments, puzzle over cyclopean architecture, and experience walking where the ancients once lived out their days. This has resulted in an organic fusion of the very ancient with the ultra modern.
No place on earth exemplifies this merger like Cairo. This photo essay takes a look at some instances where the ancient meets the modern.
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Tags: Abdeen Palace, Cairo, Cairo Architecture, Egyptian Mosques, Islamic Egypt, Islamic History, Khan el-Khalili, Minaret, Modern Egypt, Sultan Hassan Mosque
When Pharaoh Khufu set out to trump his father’s pyramid at Meidum he set the bar higher than would ever be achieved again. Khufu had a reputation for being a cruel and despotic ruler, and ignoring all other speculation about how the Great Pyramid was built, the sheer logistics of completing the project within the presumed timeframe suggests in the very least a classic overachiever. Whatever else may be true of Khufu, the man knew how to get things done.
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Tags: Ancient Egypt, Cheops, Djedefre, Fourth Dynasty, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khafre, Khufu, Khufu's Pyramid, King's Chamber, Pyramid Complex, Pyramids, Queen's Chamber, Sarcophagus, Snefru, The Great Pyramid, Zahi Hawass
The second pyramid built on the Giza Plateau, and the second largest in Egypt, Khafre’s Pyramid takes advantage of its superior location to steal the limelight on the plateau.
Possibly symbolic of a second son who was not his father’s first choice to reign, Khafre’s Pyramid steps forward from the plateau’s horizon as if to say “I will have my day in the sun…”
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Tags: Ancient Egypt, Chephren, Djedefre, Fourth Dynasty, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Great Sphinx, Khafre, Khafre's Pyramid, Pyramid Complex, Pyramids, Sarcophagus
Perhaps it would be a stretch to call Menkaure’s Pyramid modest, but it is significantly smaller than those of Khufu and Khafre. He is recalled much more fondly than his autocratic grandfather and seems to have been less vain than his statue-happy father, although more of his statues survived intact and are of such exquisite craftsmanship as to suggest that maybe quality over quantity was Menkaure’s trademark.
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Tags: Ancient Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Khafre, Khufu, Menkaure, Menkaure's Pyramid, Pyramids, Sarcophagus, Shepseskaf
For starters, it’s a large four-sided structure made of stone, wide at the bottom and pointy at the top, making a perfect triangle.
There are three of them, they are located in the middle of the Egyptian desert, they were built by slaves, and they have mummies in them.
Right? Well…
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Tags: Bent Pyramid, Black Pyramid, Dashur, Djoser, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Imhotep, Khufu's Pyramid, Mastabas, Meidum, Memphis Necropolis, Mereruka, Old Kingdom, Pyramid Complex, Pyramids, Red Pyramid, Saqqara, Serdab, Snefru, Step Pyramid of Djoser
It’s the northern tip of a vast cemetery that spans the desert from Memphis to Cairo. It’s the home of the Great Sphinx, scores of pyramids, and thousands of tombs. One of its features, the Great Pyramid, is the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World, and the best minds still can’t agree on how it was constructed.
Welcome to the Giza Plateau, the only place on Earth that is recognizable from outer space because of a few 4,600 year old buildings.
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Tags: Archaeology, Egyptian Tombs, First Dynasty, Giza Necropolis, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Memphis Necropolis, Pyramids, Saqqara, Senedjemib-inty, Seshemnefer IV, Solar Boat Museum, Sphinx
