Pyramid complex of Amenemhat
III ( XII Dynasty ) in Dahshur
Amenemhat
is Mighty
A
builder's graffiti from Amenemhat III's
pyramid in Dahshur casing dates to year 2, suggestet that he began his
pyramid as early as the first year of his reign. Only an unprepossessing
dark grey ruin remains, which local people named "Black Pyramid". The
core was made of mudebricks and it lacked the stabilizing stone
framework. The apex of the pyramid was crowned by a beautiful dark
gray granite pyramidion that was originally about 1.3 m high. The
pyramid substructure is articulated in a relatively complicated way and
differs significantly from that of early XII Dynasty pyramids. It
consists of two parts, of which one belonged to the ruler and the other
to his two consorts. The two parts were connected by a corridor. The
entrance into the ruler's tomb was an east, at the level of the lowest
foundation layer, near the southeast corner of the pyramid. A stairway
led to the entrance corridor and then into a whole system of
passageways, shafts, barriers and chambers that werew sheated in
limestone and were located at varying levels. About twenty meters from
the entrance, it turned to the north toward the royal burial chamber. At
the turning point, another corridor coming from the queen's burial
chamber entered from the west. On the west wall of king's burial
chamber, stood a pink granite sarcophagus with a voulted top and niches.
The system of chambers and passageways of the ruler's tomb lay under the
east half of the pyramid. The two entrances are virtually mirror images
of each other. The entrance corridor also had a descending stairway.
Coming from the west, one first entered the burial chamber of queen Aat,
and then that of a queen who has not been precisely identified
(Neferuptah ?). Another branch of the underground labirynth was the
so-called south tomb, a system of passageways and chapels. It begins in
the entrance corridor to the king's system and is located under
the south part of the the courtyard between the inner and outeride of
the pyramid. The mortuary temple in front of east side of the pyramid
was small and relatively simple. North of the pyramid, in te courtyard
between the inner and outer perimeter walls, is a row of ten shaft tombs
that belonged to the members of the royal family. The first tomb from
the east was later usurped by one of the rulers of the XIII Dynasty -
Hor I. The pyramid in Dahshur was completed in about the 15 year of
the ruler's reign and was probably abandoned soon thereafter.
length of sides of
base:105 m
slope of walls: 54o 30'...57o
height: 75 m burial chamber: 7 x 2.5 (height: 1.83 m)
Pyramid complex of Amenemhat
III ( XII Dynasty ) in Hawara
anx-imn-m-HAt(Amenemhat Live)
The
pyramid was built with mudbrick core and a casing of fine white
limestone. The entrance into the substructure was
placed directly in the casing, on the south side of the pyramid. There
are descending corridor with a stairway led north. It was sheated
with limestone and provided with barriers, and underground it turned
several times around the pyramid's axis before finally reaching the
burial chamber. The burial chamber was dug a rectangular hole in the
rock subsoil, lined it with limestone blocks, and thus formed the side
walls of the burial chamber. Over the flat ceiling composed of limestone
monoliths rose a saddle vault of enormous limestone monoliths weighing
more than fifty tons, and over them, another massive brick vault about
seven meters high. We are not the certain of the name of Amenemhat III's Hawara pyramid. Rock
inscription in the Wadi Hammamat speak of statues quarried for building
named Amenemhat-Ankh. In
front of the south side of pyramid
Petrie excavated the remains of anextensive and highly structured temple complex, probably the Labyrinth
mentioned by ancient travelers..
Herodotus, Diodorus Sicullus, Strabo and Pliny all refer to it.
Because of the early destruction of the complex, the original plan of
the Labyrinth cannot be precisly reconstructed. Probably the inner part
with the sacrifice hall was in the back part of the temple, and thus
near the south side of the pyramid. In front of it was the complex of
columned halls, columned courtyards, porticos, colonnades, chambers and
passageways. To the south lay another extensive open courtyard. the fact
that the labyrinth was not just another building is shown by its unusual
size: it covered an area of about 28 000 square meters. The whole temple
complex as well as the pyramid and a small north chapel were surrounded
by a rectangular, north-south oriented perimeter wall.
length of sides of
base:102 m
slope of walls: 48o - 52o
height: 58 m
