Recently, we have somehow lost sight of the topic of the Egyptian pyramids. And it is by no means closed. As evidenced by the recently appeared on VO material "from a madhouse" that they were built using a sluice system larger than the pyramid itself. So the last article on pyromidomania and pyramidoidiotism appeared on time. But … we stopped at the pyramids of the last kings of the VI dynasty, during which the power of the pharaohs from Memphis in Egypt became purely nominal. The country split into many small independent principalities, which could consist of several or even one nome. So, the era of the Old Kingdom was replaced by the period of decline and fragmentation of Ancient Egypt (or the first transitional period), after which the Middle Kingdom began, chronologically located between 2040 and 1783. (or 1640) BC. NS.
Pharaoh Mentuhotep II is considered the founder of the Middle Kingdom. But he did not begin to build a pyramid for himself, but built a unique funerary temple with a grave at its base, but the pyramid was already built over this temple. This is the only such structure in Egypt. This is how its reconstruction looks like (left). On the right is the temple of Queen Hatshepsut.
Graphic reconstruction of the Mentuhotep II temple. But … there is also such a point of view that this temple did not have any pyramid!
And this is how both of these temples look today.
Immediately, we note: the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom also built pyramids, which undoubtedly deserve attention. But since they were all built far from tourist and international routes, people visit them even less often than the pyramids of their predecessors described by us, which stand in the "shadow of the great pyramids." And most people generally think that there are only three pyramids in Egypt!
The so-called "Black Pyramid" of Pharaoh Amenemhat III in Dashur. On the right is the "Broken Pyramid" of Pharaoh Sneferu. Well, who will go there?
Moreover, the most distant of the pyramids of this era is located only 80 kilometers south of Cairo, behind the Fayum oasis, in Illahun; well, and the nearest one from Cairo is 40 kilometers away, in Dashur. Some of the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom are led by roads in the desert, or rather a hint of a road; and when you drive on it in a car, the tires skid, and the air filter tightly clogs the sand. You can walk to some of the pyramids of the nearest village only on foot. There is only one desert around here, sand, gravel and … the ruins of pyramids! It is clear that no one comes here to check whether the knife blade enters between the stones. They also do not check for them the laser cutting of stone blocks made by kind aliens - they are very far away and atypical, from the point of view of "pyramid-idiots".
By the way, once again about the masonry, into which you can't even stick the blade of a knife. Here is an example of the brickwork of the "broken pyramid" of Sneferu, Khufu's father. True, this is the era of Ancient Egypt, but the "quality of work" can be seen very well.
But there are not so many of them (only nine!) And all of them can be bypassed and carefully examined. All of them were built during the XII dynasty, which ruled in Egypt from the beginning of the XX and until the end of the XVIII century BC. NS. These include one more pyramid, which belonged to the king Mentuhotep II from the previous XI dynasty. True, this is just a pyramidal superstructure over his funeral temple. Again, not all scientists believe that it was at all. Whatever it was, but this temple is located 500 kilometers from Cairo to the south, opposite the famous Luxor, on the west bank of the Nile.
Pharaoh Mentuhotep II. Cairo Museum.
So, the pyramids built by the kings of the XII dynasty had the same purpose and appearance as the pyramids of the Old Kingdom, but in all other respects the discrepancies between them are very large. The fact is that these "new pyramids" have a certain unified base, the sides of which are equal to 200 Egyptian cubits, or 105 meters; and only the last two pyramids of this dynasty have these dimensions reduced by exactly half. And they also had to seem more slender and airy, since the slope of their walls was 56 °. But their orientation to the cardinal points was not given much importance; therefore, their entrance corridors do not always face north. In some cases, they were arranged in the south, and in one case, the corridor faced west. The dungeons were also different: they were real labyrinths of corridors and numerous chambers; and the sarcophagus itself could be in a completely unexpected place. For some reason, funeral temples were always built below the level of the base of the pyramid, which also visually increased its height. The fence is always rectangular in shape. However, the biggest difference between the pyramids of the Middle and Ancient Kingdoms was by no means outside, but was inside and was in the construction technology. "The ancients" were built from stone, "middle" - from rubble and clay.
That is, the rulers of the Middle Kingdom, for some reason, had to abandon the use of hewn stone blocks and replace them with simple unfired brick, stone chips, and to fill the cracks with sand at all.
The so-called "Black Pyramid" of Pharaoh Amenemhat III close up. Time did not spare her.
And what was the reason for that? What, the aliens flew away and stopped helping? Or the reason is much more prosaic: the "decline of power and wealth" of the kings of the Middle Kingdoms. Although, in principle, neither this, not many other reasons are not convincing enough. In fact, there were civil strife of the Transitional period, there were, no one argues. But then the country was again united under the rule of one king. So, economically, Egypt in the era of the Middle Kingdom was a completely prosperous state. Irrigation canals were laid, new cities were laid, temples and secular buildings were erected. For example, during the XII dynasty, the famous Labyrinth was built, which Herodotus counted higher than the colossal temples in Thebes and even the great pyramids in Memphis. Accordingly, the population increased, and the victorious wars in Nubia and Asia made it possible to nourish the country with the coveted gold and slaves. Sources say that the latter were handed out to dignitaries as a reward for service, and sold to private individuals. Therefore, it is unlikely that the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom were so poor that they saved on the pyramids, or that there were not enough workers to build them. The reason for replacing the stone pyramids with brick ones was undoubtedly something else.
Perhaps the experience of the fall of the Old Kingdom clearly showed that the stone pyramids, alas, do not save the bodies of buried monarchs and all their treasures from robbers. Neither the size nor the massiveness of the masonry provide them with eternal rest, and they have found another way to resist the wicked. Many intricate corridors were now being laid under the pyramid, many of which ended in dead ends, in order to confuse the robbers; they turned the burial chambers into impregnable dugouts and placed them so that people unfamiliar with the layout of the pyramid would not find them until the end of the century. That is, the ground part of the tomb has now lost its former significance. That is why it was already possible to build it not from stone, but from brick, although outwardly it did not reveal this secret. The pyramids were still faced with Tours limestone, so it was impossible to guess what they were made of inside. Although … they still knew what it was made of. It was enough to invite one of the builders to a beer.
From the pyramid of Amenemhat I, only a pile of clay and sand remained.
And this is the entrance to it …
The construction of the "brick pyramid" also did not require as many working hands and hard labor as a pyramid made of stone. Although the task of the architect in this case was much more difficult. The stone blocks of the old pyramids were held together by gravity and frictional forces, but the numerous layers of adobe bricks could easily compacted and settle, making the pyramid easy to fall apart. The Sumerians and Babylonians knew about this and when they built ziggurats, they used reed mats and laid layers of bricks with them. The Egyptians invented a special technology reminiscent of the sectional construction method. When the pyramid was erected from corner to corner, stone partitions were erected diagonally. Then, transverse walls, also made of stone, were attached to them from both sides at an oblique angle. A cruciform base appeared, which looked like a lattice. Then this frame was filled with bricks or gravel, and all the cracks were filled with ordinary sand. Materials were transported up the earthen embankments on wooden sleds or carried by porters in baskets - here, obviously, no hydraulic lifts were required. In order to reliably strengthen the cladding slabs, the lower slabs were made of granite slabs. Well, the top was traditionally crowned with a granite pyramidion.
But the pyramidion from the top of the "Black Pyramid" has survived relatively well and is now in the Cairo Museum.
"Do not put me below the stone pyramids …" - such an inscription, according to Herodotus, was made on one of these pyramids. Moreover, he visited Egypt already when these pyramids lost their stone facing, and no one paid attention to them, except for the locals who stole stone from them. Strolling through the fiery desert for a pile of stones sticking out of the clay? God forbid! That is why, until the end of the last century, archaeologists also did not pay attention to them. Everything else was enough for them.
The image of the Ureus on the crown of Senusret II, found in his pyramid and, apparently, lost by the robbers.
Pectoral of Senusret II.
But quite unexpectedly, the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom aroused keen interest throughout the world. The first time this happened back in 1894, when Morgan found the famous "Dashur Treasure", and the second time in 1920, when the archaeologist Petrie discovered something similar near Illahun. After that, they began to research and eventually learned a lot of interesting things …
Pyramid of Pharaoh Senusret II in El Lahun. A typical pyramid of the Middle Kingdom made of adobe brick, therefore it collapsed greatly, and today its height is only 15 meters. The base is a natural rock - an unusual solution, which was then surrounded by a frame of stone blocks. The entrance was first moved to the south side to confuse the robbers, and the underground corridors are a real labyrinth with trap wells arranged in it. The burial chamber itself was arranged 20 meters away from the center of the pyramid, where it should have been according to custom, and in addition it was buried in the base by 12 m. But it still contains only a superbly made sarcophagus (empty) of red granite, and a sacrificial table made of white alabaster. It was on the floor of the burial chamber in petrified silt that archaeologists found several unique works of art lost by the robbers. Nothing else of value was found in the pyramids at all!
