Pyramids at Meidum and Hawara

A few days ago, we visited two pyramids that we pass all the time on the road....on our way back and forth to Cairo as well as David's commute to work. The Meidum and Hawara pyramids....each are about a 20 minute drive from our compound.

Remember the step pyramid at Saqqara?? It was the first pyramid, showcasing Imhotep's idea to stack the funerary mastabas on top of one another. Well, Meidum is sort of the next pyramid chronologically along the progression of techniques which climaxed with the perfect pyramid in Giza. Meidum was built in the 4th dynasty by, well they're really not sure by whom. It is commonly attributed to the ruler Snefru due to some graffiti they found on the pyramid from the 18th dynasty (about 1000 BC!!). The graffiti indicates that Snefru was believed to have been the builder.

With Meidum, Snefru took the step pyramid idea from Sazzara but then filled in the steps and smoothed off the sides to create a "true" pyramid. However, the angle was too steep and the limestone slap casing was never attached to the inner structure so the whole outer casing collapsed, leaving the inner step core surrounded by a huge pile of limestone rubble. So only half of the pyramid is visible.


This is the first pyramid I've actually entered. Can you see the small staircase we entered through the north side?? This steep passageway descended for about 200 ft. and then ascended into the uninhabited and unfinished burial chamber. They think this pyramid was simply abandoned and never used after the sudden collapse.


Here's an inside look of the burial chamber. This is the first burial chamber built in the body of the pyramid rather than in an underground shaft covered by a pyramid as in Saqqara.


And here's a photo of the passageway out:


Once outside, here's the causeway which leads out to the valley temple by the river. (I explained these standard features of the pyramid complex here ) None of the valley temple remnants have been found.


Per usual, the pyramid was surrounded by mastabas where family and courtiers were buried. We actually were able to enter this one (seen from the entrance of the pyramid).


This passageway was much more challenging. We had to walk in a crouch and squeeze through that little opening you see in the background:

One last note before I move onto the Hawara pyramid. One of the mastabas at the Meidum site (don't know if it was this one or not) is famous for a painted frieze depicting six geese. It was discovered in 1871 and was so detailed that they were able to identify the species. The frieze has been taken up to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and I happened upon it during my last visit....just tucked away in a side room with little fanfare.

(Photograph by Jon Bodsworth at http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/cairo_museum_08.html )

By the way, we were given another police escort:


The truck full of guards is following us. :) This was actually the most relaxed site we've been to....there were guards at the entrance of the pyramid and mastaba who we followed through the passageway (who expected baksheesh or tips) but other than one guy (unarmed, civilian clothed, with great English) who described the site...we were pretty much left alone. No entourage.

OK, on to Hawara. Hawara was built much much later, in the 12th dynasty, and while you can see Meidum in the progression up the scale towards the perfect pyramid in Giza, Hawara's on the downslope after Giza. Apparently, the pharoahs at that time were expending their efforts elsewhere. Amenemhat III built Hawara and was buried here and my guidebook tells me that Hawara was the last great pyramid to be built here in Egypt; as you can see it's not much to look at. Like Lahun pyramid, Hawara's built with mud bricks and the limestone casing has been stripped so all we're left with is an eroded lump.


While unimpressive as a pyramid, Hawara is the site of one of the most famed tourist destinations in the ancient world. Apparently, the mortuary temple built adjacent to the pyramid was colossal. It was still standing in Greek times and Herodotus and Strabo were lucky enough to visit and write about it (5th c. and 1st c. BC, respectively). Scholars differ on how trustworthy these observations are, but Herodotus called it the Labrynth with no fewer than 3000 rooms and described it as surpassing "all the great works of the Greeks....put together". Unfortunately, there is nothing left except piles of limestone rubble....at least above ground. I read that the Egyptian government may be launching an underground excavation effort in the near future.