The pyramid of Djedefre consists today mostly of ruins located at Abu Rawash in Egypt. It is Egypt’s northernmost pyramid and is believed to have been built by Djedefre, son and successor to king Khufu.
Location of Pyramid of Djedefre
The Pyramid of Djedefre is situated at Abu Rawash, a new necropolis chosen by Pharaoh Djedefre. The pyramid lies in the western part of the Nile valley and is only around 8km north of Giza.
Theories
Though some Egyptologists in the last few decades have suggested otherwise, recent excavations at Abu Rawash carried out by Dr Michel Baud of the Louvre Museum in Paris propose the pyramid was, in fact, more than half-finished. If completed, however, it is suggested to have been about the same size as the pyramid of Menkaure – the third largest of the Giza pyramids. It is believed to have originally been the most beautiful of the pyramids, with an exterior of polished, imported granite and limestone crowned with a large pyramidion. It is also believed, for this reason, that the completed pyramid was deconstructed mainly by the Roman Empire to build their construction projects after the conquest of Egypt under Roman Emperor Augustus.
The pyramid’s ancient name was “Djedefre’s Starry Sky”. The destruction started at the end of the New Kingdom at the latest. It was particularly intense during the Roman and early Christian eras when a Coptic monastery was built near Wadi Natron. It has been proven that at the end of the nineteenth century, the stone was still being hauled away at three hundred camel loads a day.
Description
Djedefre’s pyramid was architecturally different from his immediate predecessors in that the chambers were beneath the pyramid instead of inside. The pyramid was built over a natural mound, and the chambers were created using the “pit and ramp” method, previously used on some mastaba tombs. Djedefre dug a pit 21m x 9m and 20m deep in the natural mound. A ramp was created at an angle of 22º35′, and the chambers and access passage were built within the pit and on the ramp.
Once the ‘inner chambers’ were finished, the pit and ramp were filled, and the pyramid was built over the top. This allowed the chambers to be made without tunnelling and avoided the structural complications of making them within the body of the pyramid. He also reverted to an earlier construction style by creating a rectangular enclosure wall oriented north-south, similar to Djoser and Sekhemkhet.
Several pyramids and sun temples were built over natural mounds; utilising these may have shortened the work required. However, the mound may have symbolised the primaeval mound of Egyptian creation myths.
