The Pyramid of Seila is one of a group of seven small-step pyramids which are very similar to one another, along with the Edfu South Pyramid, the Pyramid of Elephantine, the Pyramid of El-Kula, the Pyramid of Naqada, the Pyramid of Saujet el-Meitin, and the pyramid of Sinki. These pyramids were all built far from the major centres of Egypt, and very little is known about them. The pyramid is located on an outcrop between the Faiyum Oasis and the Nile Valley, about 6 km north of the motorway from Wasta to Faiyum. Its builder may have been Snefru, the founder of the Fourth Dynasty. It was discovered in 1889/1890 by Flinders Petrie and revisited in 1898 by Ludwig Borchardt.
Location of Pyramid of Seila
The pyramid at Seila (Silah or Sila) is located in the North-Eastern part of Fayoum city. It sits south of Kom el-Hammam on the east of the Fayoum Oasis near the necropolis of Maidum.
Description
The pyramid of Seila is about 25 m long on each side and stands 6.5-6.8 m tall. It is not oriented strictly to the cardinal directions but diverges about 12° to the northwest. The reason for this orientation is that, like the pyramids at Elephantine, Naqada, and Saufet el-Meitin, the structure was oriented to be parallel to the course of the Nile, which would have been challenging to accomplish given the great distance of the pyramid from the river. The Seila pyramid initially had four steps and three layers, which encased an inner core. The building material was local limestone, with a mixture of Nile mud and sand used for mortar. There does not seem to have been a burial chamber.
Construction and function
In 1987, fragments of an offering table, two steles and the remains of a causeway were found on the pyramid’s east side. One of the steles bore the name of Snefru, which may indicate that he was the builder. The purpose of the structure remains unclear. Jean-Philippe Lauer suggested that it might have been the original tomb of the queen Hetepheres I, but this is unlikely, given the absence of a burial chamber. Egyptologists consider the group of seven-step pyramids named above to have been a cooperative project but have not agreed on the group’s purpose. Scholars have suggested they were representations of the primaeval mound, symbols of Egypt’s political and religious unity, or monuments commemorating the royal wives.
