The Old Kingdom king Djedkare Isesi left Abusir and built his Pyramid Complex at South Saqqara.

His pyramid is built in steps, using new construction techniques. The substructure, entered at ground level through a small limestone chapel, follows the standard plan, but with the addition of a storage room. Fragments of calcite and faience beads strung on gold were found in the burial chamber, along with parts of the basalt sarcophagus and calcite canopic jars. Also discovered in the rubble that filled the burial chamber was the mummy of the king himself, aged about 50 years at his death.

The Valley Temple has not been excavated, nor has the causeway that leads to the Mortuary Temple, which has not yet been completely cleared, but which follows the basic T-shaped plan and has two massive pylons. Many relief fragments have been recovered, demonstrating that it too was richly decorated like its predecessors at Abusir. 

To the southeast of the main pyramid, as was traditional, was a cult pyramid. In addition, there was a Queen’s Complex to the northeast, with its own temple and cult pyramid. One scholar has suggested that this queen, whose name we do not know, may have ruled on her own for a time.

UNAS AT SAQQARA: The pyramid of the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, Unas, was at Saqqara. It is the smallest of all the excavated pyramids of the Fifth Dynasty, perhaps a reflection of dwindling resources. 

Like Djedkare Isesi’s, this pyramid’s substructure was entered from the northern courtyard, through a small chapel. The plan is standard: a passageway, antechamber, storage room with three niches, and a burial chamber. The schist sarcophagus was still in place, with a canopic chest set into the pavement when it was discovered. In 1881, the French archaeologist Gaston Maspero found a few fragments of a skeleton, presumably of the king.

The major innovation of Unas’ pyramid lies beneath ground in his burial suite. This was sheathed with white stone, then decorated with sunk and painted reliefs. At the west end of the burial chamber, where the sarcophagus lies, the walls are made to look like reed mats hanging on a wooden frame. The black stone of the sarcophagus represents the earth, within which the king, as Osiris, lies, symbolically surrounded by a divine shrine open to the starry sky (the gabled roof, painted with golden stars on a field of midnight blue). 

The rest of the walls are covered with spells from the Pyramid Texts, inscribed and then painted blue. This is the first appearance of these magical spells, which were, judging from their archaic language, already ancient by this time. Perhaps the early kings had used them as well, inscribed on perishable materials (although we have no direct evidence for this).

The Mortuary Temple follows the standard plan of this era, with two boat pits nearby and a cult pyramid to the southeast. Unas’ long causeway runs east through a natural wadi, down to a lake that was used as a harbour. The fragments of causeway decoration that have been preserved include scenes of ships transporting granite columns in the shape of palm trees, craftsmen working, the king battling enemies and hunting wild animals, processions of offering bearers, and the transport of prisoners. 

The Valley Temple consists mainly of an elaborate system of ramps, quays, and even a slipway. Unas’ queens were buried northeast of the king’s monument, in mastabas rather than pyramids.

PYRAMIDS OF THE SIXTH DYNASTY: All the Sixth-Dynasty kings built their pyramid complexes at Saqqara according to a standardised plan. 

The queens had their own complexes, complete with mortuary temples and sometimes even cult pyramids of their own. The burial suites of both kings and many of the queens were carved with Pyramid Texts, helping to guide them to the next world.

The Teti Complex lies just south of the First-Dynasty mastabas of North Saqqara. In its construction, the pyramid is similar to that of Djedkare Isesi. Following the pattern already set, the substructure was entered through a small chapel in the north court. Reliefs preserved from this chapel show that it was decorated with offering bearers, the roof adorned with stars. 

The substructure is like Unas’, with a basalt sarcophagus with gilded decoration set into the western end of the burial chamber. All that was found in the rubble of the burial chamber were the remains of an arm and a shoulder, perhaps from the king’s mummy, and part of a calcite tablet listing the seven sacred oils. 

The walls of the last part of the corridor, the antechamber, and the burial chamber are inscribed with Pyramid Texts. Only part of the Mortuary Temple is preserved today. It takes the standard T-shaped plan, with the usual elements.

The cult pyramid lies in the traditional position to the southeast. The causeway has been shifted to the south and heads off in a southeastern direction, perhaps to avoid an unfinished pyramid that may have belonged to a little-known king named Menkauhor. Very little of the causeway has been explored, and the Valley Temple has never been found. 

Small pyramids and cult temples belonging to Teti’s two queens, Iput and Khuit, lie to the east of the main tomb. Recent excavations proved that the pyramid of Khuit was built first, showing that she was Teti’s principal queen.

During recent clearance work in the Pyramid Complex of Teti, my team discovered a mastaba belonging to a prince named Tetiankh-kem, the eldest son of Teti and Khuit. His skeleton was still in its sarcophagus within the robbed burial chamber of the mastaba. X-rays show that he was about 25 years old when he died. Teti is reported to have been murdered in a palace coup, and Tetiankh-kem might have been killed along with his father.

PEPI I: Pepi I’s pyramid, which is now only a low mound, is at South Saqqara. The pyramid was built in six steps, using the construction technique practised since the time of Diedkare of small blocks of limestone cemented with clay mortar. 

The substructure of the pyramid follows the typical plan of descending corridor, antechamber, statue room, and burial chamber. Pyramid Texts were first discovered here by brother Egyptologists Emile and Heinrich Brugsch in 1881. The spells cover the walls of the burial chamber, antechamber, and descending corridor, as well as the royal sarcophagus. 

During recent restoration work in the burial chamber, the current French team, now headed by Audran Labrousse, found a red granite canopic chest let into the floor, with a packet of viscera (moulded into the shape of a jar), lying nearby. Part of a mummy was also discovered, along with bits of fine linen from wrappings.

The basic layout of the complex is as we have seen for the Fifth-Dynasty kings. Of note are the many limestone statues of prisoners, broken at the neck and waist, found in the southwest part of the temple. The cult pyramid is better preserved than the main one. Nearby were found statue fragments, parts of stelae, and offering tables dating from the Middle Kingdom, showing that the cult continued for a long time. The Valley Temple and most of the causeway have never been excavated.

Labrousse’s team has uncovered six new queens’ pyramids south of the main pyramid. Each had its own enclosure and small mortuary temple and had Pyramid Texts inscribed in its burial chambers.

MERENRE: The new king Merenre chose to be buried near Pepi I at Saqqara. He planned a small pyramid, similar in size to his father’s and with a similar sub-structure. 

In the burial chamber, the first modern excavator, Maspero, found the black basalt sarcophagus open and containing the mummy of a young man with his hair in a sidelock, a mark of youth. The red granite canopic chest was also in situ.

The Mortuary Temple lies in the typical position to the east of the pyramid and takes the standard plan. Relief fragments found here show gods and goddesses greeting the king. The offering hall was paved with limestone, and the base of a granite false door is still in place. It does not appear that this temple was completed, and the rest of the complex has never been explored.

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EPI II: Pepi II’s pyramid lies south of the complexes of Merenre and Diedkare. It is made unique by a girdle of stone that was added around the base, the reason for which is unclear but was most likely structural. 

In the pyramid’s subterranean chambers were found fragments of stone vases and a gold knife. The black granite sarcophagus is inscribed with the king’s titulary, with false doors painted green at both ends. Many reliefs from Pepi Il’s complex have been preserved, helping us to reconstruct its decorative programme, similar to that seen in Sahure’s pyramid. 

In the entrance hall of the Mortuary Temple are images of the king maintaining order over chaos by defeating human and animal enemies. The ambulatory of the colonnaded court is decorated with figures of the king and the gods.

Reliefs from the transverse corridor show the king doing a run associated with the celebration of his Sed Festival (symbolically marking the boundaries of Egypt); the festival of the fertility god Min; the king suckled by a goddess; and a scene showing the king defeating a Libyan enemy, copied directly from a scene in the Complex of Sahure, down to the names of the defeated chieftain and his family. 

In the central of the five statue niches was the limestone base of a life-size royal statue. The decoration of the inner temple includes images of the king on his throne and at an offering table and depicts many of his courtiers, each labelled with their name and titles.

The cult pyramid is in the traditional position, southeast of the main pyramid. The causeway begins near this, and changes direction several times as it runs east, following the easiest path to the floodplain. The upper part is decorated with images of offering bearers; the lower part shows the king as a sphinx and griffin trampling on his enemies. 

The Valley Temple is entered through a single door into a hypostyle hall with eight pillars. The decoration here consists of deities with the king, the triumph of Pepi Il over his enemies, and a hunt in the papyrus marshes. Many of the scenes here repeat scenes from Sahure’s complex, showing the standardisation prominent at this time. 

Three of Pepi Il’s queens had their own pyramids, with entrance chapels, mortuary temples, and miniature cult pyramids. The first of these belonged to Neith, daughter of Pepi I and wife of Pepi II. Interesting features of her complex include two small obelisks flanking the entrance to her enclosure (seen earlier at the pyramids of the queens of Pepi I), a group of 16 model wooden boats buried between the main and cult pyramids, Pyramid Texts in her burial chamber, and in the chamber beneath the cult pyramid, a mass of pottery and stone vessels.

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ATE OLD KINGDOM: The end of the Old Kingdom was a time of significantly decreased royal power, and few royal mortuary monuments from this period have been recovered. 

It is likely that many of the ephemeral kings of this period did not have the resources to mount massive building projects. In any case, almost no royal tombs have ever been found or excavated.

The only pyramid extant from this era was found near Pepi Il’s causeway. It is very small, about the same size as the queens’ pyramids nearby. The owner was Kakare Ibi, a ruler from the Eighth Dynasty about whom nothing is known. The substructure is simpler than the standard Old Kingdom plan, with a passageway leading to a horizontal chamber and then a burial chamber. 

A huge granite block in the west end of chamber held the king’s sarcophagus.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 28 November, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly