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Dahshur
Funerary area in Egypt, 30 km south of Cairo and Giza. It lies on the west bank of the Nile.
It was at Dahshur that the first real pyramid was built, the Red Pyramid of Snefru.
There are two periods of pyramid building at Dahshur. The first was with Snefru, who built two of them here in the first half of the 26th century BCE. His first was the Bent Pyramid, a project aiming at a true pyramid in the sense that no core of steps were built, only one structure of smooth slopes. This pyramid showed its builders the problem of steep slopes with its initial 52º, and Snefru's next project, the Red Pyramid came with sides of a dramatically lower angle, only 43º. Eventually, a successful pyramid would actually be built as steep as the Bent, Khafre's at Giza.
The second phase of pyramids at Dahshur came about 1880 BCE (about 700 years after Snefru) and would continue for about 150 years. There are important 3 pyramids, all from the 12th Dynasty: Amenemhet 2's, Sesostris 3's and Amenemhet 3's were of poor quality compared to Snefru's and remain in a poor state. Especially Amenemhet 2's pyramid is today reduced to little but a mound. Still the tombs built around these pitiful pyramids contain some of the greatest examples of jewelry and other artefacts from all of Egypt's history.
The 3rd king of the 13th Dynasty, Hor, would build a tomb next to Amenemhet 3's pyramid, but it is his daughter's, beside him, which is remembered. It was undisturbed, containing excellent pieces of jewelry. Other kings of the 13th Dynasty would build pyramids, in a location a few kilometre south of the other ones. The only one identified so far is Ameny Intef 4's, which height is unknown but which had a base of 50 x 50 metre.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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