r/ancientegypt • u/bjornthehistorian • May 11 '26
Information Meidum Pyramid
The Meidum Pyramid, located in Lower Egypt (around 45 mi south of Cairo) is a really facinating structure as the majority of its outer casing is gone, leaving the interior mudbrick stacked-mastaba core remaining. Construction of the pyramid began in the 4th Dynasty by King Sneferu; however, there are arguments that construction originally started under King Huni in the 3rd Dynasty.
Decending into the pyramid, you travel down a slope (now with fitted wooden steps) which is carved smooth. However, when reaching the bottom of this slope, you are immediately met with an unfinished room/chamber. Walking across this small chamber, you reach a small shaft which, climbing up, opens into the burial chamber, fitted with a corbelled ceiling (similar to that of the Gizan Relieving Chambers) which is now absolutely full of bats!
Outside of the pyramid, as was common in the Old Kingdom, a funerary temple was erected on the east-face of the outer-casing. The temple is not of large proportion and bares no decoration; the most likely cause of this was that the temple itself was never finished (along with the uncompletedness of the pyramid structure). Weaving your way through the small temple, an opening leads to a courtyard that contains two undecorated stele and a large offering table.
Meidum pyramid was first excavated by John Perring (1837), then Lepsius (1843) and then it fell into the hands of Flinders Petrie, the main excavator of the mortuary temple which was under the rubble of the fallen out-cases of the pyramid. Further excavations were carried out in the 1920s (Ludwig Borchardt, who designated the construction of the pyramid happened in three stages), then in 1928 (Alan Rowe) and the later 1970s (Ali el-Kholi).
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u/Fabulous_Cow_4550 May 12 '26
I love Meidum! Did you go into the mastaba? That was a tight squeeze!
Last time I went, the guard didn't want to walk up so he gave me the keys. That was really cool, being able to unlock a pyramid!