Menkaure's Pyramid

Menkaure's Pyramid Menkaure's pyramid is the smallest of the Giza pyramids, being only 213.25 ft (65 m) high, and lies on the edge of the Giza plateau. When finished, it was mostly covered in the traditional white tura limestone, but the bottom 16 courses of red granite were left uncovered. In 1196 ad, one of the sons of Saladin, Malek Abd al-Aziz Othman ben Yusuf, tried to dismantle Menkaure's pyramid in order to get to the plentiful supply of stone it contained. However, after 8 months of work, he only succeeded in making a large gash in the northern face of the pyramid.

Slate statue of Menkaure found in his valley temple The entrance is about 13 ft (4 m) above ground level, and leads to a descending passage, which opens into a panelled chamber. From here, through another corridor, one finds an antechamber, oriented east-west, with the east end directly under the central axis of the pyramid. In the middle of the floor is a sloping passage leading down to the burial chamber. When the burial chamber was entered, a beautiful dark sarcophagus was found. Sadly, it was lost when the ship carrying it to England sank. Human bones were found in an unused upper passageway, but radiocarbon dating has proved that these dated from the Christian period.

During excavations of Menkaure's valley temple, some wonderful statues were found, which must surely rank amongst the best-preserved relics of ancient Egypt.

Next: Userkaf's Pyramid and Sun Temple