page_title: Pyramid of Sahure
hierarchical_section_title: Pyramid of Sahure
caption_attribution_description: Vue de la pyramide de Sahourê à Abousir avec sa chaussée montante et son temple haut. Ve dynastie - Ancien Empire
context_page_description: The Pyramid of Sahure is a late 26th century BC to 25th century BC pyramid complex built for the Egyptian pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty. Sahure built the inaugural pyramid in Abusir after his direct predecessor, Userkaf, built his sun temple in the same area. Sahure's successors, Neferirkare Kakai, Neferefre, and Nyuserre Ini all built their monuments in the general vicinity. The complex's early visitors, John Shae Perring, Karl Richard Lepsius and Jacques de Morgan, did not conduct a thorough investigation, perhaps they were discouraged by its ruined state. It was first properly excavated by Ludwig Borchardt between March 1907 and 1908, who penned the seminal work on the topic Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sahu-Re between 1910 and 1913.
  The monument consists of a main pyramid, mortuary temple adjacent the east face with a cult pyramid to its south, a valley temple on Abusir Lake, and a causeway linking the complex. The layout was developed by Sahure and adopted by succeeding kings of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty, thus representing a milestone in pyramid complex construction.
context_section_description: The Pyramid of Sahure (in ancient Egyptian Kha-ba Sahura (The rising of the ba spirit of Sahure)) is a late 26th century BC to 25th century BC pyramid complex built for the Egyptian pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty. Sahure built the inaugural pyramid in Abusir after his direct predecessor, Userkaf, built his sun temple in the same area. Sahure's successors, Neferirkare Kakai, Neferefre, and Nyuserre Ini all built their monuments in the general vicinity. The complex's early visitors, John Shae Perring, Karl Richard Lepsius and Jacques de Morgan, did not conduct a thorough investigation, perhaps they were discouraged by its ruined state. It was first properly excavated by Ludwig Borchardt between March 1907 and 1908, who penned the seminal work on the topic Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sahu-Re between 1910 and 1913.
  The monument consists of a main pyramid, mortuary temple adjacent the east face with a cult pyramid to its south, a valley temple on Abusir Lake, and a causeway linking the complex. The layout was developed by Sahure and adopted by succeeding kings of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty, thus representing a milestone in pyramid complex construction. The monumentality of these constructions was drastically diminished, but, in tandem, the decorative program proliferated and temples were augmented by greater storeroom complexes. The monument is estimated to have had 10,000 m² (110,000 sq ft) of finely carved relief adorning its walls, of which a mere 150 m² (1,600 sq ft) has been preserved. Certain of these preserved reliefs is considered unrivalled in execution, such as a massive 8 m (26 ft) by 3 m (9.8 ft) hunting scene from the mortuary temple. The temple itself is remarkable for the array of valuable materials – such as granite, alabaster and basalt – that were used in its construction.
  The main pyramid had a core of steps built from mud mortar bound, roughly hewn limestone blocks that were encased with fine white Tura limestone. Adjacent to its eastern face, the mortuary temple was built consisting of five basic elements: an entrance hall, an open courtyard, a five niche statue chapel, an offering room and storerooms. These had been used in mortuary temples since the reign of Khafre, but here again, Sahure's layout was adopted as standard in all subsequent such temples in the Old Kingdom. At the south-east corner of the main pyramid lay the enclosure of the cult pyramid, accessible either via a secondary entrance or a transverse corridor. The transverse corridor acted as an intersection separating the public and intimate temples, and connecting the various elements of the temple together. Beyond the temple's entrance hall, a 235 m (771 ft; 448 cu) long causeway led to the valley temple sited on the Abusir lake. In its rectangular plan, the valley temple had two entrances: its main on its east side, and an unexpected secondary entrance on its south. It remains unclear why a second entry point was built, though it may have been connected to a pyramid town to its south.
  Sahure's temple became the object of a cult of Sekhmet around the Eighteenth Dynasty. The growing interest in Abusir heralded the first wave of destruction visited upon the sites monuments. Sahure's may have escaped this battering, a protection afforded it by the cult. Later, in the Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth Dynasties, the monuments once again stirred interest, as evidenced by the copying of the monuments relief decorations. Taharqa had various of Sahure's, Nyuserre's and Pepi II's reliefs copied for the restoration of the temple of Kawa (Sudan) in Nubia. In the Twenty-Seventh Dynasty, the Abusir monuments endured a second wave of destruction. Yet, Sahure's cult of Sekhmet may have saved it once more. The cult lasted until the Ptolemaic Kingdom, but by this time its influence had waned significantly. With the onset of the Roman period, the Abusir monuments, this time including Sahure's, were subjected to the third wave of destruction. Later, at the beginning of the Christian era, Sahure's temple became the site of a Coptic shrine, as evidenced by th
caption: Sahure's pyramid and causeway
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