The Pyramid of Menkaure is only 62 meters high, making it the smallest of the Pyramids of Giza. It was built by the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Menkaure in the 26th century BC and is southwest of the other two Pyramids of Giza. It is the only one of the three pyramids of Giza that doesn’t have any of its original polished limestone shells left. Read on to learn more about this tomb from the past.
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Who was Menkaure?
Menkaure was a pharaoh in the Old Kingdom of Egypt. He was the fifth ruler of the Fourth Dynasty. He was the son of Pharaoh Khafre and Queen Khamerernebty I, and he took over the throne from his father. It is unknown how long Menkaure ruled, but it is thought that it began around 2530 BC.
He is also known by the Greek name Mykerinos. The Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza, his tomb, is what he is best known for.
Queen Khamerernebty II and Queen Rekhetre have been at least two of Menkaure’s wives. Several of his half brothers, including Nebemakhet, Duaenre, and Nikaure, worked as viziers.
When was the pyramid of Menkaure built?
The third pyramid on the Giza complex was built by King Menkaure(c. 2532–2503 BC), the son of Khafre and the grandson of Khufu. With the small base area of the pyramid, the original pyramid was 65 meters high, making the pyramid of Menkaure the smallest. This small size was due to several factors, including the small area remaining on the Giza complex and the materials used in the pyramid’s outer casing from Menkaure, where his ancestors used limestone to cover their pyramids Menkaure used granite from Aswan. It is more than 800 km from Giza, and that material was much more complex than limestone to ship, transport, and build. However, only the lower quarter of the pyramid is covered with granite, while the rest of the pyramid is covered with limestone.
Menkaure’s hierarchical group:
Just as it was next to the Great Pyramid, three smaller pyramids can be seen next to the pyramid of Menkaure; the pyramids were used to bury the queens of his time. However, his pyramid has not been discovered, but it is believed that the largest of the three queens was the pyramid.
Menkaure died before his pyramid was completed, as many of the pyramid’s granite cladding blocks had not been polished. The mortuary temple and the private valley temple were supposed to consist of huge blocks of limestone covered with granite, but they were built using white mud bricks. Although these possibilities were weak, the cult of Menkaure continued for another 300 years after his death.
Top facts about the pyramid of Menkaure:
- At the end of the twelfth century, the dear King Othman bin Yusuf tried to demolish the pyramids and started with the pyramid of Menkaure. His workers remained for eight months trying to ruin the pyramid. Still, they found it difficult to destroy; they could only remove one or two stones daily, as they used pegs. To break the rocks into several pieces and forklifts to move them. In contrast, others used ropes to pull them down, but they failed by trying to destroy them. They only succeeded in damaging the pyramid of Menkaure by leaving a large vertical crack on the north side of the pyramid.
- In 1837, Richard Weiss discovered, in the upper part of the room in the pyramid, the remains of a wooden coffin engraved with the name of Menkaure. The coffin contained human bones, then they conducted a radiocarbon experiment to find out its age, and its age was estimated at less than 2000 years; and found Richard also in the depths of the pyramid of Menkaure, on a basalt sarcophagus, described as beautiful and rich in detail, and containing the bones of a young woman, and unfortunately on the way to the ark to Britain; It fell to the bottom of the Mediterranean in 1838, and only the lid of the coffin remains, but it has been successfully moved and is now in the British Museum.
- The pyramid of Menkaure was made of limestone and granite. Most of the outside of the pyramid was made of red granite, and the top was covered in a standard way with limestone from the region of Tora. Part of the granite was left rough and unfinished. There are three pyramids south of the pyramid, each with a temple and a base. The inner core and foundations of the funerary temple were made of limestone, while the floors were made of granite. He carved the funeral temple into the pyramid and made it a memorial to his father.
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