Red Pyramid

Main A-Z Index

CONTENTS

• Summary
• Why is it Called the Red Pyramid?
• Third Pyramid of Sneferu
• Red Pyramid Construction
• Red Pyramid Interior
• Size & Weight
• Red Pyramid Complex
• Excavation
• Other Famous Pyramids
• References

Summary

The Red Pyramid (also known as the 'North Pyramid') marked an important landmark in Ancient Egyptian architecture of the Old Kingdom.

Built between 2600 and 2579 BC, it was the first smooth-sided pyramid to be successfully completed without any significant architectural or engineering problems.

It is also the third largest of all the Ancient Egyptian pyramids, after the Great Pyramid of Khufu (c.2560 BC) and the Pyramid of Khafre (c.2532 BC).

Overall, it was a triumph for Egyptian megalithic architecture, and also for its creator Pharaoh Sneferu (r.2625–2585 BC).

Why is it Called the Red Pyramid?

Answer: Because of the reddish limestone which was used to build its core.

Originally, its exterior was clad in super-white Tura limestone, but most of these casing stones have now disappeared, exposing the reddish core underneath.

Third Pyramid of Sneferu

Sneferu made three attempts to build a true pyramid.

His first attempt was the Meidum Pyramid near Faiyum.

Originally intended as a step pyramid, in the tradition of Djoser's Step Pyramid (c.2650 BC), Meidum was enlarged during construction and then converted to a smooth-sided edifice.

Unfortunately, the changes proved too much for the structure to bear, and it became noticeably unstable before eventually suffering a serious collapse.

Sneferu could see problems looming well before any collapse. As a result, he ordered the building of a second pyramid - known as the Bent Pyramid - at Dahshur, in the Memphis Necropolis.

However, halfway through the construction of this new pyramid, its design was radically altered. This change is thought to have been triggered by new calculations, arising from the structural problems at Meidum.

The most important change was a reduction in the angle of incline, from 54 to 43 degrees - a change which caused the Bent Pyramid to develop its characteristic bent shape.

Although the pyramid was completed and even today remains in good condition, its visible deformity made it inappropriate as a royal tomb.

So, Sneferu ordered the building of a third pyramid - the Red Pyramid - about 1 kilometre to the north.

It proved a huge success, not least because Sneferu and his architects had learned valuable lessons from the flawed designs of his two earlier attempts, allowing them to make critical adjustments for the construction of the Red Pyramid.

It was because of Sneferu's perseverance, that Ancient Egypt came to dominate ancient art during the Bronze Age, and develop its exceptional stone masonry skills, which found their way to Ancient Greece at the dawn of Classical Antiquity.

For more examples, see Ancient Egyptian Art (3000-30 BC).

Red Pyramid Construction

• Learning from earlier mistakes at Meidum, the foundations of the Red Pyramid were laid using several layers of good quality limestone, to minimize the chance of subsidence.
• In addition, the angle of incline was set at 43 degrees, to maximize stability.
• Although the Tura limestone used to cover the pyramid has mostly gone, about 5 percent of the Tura stones have inscriptions on their reverse side.
• Some were decorated with Sneferu's cartouche (an oval image containing the characters of his personal name), while others had painted inscriptions identifying the numerous work crews, who worked at the site.
• More revealing were the dates included on some of the stones, which show how long the pyramid took to build.
• From these, we know that the pyramid was probably begun between the twenty-second and twenty ninth year of Snefru's reign (viz, 2603-2596 BC) and was finished in about seventeen years (2586-2579).
• The Red pyramid is believed to be the resting place of King Sneferu.

Red Pyramid Interior

As in many Egyptian pyramids, the only entrance into the Red Pyramid is found on the north side.

From here, a 63-metre (206 ft) passageway leads down to the first chamber. This has a stepped ceiling roughly 12 metres high.

From this room, another shorter passage leads to a second chamber of similar size, which sits directly underneath the centre of the pyramid.

An opening, some 8 metres above the floor of this second chamber, at its southern end, leads to a final 7-metre passage which ends at the final chamber.

This is built within the masonry of the pyramid itself, and is the presumed location of Sneferu's burial chamber. It occupies an area of 8 x 4 metres, with a stepped ceiling of roughly 15 metres in height.

Size & Weight

• The Red Pyramid is the largest of the pyramids at Dahshur.
• It is 105 metres (344 ft) in height, and 220 metres (720 ft) in width.
• It consists of an estimated 5.5 million limestone blocks.
• It contains 160 layers of stone, weighing an estimated 2 million tonnes.

Red Pyramid Complex

So far, archaeology has been unable to unearth any other buildings within the pyramid complex, other than a small temple on the east side - similar to the ones at Sneferu's two other pyramids.

It is too small to be a true Mortuary Temple, so it probably served as an offering chapel.

There is no sign of a proper Mortuary Temple, or Cult Pyramid, or any other tombs.

The pyramid complex itself was originally surrounded by a perimeter wall made of limestone blocks, of which traces still remain.

But most of its stones, and presumably those of other elements in the complex, have likely been stolen and reused elsewhere.

It seems that a causeway was started but never reached the valley temple down by the Nile. At the beginning of the 20th-century, remains were seen of this temple, but they have since disappeared.

Excavation

The Red Pyramid has been visited and documented since the Middle Ages.

It was excavated by the British Egyptologist John Shae Perring (1813–1869) in the late 1830s, and by the Prussian Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-84) in the mid-1840s.

Later it was excavated by Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), the founder of modern Egyptology and George Andrew Reisner Jr. (1867-1942).

In modern times the site was investigated by the eminent Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry (1905-1973) as well as Rainer Stadelmann (1933-2019) from the German Archaeological Institute of Cairo.

Other Famous Pyramids

For details of other important Ancient Egyptian pyramids not referred to above, see the following:

• Pyramid of Djoser
  Completed c.2650
  Saqqara
• Pyramid of Menkaure
  Completed c.2510 BC
  Giza
• Pyramid of Sahure
  Completed 2487–2477
  Abusir
• Pyramid of Neferirkare
  Completed c.2450 BC
  Abusir
• Pyramid of Unas
  Completed 2385-2355
  Saqqara
• Pyramid of Teti
  Completed 2300-2280
  Saqqara
• Pyramid of Senusret II
  Completed c.1888
  El-Lahun

NEXT: see Ancient Egyptian Temples (3000-30 BC).

References

(1) Lehner, Mark (2008). The Complete Pyramids. New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28547-3.
(2) Mendelssohn, Kurt (1974). The Riddle of the Pyramids. Praeger. ISBN 978-0-500-05015-6.
(3) Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000) Editor: Shaw, Ian. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-815034-2.
(4) Verner, Miroslav (2001d). The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-1703-8.