Talking Pyramids

Having found some old photos while cleaning up I thought I’d blow the dust off my journal and share with you the story behind the photos taken on a trip to Abusir in 1997.

Arriving at the site Ian and I got out of the taxi and proceeded into the desert towards the pyramids. A local man came out and stopped us before getting very far. He was speaking in Arabic and our taxi driver Hassan, having already begun to settle down with the newspaper, quickly closed his paper and rushed to our assistance. Hassan acted as mediator and relayed to us that Abusir was currently closed to tourists. Understanding our dissappointed already at just finding the pyramid of Unas closed (our reason for travelling to Saqqara), Hassan was very persuasive with the guard and managed to get the him to not only allow us in but also act as our personal guide. We gave him some money which, he assured us, would be passed on to the SCA. The site was apparently being prepared to open it up to tourists as had recently been done with Dahshur.

He showed us the entrance to the pyramid of Sahure which was only just recently closed due to an earthquake that had caused rubble to cover the entrance. We climbed the pyramid of Niuserre and took some pictures: Sahure’s pyramid and Neferirkare’s pyramid, which reminded me of the step pyramid of Djoser.

Pyramid of Neferirkare

As we were climbing down I saw a jackal. It really did look just like they are depicted in ancient Egyptian paintings and papyri. I tried to run after him but he disappeared somehow, perhaps into a crevice in the pyramid somewhere.

We walked around the 5th dynasty temple and tomb of Ptahsherpes. It was locked up very securely being completely cemented over. Our guide showed us a way over the wall into the area behind the tomb by use of a ladder. Inside we could see two sarcophagi.

We sat down with the guards, the main one, an old guy of about 65, though it was difficult to tell from his tattooed, weathered face. He spoke with a deep droney voice, a very mysterious character with deep green eyes. He told us (with Hassan translating for us) about the temple that we just visited. I asked why it was cemented over as well as being locked with heavy padlocks. He explained that tomb was still full and hadn’t yet been excavated. It was still full of treasures and thieves could pick the lock silently in the dead of night while he was asleep but they would not be able to break through the cemented up door without making any noise. He showed us his pistol which he said he would shoot them with if he saw anyone attempting to break into the tomb. The old man didn’t seem bothered by the thought of possibly having to shoot someone. He explained that the geese do a fine job warding off dangers. He told us how the jackals would come in from the desert at lunch time to steal the chickens from the village. But the village geese acted as guards against the jackals and when ever one would come close the geese would quack loudly and the jackal would snarl at it and leave because he knew from experience that the chickens would heed the call of the geese so he would have to leave and try again later.

Causeway to the pyramid of Sahure

As we left, walking down the causeway of Sahure’s pyramid towards our taxi I wondered about what the old man had told us and if the ancient Egyptians might have also used geese as guards.

13-09-97.

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Tags: Abusir, niuserre, sahure

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.