Talking Pyramids

Name of Pyramid:

‘The Places of Teti Endure’

Period: 2323-2291 BC, 6th Dynasty

Dimensions:
Base: 78.75 metres
Height: 52.5 metres
Volume: 107 835 cubic metres
Slope: 53 deg 7′ 48″
Location: 29.875171, 31.221882

Status: Open.
Times:
Price:

The Pyramid’s layout
Teti’s pyramid follows the same arrangement of chambers that became the standard for 5th and 6th dynasty pyramids. The antechamber lies at the centre of the pyramid and is entered through it’s northern wall. The three storage chambers are to the antechamber’s east while the sarcophagus chamber is accessed via a short passage situated in the middle of the antechamber’s west wall. Like other pyramids of this era, the entrance corridor was blocked by three portcullis slabs made of granite.

Pyramid Texts
Originally, Teti’s pyramid was inscribed wall to wall with spells or utterances that comprise the Pyramid Texts, much like that of Unas. Unfortunately, not much remains as the limestone blocks upon which they were carved have been removed by thieves.

Sarcophagus
Teti’s sarcophagus, which lies at the western end of it’s chamber is made of black basalt and is unusually inscribed with a passage from the Pyramid Texts. Thieves broke through the lid but fragments of the mummy remain.

Satellite Pyramid:
The satellite pyramid located on the southern end of the east side of Teti’s pyramid measured 15.7 metres on each side. According to Mark Lehner two basins of red quartzite were found on the eastern side of the court surrounding the pyramid, and another on the west side as well as a limestone basin on the north.

Khuit
Teti’s queen Khuit had her own pyramid built just to the north-east of Teti’s pyramid. It was excavated in 1997 by Dr Zahi Hawass after having been lost under the sands for one hundred years. The pyramid originally stood at a height of 20 metres.

Iput
Teti’s other queen Iput also had her own pyramid just to the north of Khuit’s pyramid. The sides had a considerably steep slope at 65 degrees and a side length of 15.75 metres.

Perhaps the strangest architectural feature of Iput’s pyramid is what it doesn’t have. There is no entrance. This is because her pyramid originally started out as a mastaba with a burial chamber at the bottom of a vertical shaft and was later transformed into a pyramid by her son, Pepi I. The body already being sealed in the mastaba had no need for an entrance to be built in to the pyramid that later covered it.

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