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Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia, by Richard Lepsius. Volume I, Lower Egypt and Memphis.
(Original publication of plates 1849-1859; Explanatory text from
the 1897 German edition, edited by Kurt Sethe and Eduard Naville).
[Part 3]
Abu Roasch: 20 Nov. 1842- 6 Jan. 1843 (p.21)
Brick pyramid no. I:
In
the plain at the foot of the northeastern hills immediately next to the
village of Abu Roasch, where the rock projects furthest towards the
Nile, to the east, just opposite Cairo, the colossal remains of a brick
pyramid (No.I) can be seen (figs.15, 16), that Perring [1] does not
recognized as such, but rather as the ruins of the town of Kochome.
Fig.15: View from the southeast of brick pyramid (No. I) at Abu Roasch (DM I, plate 12-1).
On
closer examination, however, there can be no doubt that it was a
pyramid of unfired black Nile bricks, the core of which is the living
rock.
In this large rock core facing N.E. and S. was built
square with bricks, part of the shaft and a sarcophagus (very rough and
clumsily made of limestone) [2] without any inscription still visible.
The bricks were placed next to each other in high walls, but the
individuals and the whole were oriented exactly according to the
heavenly directions.
The pyramid is being robbed of more and
more Nile bricks every day, partly to expand the nearby village of Abu
Roasch and partly to manure the fields. Large rooms have already been
worked out; small chambers appear to have been built in to accommodate
modern inhabitants. We ourselves saw large burdens carried away, from
brick walls from c. 17 m. high. On the S and W sides the bare rock
emerges almost entirely without bricks, but the shape and former extent
of the pyramid can still be clearly seen.
Fig.16: View from the northwest of the brick pyramid (No. I) at Abu Roasch, showing Mohammedan cemetery in palm grove at left (DM I, plate 12-2).
It was the largest of
all brick pyramids (c. 145 m.), 1/3 larger than the largest brick
pyramid of Dahshur (350 ft according to Perring) and must have been
very easy to see from afar, all the way to the royal palace in Memphis.
(p.22)
From the height of the rock, some other shafts seem to come to light,
but they are not dug out. In the southeast on and around the nearest
hills there is a whole large grave field adjoining the pyramid. [Here]
behind the pyramid are many hundreds of wells; including a building
that was previously excavated, 24 shrills wide, 60 long, with 3 wells.
Behind
the mountains pretty much to the north of the pyramid, but a little to
the east, and the ruins of an old city, not very big, 1/2 hour from the
pyramid. Fired and unfired bricks, limestone and a little granite, many
sherds, etc. form the hills [see the plan of these building remains in
the desert north of Abu Roasch in LD I 11.]
Stone pyramids No. II, III
Above
Abu Roasch, on a high, steep rock almost inaccessible from the valley,
there are two other pyramids (Nos. II and III) of stone, each built in
and around a rocky hill (fig.17, 1 and 2). One of these (No.II), the only one known to
Perring, is large, 95 m at the base (320 ft. in Perring), eroded far down
from above and now only c. 10 to 12 m high, forming a fairly steep
lowest step. The pyramid seems to have been covered not with granite,
but with Mokattam stone [3], or, since there are blocks of granite in a
certain height on the north side, perhaps at least some with granite.
From
the north side there was a large entrance tunnel carved into the rock, then a
large cut, which was filled with large blocks (fig.18-1).
There
are stones with red stonemason's marks; On one block you can see the
end of a royal shield [fig.18-2], from which one could believe that the
final features of the name Snefru [5] could be recognized. [A piece of
the inner blocks of the pyramid with remains of red stonemason's marks,
apparently Mokattan stone, is now in Berlin (No. 1340); a joint runs
through the middle of the stucco.]
The ascent to this pyramid to
the S.S.W. led up, is still 1500 m (p.23) long (2370 steps of 72 cm. to
the temple, then another 73 steps to the start of the pyramid.) [4]
The
second stone pyramid (No. III), which lies on the S.W corner of the
previous one (No. II), was also not recognized as a pyramid by Perring.
It is much smaller (about 60 m at the base) and even more dense, but
roughly the same structure. It seems too large to be a secondary
pyramid, and its location towards Memphis (where it could be seen from
the royal palace between the two large pyramids of Giza) suggests that
it was a pyramid independent of the larger one.
It
can always be assumed that the kings of the same dynasty built their
tombs in the same area. After the Giza plateau had been taken by the
first kings of the 4th Dynasty, the next ones had to go further and
then in exactly the same direction (from Memphis) the next possible and
an excellent, widely visible place was just above Abu Roasch.
It
is therefore very likely to me that the pyramids located here belonged
to the closest successors of Mencheres [6] (p.24); the brick pyramid
(No.I) certainly has the greatest right to be considered the brick
pyramid of Arychis [7]. The pyramids of Dahshur, which are joined by
the brick pyramid there, certainly all belonged to an era other than
the 4th Dynasty.
Fig.20: Site plan of the pyramid region at Abu Roasch. (DM I, plate 11).
In the white stone field, a little north of the
pyramid [No. II] from Abu Roasch, a hard snow-white and a gray
limestone border each other (samples a, b); the surfaces of the stone
are as if covered with a white glaze (samples c, d, e). In a cave that
appears to have served as a quarry, the stone is still covered with the
floury mass into which it dissolves and which, as the water washes
away, covers everything with a white color (samples f, g) - Some of it
forms as a field stone crossed with blue veins, sometimes completely
blue (samples h, i).
Footnotes:
1. [Editor's
note:] John Shae Perring (1813–1869) was a British engineer and
Egyptologist who documented Egyptian pyramids, and excavated the burial
chamber of the tomb of Menkaure at Giza. His three-volume The Pyramids of Gizeh (1839-1842) is often referred to by Lepsius.
2. The words enclosed in brackets according to Erbkum's Diary, 6 Jan 1843.
3.
[Editor's note:] Mokattem stone refers to limestone from the the
Mokattam Mountain or Hills, an Eastern Desert plateau in the Southern
Area of Cairo, Egypt The Arabic name Mokattam means "cut off or broken
off" and may refer to how this low range of hills is divided into three
sections. It was an important ancient Egyptian quarry site for
limestone, used in the construction of temples and pyramids.
4. This information enclosed in brackets, which does not correspond to the total sum, is included in the note B 12 III 5.
5. [Editor's note:] Snefru (Sneferu) was the first pharoah of the Fourth Dynasty (r. ca. 2613 to 2589 BC).
6. [Editor's note:] Mencheres
is the Greek name of Menkaure, a fourth Dynasty pharoah with the
smallest of the three main pyramids of Giza. Reported to be the son of
Cheops by Herodotus, Mencheres reigned from ca. 2532-2503 BC.
7. Arychis
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