Posted on 03/31/2010 6:36:58 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The missing pyramid of an obscure pharaoh that ruled Egypt some 4,300 years ago could lie at the intersection of a series of invisible lines in South Saqqara, according to new astronomical and topographical research.
Connecting the funerary complexes raised by the kings of the 6th Dynasty between 2,322 B.C. and 2,151 B.C., these lines would have governed the sacred space of the Saqqara area, in accordance with a number of criteria such as dynastic lineage, religion and astronomical alignment.
"We are talking of meridian and diagonal alignments, with pyramids raised at their intersections. The only missing piece in this sort of grid is the pyramid of Userkare," Giulio Magli, professor of archaeoastronomy at Milan's Polytechnic University, told Discovery News. His research will appear in the next issue of the journal Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry.
Known only from the king lists, Userkare was the second pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty and ruled briefly between Teti and Teti's son Pepi I. He took power after Teti was murdered, perhaps in a conspiracy he himself had maneuvered.
Little is known about this shadowy pharaoh.
"When Pepi I took control a few years later, Userkare disappeared from history. Finding his tomb might help understand those obscure years. The walls in his burial might also contain intact copies of the Pyramid Texts," Magli said, referring to the oldest known religious texts in the world that were carved on the walls and sarcophagi of the pyramids at Saqqara during the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
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To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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I believe he was another usurper..
I will refrain from commenting on said subject.
So, even in ancient Egypt there was a tendency for user care to go missing...
:’) Like you were there. ;’) ;’) ;’)
An awful lot of that went on in ancient Egypt, despite the kinda nutty new-agey ideas about how it was a unified, peaceful kingdom into the prehistoric past. As with all regimes in which the only way for someone to leave the top job is to die, a lot of that went on. Khufu built the Great Pyramid, but his successor was NOT Khafre (a.k.a. Chephren) — it was the elder son, Djedjefre, who began his own pyramid a few miles north, at Abu Roash. Djedjefre didn’t live long enough to finish his pyramid, and was succeeded by his own son, who didn’t reign long for some reason, left few traces of ever having lived, and his no-doubt blameless uncle Khafre seized the throne.
The grandson of Khafre is generally counted as the first pharaoh of the 5th dynasty (rather than being part of the 4th where he really belongs, mainly because of the garbled mess that is the dynastic organization handed down from Manetho, who probably based everything he wrote on his understanding of the succession list carved on the wall of Seti’s temple), but he didn’t build a 4th dynasty style pyramid, and didn’t build at Giza. He built a mastaba at Saqqara, ten or so miles south of Giza.
My guess is, Egypt was (not for the first or last time) riven by political and dynastic schism, with one or more rival pharaohs.
LOL!
Thanks! One of the advantages of living in a flat sandy plain (Sam Kinison flashback) was that laying out ponds, buildings, walled compounds, etc can be done with impunity. It’s said that Rommel liked the terrain in N Africa because there was nothing much in the way for his tank formations. Probably should take that one with a grain of natron though. :’)
Thanks, Civ. Very promising.
Good luck getting past ol’ Zowie with that archaeoastronomy thing on your back like a hump.
Only now it's called "archaeometry." Some years back I read a book about "sacred spaces" in France that proposed a layout that even Louis XIV and Walt Disney put together wouldn't have attempted. There's a lot of barking mad out there.
Never trust a “historian” who relies on the words axis, meridian, and alignment.
......Little is known about this shadowy pharaoh......
Part of which is known is that he had no pyramid which in turn could in turn lead one to the conclusion he was not a pharaoh
bttt
Kind of sucks if you are Infantry.
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