Pyramid of Unas, New Light

Pyramid of Unas

Unas causeway to the pyramid of Unas

King Unas ruled at the end of the fifth Dynasty, for a period of up to thirty years. Unas's pyramid at Saqqara, although the smallest of the Old Kingdom pyramids, shines his long reign in the in an elaborate way carved hieroglyphic palm of the inner chambers  the earliest identified example of the Pyramid Texts. Before his time, with the elision of Djoser's monuments) all of the known pyramids had been undecorated.

Unas's pyramid seems unremarkable, little more than a big heap of rubble which is shadowed by its older neighbor, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser. The body structure was first investigated by Gaston Maspero in 1881 who had been collating a corpus of texts found in other Dynasty V and VI pyramids and he was the first to enter Unas's subterranean chambers. The pyramid and part of the mortuary temple was hollowed by (Alexandre Barsanti) on behalf of Maspero at the turn of the 20th century, and investigation of the mortuary temple and causeway was later kept by Cecil Firth, Jean-Philippe Lauer and others up to the nowadays.

The Pyramid Texts:

The Pyramid Texts of Unas's Pyramid

The Pyramid Texts, which are first got on the private walls of the pyramid of King Unas (the last king of the fifth Dynasty), and earlier in the pyramids of the sixth Dynasty kings (and some queens), are a ranking source of texts from this period. That texts are in all probability to be dated no earlier than or so one hundred years before the earliest saved copy, and many of the texts are topical with the pyramids in which they are discovered. These texts were intended to aid the deceased king in his transition to and continued well-being in the hereafter. They include magical spells, whose purpose is to protect the deceased from  various  perils  (for  example,  snakes  and  scorpions),  texts  which  are  corresponding different  funerary  rituals,  and  spells  fashioned to allow  the  deceased  to  defeated  any obstacles that he might see in the next life.

Pyramid of Unas reopened in 2016:

The Egyptians reopened the Pyramid of Unas for public visitation subsequently being closed for twenty years. The repository, set within the Saqqara necropolis, about Cairo, is known for being the best to have funeral texts  in  its  inner  walls,  known  as  the  Pyramid  Texts. Before, the inner walls of these pharaonic tombs didnt have several inscriptions, as is the case of the 3 great pyramids of Giza, also based near the Egyptian capital.

The texts line rituals, prayers and anthems and were intended to guide the dead king in his way to the other world.  Unas  was  the  close monarch of the fifth Pharaoh Dynasty of Egypt, during the so named Old Kingdom. He ruled for around thirty years during the 24th century B.C.

The site of the Pyramid is set about the most famous repository of Saqqara, the  step pyramid of Djoser, considered to be Egypt first. From right, the Unas  tomb draws little care, since its in ruins. The true attractivenesses  lie inside the mortuary temple, the inscribed inscriptions, the roof that replicates a star-filled sky and other art works painted or engraved in the walls.

Pyramid of Unas

Pyramid of Unas

Pyramid of Unas Looking east down the thoroughfare of Unas

The pyramid itself looks unremarkable, minimal more than an expansive stack of rubble which is predominated by its more seasoned neighbor, the Step Pyramid of Djoser. The structure was first examined by Gaston Maspero in 1881 who had been gathering a corpus of writings found in other Dynasty V and VI pyramids and he was the first to enter Unas' underground loads. The pyramid and part of the funeral home sanctuary was uncovered by Alexandre Barsanti in the interest of Maspero at the turn of the twentieth century, and examination of the morgue sanctuary and thoroughfare was later proceeded by Cecil Firth, Jean-Philippe Lauer and others up to the present time.

The structure's center of harsh limestone pieces reduced in size towards the highest point of its six layers and had a packaging of squares of fine white limestone (now just staying on the most minimal levels).

The passageway to the pyramid was found on the north side, opening at ground level in the asphalt of the court underneath a little passageway house of prayer. A section slants down to meet a hallway and even entry which was initially hindered by three stone pieces. The waiting room lies underneath the focal point of the pyramid, with a room containing 3 specialties toward the east and the entombment chamber toward the west. Taking after the arrangement of different pyramids of this period the top of the internment load was gabled - yet the roof was painted with brilliant stars on a dark blue foundation to speak to the night sky. White alabaster lined the dividers of the entombment chamber. This was etched and painted on the west divider, with outlines in dark, white, yellow, blue and red, proposed to copy the wooden structure secured by reed tapestries of a regal castle or a niched bygone mastaba. All the more eminently, Unas was the main ruler to have writings engraved on the dividers of his last resting place.

The Unas causeway, looking east Cartouche of Unas (Wenis)
Columns of beautifully carved blue painted hieroglyphs on the remaining walls of the burial chamber, antechamber and parts of the passages depict 283 'spells' which were part of a body of texts known today as the 'Pyramid Texts'. These texts, comprising almost 800 known 'spells' or 'utterances', describe the different stages of royal rebirth and were intended to safeguard his (or her) journey from death to the Netherworld, presumably to be read by the deceased. It is thought that the texts were probably composed by the priests of the Heliopolitan sun cult, but may have had a predynastic origin. No single pyramid contains the whole collection of spells and there was no standard edition. One of the texts in Unas' pyramid (utterances 273-4) is referred to as the 'cannibal hymn', which describes 'swallowing the spirits of the gods'. It is suggested that this may be a remnant of an extinct funerary practice such as human sacrifice, though there is no evidence for this in Old Kingdom Egypt.

South-Western corner of the enclosure wall surrounding complex of Djoser at Saqqara. This pyramid complex is thus located at the opposite corner of Djoser's complex as the complex built by Userkaf, the first king of the 5th Dynasty, and between the complexes of Djoser and Sekhemkhet, both of the 3rd Dynasty, as part of the diagonal between the pyramid of Sekhemkhet in the southwest and the pyramid of Teti, which was to be built later, in the northeast.

The mortuary temple of this complex, which traditionally extends to the East of the main pyramid, was built on top of the substructure of the 2nd Dynasty tomb assigned to Hotepsekhemwi. It is very likely that almost nothing subsisted of this older tomb's superstructure at the time Unas had his monument built.
The name of this funerary complex was nfr-s.wt, "the (most) beautiful of places".

The complex consists of all the standard elements: a main pyramid, to the East of which are located a mortuary temple and a small satellite pyramid. A long causeway connects the mortuary temple to a valley temple, at some distance to the South-East of the pyramid. Parts of the valley temple are still preserved.
A Queen's pyramid has never been found, which suggests that Unas does not appear to have had a pyramid built for his queen(s).