Abusir
Encyclopedia
Abusir is the name given to an Egypt
ian archaeological locality – specifically, an extensive necropolis
of the Old Kingdom
period, together with later additions – in the vicinity of the modern capital Cairo
. The name is also that of a neighbouring village in the Nile Valley, whence the site takes its name. Abusir is located several kilometres north of Saqqara
and, like it, served as one of the main elite cemeteries for the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis
. Several other villages in northern and southern Egypt are named Abusir or Busiri.
Abusir is one relatively small segment of the extensive "pyramid field" that extends from north of Giza to below Saqqara
, the locality of Abusir took its turn as the focus of the prestigious western burial rites operating out of the then-capital of Memphis during the Old Kingdom
5th Dynasty
. As an elite cemetery, neighbouring Giza had by then "filled up" with the massive pyramids and other monuments of the 4th Dynasty
, leading the 5th Dynasty
pharaohs to seek sites elsewhere for their own funerary monuments.
Abusir was the origin of the largest find of Old Kingdom papyri to date — the Abusir Papyri
. In the late nineteenth century, a number of Western museums acquired collections of fragmentary papyri from the administrative (temple) records of one Abusir funerary cult, that of king Neferirkare Kakai
. This discovery was supplemented in the late twentieth century when excavations by a Czech expedition to the site revealed papyri from two other cult complexes, that of the pharaoh Neferefre
(also read Raneferef) and for the king's mother Khentkaus II
.
The Czech Institute of Egyptology has been conducting excavations at Abusir since 1976. They are presently directed by Miroslav Bárta.
There are considerable catacombs near the ancient town of Busiris (Pliny
xxxvi. 12. s. 16). To the south of Busiris one great cemetery appears to have stretched over the plain. The Heptanomite
Busiris was in fact a hamlet standing at one extremity of the necropolis of Memphis.
There are a total of 14 pyramids at this site, which served as the main royal necropolis during the Fifth dynasty. The quality of construction of the Abusir pyramids is inferior to those of the Fourth Dynasty; perhaps signalling a decrease in royal power or a less vibrant economy. They are smaller than their predecessors, and are built of low quality local stone. All of the major pyramids at Abusir were built as step pyramid
s, although the largest of them — the Pyramid of Neferirkare — is believed to have originally been built as a step pyramid some seventy metres in height and then later transformed into a "true" pyramid by having its steps filled in with loose masonry.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian archaeological locality – specifically, an extensive necropolis
Necropolis
A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...
of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
period, together with later additions – in the vicinity of the modern capital Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. The name is also that of a neighbouring village in the Nile Valley, whence the site takes its name. Abusir is located several kilometres north of Saqqara
Saqqara
Saqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of...
and, like it, served as one of the main elite cemeteries for the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis
Memphis, Egypt
Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo.According to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an...
. Several other villages in northern and southern Egypt are named Abusir or Busiri.
Abusir is one relatively small segment of the extensive "pyramid field" that extends from north of Giza to below Saqqara
Saqqara
Saqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of...
, the locality of Abusir took its turn as the focus of the prestigious western burial rites operating out of the then-capital of Memphis during the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
5th Dynasty
Fifth dynasty of Egypt
The fifth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. Dynasty V dates approximately from 2494 to 2345 BC.-Rulers:...
. As an elite cemetery, neighbouring Giza had by then "filled up" with the massive pyramids and other monuments of the 4th Dynasty
Fourth dynasty of Egypt
The fourth dynasty of ancient Egypt is characterized as a "golden age" of the Old Kingdom. Dynasty IV lasted from ca. 2613 to 2494 BC...
, leading the 5th Dynasty
Fifth dynasty of Egypt
The fifth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. Dynasty V dates approximately from 2494 to 2345 BC.-Rulers:...
pharaohs to seek sites elsewhere for their own funerary monuments.
Abusir was the origin of the largest find of Old Kingdom papyri to date — the Abusir Papyri
Abusir Papyri
The Abusir Papyri are the largest papyrus findings to date from the Old Kingdom in Ancient Egypt. The first papyri were discovered in 1893 at Abu Gorab near Abusir in northern Egypt. Their origins are dated to around the 24th century BC during the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, making them, even though...
. In the late nineteenth century, a number of Western museums acquired collections of fragmentary papyri from the administrative (temple) records of one Abusir funerary cult, that of king Neferirkare Kakai
Neferirkare Kakai
Neferirkare Kakai was the third Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. His praenomen, Neferirkare, means "Beautiful is the Soul of Ra". His Horus name was Userkhau, his Golden Horus name Sekhemunebu and his Nebti name Khaiemnebty.- Family :...
. This discovery was supplemented in the late twentieth century when excavations by a Czech expedition to the site revealed papyri from two other cult complexes, that of the pharaoh Neferefre
Neferefre
Neferefre was a Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. His name means "Beautiful is Re" in Egyptian.-Family:Neferefre was the son of king Neferirkare Kakai by queen Khentkaus II, and the elder brother of pharaoh Nyuserre Ini....
(also read Raneferef) and for the king's mother Khentkaus II
Khentkaus II
Khentkaus II was a Queen of Egypt. She was a wife of Egyptian Pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty. She was the mother of Pharaohs Neferefre and Nyuserre Ini.-Biography:...
.
The Czech Institute of Egyptology has been conducting excavations at Abusir since 1976. They are presently directed by Miroslav Bárta.
There are considerable catacombs near the ancient town of Busiris (Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
xxxvi. 12. s. 16). To the south of Busiris one great cemetery appears to have stretched over the plain. The Heptanomite
Heptanomis
Heptanomis , the modern Mlesr-Wostani of the Arabian geographers, or Middle Egypt, may be described generally as the district which separates the Thebaïd from the Delta.Inasmuch, however, as the appellation of the Seven Nomes...
Busiris was in fact a hamlet standing at one extremity of the necropolis of Memphis.
Necropolis
Step pyramid
Step pyramids are structures which characterized several cultures throughout history, in several locations throughout the world. These pyramids typically are large and made of several layers of stone...
s, although the largest of them — the Pyramid of Neferirkare — is believed to have originally been built as a step pyramid some seventy metres in height and then later transformed into a "true" pyramid by having its steps filled in with loose masonry.
Major pyramids
The three major pyramids are- the pyramid of NeferirkarePyramid of Neferirkare KakaiPyramid of Neferirkare Kakai is the second pyramid to be built at the necropolis site of Abusir, south of the Giza plateau, in Egypt. The pyramid of Neferirkare is the tallest of all pyramids constructed in Ancient Egypt during its Fifth Dynasty....
, the tallest pyramid at the site - the pyramid of NyuserreNyuserre IniNyuserre Ini , was a Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. He is frequently given a reign of 24 or 25 years and is dated from ca. 2445 BC to 2421 BC. His prenomen, Nyuserre, means "Possessed of Re's Power"...
, the most intact pyramid at the site - the pyramid of SahureSahure- Etymology :Sahure's birth name means "He who is Close to Re". His Horus name was Nebkhau.- Biography :Sahure was a son of queen Neferhetepes, as shown in scenes from the causeway of Sahure's pyramid complex in Abusir. His father was Userkaf. Sahure's consort was queen Neferetnebty. Reliefs show...
Smaller pyramids
- the incomplete pyramid of NeferefreNeferefreNeferefre was a Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. His name means "Beautiful is Re" in Egyptian.-Family:Neferefre was the son of king Neferirkare Kakai by queen Khentkaus II, and the elder brother of pharaoh Nyuserre Ini....
- the pyramid of Queen Khentkaus IIKhentkaus IIKhentkaus II was a Queen of Egypt. She was a wife of Egyptian Pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty. She was the mother of Pharaohs Neferefre and Nyuserre Ini.-Biography:...
, wife of Neferirkare and mother of Neferefre and Nyuserre - the unfinished pyramid of ShepseskafShepseskafShepseskaf was a son of Menkaure who succeeded his father on the throne. Shepseskaf's name means "His Soul is Noble."- Family :Shepseskaf was a son of Menkaure and grandson of Khafra, but his mother's name is not known. His mother can be either Khamerernebty II or Rekhetre...
? - Lepsius PyramidLepsius list of pyramidsIn 1842 Lepsius visited Lower Egypt and made a list of the pyramids that he found there. They are numbered from north to south, starting at Abu Rawash in the north. Some of these structures have later been proved not true pyramids.-Further reading:...
no. 24 — The pyramid belonged to a woman, likely a queen. The name of the vizier Ptahshepses appears among builders' marks, which dates the pyramid to the time of Pharaoh Nyuserre - Lepsius PyramidLepsius list of pyramidsIn 1842 Lepsius visited Lower Egypt and made a list of the pyramids that he found there. They are numbered from north to south, starting at Abu Rawash in the north. Some of these structures have later been proved not true pyramids.-Further reading:...
no. 25 — Likely the pyramid of a queen from the Fifth dynasty
Mastabas of courtiers
The tombs of several high officials and family members are located in the direct vicinity of their king's pyramid:- the mastaba of PtahshepsesPtahshepsesPtahshepses was the vizier and son-in-law of the fifth dynasty king Niuserre. His mastaba complex in Abusir is considered by many to be the most extensive and architecturally unique non-royal tomb of the Old Kingdom...
(vizier under Nyuserre) - the mastaba of Prince Nakhtkare (son of Raneferef or Nyuserre)
Abusir-south
Directly north of Saqqara is a cemetery of lower-ranking officials of the Old Kingdom, including the following tombs:- the tomb of Ity (Dynasty 3)
- the tomb of Hetepi (priest, beginning of Dynasty 4)
- the tomb of Kaaper (architect and priest, Dynasty 4)
- the tomb of Rahotep (priest, end of Dynasty 5)
- the tomb of Fetekti (priest, end of Dynasty 5)
- the tomb of Qar and his sons (vizier, Dynasty 6)
Saite-Persian cemetery
On a small hill directly south of the pyramid of Neferefre is a cemetery of tombs from the Saite period:- the tomb of Udjahorresnet
- the tomb of Iufaa
- the tomb of Menekhibneko
- the tomb of Padihor
- tomb R3
Site looting during 2011 protests
Abusir, Saqqara and Dahshur suffered damage by looters during the 2011 Egyptian protests. Part of the false door from the tomb of the priest Rahotep was stolen, and store rooms were broken into.See also
- BusirisBusirisBusiris or Bousiris may mean several different things, including:-Places:*Busiris , a large ancient city of Egypt, capital of its nome*Busiris , an ancient city of Egypt, near the Egyptian Pyramids...
- BusiriBusiriBūsīrī was an Egyptian poet who was a follower of Imam Shadhili by enrolling himself in the Shadhiliyya Sufi order. He lived in Egypt, where he wrote under the patronage of Ibn Hinna, the vizier. His poems seem to have been wholly on religious subjects...
- List of Egyptian pyramids
- List of megalithic sites