Constructed later than Zoser’s step pyramid at Saqqara, but earlier than those at
Giza, Dahshur’s history reveals the adjustments that were made to refine the art of pyramid construction. The two most iconic pyramids here, the ‘Bent Pyramid’ and ‘Red Pyramid’, were built for the same pharoah, Snefru, father of the more famous Khufu (Cheops). In fact - according to the theory of Kurt Mendelssohn - these two were actually versions 2.0 and 3.0 along the learning curve. The argument is that the first attempt at a tomb for Snefru occurred much further south at Meidum – the ‘Collapsed Pyramid’. What caused its collapse? A trigonometric cock-up they reckon – it was built with its angled sides too steep.
A second pyramid was being built simultaneously here at Dahshur. Corrections were immediately taken on board and the angle of the slope was reduced. Hence,
the Bent Pyramid. This iconic silhouette originally rises at a far steeper slope than any other surviving pyramid, before altering to a gentler angle. It looks like a squared-off nosecone from a missile. You cannot actually access the Bent Pyramid, but I think this preserves its mysteries. You can see it hulking in the distance, its angles all… wrong.
However, you are able to approach Snefru’s third pyramid, the Red Pyramid. Approach… and enter!
After that of his son Khufu / Cheops at Giza,
the Red Pyramid is the second largest in existence. It was so named because of the colour of the limestone it was constructed from, though to my eye it was only marginally darker in hue than those at Saqqara or Giza. A staircase leads up the north face to just under half its height. From this vantage point you can just see through the smog
Saqqara (just as at Saqqara you could look south to Dahshur and north to Abu Sir). And here is located a low cleft that allows access into the pyramid. Sloping duckboards lead down into the depths for those prepared to crouch and waddle down, down into the heart of the funerary construction. Down at the bottom, in the furnace-like heat that raises a sweat to your skin, there are three chambers. These are high, narrow, wedge-shaped spaces, ridged like a christmas tree. Two of these follow in sequence; you then climb a staircase up, which leads you to a balcony over a third similar chamber arranged at right angles to the first two. There were no lights here on my visit, so bring a torch.
One additional thing – it stank. The Rough Guide called the air inside the Red Pyramid ‘fetid’. That doesn’t describe it. The air had a sort of peppery hospital disinectant aroma. It smelt the way dentists’ mouthwash tastes. You have been warned.
Dahshur does not have a vast amount to do. You can climb inside the second largest pyramid in existence, true, and once down there you only have two of three other individuals for company rather than the dozens within the Pyramid of Khafre at Giza. As such, LE25 for your fee is in no way excessive. But the other pyramids at Dahshur – the Bent Pyramid, the Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III etc can only be seen in the distance, mysterious and forbidding.
From journal Pyramids, Popes and Parallel Worlds