Menkaure Pyramid Granite

The last pyramid built on the giza plateau the pyramid of menkaure also known as mycerinus has a base area less than a quarter of that of its two neighbors.

Menkaure pyramid granite. And unlike the other great pyramids whose walls were made of limestone menkaure s pyramid was covered with granite on the bottom levels and in the burial chamber a costlier more difficult stone to work with. The pyramids of giza are mostly solid masses of stone with very little to be found inside. Like many ancient egyptian pyramids those of khafre and menkaure have passageways at their base that lead to small subterranean burial chambers underneath each pyramid. If it seems less interesting than the other two it also introduces a number of innovative architectural elements that will be taken over by his children.

Menkaure s pyramid had an original height of 65 5 meters 215 feet and was the smallest of the three major pyramids at the giza necropolis it now stands at 61 m 204 ft tall with a base of 108 5 m 356 ft. Amy calvert the third of the major pyramids at giza belongs to mekaure. However others point to a change in priorities. Some attribute this to a reduction in the power of the king.

This is the smallest of the three rising to a height of 65 meters 213 feet but the complex preserved some of the most stunning examples of sculpture to survive from all of egyptian history. From the entrance in the north face of the pyramid a descending corridor partially clad in pink granite led to a paneled chamber with niches cut. Much of the red grey and black granite used in the pyramids and valley temple on the giza plateau was taken from here and was utilized long before ramses iii. It was constructed of limestone and aswan granite the first sixteen courses of the exterior were made of the red granite.

At the entrance to the pyramid an inscription thought to be the work of khaemwaset son of ramesses ii confirms that menkaure was the builder of the pyramid and that he died on the twenty third day of ipt hmt the third month of shemu harvest. Constructed of limestone and granite the pyramid is unique as its first sixteen courses were made of red granite giving the pyramid a distinctive appearance. The sixth ruler of the 4th dynasty menkaure built himself a pyramid one tenth the size of khafre s. Called menkaure is divine the pyramid of menkaure has a base area of 102 2 by 104 6 meters 335 ft 343 ft or 200 cubits original.

The pyramid of menkaure is the smallest of the three main pyramids of the giza necropolis located on a plateau in the southwestern outskirts of cairo in egypt it lies a few hundred yards southwest of its larger neighbors the great pyramid of khufu and the pyramid of khafre and is thought to have been built to serve as the tomb of the fourth dynasty pharaoh menkaure. The last great pyramid of giza. The size of the pyramid has been reduced but its valley and mortuary temples are larger and more elaborate. Its angle of incline is approximately 51 20 25.