- The Pyramid Complex of Teti -
Teti, the first king of the 6th Dynasty, chose to build his pyramid and adjourning complex to the North-East of the pyramid of Userkaf, and at the Southern end of the Archaic Tombs located at Saqqara-North. In choosing this location, Teti may have deliberately opted to build his pyramid along the diagonal formed by the pyramids of Sekhemkhet, Unas, Djoser and Userkaf (from South-West to North-East).
The complex consists of the usual elements: a main pyramid, with a mortuary temple and a smaller satellite pyramid to the East. A causeway ran East to a Valley Temple, which has not yet been found (see clickable map, below).
Clickable map of the Pyramid complex of Teti.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 157.
The main pyramid
View on Teti's pyramid showing the internal
details.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 157.
The pyramid of Teti, which was called "The Places of Teti Endure", measured 78.5 metres to a side. With its slope of 53�7'48" it rose to a height of 52.5 metres. Its dimensions and slope were thus similar to those of the pyramids of Teti's predecessors and successors.
Even in the way it was built, it followed the example of Unas and Djedkare: the core masonry was made of accreted blocks of stone, encased in fine limestone. Some of the blocks of the outer casing are still in place on the East side of the pyramid, but the rest has been carried away over the centuries by stone-robbers, causing the core masonry to be exposed and crumble down into the rounded mound of stones seen today.
The pyramid is entered from the North side. The entrance is located at ground level, along the central axis. It was covered simply with some flagstones. A small rectangular entrance chapel was built directly above the entrance. The painted reliefs on its side walls showed the usual offerings bearers. A false door of black basalt was built against the back wall of the chapel. The roof of the chapel was made of a single limestone slab, decorated with a pattern of stars. The remaining pivot sockets indicate that wooden doors once closed the entrance chapel.
The substructure of Teti's pyramid is similar to Unas', be it that it is slightly larger. The walls of the descending passage are covered with granite. This passage opens into a small corridor chamber, followed by an horizontal passage. Three portcullises were intended to block the passage and prevent robbers from desecrating the burial.
The horizontal passage opens into the antechamber, that is located under the centre of the pyramid. To the East is a room with three niches, that perhaps contained some statues of the king. Opposite the three niches, to the West of the antechamber, the burial chamber can be found. But for its lid, which has been broken by tomb robbers, the basalt sarcophagus is very well preserved. It is the first to have had an inscription: a single band of the Pyramid Texts.
As was the case with Unas' pyramid, the wall's of the burial chamber, the antechamber and part of the horizontal passage are inscribed with Pyramid Texts. The texts are far more damaged than Unas', which is due to the poorer state of preservation of the pyramid's substructure.
The mortuary temple
Although stone-robbers badly pillaged Teti's mortuary temple, the remaining parts have allowed archaeologists to asses that the basic plan of this structure conformed to the scheme that appears to have become standard since Djedkare.
Contrary to the standard plan, the entrance to the mortuary temple was not in the middle of the Eastern wall, along the temples East-West axis, but almost in the South corner of the Eastern wall. This resulted in the causeway being shifted more to the South, which may perhaps have been an attempt to avoid the smaller pyramid to the North-East of Teti's, known today as Lepsius 29.
From the entrance, a traverse corridor leads to the entrance hall which is located along the temple's axis. The entrance hall leads to a colonnaded open court. A second variation to the standard plan is made by the return to the square granite pillars that were typical in 4th Dynasty mortuary complexes, in stead of the round columns with adorned capitals. The altar in the centre of the open court was made of alabaster and still showed some traces of decoration.
A second traverse corridor after the open court allows access to the magazines located to the North and the South of the court and entrance hall. The satellite pyramid lies to the South of this corridor, which also separates the front from the inner temple. Following the temple's axis, an entrance and a small alabaster stairway lead to the 5 statue niches. Each of the niches had a granite framed doorway inscribed with the king's titulary.
From the 5 statue niches, a vestibule to the South allows access to a square antechamber, in the centre of which was located a single pillar. The antechamber opened to the North to the offering hall. Against its Western wall, a false door rested on a quartzite foundation block. It was here, in this offering hall with its vaulted ceiling, that the cult of the deceased Teti was maintained.
The satellite pyramid
The satellite pyramid is located in its usual place, next to the South corner of the inner part of the mortuary temple. It measured 15.7 metres square. Its entrance was located to the North of the pyramid, at ground level. From there a descending passage leads to the single chamber under the centre of the pyramid.
Queen's pyramids
At least two women connected to Teti's court had their own pyramids: queen Iput, the mother of Teti's son, Pepi I, and Khuit. They are located in separate enclosures to the North of Teti's pyramid, behind the mastabas of the 6the Dynasty courtiers. Due to their location, they are somewhat different from the usual Queen's pyramids, that were built close to their king's monument.
The pyramid of Iput was originally conceived as a mastaba, but it was converted into a pyramid by Iput's son, Pepi I. This pyramid, which measured 15.75 metres to a side and had a steep slope of 65�, was built over a vertical mastaba shaft, at the bottom of which was located the burial chamber. The pyramid itself had no entrance. A false door on its North side was part of a fake entrance chapel. To the East of the pyramid was a smaller version of a mortuary temple: a chapel with a court, a chamber with 3 niches and an offering hall with a false door made of limestone and an offering slab made of granite. Despite the lack of an entrance, this tomb was desecrated, but the skeleton of the queen was found intact, along with five crude canopic jars. A necklace and a bracelet belonging to the queen were also found.
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