El-Qurn, the Theban hills' highest peak, functioned as a natural royal pyramid in the New Kingdom. Egyptologist Josef Wegner showed the Abydos cliffs visually mimic a freestanding pyramid behind Senusret III's complex. Thutmose I became the first king buried in the Valley of the Kings beneath El-Qurn — mortuary temples here were direct equivalents of Old Kingdom pyramid temples! 🔺👑
El-Qurn natural pyramid served as Thutmose I's royal pyramid above Valley of the Kings
EgyptTheory
Key facts
- Abydos was a sacred land throughout dynastic history with a pre-dynastic settlement and early dynastic royal necropolis
- After the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom tomb complex of King Senusret III was built at Abydos, possibly as a cenotaph for Osiris rather than Senusret's tomb
- Egyptologist Josef Wegner identified that when viewed from the east, the cliffs at Abydos create the visual impression of a freestanding symmetrical pyramid behind Senusret III's complex
- Ceilings in the Abydos complex refer to the site as the mountain of Anubis
- El-Qurn is the highest peak of the Theban hills, surrounded by the mortuary temples at Deir el-Bahari and the Valley of the Kings
- El-Qurn was associated with Meretseger, meaning she who loves silence, the guardian goddess of the Theban necropolis
- Thutmose I was the first king buried in the Valley of the Kings, beneath the El-Qurn natural pyramid
- The hieroglyph for the cliffs at Hatshepsut's temple includes the pyramid sign as a classifier, possibly directly referring to the western mountain as a pyramid
- New Kingdom mortuary temples on the eastern side of the Theban cliffs were equivalents of Old Kingdom pyramid mortuary temples, with tombs inside the natural pyramid
Site mentioned
Sources
Josef W. Wegner | Middle Eastern Languages and Culturesmelc.sas.upenn.edu
He is author of The Mortuary Temple of Senwosret III at Abydos (2007); co-author with D. Silverman and J. Houser-Wegner, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun ...
Mortuary Complex of Pharaoh Senwosret III at South Abydosarce.org
DirectorDr. Josef Wegner LocationSouth. Senwosret III, was a royal mortuary complex focused on a subterranean royal tomb at the base of the high desert cliffs.
Josef Wegner - University of Pennsylvania - Research Papersupenn.academia.edu
Josef Wegner, a researcher at University of Pennsylvania, researches Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology, Senwosret III at Abydos. Senwosret III. the “Abydos ...
A Pharaoh's Massive Tomb Unveiledpopular-archaeology.com
Josef Wegner, Curator. He has been excavating in Abydos, where the tomb. Dated to 1850 BC, it is the largest tomb at Abydos. The tomb measures ...
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TEMPLE NFR-K3 OF ...jstor.org
by J Wegner · 2000 · Cited by 40 — Years at South Abydos: Reconstructing the Temple of Senwosret III,. Expedition 42:2 (2000), 9-18. b J. Wegner, The Temple of Senwosret III at Abydos, volume in.
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