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Places › Memphis, Saqqara and Dahshur

Dahshur

Site, Memphis, Saqqara and Dahshur · also called Dashur, Dahshour, Dahshur pyramids

At Dahshur the pyramids carry almost no carved text: what you can read are builders' marks in red paint and the cartouche of Sneferu, who built the Bent and Red Pyramids here around 2600 BC. The great inscribed finds from the site are in museums.

Dahshur is the southern edge of the Memphis cemeteries. Sneferu, first king of the Fourth Dynasty and father of Khufu, built two great pyramids here after an earlier attempt at Meidum. The Bent Pyramid changes its angle halfway up. The Red Pyramid, built after it, has the even slope of a true pyramid and was probably his burial place.

Kings of the Middle Kingdom came back about seven centuries later. Amenemhat II, Senusret III and Amenemhat III built pyramids of mud brick cased with stone, now worn to dark mounds. In the 1890s Jacques de Morgan found the jewellery of royal women buried beside them, including gold pectorals with the cartouches of Senusret III and Amenemhat III. The granite capstone of Amenemhat III's Black Pyramid, carved with hieroglyphs on all four sides, also came from here.

Dahshur lay inside a military zone until the 1990s. It is still far quieter than Giza. Both of Sneferu's pyramids can be entered by steep, low passages if they are open when you visit. Expect little shade and few facilities.

At Dahshur

Monument

Bent Pyramid

The Bent Pyramid has almost no writing on its walls; its hieroglyphs came from the valley temple below, where reliefs named Sneferu and his estates. Built around 2600 BC, it starts steep and changes to a gentler slope halfway up.

Monument

Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid has no carved texts; its writing is builders' marks in red paint on some blocks, including dates in Sneferu's reign. Built for him around 2590 BC, it is the first true smooth-sided pyramid and probably his tomb.

What to see and read

Red Pyramid

The first successful smooth-sided pyramid, with three tall corbelled chambers inside.

Bent Pyramid

The pyramid that changes angle, with much of its outer casing in place.

Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III

A dark mud-brick mound seen from a distance.

Pyramid of Senusret III

A ruined Middle Kingdom pyramid, near where the princesses' jewellery was found.

Names you can find here

Signs to look for

  1. Folded cloth S29s The folded cloth, s, begins Sneferu's name in his cartouche.
  2. Heart and windpipe F35nfr The heart and windpipe writes nefer, the core of Sneferu, "he who makes beautiful".
  3. Cartouche V10 Sneferu is one of the first kings whose name is regularly written in a cartouche.
  4. Sun rising over a hill N28ḫꜥ The sun rising over a hill writes kha in Khakaure, Senusret III's throne name on the Dahshur jewellery.
  5. Raised arms D28kꜣ The raised arms of the ka also belong to Khakaure.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

  • Study the Dahshur finds in museum photos before you go; the pyramids themselves carry little text.
  • Inside the Red Pyramid, sweep the walls with a torch for paint marks and trace any you find in Hiero Lens.
  • Bring water and a torch.

Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.

Questions

Can you go inside the pyramids at Dahshur?

Both the Red and the Bent Pyramid have been open to visitors. Ask on site which are open on the day.

Are there hieroglyphs at Dahshur?

Very few on the pyramids. The inscribed finds, such as the Black Pyramid capstone and the princesses' jewellery, are in museums.

Where it is

Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.