0:00

The holidays start here at Kroger with

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a variety of options to celebrate traditions

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old and new. You could do a

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classic herb roasted turkey or spice it

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up and make turkey tacos. Serve up

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a go-to shrimp cocktail or use Simple

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Truth wild caught shrimp for your first

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Cajun risotto. Make creamy mac and cheese

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or a spinach artichoke fondue from our

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selection of Murray's cheese. No matter how

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you shop, Kroger has all the freshest

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ingredients to embrace all your holiday traditions.

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Kroger, fresh for everyone. Hello

0:40

and welcome to a History of

0:42

Egypt podcast mini episode. This

0:44

is The Lost and Found,

0:46

the legacy of Menkaure. It

0:48

is a tale of early

0:50

archaeology, of unfortunate mishaps and

0:53

also evocative memories. Across

0:56

four and a half thousand

0:58

years, the artifacts, stories and

1:00

memories of Menkaure have undergone

1:02

a curious journey. Today

1:05

we explore them. Menkaure

1:17

was the penultimate ruler

1:20

of the fourth dynasty.

1:23

He ruled Egypt sometime around 2520

1:27

BCE, approximately, and

1:29

he has an intriguing legacy. Menkaure

1:32

is the king responsible for the

1:34

third pyramid at Giza. It

1:37

is the smallest pyramid on the plateau

1:39

and it is the one that is

1:41

most often overlooked by tourists and commentators.

1:44

Which is a shame because, as

1:46

we will see, there are many

1:49

fascinating stories and details contained within

1:51

this monument. The

1:53

name Menkaure or

1:55

Menkaure translates roughly

1:57

as the Ka Spirit.

1:59

limits of Ra are established

2:01

or firm. It is a

2:03

classic name of the late fourth dynasty, praising

2:06

the sun god Ra and

2:08

confirming his supremacy and power

2:10

as a royal god. The

2:13

king, Menkaura, embodies the favour of

2:15

Ra, and he rules earth as

2:17

a divine son or incarnation of

2:20

the deity himself. Menkaura

2:23

is not well-known among the general

2:25

public, and even among Egyptologists he

2:27

is one of the minor figures

2:30

in the historical narrative. Which is

2:32

surprising, because out of the three

2:34

rulers who commissioned pyramids at Giza,

2:37

it was Menkaura that enjoyed

2:40

the most positive reputation. Two

2:43

thousand years after his death, Menkaura

2:46

was described by Greek

2:48

authors like Herodotus and

2:50

the Roman Diodorus Siculus.

2:53

Both of these authors praised Menkaura,

2:55

describing him as of good temperament

2:58

and a just ruler who listened

3:00

to the petitions and concerns of

3:02

his people and acted justly as

3:04

a ruler of the land. This

3:07

stands in contrast to

3:09

Menkaura's predecessors, the great

3:12

rulers Kaphra and Khufu.

3:15

Both of them enjoyed a negative

3:17

legacy among the Greek and Roman

3:19

authors, who described Khufu

3:21

and Khufra as megalomaniacs, even

3:24

tyrants, who oppressed their people.

3:27

Compared to them, Menkaura comes across

3:29

as a breath of fresh air.

3:31

Whether this depiction is accurate or

3:34

the product of two thousand years

3:36

of storytelling, we may never exactly

3:38

know, but when you visit the

3:41

pyramids of Giza, it is Menkaura,

3:43

the owner of the smallest monument,

3:45

who enjoys the kindest legacy. The

3:48

small size of Menkaura's pyramid

3:50

is noteworthy, and when you

3:52

compare it to the structures

3:55

of his predecessors, it appears

3:57

positively tiny. Originally, the

3:59

pyramid was just 61.8 meters tall, or 203 feet. This

4:05

is less than half the height

4:07

of the Great Pyramid, and the

4:10

volume of Menkaure's monument, in terms

4:12

of stone and overall area, is

4:14

a mere fraction of its larger

4:16

cousins. At a glance the

4:18

pyramid seems diminutive, one of the smallest

4:20

in the era of its construction. But

4:24

as is so often the case,

4:26

looks can be deceiving. Beneath

4:29

the surface, the Pyramid of

4:31

Menkaure has many fascinating features,

4:34

and the stories of its

4:36

exploration and preservation are

4:38

not just the stuff of modern archaeology.

4:41

They stretch back more than two

4:43

thousand years. The Pyramid

4:45

of Menkaure and the artifacts

4:47

contained within have a fascinating

4:50

legacy. Today I would like

4:52

to explore it. Our

4:55

story begins in August of 1837. It

4:59

was the beginning of the Victorian

5:01

era, literally. Queen Victoria

5:04

had assumed the throne of Great

5:06

Britain just two months earlier. In

5:09

Egypt, a man named Howard

5:11

Vese was leading an excavation.

5:13

Richard Howard Vese is a noteworthy

5:16

name in the early history of

5:18

Egyptology. He doesn't have a great

5:20

reputation today, and we'll see why.

5:23

But he was one of the

5:25

first individuals to lead large-scale excavations

5:28

on the Giza Plateau in

5:30

an attempt to explore and document

5:32

the enormous monuments. In August of

5:35

1837, Vese's excavation team

5:37

were hard at work on

5:39

the third pyramid, that is

5:41

the Pyramid of Menkaure. The

5:43

Egyptian workers, employed by Vese and

5:46

his associates, were clearing sand and

5:48

rubble from the base of the

5:50

monument, where it had accumulated over

5:52

the course of centuries. They

5:54

were also trying to find the entrance to

5:56

the structure. In 1837, the entrance to the

5:59

structure was a The cemetery corridor for

6:01

the third-pyramided geyser was officially

6:03

unknown. Some time after

6:06

antiquity or the Middle Ages, it

6:08

had disappeared beneath the accumulation of

6:10

sand and rubble, so the

6:12

excavation team had their work cut out for them.

6:15

Faced with this challenge, Howard

6:17

Veese had some unusual solutions.

6:20

At one point, he organised the use

6:23

of dynamite to attempt to blow a

6:25

hole in the side of the pyramid

6:27

and expose the passages that he thought

6:29

might be hidden behind a stone. Veese

6:33

and his dynamite are one of

6:35

the more infamous passages in the

6:37

history of Egyptology. If

6:39

you have ever heard tales of

6:41

explorers detonating explosives in the monuments,

6:44

this is where that comes from.

6:46

It was part of Veese's approach. He

6:48

used dynamite on the Pyramid of Menkaure,

6:51

and he even used it in the

6:53

Great Pyramid. Veese was quite

6:55

fond of his explosives as a

6:57

way to open new passages and

6:59

find concealed chambers. It's

7:02

an ugly chapter in early Egyptology,

7:04

but it is what it is.

7:07

Ironically, it was not the dynamite

7:09

that helped Veese open the Pyramid

7:11

of Menkaure. Eventually, the

7:13

entrance to the monument was

7:15

discovered by good old-fashioned clearance.

7:18

The Egyptian labourers removed sand and

7:20

rubble and found the opening which

7:22

led to the descending passageway. You

7:25

can see the workers undertaking this

7:27

difficult and challenging project in artists'

7:29

impressions made by an illustrator who

7:31

was accompanying the expedition. In the

7:34

picture, the monument towers overhead while

7:36

long trains of Egyptians haul at

7:38

ropes to pull boulders out of

7:40

the sand and remove them from

7:43

the base of the monument. The

7:45

clearance work must have been

7:47

enormous. The Pyramid

7:49

was opened, but the stories were

7:52

only just beginning. The

7:54

monument of Menkaure, as revealed

7:56

by Veese's excavation team, contains

7:58

a wealth of information.

8:01

Some of these come from the artifacts that

8:03

lay within the pyramid, and

8:05

some come from the pyramid

8:07

itself, its architecture and decoration,

8:10

both of which include some rather

8:12

strange details. This is a monument

8:14

well worth exploring. So let's

8:17

take a tour. Imagine

8:24

yourself at Giza, standing before

8:26

the Pyramid of Menkaura. You

8:29

are before the entrance to the monument,

8:31

which is located on the north face

8:33

of the pyramid. Before you

8:35

stands a staircase made of wood, leading

8:37

from the ground level up to the

8:39

entrance passage. You begin your ascent, and

8:42

as you do, take a look over

8:44

to the left-hand side. On

8:46

the outer face of the pyramid,

8:48

carved into the casing stones, there

8:51

is a series of hieroglyphs. These

8:53

hieroglyphs are a later addition, but

8:55

they have their own fascinating story

8:57

related to Menkaura's pyramid. We'll

9:00

come back to them later. For

9:02

now, let's focus on the entrance. As

9:05

you approach the top of the stairs,

9:07

the granite stones which form the casing

9:09

loom overhead. Some of

9:12

them are finished, smoothed by the ancient

9:14

builders. Others are still rough,

9:16

where the stonemasons did not finish their

9:18

work following the king's death. You'll

9:21

have to duck down to make your

9:23

way into the entrance. Take a moment

9:25

to catch your breath, and then enter

9:27

the pyramid itself. You

9:29

begin by descending a long, sloping

9:32

passage. Like many

9:34

pyramids, Menkaura's monument has a

9:36

complex of chambers and corridors

9:38

dug directly into the bedrock.

9:40

To reach those subterranean passages,

9:42

you must clamber down a

9:44

long, sloping corridor. There

9:47

are wooden railings and a walkway to

9:49

assist you, but at times you will

9:51

need to crouch, perhaps even bend double

9:53

to make your way along the passage.

9:55

Behind you, the light will slowly diminish

9:57

as the world of the living recedes.

10:00

and you enter the world of the

10:02

dead. As you reach the bottom, the

10:04

passageway levels out into a smooth, flat

10:07

corridor. You duck through a

10:09

low doorway, and suddenly you are

10:11

in a room. A

10:13

small square chamber is the first

10:15

stop on our tour of Menkaora's

10:18

monument. This chamber is

10:20

noteworthy because it has an unusual

10:22

decoration. For the

10:24

most part, the pyramids at Giza

10:27

are completely undecorated, nothing adorning the

10:29

walls or embellishing the internal structures.

10:32

Menkaora's is different. The

10:35

first chamber of his pyramid is

10:37

decorated with a series of rectangles.

10:40

These are evenly spaced along the

10:42

wall, in a series of recessed

10:44

panels or niches. Egyptologists

10:46

call this style of decoration

10:48

a palace facade decor. It

10:51

appears on numerous Old Kingdom

10:54

monuments, especially funerary structures, and

10:57

the most likely interpretation is that

10:59

it resembles or recreates the outer

11:01

walls of ancient Egyptian palaces. The

11:03

king's residence on Earth would naturally

11:06

have security structures, like walls, to

11:08

separate it and protect it from

11:10

the outside world. From archaeological work

11:12

at other sites, we know that

11:15

these walls often had the same

11:17

pattern of recesses and niches that

11:19

we see in the chamber of

11:21

Menkaora. Though right at the start

11:24

of our subterranean journey, it seems

11:26

that Menkaora is doing something different

11:28

for his afterlife world. Instead

11:31

of a smooth, unadorned series of

11:33

passages, he commissioned something more homely,

11:35

a palace beneath the

11:37

pyramid in which he could live

11:39

eternally. It's a lovely feature.

11:43

From the small room that is decorated

11:45

like a palace, you continue along another

11:47

corridor. Then suddenly

11:49

you enter a large rectangular

11:51

chamber. This chamber stretches

11:54

out to your right, facing east

11:56

and west, along the axis of

11:58

sunrise and sunset. At

12:00

the far end of the chamber from where

12:02

you come in there is a slightly separated

12:04

space like an annex. A

12:06

floor of this annex is sunk down into

12:09

the earth as if it

12:11

once contained a coffin or sarcophagus. At

12:14

a glance this might seem like the burial

12:16

place of the king. So

12:18

far the journey into Menkaure's pyramid

12:20

is, architecturally, pretty similar to that

12:23

of Ka'fra before him, and maybe

12:25

for ancient tomb robbers plumbing their

12:27

way through these depths by candlelight

12:30

and in haste. They

12:32

might enter this chamber, see the annex

12:34

at the far end, and assume they

12:36

had reached the king's burial. The

12:38

truth is quite different. In

12:41

the very centre of this hall the

12:43

floor suddenly opens up. A

12:45

passageway has been cut directly into the

12:47

rock at the very heart of this

12:49

chamber. Originally

12:51

this passage was probably covered over

12:54

with stones, concealing it from view

12:56

and hiding what lay beneath. Those

12:58

covering stones are gone now, and the

13:00

passage is visible to all who enter.

13:03

It is this passage which leads to

13:05

the true burial chamber. Making

13:08

your way down the sloping corridor, stepping

13:10

carefully on wooden floorboards, you will come

13:13

to a fork in the road. On

13:15

your right there is a rectangular room

13:18

jutting off facing north. To

13:20

your left there is another room

13:22

which at a glance is nothing

13:24

impressive, just another rectangular space. But

13:27

it's the left-hand room that we are most

13:29

interested in. Step through

13:31

the doorway and you will enter another

13:34

rectangular hall. This time the

13:36

hall has a curved roof bending over

13:38

the top in a smooth arch. The

13:41

arch is made of enormous slabs of

13:43

stone that were carefully laid across the

13:45

roof of the chamber and then carved

13:48

back to form a smooth curve. So

13:50

it's not a classic arch in the

13:52

Roman sense, where the stones are resting

13:55

against one another and using gravity to

13:57

maintain stability, but it's a

13:59

clever illusion. and it gives this chamber

14:01

its own quiet majesty. You

14:04

are now standing in Menkaora's burial

14:07

chamber. Superficially, there is

14:09

not much to see. The walls are

14:11

made of smooth blocks of stone, but

14:14

they are undecorated. The floor

14:16

used to have paving stones, but some

14:18

of these have been broken and smashed

14:20

up in antiquity, and now there are

14:22

gaps in the floor, leading to an

14:24

uneven surface. Today it's

14:27

not much to look at, but

14:29

that wasn't always the case. In

14:32

1837, Colonel Veese and his colleagues

14:34

entered these passages for the first

14:37

time. It was August

14:39

the first, a Tuesday, and they

14:41

and their team laboriously cleared sand

14:44

and rubble from the underground passages.

14:46

They entered the monument and

14:49

descended that sloping corridor, passed

14:51

through the decorated square chamber,

14:53

along the next corridor, and

14:55

they entered the first rectangular

14:57

hall. Along the way

14:59

they made measurements and records of the

15:01

various rooms as they encountered them. They

15:04

also made illustrations. An

15:06

artist who was accompanying the expedition

15:08

made evocative drawings of the various

15:11

rooms they encountered. In

15:13

one scene, we find the first

15:15

rectangular hall, with its sunken passage

15:17

in the floor, lit by a

15:19

pair of local guides. The Egyptians

15:22

hold up candles to illuminate the

15:24

smooth stone walls, and the shadowy

15:26

recesses loom darkly. These

15:28

drawings are some of my

15:30

favorites from the entire Giza

15:33

necropolis. The artist avoids dramatization

15:35

or overemphasizing the grandeur of

15:37

the expedition. Instead, he

15:39

opts for something simpler, but

15:41

at the same time all the more

15:43

powerful. Out of all the drawings

15:45

from the Giza pyramids, these

15:47

illustrations, I think, are the

15:50

most inspiring and evocative. Colonel

15:53

Veese and his team made their way

15:55

deeper into the monument. Eventually

15:57

they reached the burial chamber.

16:01

At first, they were disappointed by

16:03

the lack of treasures or furnishings.

16:05

The pyramid had been violated and

16:07

robbed centuries before. There

16:10

had definitely been some entrance during

16:12

the medieval period, because Vis and

16:14

his team found Arabic inscriptions on

16:16

the walls. This included the name

16:18

of a man called Muhammad Rasul.

16:21

We have no idea who that

16:23

is, but apparently he entered the

16:25

burial chamber many centuries ago. As

16:28

interesting as small details like that

16:30

may be, for the European explorers,

16:32

the results were initially disappointing. There

16:35

was nothing to find. Well,

16:38

almost nothing. In one

16:40

corner of the room, Vis and

16:42

his colleagues discovered a sarcophagus. A

16:45

rectangular casket made of assault stood

16:47

against the far wall of the

16:49

chamber. This wasn't the first

16:51

sarcophagus found at Giza. The pyramids

16:53

of Khufu and Khafra also had

16:56

them. But Menkauras was

16:58

definitely the most interesting. The

17:01

sarcophagi of Khufu and

17:03

Khafra are simple, smooth

17:05

stone. They are made of

17:07

heavy slabs which have been hollowed out

17:09

to form the rectangular caskets. But

17:12

beyond that stonework, they include

17:14

no external decoration or interesting

17:16

features. Menkauras was

17:19

a different case entirely. Unlike

17:22

its predecessors, the sarcophagus of

17:24

Menkaura is decorated. The

17:27

outer surface is covered in a

17:29

series of recesses, niches, and panels,

17:32

which together give the appearance of

17:34

a building. The

17:36

sarcophagus of Menkaura was decorated

17:38

with a palace façade, just

17:41

like that chamber we visited

17:43

earlier. Apparently

17:45

Menkauras' decorative inspirations went even

17:48

further than the architecture. When

17:50

it came to commissioning his place of

17:53

rest, he decided to have his own

17:55

miniature palace. There were no hieroglyphs, at

17:57

least none that are recorded in the

17:59

other. artist's copies, but the

18:02

style of this sarcophagus was

18:04

distinctive and elaborate, and compared

18:06

to these simple, unadorned caskets

18:08

of his predecessors, Menkaurea's

18:10

sarcophagus would have been far

18:13

more time-consuming to produce. This

18:16

might give a sense of Menkaurea's

18:18

priorities. Although his

18:20

pyramid is small, the finer

18:22

details are still quite impressive,

18:25

and I do wonder if originally

18:27

the king wanted to decorate all

18:29

of his chambers with this elaborate

18:32

facade. Menkaurea died before

18:34

his monument was completed, and

18:37

it was finished hastily by his successor,

18:40

so the monument we see today is not

18:42

the full vision. I

18:44

do wonder if, had he lived

18:46

longer, the king might have created

18:49

a most elaborate and beautiful underground

18:51

tomb. Though Menkaurea's sarcophagus,

18:53

his stone casket, is a

18:56

beautiful piece of work, apparently

18:58

the excavation team thought so

19:00

as well. Immediately

19:02

on discovering the sarcophagus, Colonel

19:04

Veese decided to remove it

19:06

from the monument. His

19:09

justification is strange, and I'll let

19:11

his account speak for itself. Veese

19:14

wrote the following, quote, As

19:16

the sarcophagus would have been destroyed

19:19

had it remained in the pyramid,

19:21

I resolved to send it to the British

19:23

Museum. The

19:25

idea that Menkaurea's sarcophagus would

19:27

be destroyed is hard to

19:30

credit. Other sarcophagi, like

19:32

those of Kaftra and Khufu, and

19:34

ones found in the different tombs

19:36

of Giza, are all perfectly intact,

19:38

and have not been vandalized or

19:40

destroyed by locals. We

19:42

can't really argue with a

19:44

dead man, but Veese's justification

19:46

does feel particularly weak. The

19:49

point is, he wanted to take the

19:51

sarcophagus, and he resolved to do so.

19:54

Subsequently, it fell to the excavation

19:57

team to organize the casket's removal.

20:00

This was quite a difficult undertaking.

20:03

Veese described the operation as follows.

20:05

Quote, The difficulties with which

20:08

my colleague had to contend in

20:10

this operation were not trifling. One

20:12

of the ramps in the inclined passageway

20:15

had to be removed in order to

20:17

get into the large apartment, where the

20:19

sarcophagus was placed upon trunks, and the

20:21

blocks in the anteroom had to be

20:23

gotten rid of. By means of a

20:26

number of men, and of a crab

20:28

at the mouth of the pyramid, the

20:30

sarcophagus had been conveyed half-way up when,

20:32

owing to the roughness of the bottom,

20:34

the tracks on one side gave way,

20:37

as they could not be repaired

20:39

for want of space. The sarcophagus

20:41

was slowly lifted by levers, and

20:43

got out by degrees, which,

20:46

considering that its weight was

20:48

nearly three tons, was an

20:50

arduous undertaking. It

20:52

was, however, at last safely hauled

20:55

out, and placed on a proper

20:57

carriage, in which, with the

20:59

assistance of planks, it was drawn

21:01

over the rocks and sands to the encampment,

21:04

and afterwards cased with strong timbers

21:06

to be sent to the British

21:08

Museum. End quote. Like

21:11

his earlier use of dynamite,

21:13

we get hints of Veese's

21:15

rather unscrupulous approach to preservation.

21:17

He mentions removing several stone

21:19

blocks and damaging parts of

21:21

the corridors and chambers in

21:23

order to safely transport the

21:25

sarcophagus. Questionable methods aside,

21:28

the task was achieved. By

21:30

careful organization and sheer elbow

21:32

grease, the excavation team, mainly

21:34

the Egyptian labourers, were able

21:36

to remove their ancestor's casket.

21:38

They packed it up for

21:40

safe transportation and prepared to

21:42

send it to the British

21:44

Museum. This is

21:46

where the story turns slightly tragic.

22:00

boarded the sarcophagus to Alexandria

22:02

on the Mediterranean coast. There

22:05

they loaded it up upon a merchant

22:07

ship. This was an English vessel called

22:09

the Beatrice. It set sail

22:11

from Alexandria, making a standard journey

22:14

through the Mediterranean and heading for

22:16

England. Along the

22:18

way the Beatrice stopped at the port

22:20

of Malta and then at Livorno on

22:22

the Italian coast. Subsequently

22:25

the Beatrice headed west towards Spain,

22:27

where it would pass Gibraltar and

22:29

Tangier as it entered the Atlantic

22:32

Ocean, and then headed north to

22:34

England. Sadly, it

22:36

never reached its destination. Somewhere

22:39

along its route through the Mediterranean

22:42

Sea, the merchant ship Beatrice sounded

22:44

and sank, and it

22:46

took the sarcophagus of Menkaure down

22:48

with it. The sailors on the

22:50

Beatrice were okay, more on that

22:52

in a moment, but the contents

22:54

of the ship were entirely lost.

22:57

Frustratingly, the exact location of

23:00

the wreck remains something of

23:02

a mystery. We

23:04

know the ship departed Livorno, but

23:06

following that there are no conclusive

23:08

records of its route. Hypothetically,

23:11

the wreck could be anywhere

23:13

in the western Mediterranean. That's

23:15

a rather large area to explore. Fortunately,

23:18

a few historical details survive

23:21

to suggest a possible area

23:23

of discovery. A Spanish

23:25

Egyptologist named Esteban Yagoctera

23:27

Cuenca has studied the

23:29

available historical information and

23:31

suggests that the Beatrice

23:33

most likely sank near

23:35

Cartagena. This is on

23:38

the southeastern coast of the Iberian

23:40

Peninsula. Examining the historical records,

23:42

particularly from the vicinity, Cuenca noted

23:44

that the crew of the Beatrice

23:46

were able to make their way

23:48

ashore following the wreck, so

23:51

the ship must have gone down somewhere not

23:53

too far from the coast. That

23:55

is a good starting point. Unfortunately,

23:58

another Egyptologist Kaora,

26:00

so the coffin belongs to this

26:02

king. However, there

26:05

is an interesting wrinkle. The

26:07

coffin itself is anthropoid, that

26:09

is human-shaped, the sort of

26:11

classic Egyptian-style coffin that you

26:13

might normally imagine, but

26:16

that style of coffin shaped like a

26:18

human did not come into

26:20

use or fashion until much later

26:23

than Menkaora's reign. During

26:25

the Old Kingdom, when he was alive,

26:27

Egyptian coffins were more simple. They

26:30

tended to be rectangular, maybe

26:32

decorated with paintings and inscriptions,

26:34

but nothing too fancy in

26:36

the overall workmanship. So

26:39

we have an interesting situation. Within

26:41

the sarcophagus of Menkaora, underneath his

26:43

pyramid, there was a wooden coffin.

26:46

It has the names of Menkaora,

26:48

but the design and shape dates

26:50

to a later period. That

26:53

exactly is going on. Archaeologists,

26:56

egyptologists and art historians are

26:58

able to date this coffin

27:00

to a much later period

27:02

than Menkaora's reign. They can

27:04

tell this through a couple of ways. First

27:07

of all, there is the style of

27:09

the coffin itself, that anthropoid or human

27:11

shape, which comes into fashion much later

27:13

than Menkaora. Then there

27:16

are the hieroglyphs. Church historians

27:18

and art historians are able

27:20

to date hieroglyphic texts based

27:22

on certain noteworthy features. For

27:25

example, there is the style of the

27:27

hieroglyphs themselves, which did change over time

27:29

as different methods came and fell out

27:32

of fashion. There is the

27:34

grammar of the piece, which reflects changes

27:36

in the Egyptian language. And

27:38

there is the content of the

27:40

inscription itself. The texts on Menkaora's

27:43

coffin belong to a body of

27:45

religious literature. These are

27:47

the pyramid texts. The

27:50

pyramid texts are, to date,

27:52

Egypt's oldest known corpus of

27:54

funerary and religious literature. The

27:56

pyramid texts contain a vast body

27:58

of writings. divided into chapters

28:01

or spells, which would help protect

28:03

and guide the deceased into the

28:05

next world. You may have

28:07

heard of the Egyptian Book of the Dead,

28:09

the most famous of their funerary writings. Well,

28:12

the pyramid texts are the

28:14

earliest incarnation of that particular

28:16

genre. At least, the earliest we

28:19

know about. Anyway, the

28:22

text on Menkaure's coffin comes

28:24

from the pyramid texts. It

28:26

refers to the king's immortality in the

28:28

next world, and specifically, his

28:31

ascent to the sky. The

28:33

text on Menkaure's coffin goes like

28:35

this. Oser

28:37

Naseubiti Menkaure Ankjet.

28:41

Ne's Enpet Ewer Nut.

28:43

Ewa Geb. Paseches

28:46

Mutek Nut. Herrek

28:48

Emerennes En Seshtappet.

28:51

Redidenes Wenak Emneter

28:53

En Haskiewek. Naseubiti

28:56

Menkaure Ankjet.

28:59

That is a rough pronunciation

29:01

based on Egyptological conventions and

29:04

academic reconstructions. The translation

29:06

of this text is easier to pin

29:08

down. It says, quote, The

29:11

Osiris, the king of

29:13

Southern and Northern Egypt,

29:15

Menkaure, who lives forever.

29:18

Born of the sky, conceived by

29:21

the goddess Nut, the

29:23

heir of the god Geb. O

29:25

Menkaure, your mother, Nut, is above

29:28

you in her name of the

29:30

mystery of the sky. She

29:34

has made you, Menkaure, a god whose

29:36

enemies do not exist, the

29:38

king of Southern and Northern

29:40

Egypt, Menkaure, who lives forever.

29:43

End quote. It's a beautiful text

29:46

that helps communicate the essentially divine

29:48

nature of the Egyptian kings. Especially

29:51

after their death, when they transformed

29:53

into spirits and gods, they journeyed

29:55

into the sky to unite with

29:57

their celestial parents. This text? both

30:00

praises Menkaura, but also offers

30:02

wishes for his immortality. And

30:05

the invocation of Newt, the sky

30:08

goddess, and Geb, the earth god,

30:10

help connect the spirit of Menkaura

30:13

to the above and the below.

30:16

It's a beautiful little piece. As

30:19

I said, the pyramid texts are

30:21

not recorded during the time of

30:23

Menkaura. They might have been

30:25

used by priests who were working in

30:27

the temples and reading from Papyrus. But

30:30

archaeologically speaking, pyramid texts are

30:32

not documented until more than

30:34

a century after this king.

30:37

So the presence of these pyramid

30:39

texts on a wooden coffin with

30:41

a distinctly later shape and design

30:44

suggests that Menkaura's wooden

30:46

casket was made long

30:48

after his actual death.

30:51

The next question is, who would do

30:53

that? Who would make a new coffin

30:55

for Menkaura? Why would they do that?

30:58

And when might it have happened? To

31:01

answer this question, we need to

31:03

go back outside of Menkaura's monument.

31:06

Leaving the burial chamber, you make your way

31:08

back up the passages, back to the surface.

31:11

The bright light of Giza shines upon

31:14

you as you emerge into the daytime

31:16

world. You are in the world

31:18

of the living, welcome back. And

31:20

as you emerge from the corridor, you

31:22

might stand on the wooden platform at

31:24

the top of the stairs which ascend

31:26

Menkaura's pyramid. As you do, take

31:28

a look to your right. On

31:30

the outside face of Menkaura's

31:32

monument, carved into the smooth

31:34

casing stones, there is a

31:37

hieroglyphic inscription. This inscription

31:39

was added long after Menkaura's death

31:41

and it sheds light on the

31:43

curious features within. The

31:46

text itself records a restoration

31:48

of Menkaura's burial. A

31:51

later king investigated the pyramid

31:53

of Menkaura, learned that it

31:55

had been violated or robbed, and

31:57

organized the renewal or reburial.

32:00

of the king's artefacts. That

32:02

king recorded his work in the

32:04

hieroglyphic inscription, and today

32:06

Egyptologists have studied and translated this

32:09

record to piece together what might

32:11

have happened. The

32:13

text belongs to a ruler named

32:16

Apriz. Apriz lived

32:18

around 580 BCE, almost

32:22

2,000 years after

32:24

Menkaure. Imagine if today somebody renewed

32:26

the burial of one of the

32:28

early Roman emperors, and they added

32:31

a plaque next to their work

32:33

to record their deed. That is

32:35

the timescale we are talking about. By

32:37

the time of King Apriz, Menkaure

32:39

had been dead for almost

32:41

two millennia. Naturally,

32:44

in that time, the pyramids at

32:46

Giza had been visited repeatedly, and

32:49

in some cases they had been

32:51

violated and robbed by later generations.

32:54

It appears that during the reign

32:57

of King Apriz, another one of

32:59

these robberies or violations occurred. And

33:02

when the king learned of this,

33:04

he dispatched royal officials to investigate

33:07

the situation. He refers to this

33:09

investigation as going to the

33:11

pyramid and quote, revealing its secret.

33:13

Essentially, they opened the monument, crept

33:16

down into the chambers, and uncovered

33:18

what lay within. That

33:20

must have been quite a solemn occasion,

33:23

for one thing, they were entering the

33:25

halls of a supposed god, a divine

33:27

ruler who had lived in ages past.

33:30

Two, they did not necessarily know

33:32

what they would find. Were the

33:35

furnishings of Menkaure intact, or would

33:37

they find a desecrated, despoiled grave?

33:40

Apriz does not tell us what he found,

33:42

or if he did, that part of the text

33:44

has been lost. But he does

33:46

say that having revealed the secret of

33:49

this pyramid, he organised a renewal of

33:51

the burial. Apriz talks

33:53

about reviving the name of

33:55

Menkaure, and furnishing his burial

33:57

with every beautiful thing.

34:00

This is a slightly elaborate way

34:02

of saying, Apriis and his officials

34:05

organized a new set of furnishings

34:07

and equipment for Menkaure's burial. That

34:10

is probably the explanation for that

34:13

strange wooden coffin. The wooden

34:15

coffin is manufactured in a style

34:17

that fits with the period of

34:19

Apriis, and the texts which

34:21

are recorded on its body were also

34:23

popular during the time of that king.

34:26

Apriis lived in a period that we call

34:28

the 26th Dynasty. In

34:31

that time, the kings of Egypt

34:34

were deeply interested in their ancient

34:36

forebears, and they especially

34:38

looked to the Old Kingdom

34:40

as sources of inspiration, legitimacy,

34:42

and religious meaning. Apparently,

34:45

Apriis commissioned a new

34:47

wooden casket for this

34:49

long-dead ruler. He added

34:51

a text on its body to preserve

34:53

the name of Menkaure. And

34:56

maybe Apriis and his officials added

34:58

new items to Menkaure's grave. By

35:00

doing this, they ensured the immortality

35:03

of the ancient king, which

35:05

in Egyptian is described as causing

35:08

his name to live. So

35:10

this is one of our best records

35:13

for the investigation and renewal of ancient

35:15

monuments during the time of the pharaohs

35:17

themselves. Apriis and

35:19

his representatives seemed to have

35:21

investigated the pyramid of Menkaure,

35:24

and when they found it damaged and violated,

35:27

they made the effort to restore the

35:29

burial. Subsequently, Apriis recorded his

35:31

work on the outer face of the

35:33

monument. That might sound

35:35

strange. Wasn't that essentially

35:38

advertising to anyone that, hey, there

35:40

are new treasures inside? Well,

35:43

presumably Apriis was banking on the

35:45

average comb robber, not having sufficient

35:47

literacy to read the text. Or

35:50

concerns about security were superseded

35:52

by the need to glorify

35:54

his own contributions, which

35:57

ultimately connected Apriis with the

35:59

ancient Menkaure, strengthening

36:01

the legitimacy of the later ruler.

36:04

Anyway, since its inscription two

36:06

and a half thousand years ago, the

36:08

hieroglyphs have faded terribly and

36:11

in some cases erosion or

36:13

weathering has destroyed their legibility.

36:16

But many of them survive and Egyptologists

36:18

are able to reconstruct some of the

36:20

missing parts of this text and they

36:23

are able to determine the likely sequence

36:25

of events. It's a wonderful record

36:27

and I am most glad it survives. Around

36:37

580 BCE, King

36:39

Apriz investigated, renewed and

36:41

restored the burial of

36:44

Menkaure. Subsequently, Greek

36:46

authors like Herodotus and Diodorus

36:48

Siculus viewed this ancient king

36:50

in a positive sense. They

36:52

considered Menkaure to have been

36:54

a just and fair-minded ruler.

36:57

Perhaps he was benefiting from the

36:59

more negative reputation of his predecessors,

37:02

Khufu and Khafra. But

37:04

nonetheless, Menkaure enjoyed a

37:06

positive afterlife, at least

37:08

in antiquity. The king's monument

37:11

was subsequently violated in the following

37:13

centuries. At least during the

37:15

medieval period, locals were able to enter

37:17

the pyramid and leave Arabic inscriptions in

37:19

the chambers. Then

37:22

in 1837, the Europeans arrived

37:24

and in their explorations, which

37:27

involved some unorthodox and terribly

37:29

destructive methods, they ultimately

37:31

reopened the pyramid. Descending

37:34

into it, the explorers, Vis and

37:36

his associates, found the sarcophagus of

37:38

Menkaure. A sarcophagus

37:40

that subsequently they lost, they

37:43

decided to remove it because they thought

37:45

it would be destroyed and yet when

37:48

they shipped it off to England, the

37:50

casket itself was lost beneath the waves.

37:52

As a result, the afterlife of Menkaure

37:55

seems rather ambiguous. On the

37:57

one hand, he does have a positive reputation.

37:59

On the other However, many of his

38:01

most important furnishings, especially from

38:04

his grave, have been lost

38:06

to time and, occasionally, incompetence.

38:09

Fortunately, many paces do survive to

38:11

reflect this king and the work

38:13

of his people. The pyramid itself

38:16

is a beautiful example of ancient

38:18

architecture, with an elaborate and finely

38:20

decorated interior. The king's

38:23

statues, which I have not discussed here,

38:25

are beautifully made, with evidence for incredible

38:27

skill and artistry on the part of

38:29

their makers. And while

38:31

many paces of Menkaura's afterlife

38:33

have been destroyed, one

38:36

important record survives. A

38:38

coffin, furnished by a later king, preserves

38:40

the name of this ruler and offers

38:43

a prayer for his immortality as he

38:45

travels into the sky to unite with

38:47

his celestial mother and his

38:49

earthly father. Menkaura is

38:52

an oft-overlooked king. Even

38:54

his pyramid is barely visited compared

38:56

to Khufu and Khafra. And yet,

38:58

out of all the Giza builders,

39:00

he enjoys the best reputation, and

39:02

he is still worthy of our

39:05

attention. Thank

39:19

you for listening to this episode

39:22

of the History of Egypt podcast.

39:24

If you are interested to learn

39:26

more about Menkaura, his pyramid, and

39:28

the artifacts associated with this period,

39:30

you can find references in the

39:32

description to this episode. For

39:34

this tale, I must give special

39:36

thanks to Dr. Roman Gundaka, who

39:38

conducted an important study of the

39:41

restoration text found on the surface

39:43

of Menkaura's pyramid. Dr. Gundaka

39:45

kindly provided a copy of his research

39:47

with me to use in my work,

39:49

and I am most grateful. Also,

39:51

I would like to thank the

39:53

editors of Nail magazine, who provided

39:55

relevant articles discussing elements of these

39:57

monuments. Finally, I would like

40:00

to thank one of my research

40:02

assistants, Ruben Hatchenson Wong from the

40:04

University of Birmingham. He provided additional

40:06

references and notes related to the

40:09

Old Kingdom and the reign of

40:11

Menkaure. My thanks to

40:13

all these individuals for their assistance

40:15

with reference and resources. The

40:20

History of Egypt podcast is supported by

40:22

you, the listeners. I would

40:24

like to give a special shout

40:26

out to the priests, my top

40:28

tier backers on patreon.com. The priests

40:30

are most generous and like King

40:32

Apres before him, they preserve the

40:34

names of Menkaure and many ancient

40:36

Egyptians as they allow me to

40:38

conduct this research full time and

40:40

bring these stories to you. My

40:43

special thanks to Veronica, Mikost,

40:46

TJ, Ashley, Terry,

40:48

Yola, Linda, Evan,

40:51

Taylor, Nancy and Chelsea and

40:53

Nadine. Folks, you are all too kind

40:55

and I am eternally in your debt.

40:58

That's all from me. I will see you

41:01

soon. Take care and

41:03

may the sky goddess Knut, the

41:05

earth god Geb and the spirits

41:07

of Menkaure and Apres preserve and

41:10

protect you forever. Here

41:27

we go, one last thing. Earlier

41:30

in the episode I described

41:32

the discovery, removal and then

41:34

loss of the sarcophagus of

41:36

Menkaure. This is a

41:38

particularly tragic loss as the

41:40

stone casket was beautifully decorated

41:42

with an elaborate palace facade.

41:45

You may be wondering though, if the

41:47

sarcophagus was lost, how do we know

41:50

what it looks like? Well, the vise

41:52

expedition which discovered the casket was accompanied

41:54

by an illustrator and he made a

41:56

drawing of the box. Also, archaeology

41:59

is a very important part of

42:01

the process. archaeologists working at Giza

42:03

have recovered other stone sarcophagi which

42:05

bear similar decorations. These

42:07

caskets come from a variety of

42:10

tombs from the fourth, fifth and

42:12

later dynasties. They all

42:14

have their variations and unique features, but

42:17

there are enough similarities that we

42:19

can compare these with the drawings

42:21

of Menkaure's sarcophagus to

42:23

get a fairly solid idea of what it looks

42:25

like. So at

42:27

the very least, although this beautiful

42:29

casket has been lost, it was

42:31

not necessarily a unique item. We

42:33

do still have a record of

42:35

it, and because similar caskets from

42:37

the same period and location have

42:40

survived and are now visible in museums,

42:43

we can at least get an idea

42:45

of the ancient work. It's

42:47

a silver lining, all things considered.

42:52

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