The pyramid lies 10 km (6 miles) southeast of Medinet
El-Fayoum off the road to Bani
Suef. The 58-meters mud-brick pyramid is dilapidated.
It lost its limestone casing by time. Originally it had the
slope of about 50 degrees.
The pyramid was once part of a great mortuary complex built
by 12th
dynasty King Amenemhat
III. The complex included the great funerary temple to
the south also known as "the labyrinth." (See Image
4)
The temple was once described as the greatest monument in
Egypt as narrated by ancient historians like Herodotus and
Strabo. When Greek historian Herodotus visited the temple
in 5th century BC, he said it had 3000 rooms.
He went further on saying that the temple is surpassing the
astonishing pyramids in its grandiosity. The structure started
to diminish in Roman
era and was used as quarry. When the site was excavated
in the 19th century there were nothing left but rubbles.
To the north of the pyramid is a Greco-Roman necropolis
where the famous Fayoum portraits were discovered. Those shed
light on the classical art history.
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