|
El-Lahun and Hawara
 The region of el-Faiyum thrived during the Middle Kingdom when
the fertile area around Birket Qarun began to be developed as a
pleasure-ground in which kings and high officials pursued their
sports of hunting, fishing and fowling. It became so popular
that the Dynasty XII kings Senwosret II and Amenemhet III chose
to site pyramids here as their final resting places, at the far
reaches of the existing pyramid fields to the north. Senwosret
II's pyramid complex is situated at el-Lahun (sometimes called
Illahun) and Amenemhet III's complex is at Hawara on the
southern edge of the oasis, just off the Beni Suef to Cairo
desert road.
 1- Pyramid
of Lahun (The Pyramid of Senwosret II )
Senwosret II's Pyrmaid is about 2 miles from El Lahun and lies
in the center of a huge complex of buildings. There is a red
granite funerary temple to the east which is surrounded by a mud
brick enclosure wall. To the north are eight mastabas and the
Queen's small pyramid. There are four access shafts to the south
that led to tombs, one of which was Princess Sat-Hathor, where
fine jewelry was found and is now in the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo. To the east are the remains of the lower temple.
2- Pyramid
of Hawara
 Known
also as the Labyrinth, the Pyramid of Hawara (built by Amenemhet
III) was the most visited sites of the ancient World. Herodotus
claimed to have counted three thousand rooms in the pyramids
funeral complex. Herodotus visited the pyramid during the 5th
century B.C. |
