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Charles University in Prague Faculty of Arts Czech Institute of Egyptology Charles University in Prague Faculty of Arts Czech Institute of Egyptology Propositions for Doctoral dissertation Pyramidový komplex Djedkarea Isesiho v jižní Sakkáře a jeho výzdobný program The Pyramid Complex of Djedkare-Isesi at Saqqara South and its Decorative Program Mohamed Megahed Program of the Study: History Field of the Study: Egyptology Supervisor: Prof. Mgr. Miroslav Bárta, Dr. 2016 Chapter I: Introduction The reign of King Djedkare is one of the key eras in the Fifth Dynasty history, when the socio- economic development from the earlier rules of the dynasty resulted in significant administrative reforms as well as important religious changes. The reign of Djedkare is a broad subject for discussion because its many aspects deserve to be studied in detail. The present thesis concentrates on the funerary monument of the king and its relief decoration. During his long reign, Djedkare built his pyramid complex in South Saqqara, several kilometers to the south from the royal cemetery of the Fifth Dynasty located in Abusir, and from central Saqqara area where the pyramid complexes of Weserkaf and possibly Menkauhor were established earlier in the same dynasty. Djedkare thus started a new royal cemetery on a place that had not previously been used for royal burials. This royal cemetery was later continuously used in the Sixth Dynasty, and Pepy I and Merenre together with their families constructed their burial monuments nearby. Until now, the reason why Djedkare moved to this new area is not satisfactorily answered. The pyramid complex of King Djedkare in South Saqqara and its significance in the development of Old Kingdom royal monuments have been discussed by many scholars (among others Verner 2002, 324–332; Verner 2014, 178–181). No detailed study has, however, been published until now concerning the architecture and the decorative program of the monument. I.1 Objectives of the Research and Structure of the Thesis The king’s reign is discussed in Chapter II within the context of the Fifth Dynasty as a whole. In addition, the chapter provides an overview on the family of the king, and its possible historically attested members (Chapter II.2.2). The main focus of the thesis is, however, the pyramid complex of the king. The architecture of the monument is the subject of Chapter III. First, a detailed overview of the previous archaeological missions is given. A description of the various parts of the pyramid complex follows. Besides information from the previously published works (especially Maragioglio, Rinaldi 1977), the partial results of the current Egyptian archaeological mission have been included in this chapter (especially in Chapter III.3). This recent work has helped to correct some of the earlier, inaccurate plans of the monument’s architectural features, especially inside the pyramid. This new documentation could only be done for a small part of the pyramid complex and its full documentation will require many additional seasons. The major subject of this thesis is the fragments of relief decoration, discussed in Chapter IV. The majority of the fragments were found by the Egyptian missions in 1940s and 1950s, a smaller portion in the 1980s, and others were uncovered by the French mission in 2001–2002. In addition, several hundreds of fragments were discovered by the current Egyptian mission, which has been working in the 2 pyramid complex since 2010. A selection of the total number of around 2500 relief fragment is included in the present thesis. The selected relief fragments cover the various themes once present in the king’s funerary temple, which relate to the royal cult of the king. The classification of the scenes follows the work of Andrzej Ćwiek (2003). In most of the relief fragments, the usual themes can be found, including the king in actions with gods; receiving anx, king during the sed-festival, personifications of funerary domains, etc. Some unusual themes were identified too, as for instance scenes referring to foreign countries, and even a unique theme of a birth-legend of the divine king, which does not have any parallel in the Old Kingdom thus far. Chapter V offers a summary and conclusion of the thesis, which discusses the pyramid complex and its decorative program. In addition, the future prospects of this work and plans for the coming years are presented. The present thesis, includes the preliminary results of the documentation of the pyramid complex, and a selection of the relief fragments. It constitutes a solid basis for future work. The aim will be to prepare a complete publication of the pyramid complex of King Djedkare, including both its architecture and its decorative program, giving a much more complete overview of the preserved relief fragments as well as other decorative elements (statues etc.), which were found in the monument. I.2 Methods of Research No original documentation from the previous excavations has been available to the author. Documents and photographs related to the missions of Abdel Salam Hussein and Ahmad Fakhry, which were recorded by Alexandre Varille and Klaus Baer, are kept in the archives of the University of Milan (A. Varille) and the Oriental Institute in Chicago (A. Fakhry/K. Baer). The author has not been given access to these archives until now. Therefore, his own documentation of the relief fragments formed the basis of this thesis. In 2008, the author obtained permission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (today the Ministry of Antiquities) to document and publish the finds from the previous Egyptian expeditions in Djedkare’s complex. The fragments of reliefs that have been collected from the pyramid complex of King Djedkare, and the associated anonymous “queen’s” pyramid, are stored in three different storerooms, in Giza, Atfih and Saqqara. Besides the work of the Egyptian mission, the French mission at Saqqara allowed the author to include in his study the fragments of reliefs, which were uncovered by the IFAO in 2001 and 2002. In addition, hundreds of fragments have been uncovered during the past archaeological seasons of the current Egyptian mission, and these are kept in the same storeroom at Saqqara. All the accessible fragments were photographed and vectorised by the author, and a database of fragments was created. The documentation taken by the author in the various storerooms was restricted 3 by time as well as space conditions. Thus, working photographs were taken which are suitable for the basic description and study of the fragments but not for final publication. Further photographic documentation by a professional photographer will be needed in the future. The line drawings of the fragments were done by the author, on the basis of the available photographs, using Adobe Illustrator. The catalogue of the thesis is based on the database of finds from Djedkare’s pyramid complex, which includes various types of evidence and is used also for finds from the new excavations. Each entry in the catalogue consists of a header and a description. The header contains the basic information about each fragment, and is designed to suit not only the present thesis but also future work, which will include a larger variety of evidence. First of all, the header mentions the material, the excavation number given to the fragments by A. Fakhry, the registration number of the fragments in the respective storerooms, the box number (the fragments are still kept in the original boxes). The header also contains the date of the discovery, current location of the fragment, its size, the name of the excavator who found it, and the provenance of the fragment. Bibliographical references are given for fragments that have been discussed previously. Fragments which obviously belong together are discussed as one entry. The description of each entry gives the basic information concerning the preserved parts of the relief and colors, possible identification of the scene, and references to parallels from other Old Kingdom pyramid complexes and tombs. The entries are arranged into groups according to the theme of the reliefs, and each theme comprises the individual relevant entries, after which follows a detailed discussion of each theme. The fragments in each theme are arranged according to their excavation numbers. Despite the large number of preserved fragments of relief decoration from Djedkare’s pyramid complex, the decorative program remains too fragmentary and no complete scenes can be reconstructed thus far. The present thesis constitutes the first step of a long-term research project, which aims to present all the finds from Djedkare’s pyramid complex to scholars. I.3 State of Research on the Decoration of the Royal Mortuary Complexes of the Old Kingdom There are several major obstacles that stand between us and a better understanding of the nature, form, and function of the pyramid complexes. The most important is the fact that many of the complexes are, to a great extent, in a bad state of preservation. Not only have the pyramids lost some of their ancient glory, their chambers, corridors, and walls have often disappeared, but so have their associated temples and causeways, as well. For example, less than 10 % of the complex of King Sahure is preserved. Moreover, the pyramid complexes have been used and dismantled since antiquity. In addition, many architectural elements and large parts of the decoration of the pyramid complexes were moved from their original contexts during the past excavations, either to museums all 4 over the world, or for security reasons to the storerooms of the SCA (MA). In many cases, none or only a very small amount of documentation of the original archaeological circumstances is available to us today. Thus, our understanding of these elements is limited. Another problem when dealing with the pyramid complexes of the Old Kingdom is that many of these monuments were never fully excavated.
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