Pyramid Complex of Khufu; Solar Boat
unknown (Egyptian (ancient))
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Alternative Title
Pyramids of Giza; Solar Boat Museum
Date
-2551--2528Description
View of the reconstructed Solar Boat, in the Solar Boat Museum, located just south of the Pyramid of Khufu, showing cabin and mid-section of Solar Boat, port side view; In 1925 George Reisner excavated the opulent burial of Cheops' [Khufu's] mother Hetepheres I, the only substantially unplundered royal tomb of the Old Kingdom, which was found in a shaft beside the causeway. Five pits arranged around the main pyramid originally contained ritual boats; one, excavated in 1954 by Kamal el-Mallakh, yielded the excellently preserved components of a dismantled cedarwood river vessel measuring over 43 m long. Reconstructed and conserved by Ahmed Youssef Mostafa, it is now displayed in a special museum on site. It is debatable whether the vessel was actually used during the King's funeral to transport the body to the valley temple, or whether it had a purely symbolic function relating to the journey of the dead King through the cosmos [the origin of the term 'solar' boat]. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 1/15/2008)
Type of Work
museum; boat; excavation (site)Subject
death or burial, deities, rulers and leaders, Egypt--Religion, Old Kingdom (Egyptian), Fourth Dynasty
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only