Page 48 - اثار مصر الفرعونية2

1880 by the Brugsch brothers who discovered vertical columns
of green-painted texts on the walls of the burial chamber. This
was the first example of a decorated pyramid to be found,
although not the earliest. It was pepy's pyramid which began
Gaston Maspero's search for other hieroglyphic inscriptions and
led to his detailed study of the 'Pyramid Texts'. During the latter
part of the 20th century, the French Archaeological Mission at
Saqqara have re-excavated the pyramid complex, especially in
the areas of the mortuary temple and Queen's pyramids.

Pepy's pyramid was originally constructed with a core of six
steps of small limestone blocks and mortar, similar to the
monuments of Teti and Djedkare-Isesi. The white limestone
casing is now only seen on the lowest level of the structure. The
pyramid is entered from the north wall, where a sloping passage
leads from what was presumably an entrance chapel into a
vestibule and a horizontal corridor, once blocked by three granite
portcullis slabs. An antechamber lies directly beneath the
pyramid's apex and has the usual three niched magazines or
statue chambers the east side, with the vaulted burial chamber to
the west. The ceiling of the burial chamber were painted with
white stars on a black background and the walls were painted
with the reed-mut motif. The burial chamber, antechamber and
even the access corridor contained Pyramid texts an extended
version of those found in earlier pyramids, but much of the

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