Page 62 - اثار مصر الفرعونية2

sarcophagus the king's canopic chest was originally sunk into the
floor. Teti's mummy was not recovered, but remains of an arm
were found among the rubble which may have been all that was
left behind by the grave-robbers.

Little remains of the mortuary temple on the eastern side of
the pyramid because this was also badly robbed for stone in
antiquity. A plaster mummy-mask (now in Cairo Museum) was
found in the temple remains, but it is not known whether this was
taken from the king's mummy. The structure more or less follows
the standard plan for the period, only differing in its entrance
which was on the south-east corner. This was perhaps because an
earlier pyramid existed to the east. From the entrance there is a
transverse corridor leading to an entrance hall on the temple's
main axis, which had a ceiling decorated with stars. The open
courtyard had a portico of 18 pink granite pillars and here Teti
returned to the square pillars of Dynasty IV at the corners. A low
stone altar, similarly decorated to those in the mortuary temples
of his predecessors, stood in the centre. A short staircase in the
centre of the western wall led to a niched statue-chamber or
chapel, with granite doorways inscribed with the names and titles
of the king and from there to the offering hall. The massive
quartzite base of a false door on the western side of the offering
hall still remains in situ and it was here that the mortuary cult of
Teti was maintained.

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