Page 31 - آثار مصر الفرعونية الجزء الأول

the earliest corpus of religious expression from anywhere in the
world and were the forerunner to later coffin texts and the texts
commonly called the 'Book of the Dead' (which include much of
the content of the Pyramid Texts) in later royal tombs.

Unas's sarcophagus of greywacke was sunk into the floor on
the western side of the burial chamber, with his canopic chest at
its foot. Only a few mummified fragments of bone were found
remaining from the burial (now in Cairo Museum), but it is not
clear whether they belonged to Unas.

The mortuary temple on the eastern side of Unas's pyramid
is now largely destroyed but followed the plan of his predecessor
Djedkare. The king following Unas was Teti, who built a red
granite gateway at the entrance to the temple and commemorated
the act by inscribing his name and titles. The entrance hall was
paved with alabaster, the walls decorated with offering reliefs
and led to an open court with 18 elegant red granite plam-
columns depicting the names of the Unas. A transverse corridor
had a staircase built into its western wall which would have led
to a roof terrace, the corridor dividing the outer and inner parts of
the temple. Here was a chapel with 5 statue niches, an
antechamber and the cult offering hall with its false door. Traces
of the pink granite false door, with an inscription referring to
deities protecting the souls of Nekhen and Buto, still remain, but
there is little else left of the mortuary temple. Many of the blocks

31