The capstone or the pyramidion of the Black Pyramid is one of the very few pyramidia that survived into modern times. The capstone is currently housed in the main hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo which holds the world’s largest collection of pyramidia with a total of four pyramidia.
The soi-disant Black Pyramid was built by Amenemhat III during the early part of his reign, who ruled in the course of the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.
It is now in a rather poor condition as the pharaoh failed to oversee the consequences of building a pyramid out of mud-brick and clay. Despite being deficient in structural planning, it is one of the five remaining pyramids from the original eleven pyramids in Dahshur, Egypt.
Its original name “Amenemhat is mighty and perfect” is rather ironical, as the pyramid began crumbling even before it was completed. As a result, Amenemhat chose to build a more secure pyramid, at a higher elevation than 10 m above sea level, for him to be buried in. The pyramid was then used to bury several other royal women.
The Benbenet of the Black Pyramid was inscribed with royal titles and religious symbols, like in most of the other pyramidia belonging to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. It consists of three rows of hieroglyphics that means: “Son of Ra, Amenemhat, given life forever. King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nimaatre, given life forever. May the face of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nimaatre, be opened so that he may see the Lord of the Horizon (Horakhty, Horus of the Horizon) when he crosses the sky; may the Lord of the Horizon cause the Son of Ra, Amenemhat, to shine as a god, lord of eternity and indestructible.”
The Lord of the Horizon has said: ‘I have given the beautiful horizon to He of the Two Ladies (Nebty), Itjijautawy (He who inherited the Two Lands), so that you may unite with the horizon; the horizon has said that you rest upon it, which pleases me”.
Watch The Below Video To Learn More About Hieroglyphics
Reading, creative writing, poetry writing, and language learning have been my passions since I was young. I have won many Japanese and Chinese language competitions, and many national-level creative writing, art & oratory competitions too. I am still schooling, and passed my O/Levels with distinction passes for English Literature, Japanese, and English. I have also completed my Certificate of Human Resource Management.
