The Magical Pyramid of Unas at Saqqara
History of pyramid complex of Unas
The Unas Pyramid is located at the Fifth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, and it is small in size yet significant as it houses the first known funerary inscriptions which are the Pyramid texts. These texts were etched into the walls of the king's burial vault to assist him in his quest for immortality.
Similar to the majority of the pyramids, the pyramid complex of King Unas also has two temples, a mortuary temple and a valley temple, which are connected with a long causeway. The valley temple remnants can be viewed at the present entrance of the Saqqara complex, in addition to the intricately designed causeway’s remains, which were taken apart and used by later kings, and although only a fraction of that is left, it still gives the visitors a meaningful insight into how the vicinity used to be.
Unas had several daughters and perhaps one or two sons who are thought to have predeceased him. Manetho, a Ptolemaic Egyptian priest and the first chronicler of Egypt, claims that with the death of Unas the Fifth Dynasty ended. After some possible short chaos period, Ankhwesonpro Teti himself ascended to the throne of the sixth dynasty, probably as a successor to Unas.However, archaeological evidence suggests that the Egyptians of this time did not consciously break with the previous dynasty and that the distinction between the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties may be illusory.
The mortuary practices of Unas were initiated at the time of his death and continued till the end of the Old Kingdom and perhaps even outlived the upheaval of the First Intermediate Period. The worship of Unas, if it had not been maintained, was still present or restored during the later Middle Kingdom period (around 2050-1650 BC). However, this didn’t stop Amenemhat I and Senusret I (c. 1990-1930 BC) from campaigning against and even importing some part of the Unas funerary complex. In parallel with the official cult, Unas may have received popular veneration as a local god of the Saqqara necropolis until as late as the Late Period (c. 664–332 BC), nearly 2,000 years after his death.
British historian Bettany Hughes was able to descend for the first time into the heart of the pyramid while filming a documentary titled “The Nile… Egypt’s Great River.” She explained that the pyramid reveals another side of Egypt, and after the completion of the restoration and repair operations, it became easy to enter it, noting that the real treasure of the pyramid is located underneath it, because the room inside is full of Pharaonic writings that carry new secrets about the Fifth Dynasty.
