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Meidum, Maydum or Maidum(Arabic: ميدوم)
is
an
archaeological
site
in Lower
Egypt.
It
contains
a
large pyramid and
several
mud-brick mastabas.
The
area
is
located
around
62
miles
(100
km)
south
of
modern Cairo.
The
pyramid
at
Meidum
is
thought
to
be
just
the
second
pyramid
built
after
Djoser'sand
may
have
been
originally
built
for Huni,
the
last
pharaoh
of
the Third
Dynasty,
and
was
continued
by Sneferu.
The
architect
was
a
successor
to
the
famous Imhotep,
the
inventor
of
the
stone
built
pyramid.
The
collapse
of
the
pyramid
is
likely
due
to
the
modifications
made
to
Imhotep's
pyramid
design
as
well
as
the
decisions
taken
twice
during
construction
to
extend
the
pyramid.
Because
of
its
unusual
appearance,
the
pyramid
is
called el-heram
el-kaddaab — (Pseudo
Pyramid)
in Egyptian
Arabic.
The
second
extension
turned
the
original step
pyramid design
into
a
true
pyramid
by
filling
in
the
steps
with
limestone
encasing.
While
this
approach
is
consistent
with
the
design
of
the
other
true
pyramids,
Meidum
was
affected
by
construction
errors.
Firstly,
the
outer
layer
was
founded
on
sand
and
not
on
rock,
like
the
inner
layers.
Secondly,
the
inner
step
pyramids
had
been
designed
as
the
final
stage.
Thus
the
outer
surface
was
polished
and
the
platforms
of
the
steps
were
not
horizontal,
but
fell
off
to
the
outside.
This
severely
compromised
the
stability
and
is
likely
to
have
caused
the
collapse
of
the
Meidum
Pyramid
in
a
downpour
while
the
building
was
still
under
construction.
Franck
Monnier and
others
believe
the
pyramid
not
to
have
collapsed
until
the New
Kingdom,
but
there
are
a
number
of
facts
contradicting
this
theory.
The
Meidum
Pyramid
seems
never
to
have
been
completed.
Beginning
with
Sneferu
and
to
the
12th
dynasty
all
pyramids
had
a
valley
temple,
which
is
missing
at
Meidum.
The
mortuary
temple,
which
was
found
under
the
rubble
at
the
base
of
the
pyramid,
apparently
never
was
finished.
Walls
were
only
partly
polished.
Two
Steles
inside,
usually
bearing
the
names
of
the
pharaoh,
are
missing
inscriptions.
The
burial
chamber
inside
the
pyramid
itself
is
uncompleted,
with
raw
walls
and
wooden
supports
still
in
place
which
are
usually
removed
after
construction.
Affiliated
mastabas
were
never
used
or
completed
and
none
of
the
usual
burials
have
been
found.
Finally,
the
first
examinations
of
the
Meidum
Pyramid
found
everything
below
the
surface
of
the
rubble
mound
fully
intact.
Stones
from
the
outer
cover
were
stolen
only
after
they
were
exposed
by
the
excavations.
This
makes
a
catastrophic
collapse
more
probable
than
a
gradual
one.
The
collapse
of
this
pyramid
during
the
reign
of
Sneferu
is
the
likely
reason
for
the
change
from
54
to
43
degrees
of
his
second
pyramid
at Dahshur,
the Bent
Pyramid.
By
the
time
it
was
investigated
by Napoleon's
Expedition
in
1799
the
Meidum
Pyramid
had
its
present
three
steps.
It
is
commonly
assumed
the
pyramid
still
had
five
steps
in
the
fifteenth
century
and
was
gradually
falling
further
into
ruin,
because al-Maqrizi described
it
as
looking
like
a
five-stepped
mountain,
but
Mendelssohn
claimed
this
might
be
the
result
of
a
loose
translation
and
al-Makrizi's
words
would
more
accurately
translate
into
"five-storied
mountain", a
description
which
could
even
match
the
present
state
of
the
pyramid
with
four
bands
of
different
masonry
at
the
base
and
a
step
on
top.
The
Meidum
Pyramid
was
excavated
by John
Shae
Perringin
1837, Lepsius in
1843
and
then
by Flinders
Petrie later
in
the
nineteenth
century,
who
located
the
mortuary
temple,
facing
to
the
east.
In
1920 Ludwig
Borchardt studied
the
area
further,
followed
by Alan
Rowe in
1928
and
then
Ali
el-Kholi
in
the
1970s.
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