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G III-a

Menkaure Pyramid Complex

Menkaure Pyramid Complex: Site: Giza; View: G III-a, G III-b

Menkaure Queen's Pyramid

Details

  • Tomb Owner
    Khamerernebty [II] (G 8978 & G III-a)
  • Excavator
    (Karl) Richard Lepsius, German, 1810–1884
    George Andrew Reisner, American, 1867–1942
  • Attested
    Menkaure
  • Alternate Reisner No
    Pyramid G III-a
    Menkaure Queen's Pyramid a
  • Other No
    5 of Giza (Perring and Vyse)
  • Lepsius No
    Lepsius XII
    L.XII
  • PorterMoss Date
    Dynasty 4
  • Remarks
    No inscriptions were discovered in the tomb to indicate the tomb's owner. However the three subsidiary pyramids have always been identified with the queens of King Menkaure. Since G III-a is the most prominent, Reisner suggests that this pyramid belonged to the wife of Menkaure called Khamerernebty [II].

Excavation Diary Pages 5

  • Vol.01.p.028

    • Diary page dates 02/01/1910 through 03/03/1910

  • Vol.01.p.029

    • Diary page dates 03/02/1910; 03/03/1910; 03/04/1910

  • Vol.01.p.030

    • Diary page dates 03/04/1910; 03/05/1910; 03/06/1910; 03/07/1910; 03/08/1910

  • Vol.01.p.031

    • Diary page dates 03/08/1910; 03/09/1910; 03/10/1910

  • Vol.02.p.042

    • Diary page dates 04/12/1910; 04/13/1910; 04/14/1910; 04/15/1910; 04/16/1910; 04/17/1910

Maps & Plans 9

Published Documents 3

Unpublished Documents 7

Full Bibliography

  • Baud, Michel. "The Tombs of Khamerernebty I and II at Giza." Göttinger Miszellen 164 (1998), pp. 9, 14.

    Baud, Michel. "La tombe de la reine-mère xa-mrr-Nbtj Ire." Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale 95 (1995), pp. 11-21.

    Cwiek, Andrzej. Relief Decoration in the Royal Funerary Complexes of the Old Kingdom: Studies in the Development, Scene Content and Iconography. Warsaw: Institute of Archaeology, Faculty of History, Warsaw University, 2003, p. 106.

    Fay, Biri. "Royal Women as Represented in Sculpture during the Old Kingdom. Part II: Uninscribed Sculptures." In Christiane Ziegler, ed. L'art de l'ancien empire égyptien. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1999, p. 104.

    Flentye, Laurel. "The Mastaba of Meresankh III (G 7530/7540) in the Eastern Cemetery at Giza: An Archaeological and Art Historical Analysis." Bulletin of the Egyptian Museum 3 (2006), p. 72.

    Hawass, Zahi. "The Discovery of a Pair-Statue near the Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 53 (1997), pp. 289-290, 292, pl. 40a.

    Jánosi, Peter. "'...an intact burial-chamber belonging to a great lady of the Royal Family of the Fourth Dynasty' oder: Wo waren Chephrens Tochter bestattet?." In Antje Spiekermann, ed. Zur Zierde gereicht. . . Festschrift Bettina Schmitz zum 60. Geburtstag am 24. Juli 2008, HIldesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge 50. Hildesheim: Verlag Gebrüder Gerstenberg, 2008, p. 131.

    Jánosi, Peter. "Das Pyramidion der Pyramide G III-a. Bemerkungen zu den Pyramidenspitzen des Alten Reiches." The Intellectual Heritage of Egypt. Studies presented to László Kákosy by Friends and Colleagues on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday. Studia Aegyptiaca XIV. Budapest, 1992, pp. 301-306, figs. 1-2, pls. XIX-XXa.

    Jánosi, Peter. "The Queens of the Old Kingdom and their Tombs." Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 3 (1992), pp. 52-53, 55, 57, note 9.

    Junker, Hermann. "Mutter und Sohn auf einem relief des frühen Alten Reiches." Anzeiger der phil.-hist. Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jahrgang 1953, Nr. 14, p. 175.

    Lehner, Mark. "Giza. A Contextual Approach to the Pyramids." Archiv für Orientforschung 32 (1985), pp. 143, 154.

    Lesko, Barbara S. "Queen Khamerernebty II and Her Sculpture." In Leonard H. Lesko, ed. Ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Studies in Memory of William A. Ward, Providence: Department of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies, Brown University, 1998, p. 150.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. "Excavating the Old Kingdom. The Giza Necropolis and Other Mastaba Fields." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 141, 145, fig. 80.

    Reisner, Mycerinus, pp. 55-62, pl. 11.

    Rowe, Alan. "Studies in the Archaeology of the Near East II: Some Facts Concerning the Gread Pyramids of el-Gîza and Their Royal Constructors." Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 44, No. 1 (September 1961), p. 117.

People 4

Ancient People

  • Khamerernebty [II] (G 8978 & G III-a)

    • Type Tomb Owner
    • Remarks Wife of Menkaure, daughter of Khafre and Khamerernebty [I]. Identified on entrance lintel as [sAt nswt nt Xt=f Hmt nswt mAAt Hr StX] king's daughter of his body, king's wife, seer of Horus and Seth; found above entrance to G 8978, possibly not in situ. Two uninscribed statues: one fragmentary wearing pleated robe (JE 48828), the other seated (JE 48856), probably represent Khamerernebty II (or possibly her mother Khamerernebty I); JE 48828 found in serdab ("room B") of G 8978, JE 48856 found in pillared outer hall ("room C") of G 8978. Mother ([mwt=f] his mother) of Khuenre (owner of MQ 1). Appears in chapel relief, south wall (seated before her son), identified as [mAAt Hr StX wrt Hts xrpt sSmtjw SnDt Hmt nswt sAt nswt smswt] seer of Horus and Seth, great one of the hetes-scepter, directress of the butchers of the "Acacia House," king's wife, king's eldest daughter; in situ in Menkaure quarry cemetery MQ 1 = MQ 137. Also mentioned on entrance lintel of Washptah (owner of G 8976), identified as [sAt smswt nswt nt Xt=f mAAt Hr StX wrt Hts Hmt nswt] king's eldest daughter of his body, seer of Horus and Seth, great one of the hetes-scepter, king's wife; in situ in G 8976.

  • Menkaure

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks Fifth king of Dynasty 4. Son of Khafre. Husband of Khamerernebti II. Builder of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Mycerinus.

Modern People

  • (Karl) Richard Lepsius

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1810–1884
    • Remarks Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.

  • George Andrew Reisner

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates American, 1867–1942
    • Remarks Egyptologist, archaeologist; Referred to as "the doctor" and "mudir" (Arabic for "director") in the excavation records. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.