Egyptologist Zahi Hawass seems to inspire negative reactions; last time I was in Egypt (2006) our tour guide called him an “idiot” and I know some American Egyptologists who have been privately critical of his “sensationalist” TV specials (never seen any of these, can’t comment). I’ve heard him lecture in Denver and had lunch with him once in Giza in 1993 (not a private lunch – small (8) tour group). All of his books that I’ve read seem quite competent; I especially like the way he presents alternative theories differing from his own opinion. So it is with Mountains of the Pharaohs (not to be confused with the 1956 The Mountains of Pharaoh, by Leonard Cottrell).


There are a lot of books about the pyramids; Hawass limits himself to the 4th Dynasty structures of Sneferu, Khufu, Djedefre, Khafre, Menkaure, and Shepseskaf – appropriate enough, since Hawass spent most of his career at Giza. He’s mostly concerned with what you might call the sociology of the period, rather than technical details of the pyramids, and provides a lot of interesting material I hadn’t heard before.


The first 4th Dynasty pyramid is at Seila; it’s attributed to Sneferu based on inscriptions found in the area, not inside the pyramid – in fact, the pyramid doesn’t seem to have an inside; at least nobody has been able to find a substructure. It’s the northernmost of a series of seven small, chamberless step pyramids strung along the Nile. Hawass notes that these pyramids (except this one) are attributed to the enigmatic pharaoh Humi, who is Sneferu’s father – the attribution is based on a bust of Huni found near the southernmost.


The next pyramid is at Meidum, and is also attributed to Sneferu. Hawass does mention that older Egyptologists attributed the Meidum pyramid to Sneferu’s father Huni, but doesn’t mention the theory that it partially collapsed during construction. He does, however, comment on a couple of things I was unaware of – the Meidum pyramid complex is the first to incorporate a “satellite” pyramid (which Hawass calls a “cult” pyramid) and also a mastaba tomb possibly the burial place of Queen Mersyankh (Hawass notes that a skeleton was found in this mastaba but not if it was female; the attribution to Mersyankh comes from New Kingdom graffiti. He also comments that Mastaba 17 at Meidum held the first known body with evidence of mummification – in this case the body was allowed to completely deflesh, the individual bones were wrapped, then the skeleton was reassembled and the whole thing wrapped again.


Sneferu’s next pyramid is the “Bent” Pyramid at Dashur. Hawass again skirts around the theory of construction problems, but at least mentions them. He also mentions a curious observation first made in 1839; the inside of the pyramid (and every other pyramid I’ve been in) is hot and humid. However, at the Bent pyramid there are sudden episodes – witnessed by several Egyptologists, including Hawass himself – when a sudden current of cool air blows through the passageways, leading Hawass to believe there are undiscovered passages or chambers. I’ve been in the Bent Pyramid twice, but never noticed anything like this – however, I didn’t get all the way to the last chamber.


Sneferu’s final pyramid (the Red Pyramid) was also at Dashur; it has the shallowest angle of any major pyramid and was apparently the last one built (although Hawass also mentions the theory that the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid were built simultaneously. He doesn’t speculate strongly on why Sneferu needed four pyramids, but does volunteer the opinion that he was buried in the Bent Pyramid, perhaps in one of the “hidden” chambers.


The next one is, off course, the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. Among the many interesting things about the Great Pyramid is the obvious plan changes; the original design had a subterranean burial chamber, but the plan was changed twice to provide chambers in the interior of the masonry (the Queen’s Chamber and the King’s Chamber. Hawass speculates (again, with caution) that there were religious reasons for the design change. While the tendency for archaeologists to explain anything then don’t understand as “ritual” or “religious”, there is some tentative evidence here. Hawass speculates that Khufu (and perhaps Sneferu) decided to declare themselves avatars of the sun god ea while still on earth, rather than waiting to meet up with Re in the heavens after death. This supposedly explains why the burial chambers of Sneferu (at least at the Bent and Red Pyramids) and Khufu are in the superstructure of the pyramid, not underground, thus perhaps indicating that the pharaoh was “above” the earth like Re. That’s perhaps stretching things a bit, but it remains true that all pyramids before the Bent and after the Great have subterranean tomb chambers. Hawass also speculates that Khufu is still in an undiscovered chamber at the Great Pyramid. The evidence for this is based on absence. Archaeological artifacts for all the 4th dynasty pharaohs (except for a couple of ephemeral ones that are only known from much later inscriptions) are pretty common – statues, objects with the inscribed royal name, etc. – except for Khufu. The only known statue of Khufu is a tiny little ivory thing from Abydos, which seems to date from the 26th Dynasty, not contemporary at all. Thus Hawass hints that Khufu’s funerary equipment might still be in the Great Pyramid somewhere.


Hawass notes that the rules of succession for 4th Dynasty pharaohs are not clear. It’s been assumed for years that they were the same as other royalty – the oldest surviving son was Crown Prince and became Pharaoh at his father’s death. However, Hawass points out that there’s considerable evidence that this was not the case in the 4th Dynasty – it’s pretty sure that Khufu’s eldest son was named Kawab, and Kawab was still alive when Khufu was succeeded by Djedefre, a younger son. Egyptian names sometimes have what’s called “honorific transposition” when they contain a god’s name as an element – the god’s name is written first, even though it was assumed to be pronounced last. Thus Djedefre is actually written Redjedef. Now, there’s a documented son of Khufu named Hordjedef, and Hawass suggests this is in fact Djedefre/Redjedef; that his name was changed to replace the “Hor” (Horus) element with a “Re” element – possibly to placate priests of Re who were offended by Sneferu and Khufu. Again, kind of tenuous – but Djedefre is the first king (other than a poorly documented 2nd Dynasty pharaoh named Raneb or Nebra, depending on how you want to read it) to use Re in his name. Djedefre built his pyramid at Abu Rawash, north of Giza (it’s the northern most pyramid except for an enigmatic and now almost completely destroyed mud brick pyramid at the same site).


Djedefre’s pyramid is badly ruined, with the tomb chamber open to the sky. Hawass speculates that this was done by the next pharaoh, Khafre (sometimes Rekhaef, honorific transposition again). Khafre was Djedefre’s older brother, not his son, and Hawass thinks the destruction of Djedefre’s pyramid was done in revenge for “usurping” the throne. Khafre built the second pyramid at Giza (actually called “the Great Pyramid” in ancient Egyptian; Khufu’s is called “the Horizon of Khufu”). Khafre reverted to the underground tomb chamber, and also incorporates “Re” into his name.


The third pyramid at Giza belongs to Menkaure, and is the smallest. Hawass notes that there may have been two ephemeral pharaohs in between Khafre and Menkaure. There’s an inscription at the Wadi Hammamat quarries that lists Old Kingdom pharaohs in order, and it goes Khufu, Djedefre, Khafre, Djedefhorre, Baufre, Menkaure. It’s known that Menkaure was a son of Khafre, but it’s also know that Khafre was relatively old when he came to the throne (possibly because he had to wait for his brother). As already mentioned, it’s known that Hordjedef was a son of Khufu, and Hawass speculates that this Djedefhorre is the same with honorific transposition (if it isn’t the other Djedefre again). Similarly there a son of Khufu named Baufhor. Hawass speculates that two more of Khafre’s brothers held the throne in between him and Menkaure. There’s no other evidence for these pharaohs, except Manetho mentions a “Bichoris” that might Baufre, and there’s an unfinished pyramid (in fact, just barely started) pyramid south of Giza that might belong to one of them.


Menkaure himself built a small but elegant pyramid at Giza, with at least a partial granite casing. It was never finished; the mortuary temple was hastily completed in mud brick rather than stone by the last 4th Dynasty pharaoh, Shepseskhaf. Shepsheskhaf didn’t build a pyramid; instead a strange structure shaped like a giant sarcophagus, but with a substructure similar to a pyramid.


There’s a lot of interesting stuff about things like satellite pyramids (Hawass’ team found a previously unknown satellite pyramid of Khufu at Giza); speculation about the relationships of the various pharaohs and their queens and children, and general chatting about 4th Dynasty Egypt.


Well indexed and referenced. Hawass uses mostly secondary sources, referencing a variety of earlier works on the pyramids; to be far a lot of the most recent work at Giza by the American Mark Lehner hasn’t been published although Hawass was intimately involved in Lehner’s work and is thus able to invoke “personal communication”. Although there are some nice color photographs, the book’s major flaw is that there are no maps of Egypt or any of the pyramid fields, and no internal or external plans of any of the pyramids. Thus this is probably of most use to somebody already familiar with the Old Kingdom who wants the latest gossip. ( )

Very interesting facts behind the builders of the pyramids but the reading is slow and the book is definitely not a page turner. 3 stars for content, 1 for readability ( )