The Pyramid of Teti

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The Pyramid of Teti
"The Second Chapter of the Book of the Dead"

The Pyramid of Teti is located 350 meters northeast from the Pyramid of Userkaf and 180 meters west from the Headless Pyramid.

The Pyramid of Teti, was discovered by British Egyptologist John Perring in 1839. But only 43 years later, in 1882, after discovering of the First Pages of the Book of the Dead in the depths of the Pyramid of Unas, French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero has found its next Chapters here in the Burial Chamber of the VI Dynasty King Teti. Further excavations were carried out by English Egyptologist James Quibell in 1907– 8 and under the guidance of the French archaeologists Jean-Philippe Lauer, Jean Leclant and others, who headed excavation works already at the end of the XXth century.

The entrance to the Pyramid, as well as the entrance into the Pyramid of Unas, was found on its northern side at a ground level. The Descending Passage of the Pyramid of Teti, lined in granite, leads to the Horizontal Corridor, which in the ancient times was blocked by the three granite portcullis. The Antechamber with a vaulted ceiling, made of massive limestone blocks, painted with star relief, is located directly under the center of the Pyramid and leads into the Burial Chamber with a sarcophagus.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Like the Pyramid of Unas, the walls of Teti's Burial Chamber, the Antechamber and a part of the Horizontal Passage are decorated with the “Pyramid Texts”. This is the second known Pyramid, which contains the Burial Texts, describing the King’s journey from the Living World to the World of the Dead.

The Antechamber has two entrances - to the Eastern Chamber and to the Western one. The Eastern Chamber has three niches, and the Western Chamber - represents itself the Burial Chamber with sarcofagus.


Eastern Chamber: Chamber with three niches.	Western Chamber: Burial Chamber

The black sarcophagus, made of greywacke, was found on the western side of the Burial Chamber. Its lid was partially destroyed by ancient tomb robbers. The bottom of the sarcophagus is decorated with inscriptions, engraved in one column, passing along the long axis of the sarcophagus. Although this inscription was not completed for some reason, it is the first known inscription, discovered on a stone Royal sarcophagus. Later, together with the other found inscriptions, decorating the inner and outer surfaces of the ancient coffins, it got the name and remained known to us as "The Sarcofagus Texts".

The mummy of Teti, like the mummy of Unas, was not ever found. During the archaeological works, carried out inside the Pyramid, only a fragment of the mummified hand was discovered. This fragment may have been the only piece of the King's mummy, survived after the invasions of the tomb robbers.

The surroundings of the Pyramid of Teti, as well as some features of its interior have been already described in the expedition report of ISIDA Project - 2012. In the current report we will focus only on a brief historical part and on the Pyramid Texts, about which the Creative Director of the ISIDA Project tells us in the video below, directly from the Saqqara Desert, April 2019:

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