The Southern Shinning Pyramid

Height 105m
Base 188m
Volume 1,237,040 cu. m
Slope 54° 27", 44" 43° 22'
Dynasty 4
Satellite Pyramids (1)
Queens Pyramids (0)
Ruled 24 years

Sneferu's South (Bent) Pyramid

A view of Sneferu's Bent Pyramid chapel showing the two round-topped stelae and the mudbrick perimeter wall.

At the centre of the eastern side of the Bent Pyramid is a small chapel.. As at Meidum the contrast this tiny structure and the giant pyramid is very striking. Stadelman points out that the small chapels of both the Meidum and the Bent Pyramid were not part of the development of the large mortuary temples, rather they were intended to be simple shrines for pyramids that Sneferu completed as cenotaphs. Initially the Bent Pyramid's chapel was a very simple affair composed of two walls of Turah limestone roofed with slabs, which was expanded by mudbrick walls. Within it was an offering place consisting of a slab that took the form of a hieroglyph for 'hetep', a stylized loaf of bread on a reed mat. Behind this two round-topped stelae, the stumps of which remain, were formerly inscribed with the names of Sneferu