G3-a (also G3a, G3 c, GIIIa) is one of the three pyramid companions

Pyramid of Menkaure The pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three main pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex, located on the Giza Plateau in the southwestern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. It is thought to have been built to serve as the tomb of the Fourth Dynast ...

. It is located on the south side of the Menkaure pyramid in the

Giza Necropolis The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid ...

. It is the easternmost of the three pyramids of the queens. The pyramid was built during the

Fourth Dynasty of Egypt The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty IV) is characterized as a " golden age" of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Dynasty IV lasted from to 2494 BC. It was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with othe ...

, presumably for one of the wives of

Menkaure Menkaure (also Menkaura, Egyptian transliteration ''mn-k3w-Rˁ''), was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom, who is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( gr, Μυκερῖνος) (by Her ...

. The American archaeologist

George Andrew Reisner George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine. Biography Reisner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabet ...

was "confident" that the structure housed

Khamerernebty II Khamerernebty II was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 4th Dynasty. She was a daughter of Pharaoh Khafre and Queen Khamerernebty I. She married her brother Menkaure and she was the mother of Prince Khuenre. Family Khamerernebty II is said to be t ...

, but this is far from certain. It is a true pyramid,Verner (2007), p. 252. with a base that is square; its original height was . The structure has a T-shaped chamber carved out of the bedrock, to which an entrance open on the north face of the structure. The American archaeologist

Mark Lehner Mark Lehner is an American archaeologist with more than 30 years of experience excavating in Egypt. He was born in North Dakota in 1950. His approach, as director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA), is to conduct interdisciplinary archae ...

argues this akin to the layout of a satellite or '' ka'' pyramid. The fact that the structure once contained a pink granite sarcophagus, however, has led scholars to speculate that it may have been reused as a queen's burial tomb, or that it served as a chapel where the body of Menkaure was mummified.Lehner (1997), p. 136. Gizeh Mykerinos 02

References

Bibliography

* * * (Note: This is the second unpublished follow-up to Reisner's work ''A History of the Giza Necropolis'' Vol. I, published by

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...

) *

External links

Pyramid G3-a at Digital Giza
{{coord, 29.971588, 31.128358, format=dms, type:landmark_region:EG, display=title Pyramids in Egypt Pyramids of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt

See also

References

Bibliography

External links