Site on the west
bank of the Nile between Giza and
Saqqara, originally known to travellers
as the pyramid of Righa, although actually dominated by the remains of a
sun temple erected by the Vth Dynasty king Niuserre Ini,
whose pyramid
stands short distance to the south at Abusir. The central feature of the
temple was a large squat monument, the proportions of which were
midway between a Benben stone and a true obelisk. Both the obelisk and the
tapering platform on which it stood were masonry constructions rather then
monolithic. In front of the monument is a large open court, and in the
centre of this open area is a massive travertine altar comprising a
disc surrounded on each side by four carved examples of the hierogliphic
sign Htp
(hotep = offering), giving the whole an unusual cruciform
shape. The entrance to the temple is linked with a valley's
temple by a covered causeway, like those connecting pyramids
with their valley temples. On reaching the temple proper, the causeway
becomes a corridor running down the east side of the courtyard and
along the south side. This corridor, which contained reliefs of the Sed
Festival, led to the room of the seasons and ended in a chapel decorated with scenes of the dedication of the temple. |