Al-Hawara Pyramid

Al-Hawara Pyramid Review

At 393 feet square and originally 190 feet tall, this is one of Amenemhet III's two pyramids; the other is at Dahshur. Both are built of mud brick with a limestone casing. The interior structure, entered from the south, is full of dead ends and false passages and shafts, inaccessible now because of the high water table. In Classical times this pyramid was most famous for its mortuary temple, then known as the Labyrinth. It was located to the south rather than the east of the temple and was a very elaborate mazelike structure filled with riches, of which little remains. To the east lies a Greco-Roman cemetery, where many of the celebrated Fayyum mummy portraits were found. There was also a cemetery of sacred crocodiles revered in this area.