Pyramid of Hawara

To the north of the Pyramid of Hawara is a large cemetery in which the more prosperous citizens of Shedet Crocodilopolis were buried during the Middle Kingdom.

Adjoining the south side of the pyramid was Amenemhet's large mortuary temple, of which nothing is left but a large area covered with splinters of stone and fragments of fine granite and limestone columns, following its use as a quarry of building stone from Roman times onwards. Occasional fragments of walls can be seen in the sloping banks of the canal which traverses this area, the Bahr Seila el-Gedid. This structure was probably the famous Labyrinth, of which ancient travelers spoke with unbounded admiration.

Strabo, who had visited the Labyrinth, describes it in these terms:

"At the locks is the Labyrinth, a structure which vies in importance with the pyramids, and beside it is the tomb of the King who built it. After entering the canal and proceeding some 30 to 40 stadia [3-4.5mi/5.5-7.5km] along it you come to a table-like area in which are a small town and a large palace, consisting of as many separate palaces as there formerly were nomes. For there are that number of courts surrounded by colonnades, one adjoining another in a long row, so that all the courts seem to be built against a single wall. The entrances to the courts lie opposite this wall; but in front ofthe entrances are many long covered passages, which intersect with one another and form such a complicated path that a stranger cannot find his way into or out of the various courts without a guide. The remarkable thing is that the roof of each building consists of a single stone and that each group of passages is roofed with a single slab of extraordinary size. No wood or other building material is employed. When you climb to the roof, which is not of any great height since the building has only a single story, you can see the great expanse covered by these huge slabs. On emerging from the passage you have a view of them extending in a long line, each of the 27 having a monolithic column to support the roof. At the end of the whole structure, more than a stadium [200yd/180m] in length, is the tomb, a square pyramid each side of which is 4 plethra [400ft/120m] in length, with a height also of 4 plethra. The dead man who is buried here is called Imandes. It is said that so many courts were built because it was the custom for the great dignitaries of each nome to assemble here, together with priests and priestesses, to make offerings to the gods and deliberate on matters of particular importance. Each nome then occupied the court assigned to it."

In 1956 the remains of a small pyramid containing the Body of Princess Neferuptah, Amenemhetill's daughter, were discovered 1.2mi/ 2km south of the Hawara Pyramid. It was previously believed that she had been buried in a small sarcophagus found in her father's tomb chamber.

To the east of the temple precinct are the remains of brick buildings belonging to a Roman village.