The Labyrinth the Colossi and the Lake Fayoum

Where was Herodotus when he saw the Colossi? The water level of Lake Moeris has varied considerably (up to 60 meters) over the last 10,000 years . 14 Using a digital elevation model (DEM), we can estimate the water level when Amenemhet III is thought to have built the Colossi and when Herodotus saw them . 

Based on the DEM, Biahmu was above water at the time of Amenemhet III and below water when Herodotus was there. But more importantly, if the Colossi were partially below water, so too was the surrounding area over a radius of more than six miles. From this distance, the pyramids in Giza are barely visible let alone a structure the size reconstructed by Petrie. If the stonework that Petrie believed was a courtyard around the figures was the base of a pyramid 120 feet tall, even that would not be large enough to be visible from that distance.

New Evidence of Advanced Prehistoric Civilizations

The Labyrinth 

The legendary Labyrinth of Hawara was brought to the attention of the Western world by Herodotus in the fifth century BC. He describes an above-ground structure that he saw, and one below-ground that he was denied access to by the Egyptians.

Moreover, they decided to preserve the memory of their names by a common memorial, and so they made a labyrinth a liJle way beyond lake Moeris and near the place called the City of Crocodiles. I have seen it myself, and indeed words cannot describe it; if one were to collect the walls and evidence of other efforts of the Greeks, the sum would not amount to the labor and cost of this labyrinth. And yet the temple at Ephesus and the one on Samos are noteworthy. Though the pyramids beggar descripPon and each one of them is a match for many great monuments built by Greeks, this maze surpasses even the pyramids. It has twelve roofed courts with doors facing each other: six face north and six south, in two conPnuous lines, all within one outer wall. There are also double sets of chambers, three thousand altogether, fiTeen hundred above and the same number under ground. We ourselves viewed those that are above ground, and speak of what we have seen, but we learned through conversaPon about the underground chambers; the EgypPan caretakers would by no means show them, as they were, they said, the burial vaults of the kings who first built this labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles. Thus we can only speak from hearsay of the lower chambers.

THE Labyrinth of Egypt Hawara Fayoum

 THE LABYRINTH 

Petrie excavated the ruins of an extensive and well-structured temple complex in front of the south side of the king‟s pyramid, probably the Labyrinth mentioned by ancient travelers, such as Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and Pliny. According to Diodorus, Daedalus was so impressed by this monument during his journey through Egypt that he decided to build a labyrinth for Minos in Crete on the same model.55 In spite of frequent attempts, by Petrie, Michalowski, Lloyd and others to elicit the former aspect of the Labyrinth from the Greek descriptions, it remains difficult to reconcile the texts with the few surviving remains of the temple. Apparently, the construction of the temple was started by Amenemhat III, but several inscribed fragments record the name of the early deification of Amenemhat III, each successive king added his own monument to honor his great predecessor.

The layout of the temple could not be precisely constructed because of the severe destruction; however, it probably consists of an inner part with sacrifice hall which was in the back part of the temple near the south side of the pyramid. In front of it was the complex of columned halls, columned courtyards, porticos, colonnades, chambers, and passageways. To the south lay another extensive open courtyard.

The unusual size of the Labyrinth (28 000 m2) indicates that it was not an ordinary temple. Strabo mentioned that the temple housed a number of halls as many as there were provinces (nomes) in Egypt (42 nomes) to house the major gods representing these nomes inside the temple each one in a separate chamber. Petrie has discovered the remains of limestone statues of two gods, Sobek and Hathor, in the halls supposed to have been honored by the deities of these provinces. During the excavation of the irrigation canal which cuts through the temple remains, a limestone statue of Amenemhat III has been uncovered. Eventually, the whole temple complex, the pyramid and a small north chapel were surrounded by a rectangular enclosure wall which is entered by a causeway like the valley temple. However most of this part has not been excavated yet.

THE TOMB OF NEFERUPTAH

It is situated two kilometres to the southeast of Hawara Pyramid. It was later given the form of a pyramid. Neferuptah pink granite sarcophagus has been discovered there in 1956 containing the remains of her body and of her rich funerary equipment, everything much perished by subsoil water except the objects made of stone and precious metals.53 It was initially thought that Neferuptah had been buried with her father due to the discovery of remains of a second wooden coffin and an alabaster alter bearing her name in the king‟s burial chamber, however, her name was found on the sarcophagus in the tomb southeast of the pyramid and was also on other objects from her burial equipment. The body itself was not found there, however, a few pieces of the mummy‟s binding were discovered on which microscopic remains of skin were found.

CEMETERIES

Pits and tombs to the north of the pyramid: In a vast area to the north of the pyramid, the pits and rock-cut chambers of Middle Kingdom officials were found, most of them had been robbed, and many had been reused from the 23rd dynasty onwards there are only few traces of New Kingdom date.59 Crocodile Burials: Mummified crocodiles personifying the god Sobek, the principle god of the Fayoum region, were buried 500 m to the northeast of the pyramid.

Greco-Roman Tombs: The best-preserved discoveries of the cemeteries of Hawara were made, however, in the Greco-Roman tombs, the mummies being provided with a portrait of the dead in the form of a mask or of a painted tablet, the so-called Fayoum Portraits.