Pyramidion

{{Short description|Capstone of an ancient Egyptian pyramid or obelisk}}

File:Pyramidion_of_the_Pyramid_of_Amenemhet_III_at_Dahshur.jpg at Dahshur. Egyptian Museum, Cairo]]A pyramidion (plural: pyramidia) is the capstone of an Egyptian pyramid or the upper section of an obelisk.{{cite web|url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pyramidion|title= Pyramidion - Definition of Pyramidion by Merriam-Webster|access-date= 18 February 2016}} Speakers of the Ancient Egyptian language referred to pyramidia as benbenet Ermann, Grapow, Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache 1, 459.13-14 and associated the pyramid as a whole with the sacred benben stone.Toby Wilkinson, The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson, 2005. p. 197

Pyramidia were usually made of limestone, sandstone, basalt or granite,{{Cite journal |last=Jánosi |first=Peter |date=1992 |title=Das Pyramidion der Pyramide G III-a. Bemerkungen zu den Pyramidenspitzen des Alten Reiches. |url=http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/pubdocs/473/full/ |journal=Studia Aegyptiaca |language=de |volume=14 |pages=301–308}}{{Cite book |last=Rammant-Peeters |first=Agnès |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qqoye8LukD8C |title=Les pyramidions égyptiens du Nouvel Empire |publisher=Peeters Publishers |year=1983 |isbn=9789070192082 |language=Fr}} and were sometimes covered with plates of copper,{{Cite book |last=Verner |first=Miroslav |title=The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments |year=2007 |pages=318}} gold or electrum.{{cite book |last=Edwards |first=Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen |title=The Pyramids of Egypt |publisher=Penguin Group |year=1993 |isbn=9780140136340 |edition=Revised |page=267 |orig-date=1947 |authorlink=I. E. S. Edwards}} From the Middle Kingdom onward, they were often "inscribed with royal titles and religious symbols".

Notable pyramidia

File:Egyptian Museum Pyramidions.jpg

= Egyptian Museum =

Four pyramidia are housed in the main hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo:

The pyramidion of the so-called Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III at Dahshureditors Regine Schulz and Matthias Seidel (w/34 contributing Authors), Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, Konemann, Germany: 1998. Amenemhat III, 1842–1797 BC p. 115
The pyramidion of the Pyramid of Khendjer at Saqqara
The pyramidion of Merneferre Ay, probably from Saqqara{{Cite book |title=Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Egypte |publisher=Le Caire, Impr. de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale |year=1954 |volume=52 |pages=471–479 |chapter=Two Pyramidions of the 13th Dynasty from Ezbet Rushdi El-Kebira (Khatacna) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ASAE-52.2-1952/page/n151/}}
The pyramidion of the Southern South Saqqara pyramid

= Red Pyramid =

File:Red Pyramid Pyramidion.jpg at Dashur, on display beside the pyramid]]

A badly damaged white Tura limestone pyramidion, thought to have been made for the Red Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur, has been reconstructed and is on open-air display beside that pyramid; it presents a minor mystery, however, as its angle of inclination is steeper than that of the edifice it was apparently built to surmount.

= Washington Monument =

Erected in 1876 in Washington D.C., the Washington Monument holds an inscribed pyramidion of aluminum.

Private brick pyramids with pyramidia

During the New Kingdom, some private underground tombs were marked on the surface by small brick pyramids that terminated in pyramidia. The four lateral sides included texts and scenes related to the cult of the Sun God (as the representation of Pharaoh).

The scenes typically depict the course of the sun, rising on one lateral face, setting on the opposite face, and traveling, through the night, through the underworld, ruled by Osiris.

= Scribe Mose pyramidion =

The pyramidion of Mose (mes,s, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, {{Circa|1250 BC}}, limestone, 53 cm tall) depicts himself making an offering, with his name on two opposite faces. The adjacent opposite faces feature a baboon: "Screeching upon the rising of the Sun, and the Day". (The baboon is also the god-scribe representation of the Scribe, for the god Thoth.)Peck, William. Splendors of Ancient Egypt, William H. Peck, The Detroit Institute of Arts, (University Lithoprinters Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich.), c. 1997, (p. 67). (Moses Pyramidion from "Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Germany".)

= Ptahemwia pyramidion =

The pyramidion of Ptahemwia (19th Dynasty, Ramesside Period, {{Circa|1200 BC}}, limestone, 28 cm wide, 42 cm tall) likewise displays sun-related scenes.{{rp|252}} The Sun God, Re-Horakhti, and the god of the Underworld, Osiris, are shown on one lateral face.

Facing the two gods, on the adjacent lateral face, is the deceased Ptahemwia, standing in an offering pose, facing three columns of hieroglyphs.{{rp|252}}

=Gallery=

File:Pyramidion of Nesnubhotep, top of a limestone chapel monument. A scarab and adoring baboons in relief. 26th Dynasty. From Abydos, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|Pyramidion of the chapel of Nesnubhotep, limestone with relief of a scarab and adoring baboons, 26th Dynasty, Abydos

File:Pyramidion of Nebamun. Possibly top of a stela. Limestone. 19th Dynasty. From Egypt. Bought in the Thebaid (Thebais) but probably it came from Deir el-Medina. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|Pyramidion of Nebamun, limestone, 19th Dynasty, probably from Deir el-Medina

File:PyramidionFromPrivateTomb RosicrucianMuseum.png|Private tomb limestone pyramidion, at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

File:Pyramidion from the tomb of Rer (7th century BCE).jpg|Pyramidion from the tomb of the priest Rer in Abydos, Egypt. Hermitage Museum

File:Pyramidion di Ramose PAP8834-HDR.tif|Pyramidion of Ramose, from Deir el-Medina, 1292–1190 BC (New Kingdom), limestone, Museo Egizio, Turin