The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranean walls and sarcophagi of pyramids at Saqqara from the end of the Fifth Dynasty, and throughout the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, and into the Eighth Dynasty of the First Intermediate Period. The oldest of the texts have been dated to c. 2400–2300 BCE.
Pyramid Text inscribed on the wall of a subterranean room in Teti's pyramid, at Saqqara
Pyramid of Merenre I, one of the earliest pyramids in which Maspero discovered the Pyramid Texts.
Cartouches of Pepi I and Pyramid Texts. Limestone block fragment from the debris of the north wall of the antechamber within the pyramid of Pepi I at Saqqara. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
Painted relief fragment with the spells 354 and 255 of Pyramid Texts. From the pyramid of Pepi II at Saqqara. Neues Museum
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynasty, such as King Sneferu, who perfected the art of pyramid-building, and the kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, who constructed the pyramids at Giza. Egypt attained its first sustained peak of civilization during the Old Kingdom, the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley.
The Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.
The Temple of Djoser at Saqqara
The head of a King, c. 2650–2600 BC, Brooklyn Museum. The earliest representations of Egyptian Kings are on a small scale. From the Third Dynasty, statues were made showing the ruler life-size. This head wearing the crown of Upper Egypt is larger than human scale.
The Great Sphinx of Giza in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza
