Sacred bulls and headless pyramids.

June 5, 2008 6:08 PM

Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the "missing pyramid" of a pharaoh and a ceremonial procession road where high priests carried mummified remains of sacred bulls.
posted by flapjax at midnite (13 comments total)

"In ancient Egypt felines were worshipped because the Egyptians thought they were funny. These vast cat heads were built underground, and seen by no one."
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:15 PM on June 5, 2008

They just don't make pinatas like they used to.
posted by stavrogin at 6:20 PM on June 5, 2008

A missing pyramid? How careless of the Egyptians.
posted by Postroad at 6:44 PM on June 5, 2008

If you look closely at these glyphs, you can see the UFO landing pad.
posted by ornate insect at 6:50 PM on June 5, 2008

In 1842, German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius mentioned Menkauhor's pyramid among his finds at Saqqara, calling it the "Headless Pyramid" because its top was missing, Hawass said. But the desert sands covered Lepsius' discovery, and no archaeologist since was able to find it.

Ha. I didn't expect it to be "missing" just since 1842. But still awesome. Just goes to show how hard it is to unearth meaningful stuff.

The sprawling archaeological site at Saqqara is most famous for the Step Pyramid of King Djoserm the oldest of Egypt's 100-plus pyramids, built in the 27th century B.C.

It's still astonishing to me that when Caesar and Cleopatra went on their little post-fuck sight-seeing tour of the Nile (probably to look at the Step Pyramid, according to one book I read recently), their distance in time from the builders of that pyramid was *greater* than their distance in time to us today. Gives me shivers every time I think about that.
posted by mediareport at 6:51 PM on June 5, 2008

I knew when I saw the quotation marks around "missing pyramid" that there would in fact be no actual pyramid, but I dared to hope. It's kind of sad that quotation marks have come to signify "not even close, but doesn't this sound better?"
posted by nightchrome at 6:57 PM on June 5, 2008

I "agree", "deeply".
posted by Dizzy at 7:06 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

To equip Pharaoh for his journey, we bury him with his favourite possessions. Such as his heart and liver. [The slaves lower some canopic jars into the hole.] And the many goods he left in his royal garage. [A pickup truck back up to the hole and tips Hermenthotip's stuff into it.] Also, this bag of cats our culture considers holy. [He tosses in a bag of live cats.]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:26 PM on June 5, 2008

Bulls were sacred because that was the age of Taurus I'm guessing. Like Mithraism , they were into Bulls during that epoch.
posted by Liquidwolf at 7:46 PM on June 5, 2008

That's super cool. Also, Zawi Hawass is totally the one to be able to identify any of this stuff. I would totally love to meet him sometime as I've been watching him in documentaries since I was a nerdy, nerdy, nerdy little boy.
posted by Gular at 8:47 PM on June 5, 2008

they were into Bulls during that epoch.

Yes, but not only the Egyptians & the cult of Mithras. For some reason, ancient people obsessed about bulls & bull-headed creatures & gods in their mythologies.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:49 PM on June 5, 2008

That's really fascinating. I think it's amazing and wonderful that even though we live in an era of things like Google Earth and GPS navigation, and instant audio/visual communication, there are still things unseen that are left to be discovered (and/or rediscovered).
posted by amyms at 10:43 PM on June 5, 2008

Also, Zawi Hawass is totally the one to be able to identify any of this stuff.

You do know his official position is "guy who shows up to talk down to the public for press releases after discoveries are made by other people," right?

Still, a valid scholar in his own right, generally a cool guy, and has done much to advance the field and help Egypt get some of its loot back.
posted by Foosnark at 11:32 AM on June 6, 2008