Pyramidion of Amenemhat III
Once perched at the summit of the so-called “Black Pyramid” of Dahshur, this finely carved basalt pyramidion crowned the tomb of one of Ancient Egypt’s most powerful and long-reigning monarchs: King Amenemhat III. Though time brought his pyramid to ruin, this capstone, an embodiment of solar divinity, survived the fall.
In 1900, after reports of looting in the necropolis of Saqqara, French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero dispatched an inspection team to nearby Dahshur. There, protruding from the desert sands on the eastern flank of Amenemhat’s pyramid, they uncovered a dark, polished block: the pyramidion, remarkably intact and still inscribed with shimmering hieroglyphs invoking the sun-god Ra. It was swiftly transported to Cairo, where it remains one of the most awe-inspiring relics of Middle Kingdom pyramid construction.
The pyramidion, or benben, represented the radiant point where earth met sky; the tip of the sacred mountain and the pharaoh’s stairway to the heavens. This one bears the winged sun-disk of divine protection, below which hieroglyphic texts call upon the solar deity to receive the king’s spirit into the celestial firmament. The stone itself, black as the fertile silt of the Nile and polished to reflect the blazing sun, served not only as an architectural apex but as a theological statement: that the king, like the sun, would rise again each day, reborn for eternity.
Few pyramidia have survived the ravages of time and tomb robbers. This example, carved in royal splendour and solemn symmetry, remains among the finest. Together with the pyramidion of Khendjer and others, it now forms part of the largest known assemblage of pyramid capstones, proudly housed in the Grand Hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Pyramidia were rare and sacred. Most have long vanished, plundered or shattered in the millennia since their placement. The survival of this example, buried but nearly pristine, is nothing short of miraculous. It speaks of a time when royal architecture and theology were one, when every stone was laid with cosmic intention, and when the journey of the dead pharaoh was mapped into the very geometry of his tomb.
The Black Pyramid at Dahshur, though largely ruined, once stood as a marvel of engineering, its complex inner chambers and innovative foundation reflecting a new phase in royal tomb design. Its pyramidion now stands in this hall not only as a relic of stone, but as the embodiment of a king’s eternal hope, to rise with the sun, forever reborn.
The pyramidion of Amenemhat III is often described as being made of basalt due to its dark colour and polished surface, which resemble the fine-grained volcanic stone commonly used in Ancient Egypt for elite monuments. However, its exact material has not been definitively confirmed through scientific analysis. Some sources refer to it more generally as “black stone” or “dark grey stone,” and it may in fact be a different hard stone such as granite or greywacke. Without petrographic testing, the identification remains uncertain, so the most accurate description is “dark stone, possibly basalt.”
Summary:
Pyramidion of King Amenemhat III
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, reign of Amenemhat III, c. 1860-1814 B.C.
From Dahshur. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 35133
