08b: Menkaura's Lost Sarcophagus

Updated in 2024. Around 2520 BCE, King Men-kau-ra (or Menkaure) ruled Egypt. In his time, royal artists produced high-quality sculpture, and builders constructed another pyramid at Giza. But Menkaura has a complicated legacy. Although his pyramid is the smallest of the three "Great Pyramids of Giza," this King's legacy proved far more positive than his predecessors. Likewise his treasures, including his beautiful sarcophagus, have gone through a difficult journey over the past 4500 years... Further information: Photos of Menkaure’s pyramid by Aidan McRae Thomson on Flickr. Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music and interludes by Luke Chaos. Select Bibliography: M. Baud, Famille royale et pouvoir sous l’Ancien Empire égyptien (1999). P. Boughton, ‘The Lost Sarcophagus’, Egyptology News Network, https://egyptologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/01/lost-sarcophagus.html. P. Boughton, ‘Who Owns Menkaure’s Sarcophagus?’, Nile Magazine (2016), 60—66. Digital Giza, ‘Menkaure Pyramid’, http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/sites/2796/full/. D. Gibbins, ‘PHARAOH: The Sarcophagus of Menkaure and the Wreck of the Beatrice’, http://davidgibbins.com/journal/2013/8/28/pharaoh-the-sarcophagus-of-menkaure-and-the-wreck-of-the-beatrice. R. Gundacker, ‘Die Inschrift an der Nordseite der Mykerinospyramide’, Sokar 19 (2009), 18—25. J. Leclant, ‘Fouilles et travaux en Égypte et au Soudan 1967—1968,’ Orientalia 38 (1969), 240—307. M. Lehner and Z. A. Hawass, Giza and the Pyramids (2017). É. Prisse d’Avennes, Histoire de l’art égyptien: d’après les monuments; depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à la domination romaine, 2 vols (1879). U. C. Ringuer, ‘The Story of the Lost Sarcophage’, Archaeology Mysteries, https://archaeologymysteries.com/2019/02/09/the-lost-sarcophage/. A. M. D. Roveri, I sarcofagi egizi dalle origini alla fine dell’antico regno (1969). J. Thompson, Wonderful Things, A History of Egyptology, I: From Antiquity to 1881 (2015). M. Verner, The Pyramids: The Archaeology and History of Egypt’s Iconic Monuments (Updated edn, 2020). H. Vyse, Operations Carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837: With an Account of a Voyage into Upper Egypt and an Appendix, 2 (1840). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices