Unas 2356-2323 B.C

 

Unas Quick Facts

Chronology
Dynasty: 5th
Predecessor: Djedkare
Successor: Teti
Highest Year: 8th Cattle CountFamily
Wives: Khenut, Nebit
Children: Iput I (?)

Unas was the last king of the 5th Dynasty. He was the first king to have the interior of his tomb inscribed with religious texts now known as the Pyramid Texts

Biography of Unas

The relationship of Unas with his predecessors or successors is not known. He was married to Khenut and to Nebit, but their relationship to Unas' predecessors is not known either, nor are the names of any children that he would have had with them. It has sometimes been proposed, though, that Iput I, the wife of Unas’ successor Teti, was a daughter of Unas.
Both of Unas’ Queens were buried in mastaba tombs outside of Unas' pyramid complex, which, in itself is unusual since often in this period the Queens would be buried in smaller pyramids near their husband's.
According to the Turin King-list, Unas ruled for 30 years, or perhaps slightly more of part of the number is in the lacuna, which is confirmed by Manetho, who recorded 33 years. The highest recorded year from this reign, however, refers to the year of the 8th cattle count, which, in a regular biennial census, would be the 15th year of Unas’ reign.
Despite his supposed long reign, not much is known about Unas. His name has been found in Elephantine, at the Southern border of Egypt (Aswan), and also on an alabaster vessel found in Byblos, the latter perhaps indicating some commercial or diplomatic activities between Egypt and the Near East during this period. He seems not to have left any apparent heirs after his death, which may have resulted in some political instability following his death.
Unas is mostly known from his pyramid complex, which he built to the North-west of Djoser's at Saqqara. It is the oldest known royal tomb to have contained religious texts, the so-called Pyramid Texts, which are a collection of spells, litanies, hymns and descriptions of the King's life after death. These texts are the oldest known religious writings known to mankind!Unas was adored in the Saqqara region for many centuries after his death.

Unas was the first king to have the walls of his tomb inscribed with the so-called Pyramid Texts.

Titulary of Unas

Horus Name

1. Hr wAD tA.wjHorus, the Two Lands flourish

Nebti Name

2. wAD m nb.tjThe one who flourishes as the Two Ladies
   

Golden Falcon Name

3. wAD bik nbwThe golden falcon flourishes

Nomen

4. sA ra wnisthe son or Re, Unas
5. wnisUnas

Manetho
Africanus: Onnus
Eusebius: Eusebius does not mention this king.Alternative names in modern-day literature
Wenis, Ounas, Wenas

Pyramid Complex of Unas

Location
The last king of the 5th Dynasty, Unas, built his pyramid complex close to the south-western corner of the enclosure wall surrounding complex of Netjerikhet at Saqqara.
This pyramid complex is thus located at the opposite corner of Netjerikhet’s complex as the complex built by Userkaf, the first king of the 5th Dynasty, and between the complexes of Djoser and Sekhemkhet, both of the 3rd Dynasty, as part of the diagonal between the pyramid of Sekhemkhet in the southwest and the pyramid of Teti, which was to be built later, in the northeast.

The Pyramid of Unas, with Netjerikhet’s Step Pyramid and Userkaf’s Pyramid in the background.

The mortuary temple of this complex, which traditionally extends to the east of the main pyramid, was built on top of the substructure of the 2nd dynasty tomb assigned to Hotepsekhemwi. It is very likely that almost nothing subsisted of this older tomb’s superstructure at the time Unas had his monument built.
The name of this funerary complex was name of the pyramid nfr-s.wt, “the (most) beautiful of places”.

Structure
The complex consists of all the standard elements: a main pyramid, to the east of which are located a mortuary temple and a small satellite pyramid. A long causeway connects the mortuary temple to a valley temple, at some distance to the southeast of the pyramid. Parts of the valley temple are still preserved.

Interactive map of the funerary complex of Unas at Saqqara, with the Valley Temple (top right) and the Mortuary Temple and Pyramid (below). Click the little circles to learn more.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 154.

A Queen’s pyramid has never been found, which suggests that Unas does not appear to have had a pyramid built for his queen(s)

Pyramid of Unas

The king's pyramid measured 57.75m to a side. With a slope of 56° it originally rose to a height of 43m. It was thus considerably smaller than Netjerikhet's pyramid and even slightly smaller than Userkaf's.
The pyramid appears to have been built in a manner similar to Djedkare's: the core masonry consisted of accreted blocks, encased in a fine limestone casing.
By the New Kingdom, the pyramid had already fallen into decay. This is shown by a massive inscription left by Khaemwaset, the famous son of Ramesses II and High-priest of Memphis, referring to his restoration of the monument.

The South face of the pyramid still has some of its original limestone encasing. It is here that an inscription from Khaemwaset was found commemorating his restoration of the pyramid.

The pyramid is entered through an entrance chapel, of which only some trances remain. The entrance is located in the middle of the North side of the pyramid, not in the pyramid’s face but at ground level in the pavement of the pyramid court.

Interactive 3D view on the pyramid and temple of Unas.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 155.

From the entrance, a descending passage goes down to a small corridor chamber. The horizontal passage after this corridor chamber was once blocked by three granite portcullises, hoping to prevent robbers from entering the king's tomb. After the portcullises, the passage opens into an antechamber of 3.75 by 3.08 metres, located directly under the pyramid’s centre axis.
To the east of the antechamber opens a small room with 3 recesses, sometimes described as magazines or as statue niches.
Opposite the magazines, thus to the west of the antechamber lies the Burial chamber, with its basalt sarcophagus still in place. To the left of the foot of the sarcophagus was the canopic chest. A left arm and hand, together with pieces of a skull were found in the debris of stones and dirt. These fragments were mummified in several lengths of linen bandages, preserving some of the skin and hair. It is not impossible that these are the remains of Unas himself. They are now preserved in the Cairo Museum.

Nothing more than a mount of rubble, with only part of the original encasing limestone blocks, is all that remains of the Pyramid of Unas.

From an architectural point of view, Unas' pyramid offers little to no surprises. The rooms underneath the pyramid follow the same basic arrangement as Djedkare's pyramid before or Teti's pyramid after Unas. The pyramid of Unas, however, is the first since Netjerikhet’s to have had decorated rooms.
All the rooms underneath the pyramid were built with fine limestone, except for the west wall of the burial chamber and the western halves of its north and south walls, (thus the walls immediately surrounding the sarcophagus) where alabaster was used, on which a false door and an elaborate pattern design representing a reed mat and wood-frame enclosure have been carved and painted.
The ceiling of the burial chamber was painted with golden stars in a dark blue sky. Unas was thus buried in a black basalt sarcophagus, representing the (fertile) earth, in an area closely resembling his living quarters, underneath the dark nightly sky.
Even more important, however, is the decoration of the remainder of the burial chamber, the antechamber and part of the horizontal passage, which consists of vertical columns of meticulously carved hieroglyphs painted in blue. These columns contain the earliest known example of the so-called Pyramid Texts, and even more the oldest collection of religious texts known to mankind! They are a collection of spells and formulae meant to protect the deceased in the afterlife. The pyramid of Unas contains only 283 of the more than 700 known spells of the Pyramid Texts.

A glimpse inside the Burial Chamber of Unas, showing the nicely decorated walls.

Mortuary Temple of Unas

The Mortuary Temple
Unas’ mortuary temple is located to the east of his pyramid, as was usual for funerary complexes of the Old Kingdom.
Its entrance lies in the east, along the east-west axis of the complex. It was completed and inscribed by Teti, Unas’ successor, showing that the transition between both reigns went smooth.

The Pyramid of Unas seen from within the remains of his Mortuary Temple.

The entrance opens into a long, narrow entrance hall that in turn gives access to a rectangular open court. The sixteen columns in this court had palm-leave shaped capitals. To the north and south of the court and the entrance hall were some magazines. These could only be entered by the traverse corridor behind the open court, that separated the front from the inner temple.
A door in the centre of the traverse corridor and along the east-west axis of the temple opens onto the 5 statue niches that once contained statues of the king. To the north of theses niches are some further magazines. To the south is a door that opens onto a small room, to the east of which is located the small square antechamber. The roof of this antechamber was once supported by a single pillar, made of red quartzite from Gebel Ahmar near Heliopolis, a hard stone associated with the solar cult.
The actual sanctuary of the temple lies to the northwest of the antechamber, again along the complex’s east-west axis. It contained a granite false door in front of which the daily offerings for the king were deposited. Surrounding it are some further magazines.

The satellite pyramid
The satellite pyramid was located to the southeast of the main pyramid. It was entered by the traverse corridor that separated the front and inner parts of the mortuary temple. 
Its entrance was located on the north side of the pyramid. The substructure was simple and straightforward: a corridor opened onto a rectangular chamber located directly in the vertical axis of the small pyramid.

The causeway
The causeway is, next to the Pyramid Texts, the most impressive part of Unas' funerary complex. With its 750 metres length, it must have been one of the longest pyramid causeways ever constructed, equalled only by the causeway of Kheops at Giza.
The causeway connects the mortuary temple to the Valley temple. It was built in a long Wadi that opened onto a lake east of the pyramid. Some of the blocks used to fill gaps in the embankment came from the enclosure of Netjerikhet’s complex, which suggests that by the end of the 5th Dynasty, Netjerikhet’s complex had already fallen into decay.
Only bits and pieces of the original decoration of the inner walls of the roofed causeway have been found. They can merely hint at the diversity of scenes that covered the causeway. Part of the decoration appears to have been dedicated to the representation of the building of the funerary complex: the transport by boat of the granite palm columns for the mortuary temple and craftsmen working gold or copper. What a pity that not more of these reliefs have been recovered!
Another part represented the usual offering scenes, labourers working on the fields, harvesting grain or gathering figs and honey. The traditional offering bearers are present as well as they carry the rich produce of the estate into the temple.

The causeway before its final bend towards the pyramid, shown to the left. Parts of the walls and the ceiling have been recovered and restored.

 

 

A unique scene on the walls of Unas’ Causeway, shows people emaciated by famine.

Other scenes include battles with enemies and representations of wild animals. One scene found on the walls of the causeway has puzzled many generations of Egyptologists: it shows a person emaciated by famine. There are some who believe that this refers to an actual famine that occurred in Egypt during Unas' reign. If, however, this is the case, then this would be a rare example of an historical event -a negative historical event!- to have been represented in a royal mortuary complex. Others believe that it represented a famine that occurred outside of Egypt. It is also possible that this scene is part of the set of scenes that represent the enemies of Egypt…
In order to connect the Valley temple to the mortuary temple and in order to follow the natural Wadi, the causeway shows bends twice to the South. At the uppermost bend, two boat pits, each 45 metres long, have been found immediately to the South of the causeway.

The Valley Temple
The Valley temple was built near a lake located to the southeast of the main pyramid and near the entrance of a Wadi that would be used to connect the Valley temple to the mortuary temple. In fact, it may well be that these two features determined the choice of location for the entire complex!
The Valley temple, of which only parts still remain, was once a massive building. It was accessed through a ramp that opened onto a columned court. A narrow passage gave entrance to a traverse room, which in turn opened to a second traverse room in the south, a room with two columns in the north and a third room  in the northwest. This latter room is connected to the causeway, through a door located in the northwest corner of the room. To the south of this room was a fourth room with three niches and some magazines