Nearly two decades have passed since the last edition of Miroslav Verner's seminal The Pyramids. In that time, fresh explorations and new sophisticated technologies have contributed to ever more detailed and compelling discussions around Egypt's enigmatic and most celebrated of ancient monuments. A pyramid, as the posthumous residence of a king and the place of his eternal cult, was just a single, if dominant, part of a larger complex of structures with specific religious, economic, and administrative functions. The first royal pyramid in Egypt was built at the beginning of the Third Dynasty (ca. 2592-2544 BC) by Horus Netjerykhet, later called Djoser, while the last pyramid was the work of Ahmose I, the first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1539-1292 BC). This newly revised and updated edition of The Pyramids brings Verner's rich erudition and long years of site experience to bear on all the latest discoveries and archaeological and historical aspects of over 70 of Egypt's and Sudan's pyramids in the broader context of their more than one-thousand-year-long development. Lucidly written, with 300 illustrations, and filled with insights, this comprehensive study illuminates an era that is both millennia away and, thanks to the work of scientists like Verner, relevant today.

Despite the prominence of ancient temples in the landscape of Egypt, books about them are surprisingly rare; this new and essential publication from a prominent Czech scholar answers the need for a study that goes beyond temple architecture to examine the spiritual, economic and political aspects of these specific institutions and the dominant roles they played.
Miroslav Verner presents a deeper and more complex study of major ancient Egyptian religious centers, their principal temples, their rise and decline, their religious doctrines, cults, rituals, feasts, and mysteries. Also discussed are the various categories of priests, the organization of the priesthood, and its daily services and customs. Each chapter offers the reader essential and up-to-date information about temple complexes and the history of their archaeological exploration, in the context of the spiritual dimension and cultural legacy of ancient Egypt.

At the center of the world-famous pyramid field of the Memphite necropolis lies a group of pyramids, temples, and tombs named after the nearby village of Abusir. Long overshadowed by the more familiar pyramids at Giza and Saqqara, this area has nonetheless been the site, for the last fifty years, of an extensive operation to discover its past.This thoroughly updated in-depth study documents the uncovering by a dedicated team of Czech archaeologists of a hitherto neglected wealth of ancient remains dating from the Old Kingdom to the Late Period. This is Abusir, realm of Osiris, God of the dead, and its story is one of both modern archaeology and the long-buried mysteries that it seeks to uncover.

This monograph presents a report on the results of the archaeological excavations of the Czech Institute of Egyptology undertaken from 1987 until 2004 and held in the area of the Abusir minor tombs clustered around the tombs of the 5th Dynasty kings. The first chapter is devoted to the excavation and description of the mastaba of Nebtyemneferes, a rather enigmatic identity probably a princess who was buried among the tombs of the members of the royal family in the southern part of the Abusir pyramid necropolis. The tomb includes common features of Abusir tombs of the period.The second chapter deals with research into the mastaba of Prince Nakhtsare, located to the south of Raneferef's mortuary temple; it is the northernmost tomb in a row of tombs located on the southern border of the royal necropolis. The important position of this very destroyed tomb is also indicated by its rich burial equipment, as well as by the masons' marks found on the masonry of the mastaba. The third chapter is devoted to the pyramid complex of an unknown queen in a tomb known as Lepsius no. 24. Because a large number of masons' marks was present on this pyramid's walls, and, in addition, because of the bad state of preservation of this monument, we have been able to study in an unique way the methods used by the ancient architects and builders in the construction of royal monuments in the middle of the Fifth Dynasty. A further chapter is dedicated to a most exceptional complex the monument known to us now as Lepsius no. 25. This monument represents a double tomb whose name was written as double pyramid. Unfortunately, it is in a very desolated state of preservation, so much so that many details of its intriguing architecture as well as the burial equipments, etc., have been lost to us forever. The sixth chapter is devoted to the anthropological material discovered during the archaeological excavations of these monuments. The majority of this material is represented by remains coming from the Late Period cemeteries, which once covered this area. In addition to this fairly large group, there is one very significant study featuring the fragments of a female mummy which might have belonged to the owner of the pyramid complex Lepsius no. 24. A study of the stone vessels found in the monuments discussed in this monograph represents an Appendix.

Result of archaeological Research at Abusir, V.th Dynasty

The main archaeological results of the excavation of the pyramid complex of Neferre in Abusir are published in this report. This volume deals primarily with the archaeological examination of the monuments of the complex. Chapters on the structural analysis of Neferre's mortuary temple, the chronology of the complex and the shape and meaning of the pyramid in the Old Kingdom complement the archaeology. Also discussed are: the builders' marks and inscriptions, seals and sealing, jar dockets, pottery, statues, amulets and beads, faience inlays and tablets of Egyptian blue, anthropological remains of Neferre, stone vessels, chipped lithics and micro-wear analysis of chert. There is also a chapter on the mud-brick masonry of the mortuary temple.