Mastabat al-Firaun

Unusual 4th Dynasty pharaonic tomb at South Saqqara

The Mastabat al-Firaun – Arabic for Bench of the Pharaoh – is the funerary monument of ancient Egyptian king Shepseskaf, the last contemporaneously documented ruler of the 4th Dynasty (c. 2510 BC). It lies in South Saqqara, between the Step Pyramid of Djoser and the pyramids of Sneferu at Dahshur. Remarkably, Shepseskaf chose a different form from his predecessors: not a pyramid but a massive rectangular mastaba with rounded ends. Why he preferred this shape remains a subject of scholarly debate. The monument is a rewarding, less crowded alternative to the famous pyramids for those interested in Egyptology.