Meidum Pyramid

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

The remains of a pyramid at Meidum, about 100 km south of the modern city of Cairo, was known as Djed-Snofru "Snefru endures" which is one reason it is associated with the great Egyptian pyramid builder Snefru, the pharaoh who started the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613-2494 B.C.) of the pyramid-building era of Egypt, known as the Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2160 B.C.). The pyramid collapsed, but scholars do not agree on when. Since Snefru built more pyramids, it could be that he was unhappy with the pyramid precisely because it collapsed.

Michael Lally [see citation below] says the Meidum pyramid was built in three stages. The first stage was a finished pyramid with seven steps and covered in Tura limestone. The second stage enlarged the original, adding blocks all around to make, again, a finished, but this time eight-step pyramid. In the third stage, the steps were filled in to form a real pyramid. It is possible the pyramid collapsed during the third stage. Also popular as a theory is that the pyramid collapsed when the structure was used as a quarry in later ages. By the time of Napoleon, there were only three steps left.

Source:

• "Engineering a Pyramid," by Michael T. Lally; Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 26, (1989), pp. 207-218.