Editing Unas (section)

==Pyramid complex==
[[File:Unas-Pyramide (Sakkara) 13.jpg|thumb|right|250px|alt=A ruined mass of bricks, sand and rocks resembling an earthen mound|The [[pyramid of Unas]] at Saqqara]]
{{main|Pyramid of Unas}}
Unas had a pyramid built for himself in North [[Saqqara]], between the [[Buried Pyramid|pyramid of Sekhemkhet]] and the southwestern corner of the [[Pyramid of Djoser|pyramid complex of Djoser]], in symmetry with the [[pyramid of Userkaf]] located at the northeastern corner.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=154}} In the process, workers leveled and covered older tombs located in the area,{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=600}} most notably the tomb of the [[Second Dynasty of Egypt|Second Dynasty]] pharaoh [[Hotepsekhemwy]] (c. 2890 BC).{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=154}}

The original Egyptian name of the pyramid was "Nefer Isut Unas", meaning "Beautiful are the places of Unas".{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=118|loc=Table 3}} The pyramid of Unas is the smallest{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=154}} of the pyramids completed during the Old Kingdom, having a square base of {{convert|57.7|x|57.7|m|ft|abbr=on}} for a height of {{convert|43|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=154}}{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=118|loc=Table 3}}

===Mortuary complex===
[[File:01 unas causeway.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A restored section of the causeway of Unas|alt= A paved way of white limestone covered with a roof made of massive stone blocks resting on equally massive walls.]]
The pyramid of Unas is part of a larger mortuary complex built around it. It was approached via an ancient lake{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=83}} on the shores of which Unas' valley temple was located. This temple received the provisions for the cult of the king and the offerings to be made were prepared there. At the back of the valley temple was the beginning of a {{convert|750|m|ft|abbr=off|adj=mid}} [[causeway]], equaled only by that of [[Khufu]],{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=154}} and leading to an upper temple adjacent to the pyramid. A thin slit in the roof of the causeway allowed the light to illuminate its walls covered for their entire length in painted reliefs. These depicted the Egyptian seasons, processions of people from the nomes of Egypt, craftsmen at work, offerings bearers, battle scenes and the transport of granite columns for the construction of the pyramid complex.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=155}}

At the end of the causeway was a large hall leading to a pillared open court surrounded by magazine chambers.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=155}} The court led into the mortuary temple proper which housed statues of the king and where the offerings to the deceased took place.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=155}} This was immediately adjacent to the eastern side of the pyramid, which was surrounded by an enclosure wall defining the sacred space. At the southeast corner of the enclosure was a small satellite pyramid for the Ka of the king.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=154}} The internal chambers of the pyramid were entered in 1881 by [[Gaston Maspero]], who thus discovered the pyramid texts. The burial chamber housed nothing but a black greywacke{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=334}} sarcophagus sunk into the floor and a canopic chest. The sarcophagus proved to contain scattered bones, which may belong to Unas.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=154}}

===Pyramid Texts===
{{main|Pyramid Texts}}
[[File:Unas Pyramidentexte.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The [[Pyramid Texts]] inscribed on the walls of Unas' burial chamber|alt=A large chamber of stone, its walls entirely covered with thousands of hieroglyphs.]]
The main innovation of the pyramid of Unas is the first appearance of the [[Pyramid Texts]],{{sfn|Malek|2000a|p=102}} one of the oldest religious texts in Egypt to have survived to this day.{{efn|group=lower-alpha|Note that the archaic style of certain sections of the ''Pyramid Texts'' indicate that these are much older than Unas' reign.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|pp=154&ndash;155}}}} In doing so, Unas initiated a tradition that would be followed in the pyramid of the kings and queens of the Sixth to Eighth Dynasties, until the end of the Old Kingdom circa 200 years later.{{sfn|Allen|2001|p=95}}

In total 283 magical spells,{{sfn|Lehner|1997|pp=154&ndash;155}}{{efn|group=lower-alpha|The number reported differs from scholar to scholar. Clayton mentions 228 spells;{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=63}} Allen gives 236.{{sfn|Allen|2001|p=95}}}} also known as utterances, were carved and the signs painted blue on the walls of the corridor, antechamber, and burial chamber of Unas' pyramid.{{sfn|Verner|2001c|p=92}} They constitute the most complete rendition of the Pyramid Texts existing today.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=33}} These spells were intended to help the king in overcoming hostile forces and powers in the Underworld and thus join with the sun god [[Ra]], his divine father in the afterlife.{{sfn|Oakes|Gahlin|2002|p=94}} By writing the texts on the walls of the pyramid's internal chambers, the architects of Unas' pyramid ensured that the king would benefit from their potency even if the funerary cult was to cease.{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=600}}{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=95}}
Hence, the Pyramid Texts of the pyramid of Unas incorporate instructions for ritual actions and words to be spoken, suggesting that they were precisely those performed and recited during the cult of the king in his mortuary temple.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|pp=32&ndash;33}}

The good preservation of the texts in Unas' pyramid shows that they were arranged so as to be read by the [[Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul#Ba .28personality.29|Ba]] of Unas, as it arose from the sarcophagus thanks to resurrection utterances and surrounded by protective spells and ritual offerings.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=33}}{{sfn|Allen|2001|p=96}} The Ba would then leave the burial chamber, which incorporates texts identifying the king with Osiris in the [[Duat]], and would move to the antechamber symbolizing the [[Akhet (hieroglyph and season)|Akhet]]. Included in the spells written on the walls of the antechamber of Unas are two utterances known as the [[Pyramid Texts#Cannibal hymn|Cannibal Hymn]], which portrays the pharaoh as flying to heaven through a stormy sky and eating both gods and men. In doing so the king would receive the life force of the gods.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=33}}{{efn|group=lower-alpha|While most historians believe that it is unlikely that Unas himself engaged in cannibalism, the Egyptologist [[E. A. Wallis Budge|Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge]] proposed that the Cannibal Hymn may harken back to an earlier time in Egyptian history when cannibalism was in fact practiced.{{sfn|Budge|1988|p=323}}}}{{efn|group=lower-alpha|This inspired the American [[technical death metal]] band [[Nile (band)|Nile]], which recorded an 11:43-long song titled "Unas, Slayer of the Gods" based on the Cannibal Hymn. It appears on their 2002 album ''[[In Their Darkened Shrines]]''.{{sfn|Music Song Lyrics|2015|loc=Nile Unas Slayer Of The Gods lyrics}}}} At this point the Ba of Unas would face east, the direction of the sunrise, and beyond the pyramid masonry, the [[false door]] of the mortuary temple where funerary rituals were performed. Finally, turning left the Ba would join Ra in the sky by passing through the pyramid corridor.{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=33}}

An example of a spell from the pyramid of Unas is Utterance 217:{{sfn|Oakes|Gahlin|2002|p=94}}<blockquote>Re-Atum, this Unas comes to you<br>A spirit indestructible<br>Your son comes to you<br> This Unas comes to you<br> May you cross the sky united in the dark<br> May you rise in lightland, the place in which you shine!</blockquote>