Column Fragments - Fifth Dynasty


Palm Column of Sahure
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, reign of Sahure, ca. 2458–2446 B.C.E.
Egypt, Memphite Region, Abu Sir (Abusir, el-Kom el-Ahmar), Pyramid temple of King Sahure
Granite, 650 cm (255 7/8 in.)
Rogers Fund, 1910, (10.175.137)


Miroslav Verner illustrated one of Sahure's columns in _The Pyramids_.
You can get an idea of how it joined with the horizontal lintel.

From Museum website:
"This massive column is one of sixteen that surrounded an open courtyard in the pyramid temple of the pharaoh Sahure, whose names and epithets are inscribed in the panel. The column is a single block of granite, originally 21 1/2 feet high (6.45 m). The stone was quarried at Aswan and ferried downstream more than five hundred miles to the pyramid site at Abusir. Many elements in pharaonic stone architecture are stylized representations of wood and reed elements that may have existed only in very early structures. The palm column seems to imitate a wooden pole with date-palm fronds lashed to the top with rope. The end of the rope, tucked under the lashings, reappears beneath as a loop."

Pyramids: Treasures, Mysteries, and New Discoveries in Egypt, by Zahi Hawass and others, shares a map so we can see where these columns would be, in 'area B' according to the map:


kairoinfo4u shares a view of two of Sahure's columns in situ.


Institute for the Study of the Ancient World has a view of the columns from the perspective of a person who is facing the pyramid

And now for a different pharaoh's column, that is at the Met museum:

Granite Column fragment
Egyptian, Dynasty 5, perhaps reign of Unis (ca. 2353-2323 BCE)
Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.229.2)

From info card:
"This column fragment with a palm-leaf capital is said to be from the pyramid temple of King Unis at Saqqara. Its dimensions differ, however, from those of other columns that belong either to his pyramid temple or to the valley temple."