Menkaure - part 2
Jan 22nd, 2007 by Lee (admin)
Menkaure is shown as a healthy, well built and young man as he poses with the goddess Hathor (left) and a deity guarding a province. Today it is exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
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On the right, Menkaure is depicted with his favourite queen, Khamerernebty II, and this ibeautiful piece of Egyptian sculpture can now be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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Menkaure is perhaps the king from the Old Kingdom that Egyptologists have the most knowledge of, in terms of his physical appearance.
This is due to a lucky strike made by American archaeologist Reisner in 1910 when he found half a dozen undestroyed statues of the king together with goddesses or his queen (see previous picture).
These depictions have enabled scientists to reconstruct his looks, since they seem to be proper portrayals rather than idealistic depictions. However, the body is shown to be rather athletic, even though Menkaure was almost certainly middle-aged when he became Pharaoh.When Menkaure died, the 4th Dynasty was as good as ended. His son, Shepseskaf, would finish the last of the great pyramids before reverting back to a mastaba for his own tomb, after just four years of rule. At this point the most famous Egyptian period of history ended and the 5th Dynasty began.