The Pyramid of Sahure is a pyramid complex built in the late-26th to 25th century BC for the Egyptian pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty. The main pyramid was built from roughly hewn limestone blocks bound with mud mortar and encased with fine white Tura limestone. Stone fragments believed to belong to the king's basalt sarcophagus are the only remains of the burial that have been found. A mortuary temple is adjacent to the pyramid's east face and to the south is a cult pyramid, constructed similarly to the main pyramid but on a reduced scale. The layout of the complex was adopted by succeeding kings of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, marking a milestone in pyramid complex construction. Sahure's mortuary temple became the object of a cult of Sekhmet around the Eighteenth Dynasty. The cult was active through to the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The temple also became the site of a Coptic shrine. The site was first thoroughly excavated by Ludwig Borchardt between March 1907 and 1908. (Full article...)