Editing Userkaf (section)

===Pyramid of Userkaf===
====Location====
Unlike most pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty, Userkaf built a modest{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=75}} pyramid at North [[Saqqara]], at the north-eastern edge of the enclosure wall surrounding [[Djoser]]'s [[Pyramid of Djoser|pyramid complex]].{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}}{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=50}} This decision, probably political,{{sfn|Verner|2001c|p=91}} may be connected to the return to the city of [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] as center of government,{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}} of which Saqqara to the west is the necropolis, as well as a desire to rule according to principles and methods closer to Djoser's.{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}} In particular, like Djoser's and unlike the pyramid complexes of Giza, Userkaf's mortuary complex is not surrounded by a necropolis for his followers.{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}} For Goedicke, the wider religious role played by Fourth Dynasty pyramids was now to be played by the sun temple, while the king's mortuary complex was to serve only the king's personal funerary needs.{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}} Hence, Userkaf's choice of Saqqara is a manifestation of a return to a "harmonious and altruistic"{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}} notion of kingship which Djoser seemed to have symbolized, against that represented by Khufu who had almost personally embodied the sun-god.{{efn|group=note|Goedicke also notes that the line passing through Userkaf's pyramid and sun temple also passes through the apex of Khufu's pyramid in Giza, an alignment which he believes must be intentional, yet cannot explain.{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}}}}{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=407}}

====Pyramid architecture====
Userkaf's pyramid complex was called ''Wab-Isut Userkaf'', meaning "Pure are the places of Userkaf"{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=116|loc=Table 3}} or "Userkaf's pyramid, holiest of places".{{sfn|Bennett|1966|p=175}}
The pyramid originally reached a height of {{convert|49|m|ft|abbr=on}} for a base-side of {{convert|73.3|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Arnold|2001|p=427}} By volume, this made it the second smallest king's pyramid finished during the Fifth Dynasty after [[Pyramid of Unas|that of]] the final ruler, [[Unas]].{{sfn|Grimal|1992|pp=76–78}} The reduced size of the pyramid as compared to those of Userkaf's Fourth Dynasty predecessors owes much to the rise of the cult of Ra which diverted spiritual and financial resources away from the king's burial.{{sfn|Kozloff|1982|p=211}} The pyramid was built following techniques established during the Fourth Dynasty, with a core made of stones rather than employing rubble as in subsequent pyramids of the Fifth and [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth]] Dynasties.{{sfn|El-Khouly|1978|p=35}} The core was so poorly laid out, however, that once the pyramid's outer casing of fine limestone had been robbed, it crumbled into a heap of rubble.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=140}} The burial chamber was lined with large limestone blocks, its roof made of [[gable]]d limestone beams.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=140}}