File:Bent Pyramid featuring the original polished limestone outer casing that the pyramids used to have (14797064881).jpg

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English: The Bent Pyramid is an ancient Egyptian pyramid located at the royal necropolis of Dahshur, approximately 40 kilometres south of Cairo, built under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu (c. 2600 BC). A unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt, this was the second pyramid built by Sneferu.

The lower part of the pyramid rises from the desert at a 54-degree inclination, but the top section is built at the shallower angle of 43 degrees, lending the pyramid its very obvious 'bent' appearance.

Archaeologists now believe that the Bent Pyramid represents a transitional form between step-sided and smooth-sided pyramids (see Step pyramid). It has been suggested that due to the steepness of the original angle of inclination the structure may have begun to show signs of instability during construction, forcing the builders to adopt a shallower angle to avert the structure's collapse. This theory appears to be borne out by the fact that the adjacent Red Pyramid, built immediately afterwards by the same Pharaoh, was constructed at an angle of 43 degrees from its base. This fact also contradicts the theory that at the initial angle the construction would take too long because Sneferu's death was nearing, so the builders changed the angle to complete the construction in time. In 1974 Kurt Mendelssohn suggested the change of the angle to have been made as a security precaution in reaction to a catastrophic collapse of the Meidum Pyramid while it was still under construction.

It is also unique amongst the approximately ninety pyramids to be found in Egypt, in that its original polished limestone outer casing remains largely intact. British structural engineer Peter James attributes this to larger clearances between the parts of the casing than used in later pyramids; these imperfections would work as expansion joints and prevent the successive destruction of the outer casing by thermal expansion [Wikipedia.org]
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Source Bent Pyramid featuring the original polished limestone outer casing that the pyramids used to have
Author Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia
Camera location29° 47′ 25″ N, 31° 12′ 33″ E Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

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This image was originally posted to Flickr by Jorge Lascar at https://flickr.com/photos/8721758@N06/14797064881 (archive). It was reviewed on 8 February 2018 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

8 February 2018

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current15:42, 8 February 2018Thumbnail for version as of 15:42, 8 February 20184,288 × 2,848 (1.33 MB)Thesupermat2 (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via Flickr2Commons

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