Limestone pyramidion of Wedjahor

Possibly from Abydos, Egypt
Early 26th Dynasty, around 650 BC

The uppermost stone on a royal pyramid in the Old Kingdom (about 2613-2160 BC) and Middle Kingdom (about 2040-1750 BC) is called a pyramidion. In the New Kingdom (about 1550-1070 BC) it became the practice for tombs to have small brick pyramids above them, on which were placed small pyramidia, relatively small pyramid-shaped pieces of stone.

After the New Kingdom the practice seems to have died out, though it did reappear briefly in the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664-525 BC) at Abydos. The pyramidion of Wedjahor dates to this period.

Each face of the pyramidion is decorated with a figure of the Anubis jackal, beneath which is a figure of Wedjahor adoring different gods. The east and west faces show forms of the sun god (as would be expected: the pyramid shape is a solar symbol), while the others show a form of Osiris and Anubis. There is thus clearly one aspect of the object which is solar in nature, while another is concerned with death and the Afterlife.

G. Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)

H. de Meulenaere, 'Pyramidions d'Abydos', Jaarbericht ... ex Oriente Lux, 20 (1967), pp. 13-15