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Abstract
The funerary establishment is the organization of the cult of a specific king during a period of time. It includes the architectural setting designed to house the cult. There are several major questions about the general aspects and functions of the architectural components, administration, ritual and economy of these establishments that are still matters of debate.
The site of the Giza necropolis is one of the most strongly integrated of the Old Kingdom (2598 B.C. to 2181 B.C.) funerary establishments. It is well-preserved, systematically planned and dedicated to three virtually successive rulers. Therefore, this site is one of the most important for the clarification of aspects of the royal funerary establishments.
The procedures used in this research involve the examination of both archaeological and textual data at Giza, as well as parallels to Old Kingdom architectural components. The textual data from Giza and elsewhere supplies the names and the titles of the personnel who were members of the funerary establishments of Khuru, Khafra and Menkaura throughout the Old Kingdom.
The results of this work can be summarized as follows: The cultic significance of the establishments was that, Khufu equated himself with Ra and Khafra worshiped Khufu in this form. This new concept is relected on the layout of the two pyramid complexes. Menkaura re-emphasized the cult of Ra through the influence of the priests of Heliopolis.
Organizationally, each pyramid complex had a funerary domain, pyramid city and workshop. One workmen's camp and harbor served the entire Giza necropolis. Khufu and Khafra had a ritual palace for the sed festival, while Menkaura's cult pyramid fulfilled the sed festival need.
On the programmatic side, there developed in Dynasty 4 a specific programme valid for the rest of the Old Kingdom for the wall reliefs, statuary, objects in magazines, architectural components, as well as the personnel of the cult. All these elements correlate to each other in ways which indicate that the pyramid complex is a combination of a temple and palace, dedicated to the triads of Ra, Hathor and Horus, who were the principal divine forces of this period.
The analysis shows that the pyramid complex was not established for the royal funerary procession nor the king's mummification. It was built to celebrate the myth of kingship and the worship of the triad.
