Explore Cairo and the Pyramids Snofru, the founder of the IV
Dynasty, is associated with three different pyramids: the Red
and Bent Pyramids at Dahshur and the Collapsed Pyramid at
Meidum. Given that a pyramid was the pharaoh’s tomb, the
question arises, why would Snofru want three of them? And why is
the Bent Pyramid such a funny shape, changing its angle halfway
up? Some scholars reasoned that the Bent Pyramid’s strange form
resulted from a change of plan prompted by fears for its
stability, and when these persisted, a second, safer pyramid was
built to guarantee Snofru’s afterlife. But for this theory to
hold, it’s necessary to dismiss Snofru’s claim to have
commissioned the pyramid at Maidum as a mere usurpation of an
earlier structure. Two pyramids can be explained, three cannot.
Then, in 1977, Oxford professor Kurt Mendelssohn came up with a
better answer. He suggested there was something like a pyramid
production line. As one pyramid neared completion, surplus
resources were deployed to start another.