Pyramid of Pepi II

29.8419°N, 31.2147°E.

Pyramid at South Saqqara built for Pepi II Neferkare, the last great pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty, who reigned approximately 2278–2184 BCE — the longest reign in pharaonic history at over ninety years. Original base 78.75 metres per side; original height 52.5 metres at a 53° slope. The Egyptian name of the complex was Men-ankh-Neferkare — Neferkare's Life Endures. Excavated by Gustave Jéquier between 1926 and 1932 and published in three volumes that remain the standard reference. The burial chamber preserved one of the most complete Pyramid Text sequences known, the basalt sarcophagus inscribed with the king's titularies, and three satellite queen's pyramids built into the enclosure for Neith, Iput II, and Wedjebten. The Old Kingdom did not survive him — the central administration collapsed within a generation of his burial.

A king who outlived his sons, his viziers, and the dynasty itself, in a pyramid built to a template that no Egyptian ruler would attempt at this scale for another five hundred years.