The Kahun

Kahun was built, c.1895 BC, to house the workmen employed in building the pyramid and temples of King Sesostris II. However, it was also occupied by officials who supervised the pyramid building programme, and later, by priests and other personnel who served in the temples. The kings of the 12th Dynasty developed various irrigation projects in this area, and Kahun would also have played a significant role in these concerns. It undoubtedly became a prosperous and important centre, and it would be wrong to regard it simply as a pyramid workmen’s town. In antiquity, both the town and the temple, which adjoined it and was part of the pyramid complex, were known by the name of ‘Hetep-Sesostris’—‘Sesostris is pleased, or satisfied’. However, Petrie, on discovering the site in 1887, asked an old man what the town was called.

Medinet kahun

The town beyond the temple (called Medinet Kahun I hear) I now suspect to be of the age of the temple, 12th Dynasty, and to be almost untouched since then. If so, it will be a prize to work for historical interest of dated objects. I cannot be certain yet as to its age, but the pottery is quite unlike any that I yet know, except some chips of 12th Dynasty that I got at Hawara: and the walls of the town run regardless of natural features, over a low hill and back again but square with the temple. In the 1888/9 season, Petrie, anxious to prevent a German dealer Kruger from ransacking the sites, placed a small number of workmen at Kahun and Gurob. He visited them and supervised their work as frequently as possible from the nearby site of Hawara which he was currently working. According to an entry in his Journal (8–15 April 1889), he was finally able to start his excavation at Kahun.

21st and 26th Dynasties.

A small temple adjoined the pyramid on the east, and half a mile distant on the edge of the desert lay another temple, also part of the original pyramid complex. North of the larger temple was situated the town of the pyramid workmen, known today as ‘Kahun’. At the south end of the dyke, a later town, built in the 18th Dynasty, also attracted Petrie’s attention. Egyptologists know it by the name of ‘Gurob’ or ‘Medinet Gurob’. An entry in his Journal for the period 24 February to 2 March 1889 clearly indicates Petrie’s initial interest in the site of Kahun, and his accurate perception of its historical importance