Project Vision 21

Francisco Miraval

In the 26th century before the beginning of the Common Era, two pharaohs, Huni and his successor, Snefru, decided to reaffirm their power in southern Egypt and, therefore, they did what any pharaoh worthy of that name would do: they built a pyramid.

The pyramid was located in Edfu (a city that still exists, 466 miles south of Cairo). It was a stepped pyramid rising almost 40 feet above ground (just one tenth of the height of its big sister in Giza.)

In spite of its relatively small size, building such a pyramid 4600 years ago was no small feat. It surely required hundreds if not thousands of workers to cut and transport the stones and then to build the pyramid. This is not a week-end project. It is safe to say that it took several years.

Regardless, the pyramid at Edfu was eventually completed and it began to be used as a place for the inhabitants of Edfu to worship the pharaohs.  This was a way for the pharaohs to solidify their political power in the southern most area of their domains.

But just a few years after the construction was completed, the pyramid was abandoned. Its original purpose was lost. In fact, the land around the pyramid was then used for tombs for infants and children. And only 50 years after the constructions, that is, a generation after Snefru, the pyramid was not only abandoned, but forgotten. I mean, totally forgotten.

All knowledge of the pyramid was lost and there were almost no indications of its existence. In fact, locals thought the ruins of the pyramid were the ruins of a Muslim sheik they revere as a saint. 

So, during thousands of years, the pyramid was forgotten. But just a few weeks ago, in January 2014, Dr. Gregory Marouard, of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, announced the “rediscovery” of the pyramid at Edfu (now just a third of its original size.)

The pyramid at Edfu was a symbol of power, of domain, of worship to a person, of political presence. But in just a few short years the place was abandoned and forgotten. Nobody remembered Huni or Snefru, or their work and desires. The work that took years to complete and the efforts of hundreds of workers was forgotten, left out of history.

I wonder how many more “pyramids of Edfu” we are still building today, be it at a personal level or as the whole country. Sometimes I think the only thing we do, as Huni and Snefru did, is a futile attempt of self-apotheosis that, regardless of the time and efforts we put into it, will be rapidly abandoned and forgotten.

What kind of legacy we will leave? Will anybody remember us beyond just one generation? Are we going to be soon forgotten, even if we build the modern equivalent of the pyramid of Edfu? We work so hard for (supposedly) “eternal” things that we seldom realize oblivion seems to be our future.