Pharaoh Unas’s pyramid contains the earliest known Pyramid Texts.
Unas was the final ruler of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty, reigning in the late 24th century BCE. His pyramid stands at Saqqara, south of modern Cairo, and its inner chambers preserve religious inscriptions that became known as the Pyramid Texts.
These inscriptions were designed to aid the king’s transformation and ascent into the divine realm. They mention gods, stars, offerings, protective spells, and the king’s renewed life after death.
The pyramid is sometimes overlooked because it is much smaller than the Great Pyramid. Its importance is textual rather than monumental: it introduced the earliest surviving extensive body of Egyptian funerary literature. Later Fifth- and Sixth-Dynasty pyramids continued the practice.