Since the very beginning of the 4th dynasty, mortuary temples were built adjacent to pyramids, on the eastern side. Such a location, facing the rising sun as well as the world of the living as a whole, held an important symbolic meaning, for it was within the mortuary temple that kings were revived through daily rituals.
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Tours: Khafre's Funerary Complex
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In its standard form, a mortuary temple was divided into two parts: a front area which consisted of a vestibule and a courtyard, and an area in the back, where all sacred elements were located. The back of the temple incorporated several essential features, including an inner sanctuary with a false door, which allowed the soul of the pharaoh to travel between the world of the dead and the world of the living.
The largest of all such structures, Khafre's mortuary temple, was entirely built with megalithic blocks of limestone from a nearby quarry, and encased with granite. Parts of Khafre's mortuary temple, particularly the courtyard walls, are thought to have been decorated with splendid reliefs. However, not a single image of the king has been discovered inside the mortuary temple.
Khufu's direct successor, Djedefre, followed the custom which required each king to establish a new site for their funerary accommodation, and chose Abu Rawash as his last resting place. When the time came to build his own funerary complex, Khafre, also one of Khufu's sons and the successor to Djedefre, broke with tradition, and returned to Giza. Not only did Khafre thumb his nose at tradition, but he did so in a way which he hoped would allow him to overshadow his father's most important monument.
Though Khafre's pyramid is smaller than Khufu's, it was cunningly built on a more elevated bedrock layer than the Great Pyramid, making it appear higher than any other pyramid at Giza. Today, Khafre's pyramid is the only one among the three at Giza that still has the upper part of its limestone casing.
Considered a most sacred area, the Giza necropolis was strictly defined, both geographically and physically. An 8-meter thick Turah limestone wall completely surrounded the Great Pyramid. The only way inside would have been through the mortuary temple.
From the reign of Sneferu and onwards, the subsidiary pyramid became a common feature within the pyramidal complex. The function of the subsidiary pyramid however, smaller in size and in height than the royal tomb, remains unclear, though some believe that it was meant to house the ka of the pharaoh.
In mainstream media, the ka is often defined as the soul of the deceased. The truth is a bit more complicated. Within the ancient Egyptian funerary belief system, the ka was a component of a living person, which separated itself from the body at the time of death. It represented the deceased's vital essence. In order for the deceased to ascend to a new life, whether in this world or the next, the ka had to be embodied in a statue, and its existence maintained through offerings and rituals.
Within Khafre's subsidiary pyramid, a wooden box containing pieces of cedar was discovered by archaeologists. When reassembled, it turned out to be a shrine mounted on a sled. Just as with the solar barges found around Khufu's pyramid, it seems Khafre's shrine and sled were ritually disposed of after his funeral.