● Herodotus (450 BC) described it: 'I have seen this building and it is beyond my power to describe; the pyramids are insignificant compared.'
● Strabo (25 BC) visited: 'A great palace comprising many palaces, as many as the nomes of Egypt... the roofs are wholly of stone.'
● Pliny the Elder (77 AD) recorded: '3,000 chambers — half underground, half above — with baffling passages that forced visitors to retrace steps.'
● Built by Amenemhat III (1860 BC) as both temple and administrative center for all 42 Egyptian nomes (provinces) — each with its own shrine.
