Food and fun, work and play, you will be surprised by how much remains the same.  Summary, analysis, and some really cool video clips wait inside!

The Hidden History of Egypt is presented by Terry Jones, with Egyptologist and fellow Brit, Dr. Joann Fletcher serving as his guide and advisor.  It was written by Terry Jones, Alan Ereira, and Phil Grabsky, and was directed and produced by Phil Grabsky, in conjunction with Seventh Art Productions, for the Discovery Channel (original air date—January 20, 2002).

In The Hidden History of Egypt, comedian, philosopher, and social commentator Terry Jones seeks to uncover the mysteries of one of ancient Egypt’s most secretive orders—the everyday man and woman.  With all the attention given to celebrity mummies, touring treasure troves, and custody battles over “stolen” artifacts, it’s easy to forget about the people who paid the taxes, crafted the treasures, and built the monuments, which Terry Jones dismisses as the “funeral arrangements for some crazed megalomaniac.” 

But this documentary doesn’t rely solely on ancient chronicles to bring the citizens of Dynastic Egypt to life (although there is certainly plenty of that as well).  Instead, Mr. Jones asserts that in many ways life in Egypt remains unchanged, and to get an idea of how the average ancient Egyptian lived, one needn’t look further than how ordinary Egyptians live today.

Click here to view the embedded video.

To assist him in this undertaking, Mr. Jones enlists the expertise of Dr. Joann Fletcher to act as his (and our) guide.  The mix is a good one and it is clear the Mr. Jones and Dr. Fletcher are genuinely enjoying their tour of ancient and modern Egypt.  Dr. Fletcher is equally at home in the field and in the Egyptian social milieu, and Mr. Jones’ natural wit—in all senses of the word—is both entertaining and thought provoking in equal measure.   

The video opens with scenes of modern agrarian life and Dr. Fletcher’s observation that one of the key similarities between the ancient and the modern Egyptians is their spirit of cooperation.  Neighbors help neighbors with planting and harvesting, building houses and maintaining common resources, and putting on social events and celebrations, just as they have always done. 

The collective activities of average individuals working together toward common goals is a recurring theme throughout the video, and  Dr. Fletcher points out that it is this communal character that transformed the Giza Plateau into the Sphinx, the temples, and the pyramids.

This leads into a montage of clips of ancient builders that seems to have been culled from classic movies and outdated documentaries showing slaves and citizens-in-duress toiling under threat of the pharaoh’s whip.  Fortunately Terry counters this with the radical notion that the pyramid builders were not slaves, but free people working in a collaborative effort (for more on this, see Who Built the Pyramids? Part 1: The Lost City of the Pyramid Builders, here on Em Hotep).

In order to get a more realistic depiction of how the ordinary ancient Egyptian spent a typical day at work, we begin at Saqqara with a visit to the tomb of Ti “the Rich.”  Ti was an important Fifth Dynasty court official whose rather large estate employed an equally large workforce.  Apparently Ti was given to wandering his grounds and eavesdropping on his employees, and many of the rather mundane interactions he observed found their way onto the walls of his tomb.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Actually, tomb scenes depicting average people going about the business of their average days are not all that unusual in Egypt, as the ideal afterlife was basically a continuation of an ideal life.   These portrayals provide us with a detailed look at ancient life, which this documentary makes good use of by interjecting clips of modern Egyptians conducting the same activities in much the same way.

 Another example visited by The Hidden History of Egypt is the tomb of master craftsman Sennedjem at Deir el-Medina, a sort of up-scale village adjacent to the Valley of the Kings where the builders of the royal tombs dwelt.  Like Ti, Sennedjem had his tomb decorated with scenes of how he envisioned his afterlife, which included working in his garden with his wife.  Again we see video clips of modern Egyptians doing the same work with the same tools.

We then take a walk down into Deir el-Medina for a tour of Sennedjem’s house.  Dr. Fletcher explains the architecture of the house and shows evidence of how the furniture was arranged, food and water were stored, and how and where the family would have slept.  This is followed by a trip to a modern working-class Egyptian house where we see how little things have changed in 4,500 years, from the architecture down to the furniture.

The Hidden History of Egypt stands apart from other Egyptological documentaries in its ability to get its point across without the use of reenactments and computer animations.  Not that there is anything wrong with reenactments and animations per se, it’s just that this documentary doesn’t need them.  The juxtaposition of ancient artistic renderings with modern video footage and comparing ancient sites to currently occupied spaces leaves little doubt that the secret lives of ordinary ancient Egyptians are not so secret after all.  They are still going on every day throughout Egypt.

The video turns next to comparing the ancient and modern palates with a trip to the suq.  Winding our way through the marketplace we again find that the Egyptians have found little need for change.  But the scenes of beer and winemaking and the baking of bread are interrupted when Terry and Joann arrive at a tailor where they commission a kilt and robe ensemble for Terry based on an ancient pattern provided by Joann.

While the tailor weaves his ancient magic, we resume our culinary comparison with a trip to the village of Gurna, located across the Nile from Luxor, not far from Sennedjem’s house.  Over a lunch of beer and a variety of breads, Dr. Fletcher explains that bread and beer were the fuel that powered the pyramid builders.  Unlike our modern lackluster bread, the fare of the ancient Egyptians provided the calories needed to put in a hard day of cutting stone and dragging blocks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The documentary provides another interesting example of the ancient surviving into the modern with a discussion of how the ancient Egyptian language was kept alive by, of all institutions, the Coptic Church.  When the Roman Emperor Theodosius banned pagan temples, the video explains, his edict had the collateral effect of closing the schools, libraries, medical centers, and legal courts of Egypt.  All civil life was tied to the temples, and when they closed they took with them the written, and eventually the spoken, language.

But just as the Catholic Church preserved Latin, the Coptic Church retained a distant linguistic cousin of ancient Egyptian as the official language of the liturgy.  Terry Jones points out that modern Coptic is probably as distinct from ancient Egyptian as modern English is from Anglo Saxon, but it was sufficient to help with decoding the hieroglyphs after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799.

The Hidden History of Egypt makes other comparisons between ancient and modern Egyptians, and modernity does not necessarily always come out on top.  In one segment we learn that the engineers who moved the colossal temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel were not able to reassemble it with the same precision as the ancients, and in another segment we find that women in ancient Egypt had superior rights and equality to much of the world today. 

And the Monty Python alumnus has his trademark moments of humor, such as when he dons his ancient Egyptian kilt and robe, along with traditional makeup and a stylish (by Old Kingdom standards) wig, for a walk around the modern streets.  Judging from the reactions he gets, some things have clearly changed over the millennia.

But The Hidden History of Egypt is by no means cheeky, it easily stands toe to toe with the best Egyptological documentaries.  The humor is functional in supporting the thesis that not only have the tools and trades of the ancients survived the ages, the sometimes quirky and sometimes sublime character of the Egyptian people endures to this day.  Mr. Jones concludes that while the pharaohs and their riches have been preserved as public property in the world’s museums,

Perhaps the real immortality is to be found among ordinary men and women, living lives that have changed very little since the days of the pharaohs.  Perhaps the hidden history ancient Egypt has been here all along, under our noses.

After viewing The Hidden History of Egypt, I am inclined to agree.

See Also

• Hemienu to Houdin: Building A Great Pyramid – Introduction
• Coptic Cairo: A Complex Design of Many Parts
• Dance of the Ancient and the Modern: The Streets of Cairo

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2010.  All rights reserved.

The clips “Intro”, “In the Tomb of Ti”, and “Lunch with Sennedjem”, are taken from the Discovery Channel video “The Hidden History of Egypt,” copyright by the Discovery Channel, 2002, all rights reserved.  These clips and the related still images are used in accordance with the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act in that they are used for purposes of education and critique.  The fair use clause provides that the reviewer has the right to use as much of an original work as they need to in order to put it under some kind of scrutiny, so long as the reviewer analyzes, comments on, or responds to the work itself, and such use does not satisfy the consumer’s need or desire for the original.

According to the AFP newswire, one of the tombs is the largest yet discovered at Saqqara.  As Zahi Hawass put it, “It took me two hours to look around it” (Source: AFP: “Huge tomb found at Egypt’s Saqqara pyramid” [article no longer online]).  Although there is no mention of a pyramid in the story, the story’s title probably refers to the pyramid complex of Djoser, which is often considered synonymous with Saqqara, although there are a number of other pyramids at the site.  It is unclear at this point if the tombs are in any way related to Djoser’s step pyramid.

The larger tomb has a primary chamber described as “vast” with alcoves branching off.  One of the alcoves contained pottery and human skeletons, but no human mummies were discovered in the tomb.  There were mummified falcons, however, in another alcove.  Yet another alcove contained a 23-foot-deep well.

All that we know about the second tomb is that it contained pottery.  The looting of both tombs, according to one source (Earth Times:  “2,500-year-old tomb unearthed in Egypt”), occurred sometime in the Fifth Century AD. 

Details are few at this point, there being no posting as of this date at Zahi Hawass’ Official Website, and the discovery was apparently made by Egyptian archaeologists, so the full story will be released on the Supreme Council of Antiquities’ schedule.

Saqqara has been the location of a number of wonderful discoveries in recent years, including a pyramid believed to belong to Queen Sesheshet, mother of Pharaoh Teti, the first king if the Sixth Dynasty, and the Old Kingdom  tombs of the courtiers lya-Maat and Thinh. 

Update

For some pictures check out Discovery News:  “Largest Saqqara Tomb Discovered“.  Also, it would seem that the word “well” above, as in 23-foot-deep well, was a mistranslation.  It is at this point simply a hole, which of course isn’t simple at all, since it doesn’t seem to be a tomb shaft, so what is it?

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2009.  All rights reserved.

The photos “Camels at Saqqara” and “Guards are forbidden” by Keith Payne, copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

Djoser’s complex is a highly integrated machine, an eternal representation of institutions, religions, and architecture culled from all corners of Egypt and incorporated into a stone microcosm intended to project the king’s world into the afterlife.

Pharaoh Djoser

Pharaoh Djoser (Photo by Keith Payne)

The pharaoh commonly referred to as Djoser was actually known by the name Netjerikhet (“Body of the Gods”) in his own time and was not known as Djoser until the New Kingdom Period.  He was the first king of the Third Dynasty and ruled from about 2667 to 2648 BC, around 20 years, although some Egyptologists argue his rule was closer to 30 years. 

Inscriptions on several jars dated to his rule indicate that he was the son of Pharaoh Khasekhemwy, the last king of the Second Dynasty.  Some Egyptologists have attested that Djoser was the second king of the Third Dynasty, with his (possible) brother Sanakhte being the first.  However, most now believe that Sanakhte’s rule followed that of Djoser.  Some of the tales in the Westcar Papyrus place Djoser before Sanakhte, and seals at the entrance of Khasekhemwy’s tomb point to Djoser as his successor

Djoser’s policies were driven by an aspiration to gain control of economically important regions and then stabilize them under a centralized government.  He annexed the Sinai, for example, securing the valuable copper and turquoise mines located there.  His rule was a stable one, with no significant expansion of borders and no particular foreign threats.  It is thus no coincidence that Egypt experienced a growth of building projects in both scope and scale under Djoser’s reign.

King Djoser moved the royal court to Memphis, which would remain the political and cultural capitol of Egypt until the center of power shifted to Alexandria under the Ptolemies of the Thirty-Second Dynasty.  His decision to eschew burial at Abydos in favor of Saqqara, previously a cemetery for lesser nobles and high court officials, would also become the norm for Egyptian rulers.

Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara (Photo by Keith Payne)

Both Djoser and his vizier, Imhotep, would become historical heroes, particularly during the New Kingdom Period, with each having their own cult.  This revived fame, however, seems to have had more to do with their architectural innovation than any political or military achievements.  Their use of stone as a building material made them, quite literally, rock stars.

Egypt in Microcosm

Vizier Imhotep (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The complex of Djoser at Saqqara was designed by his vizier and chief architect (and some say brother) Imhotep.  Imhotep, whose name means “the one who comes in, with peace,” was a Renaissance man by anyone’s standard.  Poet, priest, and politician, not to mention architect and physician, he was elevated to godhood and worshipped for more than two millennia, including a cult in Greece where he was deified as Asclepius. 

To say that the Step Pyramid Imhotep designed was the first pyramid constructed in Egypt (which it was), and that the complex he designed around it would become the prototype for pyramid complexes of the future (which it did), is an understatement.  What Imhotep built was nothing less than a symbolic representation of all Egypt, from which Djoser would continue his role as sovereign in the afterlife.  Everything that was Egypt, from culture to religion to politics, would be recreated within its enclosure wall. 

The Step Pyramid of Djoser from the Southern Tomb (Photo by Keith Payne)

For all his innovation, Imhotep could hardly be called trendy.  The catalyst of some of the most significant architectural conventions in human history, he seems to have had much less interest in change than preservation.  He meticulously reproduced not only the architectural styles that were traditional for his time, but mimicked the very building materials that were used, all in stone. 

Prior to Imhotep, mastabas and other structures were constructed with sun-baked mudbrick, wood, and other organic materials.  But in Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex, stone was cut to the same size and dimensions as mudbrick.  Stone pillars were designed to look as if they were fashioned of bundled stems and tree trunks. Stone beams were made to resemble wooden logs.  Stone walls were carved to have the appearance of reed mat coverings.  Stone surfaces were painted to resemble mudbrick and plant materials.

Many of the structures within Djoser’s complex were built for purely symbolic purposes.  Architectural styles and materials of different regions were rendered in facsimile, with their gods and institutions duly represented.  Even the buildings themselves were figurative in construction, having detailed facades and the occasional shallow entrance, but were otherwise of solid construction.

Artificial doors built to convey passage between this life and the afterlife, buildings whose interiors exist only in the spirit world, a false tomb that mirrors the subterranean construction of the Step Pyramid—all of these were elements in a Hollywood-style set designed to represent in stone on the mortal plane structures that would have their true existence in the afterlife.  Many of the buildings were purposely buried in order to reinforce their association with the afterlife.

The Enclosure Wall

As pyramid complexes would be in the future, Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex was entirely surrounded by an enclosure wall.  The wall originally was nearly 35 feet high and just over a mile long.  The complex was further cloistered by a trench that ran along the wall’s outer perimeter, and from which much of the building materials of the complex were likely quarried.

The enclosure wall and entrance to the colonnade (Photo by Keith Payne)

The enclosure wall was constructed of a rough-hewn core faced with limestone cut to resemble mudbrick and reed matting.  The paneled appearance of the wall is thought to be evocative of the palace walls.  Every 12-14 feet uniform bastions protrude, and at irregular intervals there are fourteen barbicans, thirteen with false doors and one with the actual entrance to the complex in the southern end of the eastern wall.

The Entrance and Colonnade

The entrance to the complex is rendered to appear to be a large open wooden door, but is actually of solid and immovable construction.  It opens into what is considered to be the first hypostyle hall in the world.  The limestone ceiling is crafted to look as if made of logs.  The 40 columns within, constructed of segmented masonry carved to resemble bundled reeds or logs, serve no actual supportive function. 

Segmented attached columns in the colonnade (Photo by Keith Payne)

Thirty-two of these columns are attached by masonry to the corridor walls, creating 24 niches in which statues may have once stood, and which are considered to be symbolic of the 24 provinces (nomes) of Djoser’s Egypt.  After the twelfth pair, the columns are situated closer together to create the illusion that the hall is longer than it actually is.  The last four pairs of columns are free-standing and lead to the Southern Court.  The exit is also meant to resemble a large open wooden door.

The Southern Court

Across the Great Southern Court to the Heb Sed Court and colonnade (Photo by Keith Payne)

The colonnade opens into the southeast corner of the Southern Court, an area bounded by the pyramid to the north and the Southern Tomb in the south.  There are the remains of two low-walled B-shaped structures, aligned with their straight sides facing inward.  Thought to represent Upper and Lower Egypt, it is thought that the king would have raced back and forth between the structures during the Heb Sed Festival.

The Heb Sed Court

Located to the East of the Southern Court and north of the colonnade, the rectangular Heb Sed Court is where the majority of the Heb Sed ritual would have been played out.  The Heb Sed Ritual was a symbolic show of vehm and vigor wherein the king would race back and forth between representations of Upper and Lower Egypt, probably the B-shaped structures in the Southern Court, to demonstrate his strength and vitality. It would be followed by great feasts and celebrations.

The Heb Sed Court (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The Heb Sed Court is thought to be the site of a ritual procession involved with the festival.  There is a symbolic representation of the king’s palace, complete with thrones of Upper and Lower Egypt, and false buildings and chapels lining both sides of the court from end to end.  The buildings were little more than solid structures with detailed facades constructed in the styles of their constituent regions.

The Heb Sed was traditionally celebrated after the king had spent thirty years in office, although there were exceptions, but it is generally thought that Djoser never had an opportunity to make use of the Heb Sed Court due to the length of his reign.

The Southern Tomb and Chapel

As you enter the Southern Court you are facing a chapel wall with a protective frieze of cobras.  The chapel wall extends from the southern enclosure wall and forms the eastern wall of a mastaba known as the southern tomb.  Although it is called a tomb, it is too small for a sarcophagus, and like much of the rest of the complex, appears to have served a symbolic function.

Looking up at the cobra frieze of the Southern Tomb (Photo by Keith Payne)

The shaft within the mastaba leads 92 feet down to a subterranean complex that serves as a small scale model of the tunnels under Djoser’s pyramid.  The complex contains rooms for storage and offerings, along with other areas that mimic the passages under the pyramid itself, although there are differences as well. 

The complex beneath the pyramid is oriented along a north south axis, while the south tomb has an east west axis.  The adornments and reliefs within the South Tomb are of higher detail and quality than those beneath the Step Pyramid, leading to speculation that it was completed earlier and at more leisure than the pyramid.  It is believed that the South Tomb may have been one of the resting places of the king’s Ka, and may be the forerunner of the small scale cult pyramids that would become standard to pyramid complexes that follow.

The House of the North and the House of the South

North of the Heb Sed Court are two large shrines, each with its own courtyard, called the House of the North and the House of the South.  Again we find representation of Upper and Lower Egypt, not only in the style of architecture, but in the actual buildings they recreate.  And again, the structures are purely symbolic and almost entirely solid.

 The House of the South has the appearance of a mudbrick structure with four faux columns.  It appears to be a representation of the Shrine of Nekhbet in the southern city of Hierakonpolis, and in its courtyard is a faux column with a lotus capital, the symbol of Upper (southern) Egypt.

The House of the South (Photo by Keith Payne)

The House of the North is likewise rendered to appear as if constructed of mudbrick, with four engaged columns.  The House of the North has been compared to the Shrine of Wadjet located in the northern delta city of Buto.  There are three faux columns in its courtyard topped with papyrus capitals, the symbol of Lower (northern) Egypt.

The Mortuary Temple

One of the few buildings in the complex that was fully functional rather than symbolic, Djoser’s mortuary temple would have been the center of his cult after his death.  This is where priests, penitents, and family members would come to make offerings and perform rituals to honor the king in his afterlife. 

The mortuary temple is another aspect of Djoser’s complex that would become a standard element in pyramid complexes of the future, although future mortuary temples would be located to the east of the pyramid, whereas Djoser’s is located to the north.

Although a functioning building, the mortuary is still replete with symbolic representations of traditional architecture and building materials.  The building would have had an traditional appearance, along with stone doors that don’t actually close, pillars that don’t actually support anything, and blocks cut to approximate the appearance of mudbricks. 

The "original" entrance to the Step Pyramid from the Mortuary Temple (Photo by Keith Payne)

The original entrance to the pyramid is located within the mortuary temple, although calling it original may be a misnomer.  When the first stage of the step pyramid (which was actually a mastaba at this point) was expanded, the original mortuary temple and entrance were moved further north and the Northern Court area was extended to maintain symmetry.  But original not, the temple entrance to the pyramid is no longer functional—like many other pyramids, access today is gained through an entrance dug out long ago by plunderers.

The Serdab

The serdab is a small sealed structure that once held the statue of King Djoser that became the earthly vessel of his Ka after his death.  The original statue, which is the earliest example of life-sized human statuary recovered from Egypt so far, is in the Cairo Museum.  The statue that sits in the serdab now is a replica.

Looking into the serdab at King Djoser (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Located on the northeastern corner of the pyramid, to the east of the mortuary temple, the serdab is another place where offerings for King Djoser would have been made.  Although the serdab is closed all around, there are two holes through which the king’s Ka statue would have been able to see the northern constellations to guide him in the afterlife. 

The location of the serdab is in alignment with a section in the Step Pyramid’s subterranean complex that was symbolic of Djoser’s personal chambers in his earthly palace.  Again, the form, location, and symbolism of the serdab make it a part of a vast finely tuned machine whose purpose was to extend the material world into the afterlife, and vice versa.

The Step Pyramid

Djoser’s Step Pyramid was originally about 197 feet tall, and like the rest of the structures in the complex, is made of stone brick cut to approximate the size and scale of mudbrick.  Built of a rough-cut core surrounded by dressed limestone with a layer of filler in between, the step-shape is thought to be representative of King Djoser’s ascension to the afterlife. 

Looking across the Southern Court to the Step Pyramid (Photo by Keith Payne)

Long considered the earliest large-scale stone construction, this honor actually may go to the “Great Enclosure” (Arabic: Gisr el-Mudir) west of the Pyramid of Sekhemkhet, which predates the Step Pyramid. 

Imhotep’s idea for the design of Djoser’s pyramid may not have come quite out of the blue.  Mastaba 3038, constructed some 200 years earlier during the reign of King Anedjib, was situated on a mud-brick step mound which looks remarkably like the beginnings of a step pyramid, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Mastaba 3038--The inspiration for the Step Pyramid?

The first stage was a square mastaba with a core of locally quarried stone, faced with dressed limestone and surrounded by its own enclosure wall.  The mastaba was then extended about 13 feet in all directions by a slightly lower addition, resulting in a square mastaba with a single low step.  It was again resurfaced with limestone.  A third extension was added, this time to the east side alone, resulting in a rectangular mastaba with two steps on the eastern side.

The entire structure was again encased within a single square level, to which three more square layers were added, growing smaller as they rose.  The result was Pyramid 1, a square four-tiered step pyramid.  In the final stage, these first four layers were again extended, this time into rectangular layers oriented east to west, and two more layers were added to the top resulting in Pyramid 2, a six-tiered step pyramid, which was then cased in dressed limestone.

Djoser's Step Pyramid--the first pyramid in Egypt (Photo by Keith Payne)

The Subterranean Network of the Step Pyramid

Although it lies completely out of sight, Djoser’s burial chamber and associated tunnels and galleries are at least as impressive as any other part of the complex at Saqqara.  Djoser was buried in a red granite sarcophagus at the bottom of a 92-foot shaft under the pyramid.  His mummy was not found, and what few remains have been recovered from the burial chamber date to a later period.

There is evidence that the burial chamber may have originally been lined with limestone and alabaster and may have had a ceiling painted with the sort starry canopy seen in later pyramids in the Saqqara region, but was later stripped and relined with granite.  Fragments of what may have been the original limestone, and a section of the starry ceiling, have been recovered nearby.

Miles of tunnels under Djoser's pyramid (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Branching off from the burial chamber is a maze of more than three miles of tunnels, shafts, storerooms, and tombs.  Many of the walls are sided with faience-covered limestone or blue tiling.  There are scenes of the king performing the Heb Sed festival and wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. 

Parts of the subterranean halls and galleries seem to be symbolic of the king’s living chambers in the palace, while others are thought to have been burial chambers for Djoser’s immediate family.  Some of his worldly possessions were recovered in these passages, including what appear to be “antiques” belonging to Djoser’s ancestors. 

There have been human remains recovered from Djoser’s underworld, and at least one mummy was, oddly enough, older than Djoser by several generations.  It is possible that, along with family heirlooms, Djoser may have had some of his ancestor relocated to his pyramid complex.  Another explanation is that the builders accidentally tunneled into older pre-existing tombs.

The Step Pyramid Complex Today

Djoser’s pyramid complex remains one of the primary heritage sites in Egypt, and the main reason why visitors come to Saqqara.  In 2008 the Supreme Council of Antiquities began a sweeping conservation project to address the environmental issues that threaten Djoser’s complex.  Some of the problems are natural attrition inherent to a structure that has stood for 5,000 years.  Others are man-made and more recent. 

Efforts continue to reconstruct collapsed sections of Djoser's Pyramid (Photo by Keith Payne)

Beneath the pyramid the problem is water buildup.  Water tables have been rising all over Egypt since the building of the Aswan Dam, which occurred in several phases beginning in the early 20th century.  The Step Pyramid is not alone in this respect.  Rising water is a ubiquitous problem all along the Nile River as the environmental effects of the dam threaten Egyptian communities and heritage sites alike.

On the external surface, wind erosion and the occasional torrential rain have taken a gradual toll.  Large sections of brick have fallen away over the centuries leaving weak spots.  Archaeologists are making their way through the rubble around the base of the pyramid identifying blocks that are then used to repair the structure.

The conservation work has also proven that much remains to be discovered at Djoser’s complex.  A deep shaft tunneling beneath the pyramid and later tombs dug into the surface of the pyramid itself are just two of these recent discoveries.  Even more is likely to be revealed as efforts continue in the subterranean portion of the Step Pyramid.

Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex remains a testament to the rule of a king who was able to provide enough social stability and economic prosperity to conceive and carryout such a project.  It is likewise proof of the genius of Imhotep, certainly one of the most brilliant human beings ever to live.  This giant stone device may or may not have succeeded in projecting Djoser’s reign into the afterlife, but it has undeniably preserved his legacy across time and into our lives.

The future on the horizon--Dashur Pyramids from Djoser's Complex (Photo by Keith Payne)

Further Reading

The Ancient Egypt Site

Netjerikhet

Discovering Ancient Egypt

The Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Egyptian Monuments

Pyramid and Mortuary Complex of Djoser

LookLex Egypt

Zoser’s Step Pyramid

Talking Pyramids

Pyramid of Djoser

Tour Egypt

The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara in Egypt

 Zahi Hawass’ Blog

Saving the Step Pyramid

Photographs ”Imhotep-Louvre.jpg” by Wiki user Hu Totya, “Saqqara – Pyramid of Djoser complex – Heb-sed Court – view 1.jpg” by Wiki user Daniel Mayer, “Saqqarah Djeser 10.jpg” by Wiki user Sebi, and “Djoser-tombe-sud-firth.jpg” by Cecil M. Firth are provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of those files under the conditions that you appropriately attribute them, and that you distribute them only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

After all, as informative as it is, the new post doesn’t really contain anything new.  Of course, he is currently blogging about the pyramids in the vicinity of Dashur.  I think I might know why..

The Bent Pyramid of Dashur (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

The Bent Pyramid of Snefru at Dashur is interesting to behold.  It isn’t as klunky as King Huni‘s Meidum Pyramid, or the fortress-like Black Pyramid.  When you look at the Bent Pyramid you can really see where Snefru was going with the project.  Unfortunately, the path he was taking to get there was a bit too steep. 

It isn’t difficult to imagine Snefru shaking his head and saying “I want something more like this..” as he traces the outline of the future Red Pyramid.  But there is just something, well, endearing about the Bent Pyramid, sort of like a speckled pup.

Dr. Hawass loves to build anticipation.  Toward the end of his latest posting he reminisces: 

I once came here with a group of my students from the American University in Cairo, and introduced them to my good friend Dr. Rainer Stadelmann, who has dedicated his life to the study of pyramids and was excavating at Dashur at the time. When we entered the pyramid we had an odd experience that is unique to the Bent Pyramid, and something that had been noted by earlier explorers. Standing within the pyramid you can sometimes feel cool air flowing from inside the pyramid to the exit.

Could this too be intended to build anticipation? 

Is it possible that you, too, might soon be able to stand within the Bent Pyramid and feel the cool breeze?

Only if the Bent Pyramid, and possibly other previously inaccessible sites at Dashur are about to be opened to the public…

HINT:  The fifth question down

Copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

Pharaoh Teti

Pharaoh Teti (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Pharaoh Teti, also called Othoes, was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty, and ruled for about 11 – 20 years, between around 2347 – 2327 BC.  His mother was Queen Sesheshet, but his true claim to the throne probably stemmed from his marriage to Queen Iput I, the eldest daughter of Pharaoh Unas.  He had at least one other wife, named Khuit.  Evidence found within the queens’ pyramids suggest that Khuit may have actually been Teti’s primary wife.

Teti’s heir, Pepi I, was preceded on the throne by Userkare, whose short reign may indicate a co-regency or an usurpation.  Some believe Userkare had Teti assassinated by his own guards.

King Teti was an accomplished politician, which may be why his reign lasted as long as it did, given the political climate.  He wisely left much of Unas’ royal cabinet in place, and was not above handing out promotions and titles to curry favor.  He further consolidated power by marrying his daughter, Seshseshet, to Vizier Mereruka.

Political savvy was a prerequisite to being pharaoh during the tumultuous Sixth Dynasty, a time of social change.  The Cult of Ra based at Heliopolis had become an influential force to be appeased.  Famine combined with immigration was causing general unrest across the land.  And while not exactly a middle class in the strict sense, the rising wealth and power of high court officials and local nobility signaled a weakening of pharaonic hegemony.

Teti, and the pharaohs who would follow him in the Sixth Dynasty, would do a commendable job of preserving Egyptian ways and institutions.  But by the time of his reign, an irreversible gyre had been set in motion that would only continue to gain momentum until it spun the Two Kingdoms apart.

The Pyramid of Teti

The Pyramid of Teti (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Teti’s Pyramid has a height of about 172 feet, and its external surface is mostly rubble.  Like other pyramids of the time, it consisted of a step pyramid-style core faced with dressed white limestone that gave it the appearance of a smooth-sided pyramid.  Also like many pyramids of the time, the facing stones were plundered, leaving the core to break down due to exposure.

The layout of Teti’s pyramid is similar to that of King Unas, although slightly larger.  Like that of Unas, the walls of the antechamber and burial chamber are inscribed with the Pyramid Text, rituals and incantations intended to guide the king through the afterlife.  The vaulted ceiling is a painted canopy of stars.  The basalt sarcophagus was left intact, and there were fragments of what may have been his mummy recovered inside.

Pyramid Text on the wall of Teti's Pyramid showing his Cartouche (Photo by Keith Payne)

Little remains of Teti’s mortuary temple, although there is enough to tell that there were a few differences from that of Unas, whose design he otherwise closely followed.  For one, Teti favored the plain square pillars common to pyramid complexes dating from the Fourth Dynasty, rather than the more modern round pillars.  He also changed the approach of the causeway to the mortuary temple so that rather than lining up with the center of the eastern wall of the pyramid it angles away from the south east.    

In another apparent nod to the traditions of the Fourth Dynasty, Teti had queens’ pyramids built for his wives within his pyramid complex, and in 2008 the pyramid of his mother, Sesheshet, was also discovered within his complex.  These excavations led to the discovery that Teti’s complex was later co-opted for other burials and related funerary chapels from the New Kingdom Period to the Roman Period.

Teti’s policies were clearly intended to maintain the authority of the Pharaoh, and his efforts may have forestalled the coming Intermediate Period.  It is apparent that a schism of some variety was thwarted after the death of Unas, although in the end court intrigue would catch up with this master of power politics.  His pyramid complex remains one of the most fruitful excavation sites in Egypt.

Further Reading

Al-Ahram Weekly Online

New pyramid found at Saqqara

Ancient Egypt – History and Chronology

Pyramid complex of Teti (VI Dynasty) in Sakkara

VIth Dynasty 2336 – 2175 ( Memphis ):  Teti

Egyptian Monuments

Pyramid and Mortuary Temple of Teti

Talking Pyramids

Pyramid of Teti

Tour Egypt

Teti, First Ruler of the Sixth Dynasty

The Pyramid of Teti at Saqqara in Egypt

Photograph “teti2.jpg” by unknown, and photograph “Pyramid_of_Teti.jpg” by Wiki User Flop Eared Mule are provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

 

The death of Pharaoh Unas prompted the most fragile transfer of power in the Old Kingdom to date, but it would hardly be the last, or the worst.  Without an heir, or at least one who ascended to the throne, the fact that the crown passed from one dynasty to another peaceably amidst a time of growing turmoil is a testament to what remained of Egypt’s institutions.

Pharaoh Unas

The Cartouche of Pharaoh Unas (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Pharaoh Unas, also called Ounas and Wenis, was the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, and possibly the last sovereign of the Old Kingdom to rule with relative security.  He ruled from about 2367 – 2347 BC, around 20-23 years.  He had two wives, Nebit and Khenut, the latter of which was probably the mother of Iput I, who would marry King Teti, thus founding the Sixth Dynasty. 

Nautical scene from Unas' complex (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Unas was apparently an active king, as reliefs and other narrative art depict him making war with the Bedouin and engaging in trade with other kingdoms.   It seems he passed without leaving an heir, and there may have been a brief and tense interregnum, finally settled with the marriage of his eldest daughter to Teti. 

Many of his court officers would be retained under the rule of Teti, probably including Vizier Kagemni, which likely did at least as much to maintain law and order as Iput I’s royal pedigree.

The Pyramid of Unas

In terms of pyramid construction, the end of the Fifth Dynasty was as far as you could get from the monuments of Dashur and Giza that symbolize the early years of the Old Kingdom.  King Unas’ Pyramid was the smallest of the Old Kingdom Period, and although successive pyramids would be slightly larger, his layout would set the pattern for the Sixth Dynasty. 

Monument construction during the Fifth Dynasty was focused chiefly on temple building.  The generous endowments extended to the newly-empowered cult of Ra, combined with other growing demands on the royal coffers, left little gold for pyramid building. 

The Pyramid of King Unas (Photo by Keith Payne)

In an effort to compensate, finely dressed white limestone was placed over a cheaply constructed step-style pyramid understructure to create the illusion of a small but regal smooth-sided pyramid.  As a result, when the limestone casing was plundered in later years the core was left to disintegrate in the elements, leaving behind one of the trademark rubble pyramids of this period.

The inside of Unas’ pyramid, however, is another matter altogether.  The inner walls are mostly in very good shape, and contain the earliest example of Pyramid Texts discovered to date.  These are passages inscribed on the walls containing rituals and incantations to assist the divine pharaoh in the ordeals of the afterlife. 

The burial chamber has a vaulted ceiling that has been painted with a starry nighttime sky.  Unas’ basalt and alabaster sarcophagus was found in the burial chamber, and a few fragments of what is believed to have been his mummy were recovered from within. 

The base and stairway of Unas’ valley temple remain in fairly good shape, and much of the causeway is in excellent shape.  The causeway is decorated with scenes of daily life, including hunting and agriculture, along with depictions of various craftsmen plying their trades. 

Starvation during the reign of Pharaoh Unas (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

There are also scenes describing the geopolitical climate of Unas’ reign.  In addition to trade and warfare, Unas’ foreign policy resulted in an influx of immigrants who are represented as emaciated to the point of starvation. 

This was a time when famine was common throughout the Mediterranean region, and Egypt had her own share of domestic problems.  These new additions to the already restless provinces were yet another factor sapping away at the authority of the central government, the very thing that had made the Old Kingdom possible.

At the end of the causeway, the mortuary temple itself is in very good condition.  Many elements remain, including flooring, palm-adorned pillars, and niches where statues of the king would have once stood.  King Teti’s name appears in the gateway to the mortuary temple, indicating that it was completed during his reign, after Unas had passed.

The transfer of power from the Fifth Dynasty to the Sixth may have been with trepidation, but it occurred successfully, due in no small part to the political genius of Teti.  As local leaders and high court officials were enjoying the redistribution of wealth that accompanied the slow death of the Old Kingdom, things were not going so well for the rest of the populace, and the institution of pharaonic authority would increasingly come to feel the heat.

Teti would have his work cut out for him.

Further Reading

Ancient Egypt – History & Chronology

Pyramid complex of Unas in Sakkara

The Ancient Egypt Site

Unas

Egyptian Monuments

Pyramid and Mortuary Temple of Unas

LookLex Egypt

Saqqara – Pyramid of Unas

Talking Pyramids

Pyramid of Unas

Tour Egypt

Unas, Last Ruler of the Fifth Dynasty

The Pyramid of Unas at Saqqara in Egypt

Photograph captioned “Nautical scene from Unas’ complex,” originally titled “Saqqara Ounas 08.jpg,” by Wiki user Sebi; photograph captioned “The cartouche of Pharaoh Unas,” originally titled “Unas stalae.jpg,” by Wiki user Markh; and photograph captioned “Starvation during the reign of Pharoah Unas,” originally titled “File:11 louvre.jpg,” by Wiki user Jon Bodsworth, are all provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of those files under the conditions that you appropriately attribute them, and that you distribute them only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration.  But Mereruka stands out as an excellent example how the power dynamics were shifting as the Old Kingdom entered its twilight years. 

Vizier Mereruka

Mereruka, whose name is often shortened to Meri, was the Chief Justice and Vizier of King Teti, the first pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty.  He succeeded Vizier Kagemni, whose tomb lies to the east of Mereruka’s.

Mereruka came to power during a unique phase of the Old Kingdom when a shrewd court officer could garner power and wealth previously unheard of.  King Teti had come to the throne through indirect means, by virtue of his marriage to Queen Iput I, the eldest daughter of King Unas.  This, combined with the growing power of provincial leaders and nobility, fostered an urgency to consolidate his own base as much as possible, and creating a reliable ally of Mereruka was certainly a step in the right direction.

King Teti sought to build loyalty by retaining much of Unas’ royal cabinet and by being generous with granting promotions and ceremonial titles, but he lavished especial attention on Mereruka.  The Vizier’s list of titles reads like the obituary of a French duke.  But the crowning jewel, so to speak, was the marriage of his own daughter, Seshseshet (also called Watetkhethor) to Mereruka.  After all, such an arrangement had brought Teti to power in the first place.

The arrangement seems to have been mutually beneficial.  Pharaoh Teti had a relatively stable twenty-year reign—although Manetho claims he was assassinated by his own guards–and Mereruka died a wealthy man, as his tomb shall attest.  Mereruka was an appreciative officer of the royal court, naming his son Meriteti, which means Beloved of Teti, and serving as the High Priest of Teti’s funerary cult.

The Mastaba of Mereruka

Mereruka’s tomb is emblematic of the changes occurring in Egypt at the dawn of the Sixth Dynasty, a tipping point which would culminate in the First Intermediate Period.  The previous dynasty had seen increased immigration even as Egypt’s own crops were failing.  Provincial leaders were becoming more independent.  The rise of the Heliopolitan Priesthood of Ra, while not necessarily causative of a decline of pharaonic power, nonetheless represented another faction to be appeased during a time of diminishing resources.  It was a bad time to be king… 

But a great time to be an influential court officer.

Mereruka’s tomb is the largest in Egypt, having 31 rooms—21 for Mereruka and his funerary cult, and five each set aside for his wife and son.  Situated to the north of Teti’s Pyramid, and to the west of Kagemni’s mastaba, the size and luxury of Mereruka’s tomb make an unmistakable statement.  Pyramids were in decline in both size and quality beginning in the Fifth Dynasty, and although there was a clear emphasis on temple building, the kings clearly had to prioritize the royal budget while officials such as Mereruka were living, well, like kings.

Entrance to the Mastaba of Vizier Mereuka (Photo by Keith Payne)

Even before entering the mastaba, the entrance to Mereruka’s tomb suggests a place where life and the afterlife were celebrated rather than mourned.  Relief images of Mereruka greet the visitor at both sides of the entrance, accompanied by his wife, Seshseshet, in miniature, and his many titles are listed along the frame.  Although in truth his images are holding staves, his upraised arms seem to beckon friend, family, and supplicant alike.

Vestibule wall - relief of Mereruka's legs with Meriteti in miniature (Photo by Keith Payne)

The tomb is entered from the south, and the vestibule does little to discourage the celebratory mood.  More reliefs of the vizier and his family adorn the walls within, along with depictions of a lush marshland with all manner of fish and fowl, and scenes of agricultural bounty.  One scene portrays Mereruka sitting at an easel painting scenes of the changing seasons while apparently looking out the mastaba door.  One is left with the impression of a kindly benefactor appreciating the continuation of life from the Beyond.

The original vestibule? Looking north in the four-pillar room (Photo by Keith Payne)

One of the more interesting rooms lies to the east, and suggests that the southern entrance may not have been the original vestibule.  The second largest in the mastaba, this room has four large square pillars, each bearing its own depiction of the vizier, across from what appear to be four more pillars that have been incorporated into the eastern wall.  There are a number of reasons for thinking this may have been the original vestibule.

First, there is the location.  Entrances to mastabas were traditionally located in the east, where the second set of pillars in this room appears to have been walled in.  The current vestibule is to the south.  Second, there is the size—this room is considerably grander than the current vestibule.  Third, the room is richly decorated, with scenes of servants and attendants, while serving no apparent function.

Attendants on the west wall of the four-pillar room (Photo by Keith Payne)

We can only speculate as to why an eastern vestibule may have been walled off.  It may have been due to the proximity of Kagemni’s tomb, which might have been expanded westward.  It may also have reflected a change in religious conventions.  As the cult of Ra grew in influence, kings began shifting their mortuary complexes from an eastern orientation toward the south.  For a much more in-depth exploration of this room, check the link for Osirisnet in the Further Reading section below.

The largest room in the mastaba is the mortuary chapel, where Mereruka’s priests and family would come to pay homage to the deceased vizier.  The room is entered from the south, and directly opposite of the doorway a statue of Mereruka seems to step forward from a false doorway to greet the living.

Vizier Mereruka Coming Forth from the Afterlife (Photo by Keith Payne)

The false doorway represents Mereruka’s portal between worlds.  Four small steps ascend the base of his shrine to an alabaster altar where offerings of food, incense, and the devotion of the living would be made.  While the face of Mereruka’s statue may have suffered the indignities of time (and vandals), there is no denying the expression of serenity.

Entrance to Meriteti's tomb (Photo by Keith Payne)

There are two other doorways exiting this room.  One leads to a suite of storage rooms, and the other leads to the burial chambers of his son, Meriteti.  This latter door appears to have been a later addition, but its location and relatively small size seem to have been efforts to minimize the damage to the reliefs decorating the walls of Mereruka’s chapel.

The true damage is a result of the passage of the millennia, but plenty remains to bespeak of the comfort Mereruka and his family enjoyed while circumstances elsewhere grew increasingly dire.  The scene depicted below is as good a passing as one could ask of those days.  Mereruka is seated in a chair on the deck, and the caption reads “A good road toward the beautiful West, in peace.”  Those last words, em hotep—in peace—would ring increasingly hollow in the years to come.

"A good road toward the beautiful West, in peace" (Photo by Keith Payne)

Further Reading

The Ancient Egypt Site

Who is Who in Ancient Egypt – Mereruka

Egyptian Monuments

Tomb of Mereruka

Osirisnet

Mastaba of Mereruka

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2009, all rights reserved 

Actually, these structures contain some intriguing clues about Userkaf and his times, and a shadow of things to come.

Pharaoh Userkaf

Pharaoh Userkaf (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Userkaf, whose name means “his soul (Ka) is powerful,” was the first king of the Fifth Dynasty.  His reign was short, about seven years, around the time of 2504 to 2496 BC.  We do not know who Userkaf’s father was, but his grandfather was King Djedefre, and Neferhetepes, previously thought to be his mother, was more likely one of his wives.  This confusing set of trivia is about all we know of his biography, but fortunately, his monuments suggest a bit more.

The solar cult of Ra, based in Heliopolis, had steadily grown in power and influence throughout the Fourth Dynasty, and was beginning to exert some of that influence over the nobility.  We know that Userkaf built a temple dedicated to the growing religion in Abusir, and that other Fifth Dynasty kings would follow his example. 

This may have been a political move intended to curry favor with this increasing constituency, with the unintended effect of undermining his own authority as the primary divinity of the Egyptian people.  The Fifth Dynasty would be a transitional period where the wealth and power of lesser, more local, nobility is on the increase, and the new cult was an additional subtle drain on the supremacy of the Pharaoh.

Userkaf’s Pyramid

Little remains of Userkaf’s pyramid besides a pile of rubble.  The construction, which may have been cosmetically attractive at the time, seems nevertheless to be a throwback to the days before Snefru.  It had a limestone casing that would have given it the appearance of a smooth-sided pyramid.  But the casing was stripped away in antiquity, and the core seems to have had little tolerance for erosion.  Fortunately, there is still enough of Userkaf’s complex left to note some other interesting deviations from long-established standards.

The Pyramid of Userkaf (Photo by Keith Payne)

Userkaf’s pyramid complex has all of the elements of previous complexes—a valley temple on the river with a causeway leading up to a mortuary temple adjacent to the pyramid, and a smaller enclosed cult pyramid.  But the layout may reflect the influence of the Ra cult.

The mortuary temple is built to the south of the pyramid, rather than the east, and is oriented away from the pyramid itself.  This southward orientation maximizes the hours of direct sunlight on the funerary complex.  It has also been suggested that the decision to build the mortuary temple to the south may have been due to unfavorable terrain to the east, or the proximity of Djoser’s complex, but this fails to explain why the orientation of the temple is reversed.

Userkaf’s choice to build his pyramid so close to that of Djoser also represents a shift.  Pyramid building in the northern end of the Memphis Necropolis, particularly in the area of Giza, had been in vogue since the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty.  Userkaf’s predecessor, Shepseskaf, had broken with this tradition by moving back to Saqqara.  But Userkaf chose not only to return to Saqqara, but to build his pyramid to the immediate north-east of Djoser’s complex.

These anomalies and reversals may not tell us much of Pharaoh Userkaf as an individual, but they certainly point to a time of changing conventions and emerging powers.  There is a pronounced movement away from the ways of the Fourth Dynasty, where the absolute rule of the pharaoh was unquestioned.    His decision to move away from the monuments of the Fourth Dynasty and back to those of the Third Dynasty is reflected in the construction of his pyramid, which was a clear devolution.

Times were quietly changing, and not for the better.

Further Reading

Egyptian Monuments

Pyramid and Mortuary Complex of Userkaf

LookLex Egypt

Pyramid of Userkaf

Talking Pyramids

Saqqara – Userkaf

Tour Egypt

Userkaf:  First Ruler of the 5th Dynasty

Photograph “Userkaf.jpg” by Jon Bodsworth is provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

There are three of them, they are located in the middle of the Egyptian desert, they were built by slaves, and they have mummies in them.

Right?  Well…

They are large and they do have four sides.  They are wide at the bottom and come to a point, although you could park a large SUV on some of those points, and still have room for a picnic.  They are triangular in shape, but some of them have a step-shaped contour, others look like a few different sized boxes stacked on top of one another, and at least one sharply changes the angle of its slope two thirds of the way up.  Many of them look like piles of rubble. 

So far more than 130 pyramids have been found in Egypt, and more have been discovered in Sudan.  They are located in the desert,  but the most famous pyramids are within walking distance of a city with twice as many people as Los Angeles.  They were not built by slaves, and until very recently, no mummies had been found in any of them.  

The Giza Pyramids

Built during the Old Kingdom Period, particularly during the Third and Fourth Dynasties, the pyramids represent a time when power was absolutely centered in the person of the Pharaoh.  They required a huge workforce ranging from general labor to artists and engineers, and the notion that they were built by slaves, Hebrew or otherwise, has been widely discredited.  There are many theories regarding their construction, each of which has its own set of unanswered questions.

Guarding the Giza Pyramids

Mastabas

The early forerunner of the pyramid is the mastaba, the Arabic word for bench, so-called for their bench-like shape.  In the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods, the mummified bodies of the dead were buried in shafts cut into the stone ground, and mastabas were built over the grave.  Mastabas were rectangular structures with sloping sides and a flat top.  They were generally made of mud brick, but in later times royalty and more important court officials might have mastabas constructed of dressed limestone.  Cemeteries of mastabas often mirrored the social strata of the living, with more grandiose tombs being set apart on larger plots of land while those of lesser personages were lined up in avenues like city streets.

An avenue of mastabas at Saqqara

The mastabas included a small shrine where offerings of food and incense could be made for the deceased, and a concealed a room called a serdab, where a statue of the deceased was housed.  The walls inside the mastabas typically had detailed murals and friezes depicting the everyday life of the deceased, and in fact, these paintings provide much of what we know of Egyptian life during that period.  The mastaba was not just the tomb of the deceased, it was a representation of their home in the afterlife, and so great care was taken in its construction and preservation.  Although not built until the Sixth Dynasty, the mastaba par excellence is that of Vizier Mereruka, at Saqqara.

The Step Pyramid

Post-mortem accommodations would take a quantum leap forward in the Third Dynasty when Imhotep, chief engineer and architect of King Djoser, conceived of a way to symbolize the king’s ascension to divinity.  Imhotep started with a basic mastaba, but constructed it in a square rather than the traditional rectangular shape.  He then added another smaller mastaba to the flat surface of the first, and continued to build upward until he had six square mastabas, each smaller than the previous, stacked one on top of the other.  The result was the original Stairway to Heaven—the Step Pyramid of Djoser.  Pharaoh was greatly pleased…

The Step Pyramid of Djoser

Although the mastaba would remain in use for thousands of years, Imhotep started a craze that would earn him deification, a rare honor for a commoner.  The evolution of the pyramid form may be observed in the region of Dashur, where attempts were made—and in some cases failed—at making a true smooth-sided pyramid.  But the procedure would be perfected during the reign of Snefru, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty.

Evolution of the “Modern” Pyramid

Meidum Pyramid (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Snefru’s first contribution to pyramid building was his completion of the pyramid begun by his father, King Huni, at Meidum.  The Meidum Pyramid began as a step pyramid, but in completing it Snefru attempted to smooth its sides, resulting in a large blocky structure.  It would mostly collapse later, during the New Kingdom Period. 

Snefru's Bent Pyramid (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Snefru built his second pyramid intending to attempt a smooth-sided pyramid from the outset.  This attempt is called the Bent Pyramid because the top third was constructed at a radically different angle than the bottom two thirds.  It is believed that the angle of the bottom part, a 55-degree grade, was too steep and when the construction began to show signs of stress, the angle for the remaining part was changed to a much more stable 43-degrees.

Snefru's Red Pyramid (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

They say the third time is the charm, and King Snefru would agree.  His third contribution to the Pyramid Fields of the Memphis Necropolis was the Red Pyramid, the first true smooth-sided pyramid.  Having learned from his mistakes, such as they were, the Red Pyramid was constructed at a 43-degree gradient from the first block, and is the third largest pyramid in Egypt, being just barely exceeded by those of Khufu and Khafre at Giza.

Snefru’s Red Pyramid would be surpassed by that of his son, Khufu, on the Giza Plateau.  Others would follow, including the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, but the Great Pyramid was the pinnacle, literally, of pyramid building.  Khafre’s Pyramid looks larger because of its location on higher ground, but Khufu’s Pyramid is the undisputed champion.

The pyramids of Khafre and Khufu

The Pyramid Complex

Pyramids are actually just the centerpiece of a larger complex.  Each pyramid contains a number of elements, all associated with the afterlife.  There is typically a valley temple, a pavilion where the body of the king was received, which was connected to the Nile.  From the valley temple there would be a causeway leading to the mortuary temple, which was dedicated to the worship of the deceased king. 

Mortuary temples had their own priests who not only performed the funerary rites but who assured that the cult of that particular king would be sustained in the future.  There was often a smaller “cult pyramid” which was built to honor the king’s Ka (his spirit or soul).  Pyramid complexes often also included cemeteries, or even additional pyramids, for the king’s family and chosen servants.

Khufu's Queens' Pyramids

It goes without saying that pyramids were associated with the afterlife, and are the center of the king’s funerary complex, but some controversy remains regarding exactly what function they served.  It seems obvious they were intended to hold the body of the dead king—including the presence of burial chambers and sarcophagi.  However, out of the nearly 140 pyramids discovered, not a single king’s mummy has ever been recovered from a pyramid.  The only mummy found in a pyramid thus far is that of Queen Seshseshet, discovered in her pyramid in November, 2008.

Some speculate that the king’s pyramids may have served a ceremonial function, possibly as a location for the initiation of the king into divinity and preparation for the afterlife.  Others speculate that the kings were indeed interred in their pyramids, but that their bodies were later removed for various reasons.  It is possible that the pyramids served as both tombs and places of initiation.  All that is certain is that we can’t be certain, which is a large part of the pyramids’ appeal.

Backside of the Giza Pyramids

Further Reading

Egyptian Monuments:

Archive for the ‘Pyramid Fields’ Category

(Probably the best online resource on pyramids, hands down)

LookLex:

Giza – The Pyramids

National Geographic:

Introduction to Pyramids

Queen’s Mummy Found In 4,300-Year-Old Pyramid

Tour Egypt:

Overview of Pyramid Construction

Photographs ”WIKIpyr01 – Meidoum_pyramide_006.jpg” by Wiki user Neithsabes, “WIKIpyr02 – Snofru’s_Bent_Pyramid_in_Dahshur.jpg” by Wiki user Ivrienen, and “WIKIpyr03 – RedPyramid.jpg” by Wiki user Chipdawes are provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of those files under the conditions that you appropriately attribute them, and that you distribute them only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright 2009, all rights reserved.