Saqqarah
Saqqara or Sakkara (Arabic: سقارة) is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing step pyramid (). It is located some 30 km south of modern-day Cairo and covers an area of around 7 km by 1.5 km. While Memphis was the capital of Ancient Egypt, Saqqara served as its necropolis. Although it was eclipsed as the burial ground of royalty by Giza and later by the Valley of the Kings in Thebes, it remained an important complex for minor burials and cult ceremonies for more than 3,000 years, well into Ptolemaic and Roman times. The step pyramid at Saqqara was designed by Imhotep for King Djoser (c.2667-2648 B.C.E.). It is the oldest complete hewn-stone building complex known in history. It is also the location of the newly opened (in 2006) Imhotep Museum.
History
Early Dynastic
Although the earliest burials of nobles at Saqqara can be traced back to the First Dynasty, it was not until the Second Dynasty that the first kings were buried there, including Hotepsekhemwy and Nynetjer.
Old Kingdom
The most striking feature of the necropolis, however, dates from the Third Dynasty. Still visible today, is the Step Pyramid of the Pharaoh Djoser. In addition to Djoser's, there are another 16 pyramids on the site, in various states of preservation or dilapidation. That of the fifth-dynasty Pharaoh Unas, located just to the south of the step pyramid and on top of Hotepsekhemwi's tomb, houses the earliest known example of the Pyramid Texts – inscriptions with instructions for the afterlife used to decorate the interior of tombs, the precursor of the New Kingdom Book of the Dead. Saqqara is also home to an impressive number of mastaba tombs. Because the necropolis was lost beneath the sands for much of the past two millennia – even the sizable mortuary complex surrounding Djoser's pyramid was not uncovered until 1924 – many of these have been superbly preserved, with both their structures and lavish internal decorations intact.
Major Old Kingdom structures
- Gisr el-mudir this massive enclosure may date from the Early Dynastic period.
- Sekhemkhet's Step Pyramid (the Buried Pyramid)
- Step Pyramid of Netjerikhet Djoser
- Shepseskaf's Mastabat Fara'un
- Userkaf's pyramid, now looking like a conical hill.
- Djedkare Isesi pyramid complex, known as Haram el-Shawaf.
- Unas pyramid complex, now mainly collapsed.
- Teti's pyramid complex, looking more like a small hill, rather than a man-made construction.
- Pepi I complex, with its associated queens pyramids.
- Merenre's complex
- Pepi II, last great pyramid built in the Old Kingdom.
- Ibi, built in the Eighth dynasty, it is now almost totally destroyed.
There are a few pyramids that date from the First Intermediate Period, the most notable being Khendjer's Pyramid in South Saqqara.
New Kingdom Necropolis
While most of the mastabas date from the Old Kingdom, one major figure from the New Kingdom is also represented: Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who had a tomb built here for himself before he assumed the throne in his own right, while still serving as one of Tutankhamun's generals. However, it should be noted that Pharaoh Horemheb was never buried here. After his death he was interred, as were many other 18th Dynasty kings, in the Valley of the Kings in Ancient Thebes.
Later Burials and Monuments
Another major monument at Saqqara is the Serapeum: a gallery of tombs, cut from the rock, which served as the eternal resting place of the mummified bodies of the Apis bulls worshipped in Memphis as embodiments of the god Ptah. Rediscovered by Auguste Mariette in 1851, the tombs had been opened and plundered in antiquity – with the exception of one that lay undisturbed for some 3,700 years. The mummified bull it contained can now be seen in Cairo's agricultural museum.
On the approach to the Serapeum stands the slightly incongruous arrangement of statues known the Philosophers' Circle: a Ptolemaic recognition of the greatest poets and thinkers of their Greek ancestors, originally situated in a nearby temple. Represented here are Hesiod, Homer, Pindar, Plato, and others.
Pyramid of Djoser
The Pyramid of Djoser, or kbhw-ntrw (libation of the deities)was built for the Pharaoh Djoser by his architect Imhotep. It was constructed during the 27th century B.C.E. at the Saqqara necropolis to the northwest of the city of Memphis.
This first Egyptian pyramid consisted of mastabas (of decreasing size) built atop one another in what were clearly revisions and of the original plan. The pyramid originally stood 62 meters tall and was clad in polished white marble. The step pyramid (or proto-pyramid) is considered to be the earliest large-scale stone construction.
Pyramid of Unas
The Pyramid Complex of Unas is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara, near Cairo in Egypt.
The pyramid of Unas of the Fifth Dynasty (originally known as Beautiful are the places of Unas) is now ruined, and looks more like a small hill than a royal pyramid.
It was investigated by Perring and then Lepsius, but it was Gaston Maspero who first gained entry to the chambers in 1881, where he found texts covering the walls of the burial chambers, these together with others found in nearby pyramids are now known as the Pyramid Texts. In the burial chamber itself the remains of a mummy were found, including the skull, right arm and shin, but whether these belong to Unas is not certain.
Near to the main pyramid, to the north east, there are mastabas that contain the burials of the consorts of the king.
Pepi II pyramid complex
Pepi II's pyramid complex (originally known as Pepi's Life is Enduring) is located in Saqqara, close to many other Old Kingdom pharaohs. His pyramid is a modest affair compared to the great pyramid builders of the Fourth Dynasty, but was comparable to earlier pharaohs from his own dynasty. It was originally 78.5 metres high, but erosion and relatively poor construction has reduced it 52 metres.
The pyramid was the center of a sizable funerary complex, complete with a separate mortuary complex, a small, eastern satellite pyramid. This was flanked by two of his wives' pyramids to the north and north-west (Neith (A) and Iput II respectively), and one to the south-east (Udjebten), each with their own mortuary complexes. Perhaps reflecting the decline at the end of his rule, the fourth wife, Ankhenespepy IV was not given her own pyramid but was instead buried in a store room of the Iput's mortuary chapel. Similarly, Prince Ptahshepses, who likely died near the end of Pepi II's reign, was buried in the funerary complex of a previous pharaoh, Unas, within a "recycled" sarcophagus dating to the Fourth Dynasty.
The ceiling of the burial chamber is decorated with stars, and the walls are lined with passages from the Pyramid texts. An empty black sarcophagus bearing the names and titles of Pepi II was discovered inside.
Following in the tradition of the final pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty, Unas and of his more immediate predecessors Teti, Pepi I and Merenre, the interior of Pepi II's pyramid is decorated with what has become known as the pyramid texts, magical spells designed to protect the dead. Well over 800 individual texts (known as "utterances") are known to exist, and Pepi II's contains 675 such utterances, the most in any one place.
It is thought that this pyramid complex was completed no later than the thirtieth year of Pepi II's reign. No notable funerary constructions of note happened again for at least 30, and possibly as long as 60 years, due indirectly to the king's incredibly long reign. This meant there was a significant generational break for the trained stonecutters, masons, and engineers who had no major state project to work on and to pass along their practical skills. This may help explain why no major pyramid projects were undertaken by the subsequent regional kings of Herakleopolis during the First Intermediate Period.
The complex was first investigated by John Shae Perring, but it was Gaston Maspero who entered it first in 1881. Gustav Jéquier investigated in detail between 1926 and 1936.[1] Jéquier was the first excavator to start actually finding any remains from the tomb reliefs,[2] and he was the first to publish a thorough excavation report on the complex.[3]
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
External links
- Information on Saqqara
- Saqqara on-line (Leiden University)
- Discoveries on the site from February 2007
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