All about Egypt

The Great Pyramid of Giza - Interior

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:54:00 +0000

The original entrance to the Great Pyramid is 17 metres (56 ft) vertically above ground level and 7.29 metres (23.9 ft) east of the center line of the pyramid. From this original entrance there is a Descending Passage .96 metres (3.1 ft) high and 1.04 metres (3.4 ft) wide which goes down at an angle of 26° 31'23" through the masonry of the pyramid and then into the bedrock beneath it. After 105.23 metres (345.2 ft) the passage becomes level and continues for an additional 8.84 metres (29.0 ft) to the lower Chamber, which appears not to have been finished. There is a continuation of the horizontal passage in the south wall of the lower chamber; there is also a pit dug in the floor of the chamber. Some Egyptologists suggest this Lower Chamber was intended to be the original burial chamber, but Pharaoh Khufu later changed his mind and wanted it to be higher up in the pyramid.

At 28.2 metres (93 ft) from the entrance is a square hole in the roof of the Descending Passage. Originally concealed with a slab of stone, this is the beginning of the Ascending Passage. The Ascending Passage is 39.3 metres (129 ft) long, as wide and high as the Descending Passage and slopes up at almost precisely the same angle. The lower end of the Ascending Passage is closed by three huge blocks of granite, each about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long. At the start of the Grand Gallery on the right-hand side there is a hole cut in the wall (and now blocked by chicken wire). This is the start of a vertical shaft which follows an irregular path through the masonry of the pyramid to join the Descending Passage. Also at the start of the Grand Gallery there is a Horizontal Passage leading to the "Queen's Chamber". The passage is 1.1m (3'8") high for most of its length, but near the chamber there is a step in the floor, after which the passage is 1.73 metres (5.7 ft) high.

The Queen's Chamber is exactly half-way between the north and south faces of the pyramid and measures 5.75 metres (18.9 ft) north to south, 5.23 metres (17.2 ft) east to west and has a pointed roof with an apex 6.23 metres (20.4 ft) above the floor. At the eastern end of the chamber there is a niche 4.67 metres (15.3 ft) high. The original depth of the niche was 1.04 metres (3.4 ft), but has since been deepened by treasure hunters^].

In the north and south walls of the Queen's Chamber there are shafts, which unlike those in the King's Chamber that immediately slope upwards, are horizontal for around 2m (6') before sloping upwards. The horizontal distance was cut in 1872 by a British engineer, Waynman Dixon, who believed on the analogy of the King's Chamber that such shafts must exist. He was proved right, but because the shafts are not connected to the outer faces of the pyramid or the Queen's Chamber, their purpose is unknown. At the end of one of his shafts, Dixon discovered a ball of black diorite and a bronze implement of unknown purpose. Both objects are currently in the British Museum.

The shafts in the Queen's Chamber were explored in 1992 by the German engineer Rudolf Gantenbrink using a crawler robot of his own design which he called "Upuaut 2". He discovered that one of the shafts was blocked by limestone "doors" with two eroded copper "handles". Some years later the National Geographic Society created a similar robot which drilled a small hole in the southern door, only to find another larger door behind it. The northern passage, which was difficult to navigate because of twists and turns, was also found to be blocked by a door. This research was continued in 2011 by the Djedi Project team.

On 30 May 2011 it was reported in pasthorizons that after using a Micro snake camera (that can see around corners) the Djedi Project team were able to see all the sides inside the chamber and thus discovered hieroglyphs written in red paint.

They were also able to scrutinize the inside of the two copper “handles” embedded in the door, and they now believe it to be of an ornamental nature.

They also found the reverse side of the “door” to be finished and polished, which suggests that it wasn’t put there just to fill the shaft, but rather for a specific reason.

The Grand Gallery continues the slope of the Ascending Passage, but is 8.6 metres (28 ft) high and 46.68 metres (153.1 ft) long. At the base it is 2.06 metres (6.8 ft) wide, but after 2.29 metres (7.5 ft) the blocks of stone in the walls are corbelled inwards by 7.6 centimetres (3.0 in) on each side. There are seven of these steps, so at the top the Grand Gallery is only 1.04 metres (3.4 ft) wide. It is roofed by slabs of stone laid at a slightly steeper angle than the floor of the gallery, so that each stone fits into a slot cut in the top of the gallery like the teeth of a ratchet. The purpose was to have each block supported by the wall of the Gallery rather than resting on the block beneath it, which would have resulted in an unacceptable cumulative pressure at the lower end of the Gallery.^]

At the upper end of the Gallery on the right-hand side there is a hole near the roof which opens into a short tunnel by which access can be gained to the lowest of the Relieving Chambers. The other Relieving Chambers were discovered in 1837/8 by Colonel Howard Vyse and J. S. Perring, who dug tunnels upwards using blasting powder.

The floor of the Grand Gallery consists of a shelf or step on either side, 51 centimetres (20 in) wide, leaving a lower ramp 1.04 metres (3.4 ft) wide between them. In the shelves there are 54 slots, 27 on each side matched by vertical and horizontal slots in the walls of the Gallery. These form a cross shape that rises out of the slot in the shelf. The purpose of these slots is not known, but the central gutter in the floor of the Gallery, which is the same width as the Ascending Passage, has led to speculation that the blocking stones were stored in the Grand Gallery and the slots held wooden beams to restrain them from sliding down the passage. This, in turn, has led to the proposal that originally many more than 3 blocking stones were intended, to completely fill the Ascending ^].

At the top of the Grand Gallery there is a step giving onto a horizontal passage approximately 1.02 metres (3.3 ft) long, in which can be detected four slots, three of which were probably intended to hold granite portcullises. Fragments of granite found by Petrie in the Descending Passage may have come from these now vanished doors.

The King's Chamber is 10.47 metres (34.4 ft) from east to west and 5.234 metres (17.17 ft) north to south. It has a flat roof 5.974 metres (19.60 ft) above the floor. 0.91 m (3 ft) above the floor there are two narrow shafts in the north and south walls (one is now filled by an extractor fan to try to circulate air in the pyramid). The purpose of these shafts is not clear: they appear to be aligned on stars or areas of the northern and southern skies, but on the other hand one of them follows a dog-leg course through the masonry so there was not intention to directly sight stars through them. Longtime believed by Egyptologists to be "air shafts" for ventilation, this idea has now been widely abandoned in favor of the shafts serving a ritualistic purpose associated with the ascension of the king’s spirit to the heavens

The King's Chamber is entirely faced with granite. Above the roof, which is formed of nine slabs of stone weighing in total about 400 tons, are five compartments known as Relieving Chambers. The first four, like the King's Chamber, have flat roofs formed by the floor of the chamber above, but the final chamber has a pointed roof. Vyse suspected the presence of upper chambers when he found that he could push a long reed through a crack in the ceiling of the first chamber. From lower to upper, the chambers are known as "Davidson Chamber", "Wellington Chamber", "Lady Arbuthnot's Chamber" and "Campbell's Chamber". It is believed that the compartments were intended to safeguard the King's Chamber from the possibility of a roof collapsing under the weight of stone above the Chamber. As the chambers were not intended to be seen, they were not finished in any way and a few of the stones still retain mason's marks painted on them. One of the stones in Campbell's Chamber bears a mark, apparently the name of a work gang, which incorporates the only reference in the pyramid to Pharaoh Khufu^].

The only object in the King's Chamber is a rectangular granite "sarcophagus", one corner of which is broken. The sarcophagus is slightly larger than the Ascending Passage, which indicates that it must have been placed in the Chamber before the roof was put in place. Unlike the fine masonry of the walls of the Chamber, the sarcophagus is roughly finished, with saw marks visible in several places. This is in contrast with the finely finished and decorated sarcophagi found in other pyramids of the same period. Petrie suggested that such a sarcophagus was intended but was lost in the river on the way north from Aswan and a hurriedly made replacement was used instead.

Entrance

Today tourists enter the Great Pyramid via the Robbers' Tunnel dug by workmen employed by Caliph al-Ma'mun around AD 820. The tunnel is cut straight through the masonry of the pyramid for approximately 27 metres (89 ft), then turns sharply left to encounter the blocking stones in the Ascending Passage. Unable to remove these stones, the workmen tunnelled up beside them through the softer limestone of the Pyramid until they reached the Ascending Passage. It is possible to enter the Descending Passage from this point, but access is usually forbidden.

The Great Pyramid of Giza - Materials

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:06:00 +0000

The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million limestone blocks with most believed to have been transported from nearby quarries. The Tura limestone used for the casing was quarried across the river. The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the "King's" chamber, weigh 25 to 80 tonnes and were transported from Aswan, more than 500 miles away. Traditionally, ancient Egyptians cut stone blocks by hammering wooden wedges into the stone which were then soaked with water. As the water was absorbed, the wedges expanded, causing the rock to crack. Once they were cut, they were carried by boat either up or down the Nile River to the pyramid. It is estimated that 5.5 million tons of limestone, 8,000 tons of granite (imported from Aswan), and 500,000 tons of mortar were used in the construction of the Great Pyramid.

Casing stones

At completion, the Great Pyramid was surfaced by white "casing stones" – slant-faced, but flat-topped, blocks of highly polished white limestone. These were carefully cut to what is approximately a face slope with a seked of 5½ palms to give the required dimensions. Visibly, all that remains is the underlying stepped core structure seen today. In AD 1300, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which were then carted away by Bahri Sultan An-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din al-Hasan in 1356 to build mosques and fortresses in nearby Cairo. The stones can still be seen as parts of these structures. Later explorers reported massive piles of rubble at the base of the pyramids left over from the continuing collapse of the casing stones, which were subsequently cleared away during continuing excavations of the site. Nevertheless, a few of the casing stones from the lowest course can be seen to this day in situ around the base of the Great Pyramid, and display the same workmanship and precision as has been reported for centuries. Petrie also found a different orientation in the core and in the casing measuring 193 centimetres ± 25 centimetres. He suggested a redetermination of north was made after the construction of the core, but a mistake was made, and the casing was built with a different orientation.Petrie related the precision of the casing stones as to being "equal to opticians' work of the present day, but on a scale of acres" and "to place such stones in exact contact would be careful work; but to do so with cement in the joints seems almost impossible".It has been suggested it was the mortar (Petrie's "cement") that made this seemingly impossible task possible, providing a level bed which enabled the masons to set the stones exactly.

Construction theories

Many alternative, often contradictory, theories have been proposed regarding the pyramid's construction techniques.Many disagree on whether the blocks were dragged, lifted, or even rolled into place. The Greeks believed that slave labour was used, but modern discoveries made at nearby worker's camps associated with construction at Giza suggest it was built instead by tens of thousands of skilled workers. Verner posited that the labor was organized into a hierarchy, consisting of two gangs of 100,000 men, divided into five zaa or phyle of 20,000 men each, which may have been further divided according to the skills of the workers.

One mystery of the pyramid's construction is its planning. John Romer suggests that they used the same method that had been used for earlier and later constructions, laying out parts of the plan on the ground at a 1 to 1 scale. He writes that "such a working diagram would also serve to generate the architecture of the pyramid with precision unmatched by any other means."He also argues for a 14 year time span for its construction.

Great Pyramid of Giza- History and description

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:13:00 +0000

It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and was constructed over a 20 year period. Khufu's vizier, Hemon, or Hemiunu, is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid. is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall, 146.5 metres (480.6 ft) but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). Each base side was 440 royal cubits, 230.4 metres (755.9 ft) long. A royal cubit measures 0.524 metres. The mass of the pyramid is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes. The volume, including an internal hillock, is roughly 2,500,000 cubic metres.Based on these estimates, building this in 20 years would involve installing approximately 800 tonnes of stone every day. Similarly, since it consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks, completing the building in 20 years would involve moving an average of more than 12 of the blocks into place each hour, day and night. The first quasi-precision measurements of the pyramid were done by Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1880–82 and published as The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh.Almost all reports are based on his measurements. Many of the casing stones and inner chamber blocks of the Great Pyramid were fit together with extremely high precision. Based on measurements taken on the north eastern casing stones, the mean opening of the joints is only 0.5 millimetres wide (1/50th of an inch).It should be noted, however, that Dr. Petrie did admit his measurements were calculated, not actually viewed, due to the tons of debris making direct viewing of the pyramid base impossible. Direct viewing of the base did eventually occur, when Professor Borchardt of the German Institute of Egyptian Archeology had the pyramid base cleared, for the James Cole survey of 1925, "Determination of the Exact Size and Orientation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, SURVEY of EGYPT Paper #39

The pyramid remained the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years,unsurpassed until the 160-metre-tall spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed c. 1300. The accuracy of the pyramid's workmanship is such that the four sides of the base have an average error of only 58 millimetres in length. base is horizontal and flat to within ±15 mm. sides of the square base are closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within 4 minutes of arc) based on true north, not magnetic north, and the finished base was squared to a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc. The completed design dimensions, as suggested by Petrie's survey and subsequent studies, are estimated to have originally been 280 cubits high by 440 cubits long at each of the four sides of its base. The ratio of the perimeter to height of 1760/280 cubits equates to 2π to an accuracy of better than 0.05% (corresponding to the well-known approximation of π as 22/7). Some Egyptologists consider this to have been the result of deliberate design proportion. Verner wrote, "We can conclude that although the ancient Egyptians could not precisely define the value of π, in practice they used it". Petrie, author of Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh concluded: "but these relations of areas and of circular ratio are so systematic that we should grant that they were in the builder's design". Others have argued that the Ancient Egyptians had no concept of pi and would not have thought to encode it in their monuments. The creation of the pyramid slope may instead be based on the run-length of the base side of a right triangle into a constant 1 RC (royal cubit) rise (the seqed).

The Great Pyramid of Giza

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:01:00 +0000

The Great Pyramid of Giza (called the Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops in Greek) over an approximately 20 year period concluding around 2560 BC. Initially at 146.5 metres (480.6 ft), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, the longest period of time ever held for such a record. Originally, the Great Pyramid was covered by casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying core structure. Some of the casing stones that once covered the structure can still be seen around the base. There have been varying scientific and alternative theories about the Great Pyramid's construction techniques. Most accepted construction hypotheses are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place.

There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was unfinished. The so-called Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only pyramid in Egypt known to contain both ascending and descending passages. The main part of the Giza complex is a setting of buildings that included two mortuary temples in honor of Khufu (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller "satellite" pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples, and small mastaba tombs surrounding the pyramid for nobles.

History and description
Materials
Interior
Pyramid complex
Boats
Looting

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Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

Khufu

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:22:00 +0000

Khufu, also known as Cheops , in Manetho, Suphis , was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom. He reigned from around 2589 to 2566 BC. Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. He is generally accepted as being the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Khufu's full name was "Khnum-Khufu" which means "the god Khnum protects me.

Family

Khufu was the son of King Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres I and brother of Princess Hetepheres. Unlike his father, Khufu is remembered as a cruel and ruthless pharaoh in later folklore. Khufu had nine sons, one of whom, Djedefra, was his immediate successor. He also had fifteen daughters, one of whom would later become Queen Hetepheres II. Several of Khufu's sons are known from the papyrus Westcar, while other children are merely known from their tombs in Giza. Cemetery G 7000 contains several of the mastabas of these royal children.

Sons of Khufu

Crown Prince Kawab – the eldest son of Khufu and Meritites I.
Djedefra – successor of Khufu; Djedefra's mother is unknown.
Khafra – son of Khufu and Queen Henutsen, he succeeded his brother Djedefra as king.
Djedefhor – also known as Hordjedef. King’s Son of his Body, Count, Keeper of Nekhen. Known from the Westcar Papyrus. Buried in the G 7000 cemetery in Giza (G 7210-7220).
Baufra – son of Khufu; some have suggested Baufra is identical to Babaef. Attested in an inscription in Wadi Hammamat, and known from the Westcar Papyrus.
Babaef I – son of Khufu, also called Khnum-baf. Known from his tomb in Giza.
Khufukhaf I – son of Khufu and Henutsen. Known from his double mastaba in Giza (G 7130-7140).
Minkhaf I – son of Khufu and Henutsen. Served as Vizier during the reign of his brothers Djedefre and Khafre.
Horbaef – son of Khufu. Known from his tomb in Giza which he shared with Meresankh II

Daughters of Khufu

Nefertiabet – King’s Daughter, possibly a daughter of Khufu. She is known from her tomb in Giza (G 1225).
Hetepheres II – King’s Wife, Great of Scepter, King’s Daughter of his Body. Daughter of Khufu and Meritites I, married to Prince Kawab, and later to the pharaoh Djedefre.
Meresankh II – King’s Daughter of his Body, King’s Wife and Great of Scepter. Owned mastaba G 7410.

Life

Khufu came to the Egyptian throne in his twenties, and reigned for about 23 years, which is the number ascribed to him by the Turin King List. Other sources from much later periods suggest a significantly longer reign: Manetho gives him a reign of 63 years, and Herodotus states that he reigned for 50 years. Since 2000, two dates have been discovered from his reign. An inscription containing his highest regnal year, the "Year of the 17th Count of Khufu", first mentioned by Flinders Petrie in an 1883 book and then lost to historians, was rediscovered by Zahi Hawass in 2001 in one of the relieving chambers within Khufu's pyramid. Secondly, in 2003, the "Year after the 13th cattle count" of Khufu was found on a rock inscription at the Dakhla Oasis in the Sahara. He started building his pyramid at Giza, the first to be built there.Based on inscriptional evidence, it is also likely that he led military expeditions into the Sinai, Nubia and Libya.

The Westcar Papyrus, which was written well after his reign during the Middle Kingdom or later, describes the pharaoh being told magical tales by his sons Khafre and Djedefre. This story cycle depicts Khufu as mean and cruel, and as being ultimately frustrated in his attempts to ensure that his dynasty survived past his two sons. Whether anything in this story cycle is based on fact is unknown, but Khufu's negative reputation lasted at least until the time of Herodotus, who was told further stories of that king's cruelty to his people and to his own family in order to ensure the construction of his pyramid. What is known for certain is that his funerary cult lasted until the 26th Dynasty, which was one of the last native-Egyptian royal dynasties, almost 2,000 years after his death.

Funerary monuments

Most likenesses of Khufu are lost to history. Only one miniature statuette has been fully attributed to this pharaoh. Since he is credited with building the single largest building of ancient times, it is ironic that the only positively identified royal sculpture of his was discovered not at Giza, but in a temple in Abydos during an excavation by Flinders Petrie in 1903. Originally this piece was found without its head, but bearing the pharaoh's name. Realizing the importance of this discovery, Petrie halted all further excavation on the site until the head was found three weeks later after an intensive sieving of the sand from the area where the base had been discovered. This piece is now on display in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. In more recent years, two other likenesses have been tentatively identified as being that of Khufu, based largely on stylistic similarities to the piece discovered by Petrie. One is a colossal head made of red granite of a king wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt that resides in the Brooklyn Museum, and the other, a fragmentary miniature head made of limestone that also wears the white crown of Upper Egypt, which can be found in the Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst in Munich.

An empty sarcophagus is located in the King's Chamber inside the pyramid though it is unclear if it had ever been used for such a purpose as burial. While his mummy has never been recovered, two impressive and well preserved solar barges – or Khufu ships – were discovered buried in a pit at the foot of his great pyramid at Giza in 1954 by Egyptian archaeologists. One of the ships has been reassembled and placed in a museum for public viewing, while excavation operations on the second ship were begun in 2011.

While pyramid construction had been solely for the reigning pharaoh prior to Khufu, his reign saw the construction of several minor pyramid structures that are believed to have been intended for other members of his royal household, amounting to a royal cemetery. Three small pyramids to the east of Khufu's pyramid are tentatively thought to belong to two of his wives, and the third has been ascribed to Khufu's mother Hetepheres I, whose funerary equipment was found relatively intact in a shaft tomb nearby. A series of mastabas were created adjacent to the small pyramids, and tombs have been found in this "cemetery". The closest tombs to Khufu's were those belonging to Prince Kawab and Khufukhaf I and their respective wives. Next closest are the tombs of Prince Minkhaf and Queen Hetepheres II, and those of Meresankh II and Meresankh III (Khufu's grand-daughter). When the largest of these tombs (G 7510) was excavated in 1927, it was found to contain a bust of Prince Ankhhaf, which can now be seen in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Ankhhaf was Khufu's younger half-brother.

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Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

Seila Step Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:55:00 +0000

Photo courtesy BYU Egypt Excavation Project. The Seila pyramid, seen from a distance.

Most egyptologists assume that the small pyramids were built by Huni. There are seven of these small pyramids, which may mark the boundaries of the land, or were built for ceremonial purposes...no one really knows. They aren't "complete" pyramids -- they don't have the whole pyramid complex around them, and most have no internal structures..

They wre built in the second half of the third dynasty, and are mostly on the west bank of the Nile, as befitting funerary momuments. They are not tombs, however, but some havesuggested that they are cenotaphs (false tombs) for queens, or religious shrines. Seila is the northernmost of these pyramids and may have been bult by Sneferu. It stands only 7 meters high and has a four-step core of local limestone.

The other pyramids include Zawiyet el-Meititin Pyramid near Minya, the SInki Pyramid sourth of Abydos, the Naqada Pyramid, the Kula Pyramid near Hierakonpolis, the Edfu pyramid, the Elephantine Pyarmid and a final one near Benha that has completely disapepared. Only scant remains of these pyramids exists and they are of little interest to most tourists.

Near Seila, on the canal road

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Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

The Red Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:35:00 +0000

The Red Pyramid, also called the North Pyramid, is the largest of the three major pyramids located at the Dahshur necropolis. Named for the rusty reddish hue of its stones, it is also the third largest Egyptian pyramid, after those of Khufu and Khafra at Giza. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest man-made structure in the world. It is also believed to be the world's first successful attempt at constructing a "true" smooth-sided pyramid. Local residents refer to the Red Pyramid as el-haram el-watwat, meaning the Bat Pyramid.

The Red Pyramid was not always red. It used to be cased with white Tura limestone, but only a few of these now remain at the pyramid's base on the corner. During the Middle Ages much of the white Tura limestone was taken for buildings in Cairo, revealing the reddish sandstone beneath.

History

It was the third pyramid built by Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu, and is located approximately one kilometer to the north of the Bent Pyramid. It is built at the same shallow 43 degree angle as the upper section of the Bent Pyramid, which gives it a noticeably squat appearance compared to other Egyptian pyramids of comparable scale. Construction began during the thirtieth year of Sneferu's reign. Egyptologists disagree on the length of time it took to construct. Based on quarry marks found at various phases of construction, Rainer Stadelmann estimates the time of completion to be approximately 17 years while John Romer, based on this same graffiti, suggests it took only ten years and seven months to build.

Archaeologists speculate its design may be an outcome of engineering crises experienced during the construction of Sneferu's two earlier pyramids. The first of these, the Pyramid at Meidum, collapsed in antiquity, while the second — the Bent Pyramid — had the angle of its inclination dramatically altered — from 54 to 43 degrees — part-way through construction.

Some archaeologists now believe that the Meidum pyramid was the first attempt at building a smooth-sided pyramid, and that it may have collapsed when construction of the Bent Pyramid was already well underway — and that the pyramid may by then have already begun to show alarming signs of instability itself, as evidenced by the presence of large timber beams supporting its inner chambers. The outcome of this was the change in inclination of the Bent Pyramid, and the commencement of the later Red Pyramid at an inclination known to be less susceptible to instability and therefore less susceptible to catastrophic collapse.

The first passageway

The corbelled roof looking west

On the east side the remnants of the Mortuary temple can be seen.

Modern day

The Red Pyramid is 104 metres (341 ft) high. A rare pyramidion, or capstone, for the Red Pyramid has been uncovered and reconstructed, and is now on display at Dahshur. However, whether it was actually ever used is unclear, as its angle of inclination differs from that of the pyramid it was apparently intended for.

The Red Pyramid, along with the Bent Pyramid, was closed to tourists for many years because of a nearby army camp. It is now usually open for tourists and a somewhat intrusive ventilation has been installed which pipes air down the entrance shaft to the interior chambers.

Visitors climb steps cut in or built over the stones of the pyramid to an entrance high on the north side. A passage, 3 feet (0.91 m) in height and 4 feet (1.2 m) wide, slopes down at 27° for 200 feet (61 m) to a short horizontal passage leading into a chamber whose corbelled roof is 40 feet (12 m) high and rises in eleven steps. At the southern end of the chamber, but offset to the west, another short horizontal passage leads into the second chamber. This passage was probably closed at one time and the offset was a measure intended to confuse potential robbers.

The second chamber is similar to the first and lies directly beneath the apex of the pyramid. High in the southern wall of the chamber is an entrance, now reached by a large wooden staircase built for the convenience of tourists. This gives onto a short horizontal passage that leads to the third and final chamber with a corbelled roof 50 feet (15 m) high. A body was found. The first two chambers have their long axis aligned north-south, but this chamber's long axis is aligned east-west. Unlike the first two chambers, which have fine smooth floors on the same level as the passages, the floor of the third chamber is very rough and sunk below the level of the access passage. It is believed that this is the work of robbers searching for treasure in what is thought to have been the burial chamber of the pyramid.

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Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

The Bent Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:07:00 +0000

The Bent Pyramid is an ancient Egyptian pyramid located at the royal necropolis of Dahshur, approximately 40 kilometres south of Cairo, built under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu (c. 2600 BC). A unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt, this was the second pyramid built by Sneferu.

The lower part of the pyramid rises from the desert at a 55-degree inclination, but the top section is built at the shallower angle of 43 degrees, lending the pyramid its very obvious "bent" appearance.

Archaeologists now believe that the Bent Pyramid represents a transitional form between step-sided and smooth-sided pyramids. It has been suggested that due to the steepness of the original angle of inclination the structure may have begun to show signs of instability during construction, forcing the builders to adopt a shallower angle to avert the structure's collapse. theory appears to be borne out by the fact that the adjacent Red Pyramid, built immediately afterwards by the same Pharaoh, was constructed at an angle of 43 degrees from its base. Another theory suggests that at the initial angle the construction would take too long because Sneferu's death was nearing, so the builders changed the angle to complete the construction in time.

The Bent Pyramid has a small satellite pyramid which was the final resting place of Sneferu's queen; interestingly there is a connecting tunnel which runs twenty-five metres between the two pyramids, which was built so that Sneferu could visit his queen in the after life. It also has an early form of offering temple on its eastern side. It is also unique amongst the approximately ninety pyramids to be found in Egypt, in that its original polished limestone outer casing remains largely intact.

The ancient formal name of the Bent Pyramid is generally translated as (The)-Southern-Shining-Pyramid, or Sneferu-(is)-Shining-in-the-South.

Interior passages

The Bent Pyramid has two entrances, one fairly low down on the north side, to which a substantial wooden stairway has been built for the convenience of tourists (though so far the pyramid is not open to the busy tourists, though plans have been proposed to open it). The second entrance is high on the west face of the pyramid. Each entrance leads to a chamber with a high, corbelled roof; the northern entrance leads to a chamber that is below ground level, the western to a chamber built in the body of the pyramid itself. A hole in the roof of the northern chamber (accessed today by a high and rickety ladder 50 feet (15 m) long) leads via a rough connecting passage to the passage from the western entrance.

The western entrance passage is blocked by two stone blocks which were not lowered vertically, as in other pyramids, but slid down 45° ramps to block the passage. One of these was lowered in antiquity and a hole has been cut through it, the other remains propped up by a piece of ancient cedar wood. The connecting passage referred to above enters the passage between the two portcullises.

Pyramid temple

On the east side of the temple there are the fragmentary remains of the pyramid temple. Like the pyramid temple of the Meidum pyramid, there are two stelae behind the temple, though of these only stumps remain. There is no trace of inscription to be seen. The temple remains are fragmentary but it is presumed to be similar to that of the Meidum temple.

Queen's Pyramid

On the south side of the Bent Pyramid there is a much smaller pyramid, popularly known as a Queen's Pyramid, but more accurately as a subsidiary pyramid. Unlike the subsidiary pyramids associated with - for example - the Great Pyramid, which have a single sloping shaft descending to a burial chamber, this pyramid has a descending passage which ends at a very short horizontal passage, followed by an ascending passage that may have been used to store stone blocks to plug the passage. The chamber at the end of this ascending passage is so small that it cannot have been used for a human burial, which may support the idea that these subsidiary pyramids were intended to hold the royal viscera and were thus analogous to the canopic jars of later times.

Causeway and Valley Temple

Surrounding the Bent Pyramid was a courtyard, from the north-eastern portion of which a causeway ran down to a Valley Temple. (There may have been a further causeway from this to the river side.) This is thought to have been the first pyramid with a Valley Temple, which became a standard feature from this time on. Here the Valley Temple consisted of an entrance passageway flanked by storage chambers, an open courtyard and an inner sanctum fronted by ten square columns behind which were six niches in which stood statues of Sneferu, building of the pyramid and complex. Unlike most later Valley Temples, this one was decorated with scenes depicting the nomes of Egypt and the hebsed festival.

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Golden Age: Fourth Dynasty

The Pyramid of Maidum

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Located about 100 km south of modern Cairo, Meidum or Maidum (Arabic: ميدوم‎) is the location of a large pyramid, and several large mud-brick mastabas.

Passageway in the Meidum Pyramid.

Mortuary Temple of Meidum Pyramid

The pyramid at Meidum is thought to have been originally built for Huni, the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty. It was completed and probably usurped by his successor, Sneferu, who also turned it from a step pyramid to a true pyramid by filling in the steps with limestone encasing. The Meidum pyramid was built in different stages, beginning as a seven-step pyramid to which an additional step was added at a later stage. It appears to have collapsed sometime during the New Kingdom. A subsidiary pyramid is located on the south side, between the main pyramid and the enclosure wall, and a memorial temple is on its east side.

Known as "the collapsed pyramid", the outer layers of the casing began to collapse, leaving the core exposed. Because of its appearance, it is called el-haram el-kaddab — (Fake Pyramid) in Egyptian Arabic. Some believe it was the collapse of this pyramid during the reign of Sneferu that led him to changeto 43 degrees the angle of his second pyramid at Dahshur. In the fifteenth century, it was described as looking like a five-stepped mountain by al-Maqrizi, gradually falling further into ruin so by the time it was investigated by Napoleon's Expedition in 1799 it had its present 3 steps.

It was excavated by John Shae Perring in 1837, Lepsius in 1843 and then by Flinders Petrie later in the nineteenth century, who located the mortuary temple, facing to the east. In 1920 Ludwig Borchardt studied the area further, followed by Alan Rowe in 1928 and then Ali el-Kholi in the 1970s.

In its ruined state, the structure is 65 m high, and its entrance is aligned north-south, with the entrance in the north, 20 metres above present ground level. The steep descending passage 57 metres long leads to a horizontal passage, just below the original ground level, that then leads to a vertical shaft 10 metres high that leads to the corbelled burial chamber itself. It is thought to be unlikely that Sneferu was buried here — whether Huni was may never be known, though construction may have begun during his reign.

Flinders Petrie was the first Egyptologist to establish the facts of its original design dimensions and proportions. In its final form it was 1100 Cubits of 0.523 m around by 175 Cubits high, thus showing the same proportions as the Great Pyramid at Giza, and therefore the same circular symbolism. Petrie wrote in the 1892 excavation report that "We see then that there is an exactly analogous theory for the dimensions of Medum[sic] to that of the Great Pyramid ; in each the approximate ratio of 7 : 44 is adopted, as referred to the radius and circle..". These proportions equated to the four outer faces sloping in by precisely 51.842° or 51° 50' 35", which would have been understood and expressed by the Ancient Egyptians as a seked slope of 5½ palms.

Mastabas

entrances to the tombs in the mastaba complex

stacked stone wals making up the mastaba

Located nearby is a mastaba of an unknown noble, the burial chamber of which can be entered via a robber's tunnel. This tunnel is steep, extremely narrow and confined. Once traversed however, the chamber and hallway are relatively spacious, and contain the first example of a red granite sarcophagus known in antiquity. Another mastaba is the Mastaba of Nefermaat.

The stone sarcophagus remains within the unmarked and undecorated granite built chamber. The tunnel goes further on into the darkness, and as of 2002 remains unexplored.

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Golden Age:- Fourth Dynasty

Sneferu

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:44:00 +0000

Limestone painted statue of Sneferu

	Father	Huni
	Mother	Meresankh I
	Wife/half-sister	Hetepheres

Children

Sons of Sneferu:

Khufu - son of Sneferu and Hetepheres I, successor to Sneferu.
Ankhhaf - King’s Son of his Body, King’s vizier (under his nephew Khafre). Buried in G 7510. A famous bust of Ankhhaf is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Ankhhaf was married to the King’s Daughter Hetepheres.
Kanefer - King’s eldest son and Son of his Body. Buried in tomb 28 in Dashur. Second Vizier of Snefru, who continued to serve under Khufu.
Nefermaat I - eldest son of Sneferu and husband of Itet. Titles included: Priest of Bastet, Hereditary Prince, Guardian of Nekhen, great one of the five at the house of Thoth. First Vizier of Snefru.
Netjeraperef, buried in Dashur.
Rahotep - King’s Son of his Body, High Priest of Re in Heliopolis. Buried in Meidum with his wife Nofret. Owner of the famous statues now in the Cairo Museum.
Ranefer. Buried in Meidum.
Iynefer I. Buried in Dashur.

Daughters of Sneferu:

Hetepheres A, married Ankhhaf. She was named after her mother, Queen Hetepheres.
Nefertkau I - King’s Daughter of his Body, eldest daughter of Sneferu and his third wife. Buried in mastaba G 7050 at Giza. Her tomb dates to the time of Khafra. In the tomb Sneferu is mentioned as well as Nefertkau's son Nefermaat II and her grandson Sneferukhaf.
Nefertnesu - King’s daughter, God’s Daughter. Had a son named Kaemqed.
Meritites I, Great of Sceptre and King’s Wife, married to her brother Khufu.
Henutsen - King's daughter, married to Khufu.

Burial Place

Dashur. It is assumed that he was buried in the Red Pyramid, as the mummy of a middle-aged man was found in the burial chamber.

Monuments

Red Pyramid, Dashur
Bent Pyramid, Dashur
Pyramid of Maidum
Seila Step Pyramid

History

Sneferu is the first king to build a true pyramid (after a few false starts, obviously). Three major pyramids are associated with him: The Red Pyramid and Bent pyramids in Dashur, and the oddly shaped collapsed pyramid at Maidum. A number of smaller step pyramids are associated with him as well, including one at Seila (which we spent a day trying to find.) Looking at the monumental building projects of his reign, the evolution of the true pyramid that we are so familiar with is clear: the pyramid at Maidum is a step pyramid changed into a true pyramid shape; the Bent pyramid is the first attempt at a smooth pyramid, and the Red pyramid is the final version.

The pyramid at Maidum was probably started by his predecessor, Huni (although there is little to link the earlier pharaoh to the building of the pyramid) and that Sneferu merely completed it. When he moved to Dashur, he built two pyramids. The first, the Bent Pyramid, changes angles abruptly about 2/3 of the way up the side, from about 54 degrees 31 minutes to 43 degrees 21 minutes. There are a number of different theories as to why the pyramid was altered: it was done on purpose, it was because the angle was too steep to continue building, it began to collapse, it was too heavy, to lessen the workload to finish it. No one is sure what the real reason is. The Bent pyramid is unique for other reasons as well -- it has two entrances, and a multitude of chambers inside, although the burial chamber has never been found.

The northern pyramid, the Red pyramid, is the first "true" pyramid. It has almost the same angle as the top of the Bent pyramid, which supports the belief that the Bent Pyramid was finished first and the Red pyramid built based on the lessons learned from the earlier one. The engineering was a bit better on this second try, and no cracks marred the foundation or the pyramid itself. The inner core of rocks was more carefully fitted together, which made the whole structure more stable. Of course, all the casing stones are gone (except for a few on the east side) and all that remains is the softer rock interior.

The Red Pyramid was started while the Bent Pyramid was still under construction -- imagine the crews of people needed to build two pyramids at one time!

Sneferu married Hetepheres I, who was his half-sister, or full sister, in order to legitimize his rule. His mother, Meresankh, was not royal. Remember that the power/divinity of the pharaoh was passed on by the woman -- while the king was the ultimate authority, he had to be either the son of a royal woman, or married to o ne. This may possibly explain the abundance of incestuous marriages to keep the royal power associated with a single male line. Manetho justifies the break between the third and fourth dynasties by noting that Sneferu came from another line of the royal family. While he was directly related to the kings of Dynasty III, his claim is by marriage. Sneferu was very interested in maintaining the "royal family" and most of his court and officials were family members. He rearranged the ownership of land among his nobles to ensure that they did not garner too much power.

Sneferu had a number of children from his wives. Other than Hetepheres, he had at least two other wives who gave him six children. The evidence suggests that the sons of his first wife were buried in Maidum, before he moved to the newer burial grounds in Dashur. No one knows why he didn't move back to Saqqara, like everyone else.

His military campaigns against the Nubians and Libyans are recorded on the Palermo stone, and he began to trade with the Mediterranean nations. To supply Egypt with the cedar wood they needed for building the royal barges and doors of palaces, he sent a fleet to Lebanon to trade for it. Like previous pharaohs, he led expeditions to the Sinai -- and was later revered as a god in that area.

Sneferu was well-remembered as a good and wise king, and his cult survived well into the Middle Kingdom.

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Golden Age: Fourth Dynasty

Golden Age: Fourth Dynasty

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:15:00 +0000

The Old Kingdom and its royal power reached a zenith under the Fourth Dynasty, which began with Sneferu (2613–2589 BC). Using more stones than any other pharaoh, he built three pyramids: a now collapsed pyramid in Meidum, the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, and the Red Pyramid, at North Dahshur. However, the full development of the pyramid style of building was reached not at Saqqara, but during the building of the "great pyramids" at Giza.

Sneferu was succeeded by his son, Khufu (2589 - 2566 BC) who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. After Khufu's death his sons Djedefra (2528–2520 BC) and Khafra (2520–2494 BC) may have quarreled. The latter built the second pyramid and (in traditional thinking) the Sphinx in Giza. Recent reexamination of evidence has suggested that the Sphinx may have been built by Djedefra as a monument to Khufu.

The later kings of the Fourth Dynasty were king Menkaure (2494–2472 BC), who built the smallest pyramid in Giza, Shepseskaf (2472–2467 BC) and Djedefptah (2486–2484 BC).

You can Go to:-

Sneferu

The Pyramid of Maidum

The Great Pyramid of Giza

Djedefre

Khafra

The Great Sphinx of Giza

Other Components

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:40:00 +0000

The House of the North and South

The Northern court

The Western Massif

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Saqqara - The step Pyramid of Djoser

The Western Massif

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:15:00 +0000

Virtually the entire western side of the site is taken up by three long structures, two flat-topped ones flanking a central vaulted one, covering an elaborate network of underground galleries. The layout of the latter very much resembles the subterranean tombs of the Second Dynasty pharaohs, Hotepsekhemwy and Nynetjer found just to the north of the enclosure and there is a very strong suspicion that this might be another one. However, although a large number of stone vessels were recovered here, there is a dearth of inscribed material

THE AFTERMATH

Djoser's son and successor Sekhemkhet built a similar complex at Saqqara and there is evidence of at least two others to the west. Another member of Djoser's dynasty, Khaba, may have started the so-called ‘Layer Pyramid’ at Giza but with the rise to power of the Fourth Dynasty the stepped form gave way to the ‘true’ pyramid.

The practice of building on a monumental scale became standard among the pharaohs who succeeded Djoser and reached its apogee in the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. The political benefits of such projects were obvious. “Idle hands are the devil’s tools.” and the pharaohs were well aware of the dangers of hundreds of thousands of farmers with time on their hands while the Nile was in flood. Not only did the pyramid project keep them busy but it also put them on the state payroll making them more dependent on the central government.

The logistical problems in a project of this scale were unprecedented. Thousands of people needed to be housed and fed. Material and supplies had to be moved from all over Egypt to the building site. The creation of a class of men who could handle such problems gave Egypt the managerial resources to take on any large and complex project— invading another country, for example, or putting together a large trading expedition. In addition, thanks to Imhotep, Egypt had a large pool of highly skilled artists and artisans— stone masons, sculptors, draughtsmen and painters.

The Northern Court

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Northwestern corner. This is the area of the mortuary temple.

Most of the northern third of the enclosure was occupied by an open space known as the northern court. The area has not been thoroughly explored and its exact function is unknown, although guesses range from a dump site for building debris to solar temple. There is a large rectangular block of stone 15 metres across with a stairway ramp at the far end of the courtyard, facing the burial chamber of the pyramid. It had been carved out of the bedrock and faced with limestone. On top is a setting 8 metres square and a few centimetres deep that has been interpreted as the setting for a benben stone, after the sacred stone at Heliopolis where the sun’s first rays fell. The

Google Earth View of the Djoser Complex

solar cult was a prominent feature of later royal tombs and this may be its origins. After all, Imhotep, the second man in the kingdom and royal builder at Saqqara, was the chief priest of Re, the sun god. No trace of any obelisk has been found but the North Court was the last part of the enclosure to be built and was never finished—probably due to the death of the king. Of course, the simplest explanation is that it was used as an altar.

Stockpiles of grain and fruit (including grapes and sycamore figs) were found in subterranean magazines nearby and two rows of dummy granaries had been built close to the northern enclosure wall. Other galleries found at deeper level appear to antedate the enclosure and may well have belonged to earlier tombs. In one of them was found a small alabaster offering table. Two lions support a tray that slopes gradually down to the back where the lion’s tails curl around a deep vessel to catch the libations or the blood of sacrificial victims.

The Houses of the North and South

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

The House of the North

A narrow passage in the northwest corner of the Heb Sed Court leads to two long courtyards lying to the east of the step pyramid. They were separated by an north-south wall with a stone door (open, of course) permitting access between them. At the far end of the eastern court is a structure known as the House of the South and beyond it, another courtyard with a simular building, the House of the North. It is generally believed that the two buildings are stone versions of the temporary pavilions used by the pharaoh during the Heb-Sed, perhaps representing the White House of Upper Egypt and the Red House of the Delta.

The design of the two buildings is very similar in appearance to the per wer chapels of the Heb Sed Court although they are larger and more elaborate. The House of the South has the same vaulted roof and tapering, fluted columns with pendant, leaf-like capitals. The tallest of these has been estimated to have been about 12 metres high. The corners were supported by ribbed pilasters

House of the South

(in other words, they are rectangular in section) next to two semi-circular fluted shafts. The doorway is off-centre, clinging to one of the columns. Above the doorway is what is known as a

kheker frieze that Lauer believed represented a rope of knotted grass but is more likely to have been based on the fringe of a mat or carpet.

The interior of what is otherwise a solid mass of masonry, consists of a narrow passage that makes two 90 degree turns leading to a small cruciform chamber with niches in the shape of hut-shrines. It has been suggested that the crowns of Upper Egypt were kept here (they had to be kept somewhere).

The courtyard is about 75 metres long and broadens from about 25 to about 40 metres across. The eastern and southern walls were decorated with alternating niches and buttresses. One particularly broad niche in the eastern wall frames a single column, probably with a lotus capital symbolizing Upper Egypt. Next to it is another small chapel with a zigzag corridor leading to what appears to be a small niche while in the southwest corner are

the foundations of a horseshoe-shaped marker, similar to those in the Great Court.

The House of the North (top) is very similar in plan but the courtyard is much reduced in size. The semi-circular shafts at the corners are missing. The corridor is a little longer and contains two niches in addition to the ones in the cruciform chamber. Here too, the archaeologists found a broad niche (right) in the east wall of the courtyard but, in this case, it was much better preserved. The niche contained three papyriform columns, replicas of the plant form that characterized the Delta. There is a slight swelling of the shafts of the stems (entasis), which are triangular in section.

Temple T (Robing Pavilion)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:54:00 +0000

Temple T from the South Court

In the southwest corner of the Heb Sed Court is an open passageway which leads around the corner to a building lying just to the back of the western row of chapels. The rear corner of the last

chapel has been rounded considerably, perhaps to give room to manoeuvre for some bulky object, a carrying chair for example. When Lauer cleared it he gave it a purely alphabetical designation, Temple T. It has nothing to do with its shape. Its external appearance was very similar to a sah netjer shrine and it has been widely suggested that it was a temple to the god Osiris. Unlike most of the buildings in Djoser’s complex, this one had actual rooms. There were two entrances, one in the middle of the south wall and the other just around the corner on the east side. As was the case with the chapels, the stone doors stood permanently open, swung inwards against the wall.

The first room entered was a hypostyle hall (albeit one with only two columns). The columns, like those in the entrance passage, were papyrus bundles and were attached to the side wall, as was the single column in the small antechamber next door. The west side of the building consists of a set of

rooms of various sizes and unknown function. The focal point was a square room with a niche in the north wall. The niche was flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a frieze of djed symbols (djed is the hieroglyph for “endure”). It probably once held a statue of the pharaoh.

The layout has many of the features associated with later temples, so it was easy enough to assume that that was what Temple T was. But, since temples themselves are basically dwelling places for the gods, it does not preclude other interpretations. Most scholars today believe the suite of rooms replicated the sort of pavilion that was used by the pharaoh to rest and change clothes in the course of the Heb-Sed festival. Toilet facilities, sleeping compartment and dining areas could easily be accomodated within, and there was a formal setting for intimate ritual activities that must have been part and parcel of the proceedings. Rainer Stadelmann thinks it was the prototype for the ‘temple palaces’ found at New Kingdom mortuary temples, which served pretty much the same function.

East Side

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:52:00 +0000

On the east side of the courtyard were twelve shrines that are probably representative of the Delta. They too had vaulted roofs, with a but are not as wide and have no columns. There is also a distinctive fan-shaped cornice. The prototype was probably made of mud brick, wooden poles and

Chapels on the East Side of the Heb Sed Court

reed matting. The small forecourt and bent axis approach are the same as for the shrines opposite and the cult rooms are similar but there are no statue niches. The temple form that symbolized theDelta was the per nu, which does have a vaulted roof but whose side posts extend well above it. That is not the case here. Nor does the per nu have the fan-shaped cornice that these chapels do.

Feet of four statues found in the Heb Sed Court

The entrance, which leads to a small chamber with a niche, is on the south side of the building rather than the front. In the last chapel, at the north end of the row, was the truncated feet of a group of two adults and two children, perhaps statues of Djoser and his chief queen as rulers of Upper and Lower Egypt or perhaps the royal family.

West Side

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:50:00 +0000

On the west side were at least thirteen chapels, of two basic types. The first, of which there were three examples, had a flat roof with torus mouldings at the corners and a curved overhang

at the top, what came to be known as a cavetto cornice. It is a stone version of an orginal prototype made out of reeds, supported by rolled bundles of reeds and with an overhanging fringe. There was a false door set in a recess in the middle of the façade and a deeper niche just around the corner, on the north side where offerings could be presented. This type of shrine is known as a sah netjer (“Hall of the God”) and was connected with the cult of the god of the dead, the jackal god Anubis. There is one at either end of the row and another in the middle.

The other ten shrines on the west side were of the per wer (“Great House”) type, a form characteristic of Upper Egypt in the Predynastic Period and symbolic of that part of the country thereafter. The prototype was a light, wood- framed structure with a low vaulted roof supported by three engaged, fluted columns. It has long been held that these were copies of wooden posts that had been shaped by an adze. However, it has been suggested that they may represent the stem of the Heracleum giganteum, a type of

Capitals of the columns on the facade of one of the per uer shrines

hogwood. The capitals are very distinctive. Each was formed of a pair of pendent leaves (or dead heads of the hogwood flower?) that framed an abacus, the block at the top that supported the

ridgepoles. The latter evidentlyprojected well out from the façade, given the standard depiction of the type in Egyptian art (far right). Lauer believes that, in this case, the sockets held heraldic images of the god or goddess worshipped within.

In the middle of the façade was a doorway that led to a small room with a ceiling made up of stone rafters carved to replicate palm logs. At the rear of the sanctuary, at about head height, was a small niche with a ceiling that copied the double-curved roof of the prototypical shrine.

A least two of the chapels—the southernmost pair—had a steep set of sloping steps leading to a large niche where a statue presumably had once stood, waiting to receive offerings. Three caryatid statues of a mummiform Djoser were found lying on the ground on the other side of the courtyard but there is no indication of their intended location. One was broken and the other two were unfinished.

THE HEB-SED COURT

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:40:00 +0000

The Heb-Sed Court from the Southwest

In addition to the Great Court, there was another important ceremonial area connected with the king's jubilee located within the complex. Part of the ritual included ceremonies at the chapels of the gods of both Upper and Lower Egypt and the double-coronation of the pharaoh. The actual events took place in an open area next to the palace, where temporary reed structures would have been set up. Perhaps there had been a time when the pharaoh visited the major temples of the gods throughout the country but, by historic times, it had become the practice for the gods to meet the pharaoh on his terms, at the royal capital.

Access was via a long passage that runs (after a dogleg) straight north from the Entrance Passage to enter the courtyard at the south-eastern corner. At that point there is another option for, immediately to the left, is the entrance to a building of unknown function. Some corridors and rooms have been explored but there is no published information. The area between the Entrance Passage and the Heb-Sed Court was filled with rubble and it is not known whether there is more of this building or not.

Double Throne Dais in the Heb Sed Court

The courtyard itself is about 95 metres long and 18 metres across with the main focus on a low platform at the southern end. Two sets of steps led up to a double throne dais where Djoser’s ka, perhaps represented by a pair of statues, was enthroned as ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. Such platforms are frequently depicted in Egyptian art and the double throne with

two kiosks back-to-back, is the hieroglyph for Heb-Sed. The illustration (left) shows it on the handle of an alabster jar found in one of the galleries underneath the Step Pyramid.

The long sides of the courtyard were lined with dummy chapels—blocks of almost solid masonry. The ones on the west side were mainly typical of Upper Egypt while those on the opposite side were characteristic of the Delta. In front of each chapel was a small courty, divided into two compartments by a screen wall that created a bent-axis approach. Entry to the forecourt was through a stone door, complete with carved hinges and pivots, that stood permanently open. Along the side walls of the inner part of the courtyard were carved versions of the wooden fences shown in contemporary depictions of these types of shrines.

Heb Sed Court from the top of the Entrance Passage

SEE

The West Side

The East Side

The Temple T (Robing Pavilion)

South Tomb

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:25:00 +0000

Gallery beneath the South Tomb

THE SOUTH TOMB

In the southern end of the Great Court is a long building with a low, vaulted roof known as the South Tomb. The elements of the substructure are very similar to those of the pyramid (although

on a reduced scale) but differ somewhat in their arrangement. The burial chamber was at the bottom of a vertical shaft, 7 x 7 metres and 28 metres deep—the same dimensions as the one under the pyramid and on more or less the same North-South axis. It was made out of the same pink granite and there is even evidence for an earlier limestone version with stars carved into the ceiling. The interior of the tomb was far less disturbed by robbers than the Step Pyramid and the ‘manoeuvre chamber’ has survived reasonably intact. Even the beam used to lower the granite plug was still in place. The walls were of limestone and the ceiling had been carved in imitation of palm logs.

Secondary tombs can be found at some, but by no means all, Old Kingdom pyramids. In some cases, they are thought to belong to the pharaoh’s principal wives. At Giza, rows of three satellite

pyramids were set beside those of both Khufu and Menkaure. Although no positive identification of the occupants is possible, one of them did contain the remains of a young woman. However, the burial chamber of the South Tomb is very small, 1.6 x 1.6 and 1.3 metres high—probably too small for an adult woman and her coffin. Various theories have been proposed for its function—to house the royal placenta that had been preserved since the pharaoh’s birth; to contain his internal organs (lungs, stomach, intestines and liver) removed during the mummification process; or to serve as a repository for the two crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. Lauer believed that it was a cenotaph, meant to replace the royal tomb at Abydos. The most popular theory is that they were the tombs of the pharaoh’s ka, represented in the form of a statue. Shown (left) is a wooden shrine containing the ka-statue of the Dynasty XIII pharaoh Hor’ in his shrine. The arms reaching upwards on top of his head is the hieroglyph for ka.

At other sites, such as the Bent Pyramid of Senefru at Dashur and Khafre’s pyramid at Giza, there is a solitary pyramid to the south of the main one. In both of these cases, the subsidiary pyramid seems ill-adapted as a tomb—the burial chamber in the one at Dashur is far too small and non-existent at Giza. Instead, there was a simple niche containing a wooden box with what appears to be the chopped up pieces of a portable shrine for the transportation of a statue. This offers a good deal of support to the theory that the structure was a tomb for the ka.

Magazine containing pottery, stone vessels and a wooden stretcher

In the South Tomb at Saqqara, a descending corridor led down to the tomb—although from the west rather than the north, as was the case with the step pyramid. About halfway down was a rectangular gallery about 30 metres long, filled with pottery and stone jars. On top of them was a wooden stretcher, a wooden box and a set of poles from a canopy—still bearing traces of gold leaf. Lauer assumed the stretcher was used to carry the vessels into the tomb and then simply left behind but, given the other equipment found, transportation of a statue seems a little more plausible.

Door Frame in Gallery beneath the South Tomb

There was a similar arrangement of galleries, including a number with the same faience decoration mimicking the appearance of reed mat panels and doorways—again, probably representing the private apartments of the royal palace. There is every reason to believe that this suit of rooms was constructed before those under the pyramid, which were far less accomplished and less complete. As was the case in the latter, the false doorways contained reliefs of the pharaoh taking part in various rituals. On the door jambs and lintels were carved the name and titles of the king. He is invariably referred to by his Horus name, Netjerykhet. Apart from much later graffiti,

the name Djoser does not appear anywhere in the complex.

The king is shown wearing only a skimpy loincloth (at most), a false beard and the crown of Upper Egypt. In his right hand he is carrying a flail, an agricultural tool used in threshing grain but also an important symbol of power for the pharaoh. In his left hand he is holding a fishtailed object, presumably the flint version that figures so prominently in the predynastic archaeological record and is thought to have been used in the ‘Opening the Mouth’ ceremony to reanimate the deceased. Hovering over his head is Horus, the god of kingship, holding an ankh symbol (the hieroglyph for ‘life’) in his talons. In front of him is a standard bearing the image of a jackal (Wepwawet, the ‘Opener of the Ways’). He is striding (or dancing) between two pairs of horseshoe-shaped territorial markers (depicted in miniature).

Great Court & Token Palace

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

THE GREAT COURT

The Great Court from the Southwest

The Great Court (or South Court) was a huge area measuring 187 x 108 metres and was enclosed by ‘palace facade’ walls. It probably replicates the area in the complex of the royal palace where the pharaoh would display himself to his people, receive the tribute of foreign lands, etc. Against the south side of the pyramid was a throne dais (left), approached by a ramp or a set of stairs. At the base of the ramp More or less in front of it and near the centre of the courtyard were two pairs of horseshoe-shaped structures, set about 60 metres apart. This architectural arrangement is depicted on a number of objects from the Early Dynastic period, including a macehead belonging to Narmer, found in the Main Deposit at Hierakonpolis, and an ebony label for a jar of oil recovered from the Tomb of Den at Abydos. The scene is thought to represent an episode in the Heb-Sed, a ceremony that was held in the thirtieth year of the pharaoh and at frequent intervals thereafter.

Rollout Drawing of the Narmer Macehead

There is a persistent notion of the royal sacrifice in early kingship, particularly African kingship. The belief existed that the right order of the world was directly related to the physical prowess of the king—his sexual potency, his strength and his valour. When these began to wane, he was sacrificed and a younger, more vital candidate was put in his place. One way of demonstrating whether or not a person was fit to rule was through contests. Perhaps duels to the death and may the best man win—there is certainly enough literary evidence to support that notion. If that had once been the case, it was certainly not by the time Egyptian civilization had begun. But perhaps there were other demonstations of vitality, such as beating the boundaries of the Land or sacrificing to all of the gods of the Land, that served in its place. By the dynastic period, these activities had been gathered into a single location, adjacent to the royal palace, where temporary structures were set up in a large open space. Evidently Djoser considered it important that he (or, in this case, his ka) should be able to perform these same rites in perpetuity, in the Afterlife.

On Den’s label (right), he is shown twice—once sitting on his raised dais, wearing a tight fitting mantle, similar to what Djoser is wearing in the statue from the Serdab. He is gazing out onto an open space where another version of himself, wearing the traditional kilt, is seen striding (or loping or dancing) between two sets of semi-circular structures, just like those in the courtyard.

THE TOKEN PALACE

In the south-western corner was a dummy building known at the Token Palace. It is pretty much the first thing that catches your eye when you emerge from the Entrance Passage. It probably represents the temporary pavilion set up for the pharaoh to rest and refresh himself at certain points in the rituals (which were undoubtedly long and tiring, especially under the fierce Egyptian

The Token Palace

sun. The exterior was decorated with a façade that mimiced reed matting and was topped by a frieze of cobras with their hoods flared, poised to strike. This was the uraeus, the symbol of Wadjet, the great goddess of the Delta city of Buto, patroness and protector of the pharaoh. The same image is part of the royal headgear, where she sits on his forehead, poised to strike out at his enemies.

The building is almost all solid masonry but an entrance on the north side leads into a small room, which Lauer believes onvr held a statue of the pharaoh. Ricke, on the other hand, thinks that it was used to house the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. You pay your money and you take your choice.

THE ENCLOSURE & ENTRANCE PASSAGE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:54:00 +0000

Aerial of the Djoser Complex during excavations and before restorations

It is not immediately apparent to the visitor but the step pyramid complex was completely surrounded by a huge trench that had been hacked into the bedrock. It is about 40 metres across and runs for well over 2 kilometres in length. At the southern end of the enclosure, the ends overlap creating an offset approach to the site that emerges close to the southeast corner of the enclosure wall, right by the only entrance.

Whatever else it was, the Great Trench was almost certainly a source of building material for the pyramid complex—otherwise one would have to assume that all of the spoil was removed from the site. However, archaeological investigation of the southern part of the trench has revealed that the inner faces were carved into niches, which would have been completely unnecessary if it were merely a quarry. Pointing to the similarity between the location of the trench and of the subsidiary graves that surround the Dynasty I tombs at Abydos, Nabil Swelim suggests that the niches were where the spirits of the royal retainers emerged to serve their dead master in the afterlife.

The Enclosure

Reconstructed Entrance and Enclosure Wall

In its final form the enclosure measured 544 x 277 metres, an area of just over 15 hectares. However, there is evidence that the original plan was for a much smaller version. Within the walls was a variety of different buildings and open spaces used for the performance of the rituals of kingship. All of the action took place on a spiritual plane, so models could fill in for actual buildings, and in perpetuity, so they had to be permanent. Many of the structures are so-called —‘dummy’ buildings, which were little more than a façade and four walls filled with rubble.

The stone walls which surrounded the site were about 10 metres high and were, according to Lauer, designed to mimic the mud-brick walls of the royal palace, the so-called ‘White Walls’, withits niche-and-buttress facade. The same sort of patterns can also befound on the Funerary The stone walls which surrounded the site were about 10 metres high and were, according to Lauer, designed to mimic the mud-brick walls of the royal palace, the so-called ‘White Walls’, withits niche-and-buttress facade. The same sort of patterns can also befound on the Funerary

The Entrance Passage

The actual entrance with its immense, projecting tower is much more imposing than the fake versions, although the doorway itself is rather unprepossessing. It leads through an antechamber and a pair of stone imitation doors, flung wide open. Beyond was a long passageway lined with 20 pairs of attached columns carved with flutes in imitation of the reed bundles used in traditional architecture. The ceiling was also skeuomorphic, carved to mimic wooden logs.

The columns were made up of a series of drums and originally reached a height of nearly 6 metres. They were not free-standing but were attached to the sides of the corridor by short walls, reflecting a certain lack of confidence on the part of the builders in the new medium. Lauer believes

Looking West down the Entrance Passage

Ceiling of the Entrance Passage (reconst.)

that the alcoves thus created contained statues of the pharaoh, perhaps one for each of the nomes of Upper and Lower Egypt. Traditionally, there were 42 of these administrative units—22 in Upper Egypt and 20 in the Delta—and there are 42 alcoves in the entrance passage. However, four of these lead to other passages and statues would make things a little awkward. Lauer suggests that there were fewer nomes at the beginning of the Old Kingdom and that may well be true. The inscribed base of a statue of Djoser was found but not in situ.

Entrance Passage as excavated (note the permanently open stone door on the left hand side)

At the end was a small transverse vestibule with 4 pairs of reed-bundle columns, joined together, to support the ceiling. The columns were about a metre shorter than those in the passage. Its only practical function was probably to give some space for the funeral procession to reorganize itself before it emerged into the Great Court, through a stone door that stood permanently open.

Back to

Saqqara - The step pyramide of Djoser

Mortuary Temple & Serdab

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:48:00 +0000

Plan of the Mortuary Temple

View of the Mortuary Temple from the Northwest

Unlike later examples, which were invariably found on the east side of the pyramid, the Djoser’s Mortuary Temple was built up against the north side. The area was badly disturbed by later activity, mainly tomb-robbing of both the official and unofficial variety. There is little left apart from the bare layout of the rooms, corridors and open courtyards. There are a pair of the latter and presumably shrines representing Upper and Lower Egypt, to provide offerings for the divine pharaoh, but the plans bear little resemblance to well-known examples from later times.

Beside the mortuary temple and built up against the side of the pyramid was a small enclosure, entered by way of stone gates left permanently open. At the rear of this tiny courtyard was a sealed room known as the serdab (the Arabic word for ‘cellar’). Inside was a beautifully painted limestone statue of Djoser sitting on his throne. He is wearing his long heb-sed robe, which envelopes him from the shoulders to his ankles. On his head he wore a heavy black wig covered by the nemes headcloth so characteristic of pharaohs. The purpose of this totally enclosed statue chamber was to allow the ka of the deceased to rise up and view the rituals and sacrifices made in his honour. To further this purpose, two holes were bored through the outer wall of the serdab at eye level.

Overhead View of the Serdab and the Seated Statue of Djoser

Serdab containing Djoser's Statue

The Step Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:28:00 +0000

South face of the Step Pyramid with the sequence of construction exposed

It is quite clear from the excavations, mainly conducted by Jean-Phillipe Lauer between 1926 and his death in 2001 (yes, that is a long time), that there were at least five different phases in the construction of the pyramid and the pyramid enclosure.

The Mastabas

The original plan had been to build a more or less traditional mastaba except that it was to be made out of stone and was square rather than rectangular. It measured approximately 64 metres square and stood about 8 metres high. The core was made out of irregular stone blocks packed with tafla, the local clay, with a sloping outer dressing of Tura limestone. The square shape is unparalleled in the Old Kingdom and suggests to Rainer Stadelmann that a stepped structure was intended from the beginning but on a much smaller scale than the final product. This impression is strengthened by the fact that the mastaba was almost immediately extended by three metres in all directions but not to the same height.

Beneath the superstructure was a vertical shaft measuring 7 x 7 metres and 28 metres deep, at the bottom of which was the Burial Chamber. As they quarried away, the workmen dug a sloping corridor—at first, a trench but, as it went deeper, a tunnel)— to carry the rubble away and to serve as an entrance passage when the tomb was complete. By the time they had finished, the corridor ran from a point about 9 metres above the bottom of the shaft and reached the surface some 50 metres to the north.

The Burial Chamber (left) was simply a box made out of slabs of pink granite to form a small oblong room about 3 x 1.7 metres and 1.7 metres high. Lauer found evidence of what may have been an earlier vault with alabaster walls and a pavement of diorite or schist. Broken fragments were used as packing material around the final chamber. Included among the debris were a number of pieces decorated with five-pointed stars that most likely formed the ceiling—the earliest example of what was to become a common motif in Egyptian tombs. A small hole was left in the ceiling to admit the body—but there was no room for a sarcophagus. After the funeral, the opening was sealed with a granite plug weighing over 3.5 tons. The space above the compartment was called the ‘manœuvre chamber’ by Lauer. It would have been where the plug was stored and where the apparatus was set up to lower it into place after the funeral. Three grooves down the outside of the plug kept the ropes from slipping. Unfortunately, the chamber had been virtually destroyed by the activities of tomb robbers but it can be reconstructed based on the one in the South Tomb, which survives. Although the plug was found in place when the tomb was opened in the 1930's, the only human remains found within was a mummified foot which has been dated by radiocarbon to a period several centuries after Djoser's death.

Plan & N-S Section of the Successive Mastabas

Along the eastern side of the tomb was a line of 11 vertical shafts, each of which was sunk to a depth of ca. 32 metres. At the bottom of each was long gallery that ran underneath the mastaba for a similar distance. The level of accuracy in their tunneling was low, however, and a few actually intersected. It is thought that they were intended for the burial of members of the royal family. An empty alabaster sarcophagus was found in the fifth gallery (counting from the north) along with a wooden coffin containing the remains of a young boy aged 8-10. Fragments of other sarcophagi were found in the first two galleries and a seal impression bearing the name Netjerikhet (Djoser's Horus name) was discovered in the third. A hip bone belonging to a young woman was found in Gallery 3 but the carbon date from it is much earlier than the conventional dates for Djoser.

The other galleries, especially the sixth and seventh, were crammed with stone vessels—some 40,000 have been recovered—of various shapes and sizes. Quite a number of them bore the names of earlier rulers from the First and Second Dynasties, including Narmer, Djer Den, Adjib, Semerkhet, Kaa, Hetepsekhemwy, Ninetjer, Sekhemib and Khasekhemwy. It is generally assumed that these had been looted from earlier tombs, but when and by whom is a mystery.One theory is that Djoser collected the surviving material from royal tombs pillaged in the factional strife that characterizes much of the Second Dynasty. The fact that most of the tombs involved were located in Abydos raised further questions.

After the shafts had been filled, the mastaba was extended another 10 metres in that direction to cover the openings. This resulted in rectangular structure measuring 70 x 80 metres. To what extent it can be considered ‘finished’ at this point is open to debate. On the one hand, mastabas were the traditional form of tomb (as far as we know) down to this point. On the other, the practice of burying a stepped mound within a larger superstructure was not unprecedented.

The Pyramids

The reasons for the characteristic outline are a matter of some speculation. Was it a stairway to the immortal stars as suggested by the Pyramid Texts? Or perhaps it was meant to represent the primeval Mound of Creation. Or could it simply have been that this was the way they could achieve great height without having the whole thing collapse?

Using the mastaba as the base, Imhotep first designed a four-stage pyramid which rose to a height of about 40 metres. That plan did not last very long, however, and it was further enlarged to six stages, rising 60 metres above a base measuring 125 x 110 metres. A rectangular base is unique among Egyptian pyramids, which are otherwise all square.

The work involved was enormous. It has been estimated that a total of 850,000 tons of stone would have been needed— more than 4x the material required for the first version. The courses were not laid horizontally but rather in a series of buttresses, inclined inwards at an angle of 75°. This greatly increased the stability of the finished structure by reducing the amount of lateral stress. The core of the structure was made out of small blocks of limestone quarried on the site, encased in fine, white Tura Limestone quarried across the river. The feat is made more astonishing by the fact that building in stone was an entirely new idea in Egypt and huge numbers of stone masons and quarrymen would have to be trained. In fact, the final task would have probably been impossible without the earlier stages of construction to build up a skilled and experienced workforce along with the managers needed to organize everything.

Plan and Section of the Step Pyramid (later robber tunnels and some of the earlier substructure has been omitted from the plan for the sake of clarity)

The immense bulk of the pyramid covered the entrance to the to the original tomb passage and it was apparently considered impractical to simply recut it so much of it was refilled and a new passageway was dug. The Egyptians were making tremendous advances as stone workers and masons, but their tunnelling skills were lagging well behind. A long flight of steps in an open trench led from a courtyard of the Mortuary Temple to the start of a tunnel roughly 10 metres below ground level. Then it levels and runs off-target for about 35 metres before it strikes off straight for the old sloping corridor, 20 metres away. The way is very narrow for most of its length, particularly just before it turns where it is about 1.2 metres across—not much room to manoeuvre for the funeral party. It precludes the likelihood of a massive stone sarcophagus being involved and, in fact, there is no evidence of there ever having been one. The passageway carries on, past the sloping corridor to create a large storage magazine for food offerings to the deceased.

Galleries

Radiating out from the bottom of the Main Shaft were corridors leading to sets of galleries that surrounded the Burial Chamber. Most of these were used as storage magazines but some of the ones along the east side seem to represent the pharaoh’s private apartments in the royal palace. The western walls of the outermost galleries were decorated with panels of inlaid faience tiles which imitated the reed matting of of the actual building. The backs of the tiles have tenons which were fitted into mortices cut into the carefully draughted channels designed to hold them. There is symbolism involved in the design too—the blues and greens of the faience are colours associated with regeneration and rebirth. Djed-pillars in the panel shown below supporting an arch were symbols of stability.

Between the panels were open doorways framing reliefs of the pharaoh performing various religious ceremonies, including the Heb-Sed rituals that were necessary to restore his kingly powers. By depicting them on the walls, of course, meant that they would be performed in perpetuity (or at least as long as the reliefs survived) by the ka of the dead pharaoh.

Faience Panel Imitating Reed Matting

Saqqara - The step pyramide of Djoser

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:27:00 +0000

The Step Pyramid & Mortuary Temple

The Mastabas
The Pyramids
The Enclosure

THE ENCLOSURE & ENTRANCE PASSAGE

Great Court & Token Palace
South Tomb
Heb Sed Court
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All about Egypt

The Great Pyramid of Giza - Interior

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Great Pyramid of Giza- History and description

The Great Pyramid of Giza

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The Western Massif

THE AFTERMATH

The Northern Court

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Temple T (Robing Pavilion)

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THE HEB-SED COURT

The West Side

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The Temple T (Robing Pavilion)

South Tomb

THE SOUTH TOMB

Great Court & Token Palace

THE GREAT COURT

THE TOKEN PALACE

THE ENCLOSURE & ENTRANCE PASSAGE

The Enclosure

The Entrance Passage

Mortuary Temple & Serdab

The Step Pyramid

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Saqqara - The step pyramide of Djoser