THE TEMPLES, SITES AND MONUMENTS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Saqqara was the necropolis - the "cemetery city" - of the Old Kingdom capital of Memphis. Here stands the famous 'Step Pyramid'.

The Step Pyramid is the first known monumental structure made of stone anywhere in the world.

The Step Pyramid was designed and built for the 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser I Netjerykhet (2630-2611 BC) by his vizier Imhotep, the "Master Builder of Ptah".

As its name suggests, the Pyramid is a series of six levels or 'steps' of stone decreasing in size as they ascend to about 200 feet in height.

Until this time, the mastaba had been the principal form of tomb architecture. A mastaba (Arabic for "bench") is a low rectangular structure which was built over a shaft which descended to the burial location. The Step Pyramid probably began as a mastaba, and Imhotep may have visualized a series of mastaba shapes, decreasing in size, stacked one on top of another. Whatever the origin, it creates an impressive geometrical form rising from the floor of the desert.

The Step Pyramid was not just a tomb, but was a collection of temples, pavilions, corridors, chapels, halls and storerooms. Imhotep's plan included fluted columns that were attached to the limestone walls, which conformed to the walls in the palace. This preserved a link with the past in the ancient styles of architecture.

It needs to be pointed out, however, that the pyramids built during the 3rd Dynasty were step pyramids and not the "true" pyramids that were built from the start of the 4th Dynasty on. The Saqqara complexes surrounding Djoser's Step Pyramid and Sekhemkhet's (2611-2603 BC) unfinished step pyramid are unlike the funerary complexes of the 4th Dynasty and later. As such, the Step Pyramid and the funerary complexes of the 3rd Dynasty can still be considered as part of the formative stage of pyramid building.

Later pharaohs added smaller pyramids, as well as numerous tombs, mastabas and courts. The view above is across the South Court.

Home | Nile Valley | Dynasties | Wealth | Divinity | Temples | Hieroglyphs | Mysteries