As noted previously, the great city of Memphis has all but sunk beneath the Nile mud. In order to grasp the size and importance of Memphis, one need only travel into the desert above or below the city and see the immense tombs of unparalleled splendor constructed there. The greatest and most impressive are, of course, the pyramids of Giza. But the first was Djoser’s pyramid constructed at Saqqara. He began by constructing a low, rectangular “mastaba” (Arabic “bench”) which was subsequently enlarged and built upon until it attained the form we see today of a six-stage pyramid that rises approximately 200 feet high. Over the course of the next millennium, Djoser’s pyramid would be joined by 100 more, forming a 100 mile long chain of pyramids along the west bank of the Nile that stretches from Meidum to Giza.

Lauer, La Pyramide à Degrés, Plate II. Link

For all the work that went into constructing Djoser’s pyramid, perhaps just as much energy went into digging a series of galleries beneath it. These served as storerooms and accommodations for the deceased pharaoh and his court. The pyramid builders also constructed a tomb chamber approximately 90 feet underground, made with giant blocks of granite. Djoser’s pyramid would be the first to make structural use of granite, which was transported to Saqqara on barges from Aswan, more than 500 miles upstream.

C14 and the Age of the Pyramid

Thirteen additional tomb shafts and galleries were created for family members and court officials. The skeleton of a young woman was found by archaeologists in one of these galleries. A bone sample from the skeleton submitted for radiocarbon analysis returned dates ranging from 3532 BC to 2878 BC. Even the lowest date in this range is several hundred years too early judging by the standard chronology for the Third Dynasty (2700‒2600 BC).¹Strouhal, E., et al. 1994, 239 There are three ways to resolve this discrepancy: 1) either the Step Pyramid should be dated earlier to match the radiocarbon dates, 2) the young woman was buried in the cemetery before the Step Pyramid was constructed and her bones were subsequently relocated to one of the galleries of Djoser’s pyramid, 3) the C14 dates are simply too early. The last option is probably the correct one since, as we will see, C14 dating tends to return dates that are too high for the Early Bronze period.

Enclosure Wall

The builders of Djoser’s pyramid used small, roughly-hewn blocks of limestone for the pyramid itself. In contrast, the perimeter wall and gateway were made with finely cut Turah limestone fitted together with unrivaled skill. Measuring 300 yards wide and 600 yards long, the wall encompassed a considerable area. All of it suggests that Egyptian masons had a long tradition of sculpting and building with stone to draw from but Manetho says Djoser was the first to build with stone. Archaeology supports this assertion; there is very little evidence for stone masonry in Egypt before Djoser.²Stone masonry was used in the construction of several First and Second Dynasty tombs at Abydos but these are hardly worth mentioning compared to the scale and quality of the masonry on display in Djoser’s pyramid complex.

Imhotep

Manetho credits Djoser’s famous architect, Imhotep, with mastering the art of building with stone. He is also supposed to have achieved marvelous advances in medicine, and many wise sayings are credited to him. In later periods Imhotep would become the patron god of scribes. Every major museum seems to possess a bronze statuette or two of this famous man. The Greeks identified him with their Asclepios, the god of healing, and erected a temple to him near the Serapeum at Saqqara. (We will have more to say about the Serapeum in a later entry.)

A Palace for the Dead

Djoser’s pyramid complex essentially functioned in death as his earthly palace did in life, but with a catch; nothing in his ghostly palace actually works. The doors are not real doors that open and close, but dummy doors. Likewise, the shrines and temples are not functional, but solid blocks of masonry. It is a curious fact that the palace where Djoser spent most of his earthly existence was made of humble mud brick, of which nothing remains, whereas his tomb was made of stone.

The Sed Festival

The Sed Festival was traditionally celebrated in the courtyard of the palace during the king’s 30th year of reign. It was intended to showcase the health and vitality of the king, and the power he wielded over Upper and Lower Egypt. This was achieved by having the pharaoh ran around an oval racetrack carrying the insignia of his royal power: a flail and cylinder. The flail was used for threshing grain and thus may have symbolized the king’s ability to provide food for his people. The meaning of the cylindrical object is unknown.

The racetrack was created with six half-moon “cairns,” three on each side, which functioned like barrels in a barrel racing competition. Several of the cairns are still visible today today in the main courtyard of Djoser’s pyramid complex (marked “territorial marker” on photo above). Their importance may be gauged by the frequency with which they appear on artifacts from the first three dynasties of Egypt. For example, a bone tag belonging to Narmer shows prisoners being paraded between six cairns (colored red) in a courtyard. In other depictions, the king is shown running around the cairns during the Heb Sed festival.

Statues of the gods were brought from their temples throughout Egypt to Memphis for the Sed festival. They were placed in shrines specially constructed for the occasion in the “court of royal appearances,” the central courtyard of the palace. A platform was also constructed for the king who took his seat among the gods of Egypt. The stage for this pageantry was recreated in Djoser’s funerary complex at Saqqara. The courtyard, the shrines for the gods, the platform for Djoser’s throne, are all there, but like everything else in Djoser’s funerary complex, they are purely representative. The shrines are solid blocks of masonry!