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Volume 15 issue 1 August 2014

ANCIENT EGYPT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

THE KINGS OF THE THIRD DYNASTY

This month NETFISHING continues its look at the history of Egypt by seeing what the World Wide Web has to say about the rulers of Egypt’s Third Dynasty.

The Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2181 BC) was an age of remarkable achievements, when a strong monarchy and a stable, well-administered country enabled the Egyptian civilisation to reach new heights. This is evident not just culturally and socially but also in the arts, and especially in the field of architecture, where Egyptian religious beliefs inspired elaborately decorated tombs for the nobility, and the construction of huge man-made mountains of stone as tombs for their god-kings. The Old Kingdom can be divided up into four distinct Dynasties, numbered 3 to 6, and an overview of their history can be found at a number of sites, such as:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdom_of_Egypt

http://www.aldokkan.com/egypt/old_kingdom.htm

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/oldkingdom.html

The Third Dynasty marks what we consider to be the beginning of the Old Kingdom and this is characterised by the development of the step-pyramid tomb design as a burial place for its kings, refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Dynasty_of_Egypt

http://www.crystalinks.com/dynasty3.html

http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html

http://www.nemo.nu/ibisportal/0egyptintro/3egypt/index.htm

The order of the kings of the Third Dynasty is still under scholarly debate but a list could be given as:

Sanakht/Nebka 2686-2667 BC

Refer: http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn03/01nebka.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanakht

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/sanakhte.htm

Djoser/Netjerikhet 2667-2648 BC

Refer: www.aldokkan.com/egypt/zoser.htm

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/djoser.htm

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/Djoser.html

http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn03/02djoser.html

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dsteppyramid5.htm

Sekhemkhet 2648-2640 BC

Refer: http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn03/03sekhemkhet.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhemkhet

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/sekhemkhet.htm

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/Sekhemkhet.html

http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html

http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/pyramid-complex-of-sekhemkhet/

Khaba 2640-2637 BC

Refer: http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn03/04khaba.htm l

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaba

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/Khaba.html

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/khaba.htm

Huni 2637-2613 BC

Refer: http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn03/05huni.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huni

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/huni.htm

http://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/Huni.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meidum

The rise in the worship of the sun-god Ra, of Heliopolis, may have brought about a change in the architecture of the pyramid which changed its form from the step pyramid design (which appears to be related to a royal afterlife among the stars of the Northern sky) to the true geometric pyramid (which has associations with the ben-ben stone, and an afterlife spent in the company of the sun-god Ra). These changes which are first evident at the pyramid of Meidum will be looked at in the next issue.

Victor Blunden

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