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Volume 15 issue 2 October 2014

ANCIENT EGYPT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

STEP PYRAMIDS 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 development of the first pyramids, the step-pyramids of the Third Dynasty.

The most important king of the Third Dynasty is undoubtedly king Djoser (Zoser) who built the earliest pyramid, the famous Step Pyramid, at Saqqara. The architecture of this pyramid clearly shows that the pyramid design evolved slowly, from the original mastaba tomb of the king, into a four-step pyramid and then finally into the impressive 204 foot-high, six-step monument we see today. This monument is actually the work of Djoser’s architect and Vizier, Imhotep, a man of such skill and learning that centuries later he was held in such high regard that he became deified. Refer:

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

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

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/imhotep.htm

It seems the step-pyramid design was the result of a desire to build something high, to reach up into the sky, to help the king obtain his celestial afterlife among the circum-polar stars of the night-time sky. The Pyramid Texts (discovered in later pyramids) make it clear that the earliest belief was that the king, as a god, would return to the “home of the gods” in the Northern sky (the celestial pole) – an area of such importance that all the stars of the night-time sky revolved around it in homage. On a more basic level, the king wanted to remain “in the memory of his people” and so it was important that his tomb should be visible for all time, as a reminder of his reign. Unfortunately as so many earlier tombs of the First and Second Dynasties existed along the Eastern Desert escarpment of Saqqara, the tomb of King Djoser had to be built further to the west and so it needed to be higher, to stand out above these earlier tombs and be seen from the capital city of Memphis. Imhotep, therefore, designed a tomb that was taller than all the others at Saqqara. Refer:

www.pyramidofman.com/Concept.htm

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dsteppyramid1.htm

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

http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/pyramid-and-mortuary-complex-of-djoser/

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

http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/saqqara/

http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/saqqara/saqqara_text.htm

http://emhotep.net/2009/08/21/locations/lower-egypt/djosers-step-pyramid-the-gem-of-saqqara/#more-1821

Whilst many readers may be familiar with the Step Pyramid and its massive enclosure wall, not as many may know that the entire complex was surrounded by a giant trench – this enormous undertaking is discussed at:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dsteppyramid5.htm

Many later kings of the Third Dynasty tried to emulate Djoser’s construction, most notably king Sekhemkhet, whose monument was never finished, but contained a sealed, though empty, sarcophagus. Refer:

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

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

http://www.catchpenny.org/sekhem.html

The rise in the worship of the sun-god Ra, of Heliopolis, towards the end of the Third Dynasty, may have brought about a change in the architecture of the pyramid, which changed its form from a step-pyramid design (linked with a royal afterlife among the stars) to the true geometric pyramid (which has associations with an afterlife spent among the company of the sun-god Ra). Changes in religious beliefs were reflected in the architecture of their time. The pyramid of Meidum clearly reveals these changes in its design, in that it was originally constructed as a step-pyramid (possibly by king Huni) but eventually had its steps filled in to produce the flat sides of a ‘true geometric pyramid’, the first ever constructed in Egypt. Refer:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/meidump.htm

http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/the-pyramid-of-snefru-at-meidum/

http://www.phouka.com/tr/egypt/photos/maidum/pyramid-01.html

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/pyramid-meidum.html

Victor Blunden

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