King Djoser, known from his monuments as Netjerikhet (his Horns and nebty names), is one of the most famous rulers in Egyptian history. On the Turin Canon, his name is preceded by a rubric in red ink. As late as the reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-180 BC), nearly 2,500 years later, the Famine Stele on the island of Sehel, in the first-cataract region, still bore testimony to his image as a paragon of a wise and pious ruler {djoser means ‘holy’, ‘sacred’). Although the stele was a tendentious and spuriously historic text put out by the priests of the local god BGanum, its importance lies in the late awareness of Djoser that it conveys rather than in the historicity of the events it records.
The annals preserved on the Palermo Stone record the construction of a stone building called Men-netjeret either in the reign of Khasek-hemwy, the last ruler of the 2nd Dynasty, or Djoser’s predecessor, Nebka (2686-2667 bc). We learn nothing more about the building although there is a good chance that this is the structure known as Gisr el-Mudir at North Saqqara, to the south-west of Djoser’s pyramid. However, it hardly got beyond the initial stages and so the credit for the first successfully completed large stone building in the world, the Step Pyramid, goes to Djoser.
The superstructure of Djoser’s tomb is the result of six variants of the plan adopted in turn as the full potential of the new building material was being realized. Before Nebka and Djoser, stone had been used only in a limited way for elements of brick-built tombs. The final structure is a pyramid of six steps, with a ground plan of 140 x 118 m. and a height of 60 m. It stands within an enclosure measuring some 545 X 277 m., the walls of which probably imitated the facade of the royal palace. The king’s body was laid to rest in a chamber constructed beneath the pyramid, below ground level. While for us this new architectural form ushered in a new historical period, it also contains a clear link with the past. In its initial design it was a mastaba of a rectangular ground plan, a typical royal tomb of the Early Dynastic period.
A remarkable feature of the enclosure is a large open court and a complex of shrines and other buildings, the replicas in stone of structures that would have been built in perishable materials for sed-festivals (royal jubilees) in the king’s lifetime. Here Djoser hoped to continue to celebrate—during his afterlife—such periodic occasions in which his energy and powers, and so his ability to rule effectively, would be renewed. In the southern part of the enclosure, there is a building (the so-called South Tomb) that imitates the underground parts of the pyramid. Its function is unclear, but it may be compared to the satellite pyramids in later pyramid complexes.
Tradition had it that Imhotep (Greek form: Imouthes) was the architect of Djoser’s pyramid and inventor of building in stone. Later he was deified and regarded as a son of the god Ptah and the patron of scribes and physicians, equated with the Greek god Asklepios. His historicity has been confirmed by the discovery of the base of a statue of Djoser that also bears Imhotep’s name. Imhotep’s tomb was probably located at Saqqara, perhaps at the edge of the desert plateau to the east of the pyramid of his royal master, but it has not yet been located and so offers one of the most exciting prospects for future fieldwork.
The fact that Imhotep was a high priest of Heliopolis is a pointer to the early importance of the sun-god Ra (or Ra-Atum). The royal residence and Egypt’s administrative centre were situated in the area where the god Ptah was the chief local deity, but it is likely that Heliopolis (Egyptian lunu. Biblical On), to the north-east of the Old Kingdom capital and on the east bank of the Nile (now a Cairo suburb), was recognized as the country’s religious capital early in the Old Kingdom. Djoser was the first ruler to dedicate a small shrine there.
The striving for monumental grandeur appropriate to a royal burial can be detected early in Djoser’s reign; it reflected the prevailing view at the time concerning the position of the king in Egyptian society. This view may have been further strengthened when it found an ideal means of expression in funerary architecture. In the course of the next two centuries the approach was explored to its limits, and this, in its turn, became a powerful catalyst in the development of Egyptian society. The step pyramid was now adopted as the norm for a royal tomb, but none of those planned by Djoser’s successors was completed. The pyramid intended for Sekhemkhet (2648-2640 bc) was begun to the south-west of that of Djoser and its design was even more ambitious. A graffito on the enclosure wall mentions Imhotep, who May still have been active. The ownership of the pyramid was deduced from the presence of Sekhemkhet’s name on clay impressions of sealings in its underground rooms. Although the pyramid’s burial chamber contained a sealed sarcophagus carved from Egyptian alabaster, this was found to be empty, and it is clear that the superstructure was abandoned when it reached a height of about 7 m.
A similarly unfinished structure at Zawiyet el-Aryan, to the north of Saqqara, is assigned with some probability, though without certainty, to Khaba (2640-2637 bc). The short duration of the reigns of these two kings (only six years each) was almost certainly to blame for their failure to complete the pyramids. Little can be said with any confidence about the family relationships between the kings of the 3rd Dynasty, but the first two, Nebka and Djoser, may have been brothers.
The 4th Dynasty (2613-2494 bc)
In the reign of King Sneferu (Homs Nebmaat, 2613-2589 bc) the external form of the royal tomb changed to that of a tme pyramid. This might be regarded as a straightforward architectural development if it were not for other profound changes that occurred at the same time. New elements were added to the overall plan, and together they now formed a pyramid complex. A new orientation was applied to its plan (the main axis of the complex was now from east to west, while previously the north-south direction predominated). The pyramid temple that served as the focus of the funerary cult was built against the eastern face of the pyramid (that of Dj oser is to the north). It was linked by a causeway to a valley temple, close to the edge of the cultivated area further to the east, which provided a monumental entrance to the whole complex. A small satellite pyramid was placed near the southern face of the pyramid proper. These architectural innovations must have resulted directly from changes in the doctrine concerning the king’s afterlife. It seems that the earlier astronomically oriented star concepts were gradually being modified by the incorporation of ideas centred around the sun-god Ra. Although textual evidence is lacking, already at this early stage beliefs concerning Osiris were probably also beginning to influence Egyptian concepts of the afterlife.
Sneferu, probably as the result of planning that went wrong rather than by choice, had two pyramids constructed at Dahshur, to the south of Saqqara. The first is the southern Rhomboidal (or Bent) Pyramid, where the angle of the sloping sides was altered some two-thirds up its height after structural flaws had been discovered during its construction. The other is the northern Red Pyramid (named from the colour of the limestone blocks used in the core of the structure), in which Sneferu was buried. He may also have completed a third structure at Meidiun, still further south, but the ownership of this pyramid remains in doubt. Visitors who came to see it in the i8th Dynasty, some 1,200 years later, made it quite clear in their graffiti that they thought it belonged to Sneferu. It is possible that it was originally conceived as a step pyramid for Sneferu’s predecessor Huni (more correctly known as Nysuteh, and perhaps also to be equated with Horns Qahedjet, 2637-2613 Bc), but such a substantial contribution to the pyramid of one’s predecessor would be unique in Egyptian history. Sneferu’s later reputation as a benign ruler may owe much to the etymology of his name, in that snefer can be translated as ‘to make beautiful’.
The sheer volume of material involved in Sneferu’s building activities was greater than that of any other rrder in the Old Kingdom. The Turin Canon puts the length of his reign at twenty-four years, although stonemasons’ graffiti found on the blocks inside his northern (and later) pyramid at Dahshur may suggest a longer reign. The problem could easily be solved if it cotdd be shown that the eponymous occasions of a census that were used for dating purposes (the year was of the nth census or it was the year after the nth census), and that are known to have been regularly biennial during the Early Dynastic Period, now became more frequent (less regular) occasions. The contemporary dating system probably required annals or similar records to which one could refer in order to calculate dates accurately.
Manetho began a new dynasty, his 4th, with Sneferu. It seems that once again architectural changes provided the criterion for a dynastic division. The perfection of pyramid design and construction reached its peak under Sneferu’s son and successor, Khufu (Herodotus’ Cheops, Horus Medjedu, 2589-2566 bc), whose full name was Khnum-khufu, meaning ‘the god Khnum protects me’. Khnum was the local god of Elephantine, near the first Nile cataract, but the reason for the king’s name is not known. Information about the reign and the king himself is remarkably meagre. He must have been a middle-aged man when he ascended the throne, but this did not affect the planning of his grandiose funerary monument. The Great Pyramid at Giza, with a ground plan of 230 sq. m. and a height of 146.5 m., is the largest in Egypt. Unusually, the burial chamber is situated in the core of the pyramid, and not below or on ground level. The plan was, it seems, changed in the course of the construction, but hardly more than once, and the design of the superstructure was probably foreseen at the Outset. The usually quoted figure of some 2,300,000 building blocks averaging about 2.5 tons that were required may be approximate, but probably not far off the mark. The valley and pyramid temples and the causeway were originally decorated in low raised relief with scenes that conveyed the ideas of the Egyptian kingship and recorded in anticipation certain events that the king hoped to enjoy in afterlife, such as sed-festivals. The reliefs are, unfortunately, almost completely lost.
A dismantled boat, some 43.4 m. long and built mainly of cedar-wood, discovered in a pit near the southern face of the pyramid, has been successfully excavated and restored. Another such boat still lies in another pit nearby, but is not as well preserved. It seems likely that these craft were intended to be used by the deceased king in his journeys across the sky in the company of gods. Two more large boatshaped pits were cut in the rock against the eastern face of the pyramid, and a fifth is situated near the upper end of the causeway.
Three pyramids that contained the burials of Khufu’s queens are lined up to the east of the pyramid. A cache with objects belonging to Khufu's mother Hetepheres was also discovered to the east of the pyramid. It was undisturbed and contained some remarkable examples of furniture, but the body of Hetepheres was not present. A settlement of priests and craftsmen connected with the king’s funerary cult probably grew up near the valley temples of most pyramids. JChufu's valley temple is located under the houses of the densely populated modern village of Nazlet el-Simman, below the desert plateau, but conditions are too difficult for a full excavation.
The man ultimately responsible for the successful completion of the project before the end of Khufu’s twenty-three-year reign was his vizier Hemiunu, who was buried in a huge mastaba-tomh in the cemetery to the west of the pyramid of his royal master. Hemiunu’s father. Prince Nefermaat, was King Sneferu’s vizier and may have organized the building of Sneferu’s pyramids. The two family lines, of the kings and their viziers, ran parallel here for at least two generations. The pyramid’s date and its function as a tomb are in no doubt, despite the fact that the king’s body and all funerary equipment fell victim to tomb-robbers and disappeared without a trace. However, its enormous size, the astonishing mathematical properties of its design, and the perfection and accuracy of its construction still invite unscientific explanations. It may have been the scale of the pyramid that contributed to Khufu’s later reputation as a heartless despot, hinted at in Egyptian literature and reported by Herodotus.
The long reigns of Huni, Sneferu, and Khufu and the large number of royal offspring complicated royal succession. One of them, Khufu’s son Hardjedef, is known from several Egyptian sources. His tomb has been located at Giza, to the east of the pyramid of his father. Hardjedef achieved fame as a wise man and supposedly author of a literary work known as The Instructions of Hardjedef which continued to be read, transmitted down on papyri, throughout the rest of Egyptian history. Kawa, the eldest son of Khufu by his chief queen, Mertiotes, predeceased his father, and so the Egyptian throne passed on to another of Khufu’s sons, probably by a minor queen.
The pyramid of Khufu’s immediate successor, Djedefra (Horus Kheper, 2566-2558 bc), was started at Abu Rawash, to the north-west of Giza. Another pyramid, at Zawiyet el-Aryan, south of Giza, belongs to a king whose name, although attested several times in masons’ graffiti, remains uncertain (readings such as Nebka, Baka, Khnumka, Wehemka, and others have been suggested). Even his place in the 4th Dynasty is disputed. Djedefra was the first to use the epithet ‘son of the god Ra’ and incorporate the name Ra into his own. Both pyramids were abandoned in the early stages of their construction (although, it seems, both were used for the intended burial).
King Khafra (Chephren of Herodotus, Horus Weserib, 2558-2532 BC), whose name may alternatively have been pronounced Rakhaef, was another son of Khufu, and his own son Menkaura (Mycerinus of Herodotus, Horus Kakhet, 2532-2503 bc) built their pyramids at Giza. ’Their plans, measurements, and the choice of building material differed from those of Khufu and show further development of ideas associated with such monuments. ’The ground plan (side 214.5 ™-) the height (143.5 ™-) of Khafra’s pyramid make it the second largest in Egypt, and a judicious choice of location, on somewhat higher ground than the pyramid of Khufu, gives the impression that it is its equal,
Khafra’s pyramid complex contains a feature not repeated elsewhere, a huge guardian statue to the north of the valley temple, close to the causeway ascending to the pyramid temple and the pyramid. It is a human-headed lion couchant now known as the Great Sphinx (a Greek term that may derive from the Egyptian phrase shesep-ankh: ‘living image’). Its size, some 72 m. long and 20 m. tall, makes it the largest statue in the ancient world. The Sphinx was not worshipped in its own right until early in the i8th Dynasty, when it came to be regarded as the image of a local form of the god Horus (Horemakhet, Greek Harmachis, Horus on the Horizon). In front of it, though apparently unconnected with it, was a building constructed according To an unusual plan, with an open court, and this is interpreted as an early sun-temple. The designation ‘son of Ra’ now became a standard part of the royal titulary and both Khafra and Menkaura followed Djedefra’s example in incorporating the name of the sun-god into their own.
The pyramid of Menkaura shows extensive use of granite, a more prestigious building material than limestone, but it was built on a smaller scale (side 105 m. and 65.5 m. in height), suggesting that the striving for sheer size had passed its peak. It is a precursor of the smaller and less painstakingly constructed pyramids of the 5th and 6th Dynasties. The Giza pyramids display a clear relationship in the layout of the site, but this is more likely due to the techniques used in the initial surveying than to an overall plan conceived at the outset. A theory according to which the positions of the pyramids at Giza reflect the stars of Orion in the sky is unlikely to be correct.
The pyramid complex of Menkaura was apparently hastily completed by his son and successor, Shepseskaf (Homs Shepseskhet, 2503-2498 BC). He was the only mler of the Old Kingdom who abandoned the pyramidal form, instead constmcting a huge sarcophagusshaped mastaba at South Saqqara, the base of which measured 100 by 72 m. The monument is known as Mastabat el-Fara'un. Khentkawes, probably a queen of Menkaura, had a similar tomb at Giza, but a small pyramid complex was also constmcted for her at Abusir. The significance of Shepseskafs move away from a pyramid towards a sarcophagus-shaped tomb escapes us, and it is tempting to regard it as a sign of religious uncertainty, if not crisis. The Turin Canon inserts a reign of two years after Shepseskaf, but the name of the king is lost (perhaps he is Manetho’s Thamphthis) and it has not yet been possible to confirm it from contemporary monuments. It seems, therefore, that all of the 4th-Dynasty kings were Snefem’s descendants. The idea of the son burying his father and succeeding him was ubiquitous in Egypt, but this was not an absolute precondition for royal succession and did not automatically confer such a right.
The precise location of White Wall (Ineb-hedj), the capital of Egypt traditionally founded by King Menes at the beginning of Egyptian history, has not yet been established. It may have been near the modern village of Abusir, in the Nile Valley approximately to the north-east of the pyramid of Djoser. The reasons for the choice of Zawiyet el-Aryan, Meidum, Dahshur, Saqqara, Giza, and Abu Rawash for the siting of the pyramids of the 3rd and 4th Dynasties are far from clear. The location of the royal palaces and the availability of a suitable building site near the pyramid of the King’s predecessor may have played a part in the decision.
World History
