Covering a 7 kilometer stretch of the Western Desert, Saqqara, the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis, was an active burial ground for more than 3500 years and is Egypt’s largest archaeological site. This is where one will find the first pyramid ever built anywhere in the world. Imhotep was the master architect of this pyramid - the Step Pyramid of Djoser.

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The Great Step Pyramid Complex at Saqqara, known to the ancient Egyptians as kbhw-ntrw (libation of the deities), is one of those superstars of Egyptian monuments that is almost always on the itinerary of antiquity tours to Egypt, and for good reason. Few monuments hold a place in human history as significant as that of this Pyramid. It can be said without exaggeration that the Step Pyramid complex constitutes a milestone in the evolution of monumental stone architecture, both in Egypt and in the world as a whole. It is the beginning of an evolutionary period that would eventually see the polished, smooth faced true pyramids of the 4th Dynasty master builders.

Here limestone was first used on a large scale as a construction material, and here the idea of a monumental royal tomb in the form of a pyramid was first truly realized. In a 19th Dynasty inscription found in South Saqqara, the ancient Egyptians were already describing its builder as the "opener of stone", which can be interpreted as meaning the inventor of stone architecture.

According to tradition, it was built for Horus Netjerikhet, better known as Djoser, a major ruler of Egypt's 3rd Dynasty, by Imhotep, Egypt's most famous architect who was subsequently deified during the New Kingdom. Djoser is actually the name given to this king by visitors to the site one thousand years after its construction, but actually the only name found on its walls is that of Netjerykhet. The step pyramid dominates this antiquity site.

It would be hard to overemphasize the dramatic leap in architectural size and sophistication represented in the Step Pyramid. Prior to Djoser's complex, the most common material for large buildings was mudbrick. However, it should be noted that this may not be, in its essence, the first step pyramid. Several small mastabas at Abusir seem to have perhaps had as many as three steps and date to the second half of the 1st Dynasty. Prior to its expansion, Djoser's complex also went through a stage where it had only four steps.

The complex is surrounded by a wall of fine white Tura limestone, which when built, measured some 10.5 meters high and was 1,645 meters long. Within was an area of about 15 ha, which would have been the size of a small town during the Old Kingdom. It contained a vast complex of functional, as well as what we believe were dummy buildings, including pavilions of the North and South, large tumuli and terraces, finely carved facades, ribbed and fluted columns, stairways, platforms, shrines chapels and life-size statues.

The pyramid itself was perhaps not imagined, in its initial construction, as a step pyramid, but rather as a large, square mastaba. However, the fact that it is square, whereas most all mastaba style tombs are usually rectangular, suggests that the builders may have, from the beginning, planned a stepped pyramid.

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Music: Jean Dar - Tears of Joy
Album:Tears of Joy
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