4 Oct Saqqara Blog

 

4 Oct           Saqqara Blog

 Tomorrow we begin our own pre-tour of Egypt with the company Real Egypt.  We will be visiting Saqqara and Dahshur, El Alamein, Meidum and Lahun, and hopefully, the new Grand Egyptian Museum located near the Giza Pyramids.  Our first tour tomorrow will be a full day to Saqqara.  I thought it might be interesting to provide a little information about Saqqara and its significance in Ancient Egyptian history.  It is Egypt’s largest archeological site and 2020-2021 have been exciting years for archaeologists with major discoveries at Saqqara.

 Now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site that also includes the Pyramids at Giza, Saqqara was once the main and most important necropolis (cemetery) of Memphis, the capital of Ancient Egypt.  It is also Egypt’s oldest cemetery.

 Also known as the City of the Dead, Saqqara, is located 20 miles south of Cairo on the west bank of the Nile just before it branches out into the Nile Delta. For over 3500 years, it was the burial site of nearly 20 pharaohs and their families (primarily from the Old Kingdom), administrators, generals, and sacred animals.  It covered an area of over 3 miles from north to south and ½ mile from east to west, with thousands of tombs covering more than 3,000 years of Egyptian history.  Today it is Egypt’s largest active archaeological site, with only about half of the tombs uncovered so far.  The name is believed to have come from Sokar, a local god of the dead and patron of the people who worked at the Saqqara necropolis – those who built the tombs, those who made the artifacts, and those who participated in the mummification process.

 Saqqara is home to 11 major pyramids, including the world’s oldest pyramid, the Step Pyramid, built in the 27^th century BCE by King Djoser of the 3^rd dynasty.  The pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, beginning with the 3rd dynasty, were buried in these 11 major pyramids, while their families and subjects were entombed in smaller ones, called mastaba tombs.  Mastaba tombs predated the pyramids and were first used for early pre- and 1^st and 2^nd dynasty pharaohs or nobility.  They were generally a large rectangular, flat-roofed, bench-shaped structure.  They had slopping sides and were made of mud bricks or stones. 

 With the exception of the Step Pyramid, most of this complex lay under layers of sand until the mid-19^th century.  The work to uncover and restore these structures has been a slow process, but archaeologists have recently made some amazing discoveries.  Hundreds of mummified animals (including two lion cubs), birds and crocodiles were discovered in 2020.  And in the Catacombs of Saqqara near the temple for Anubis, millions of mummified dogs have been found. 

 Researchers at Cardiff University believe that the dogs were sacrifices by an animal cult that revered the jackal-headed Anubis, an ancient Egyptian god of mummification and the afterlife.  Most were very young puppies leading to the speculation that puppy “mills” were located near the temple.  Researchers believe animal mummification was part of ancient Egyptian life as it allowed (1)beloved pets to go to the afterlife with their owner, (2) animals to provide food in the afterlife, and (3) to act as either an offering to a particular god or as the physical manifestation of specific gods.  While to us killing a pet is a cruel and heartless action, to the ancient Egyptians they believed that they were sending these animals into eternal afterlife as part of Anubis’s pack.

 In 2019, archeologists discovered about 1.76 million mummified Ibis birds in Saqqara and another 4 million mummified have been found in catacombs of Tuna el-Gebel (167 miles south of Cairo).  They are thought to have been native offerings to the god Thoth (between the period 450-250 BCE).  The Ibis represented the god Thoth, the god of wisdom, magic, and judgment.  The Ibis were thought to be wild birds who migrated to the waters near Tuna and Saqqara and then were fed by the locals to keep them there for use as sacrifices to Thoth.

The past few years have wielded many new discoveries that will help to rewrite the history of Saqqara.  While many believed that Saqqara was primarily used only in the Old Kingdom, recent discoveries have proved that Saqqara was also an important necropolis during the Late Period and Ptolemaic era.  In September/December 2020, Egypt announced the biggest find in 2020 – the discovery of 100 wooden coffins, in perfect condition with their mummies still intact inside the sarcophagi, of priests, top officials and elites, that had been buried more than 2600 years ago in 3 deep burial wells or megatombs near the Step Pyramid of Djoser.  Even today, these sarcophagi still retained their colorful, ornate Egyptian hieroglyphics, reliefs, and inscriptions, that decorated the outside of these coffins.  Within these tombs were also found ancient artifacts, more than 40 gilded statues of Ptah-Soker, the main god of the Saqqara necropolis, and a beautifully carved 13” bronze statue inlaid with precious stones of the god Nefertum. 

Archaelogists believe that the find of these “recent” burials indicates a transition or culture change from the Old Kingdom where bodies were buried in private family tombs to the later years of Ancient Egypt where bodies were place in shared tombs, packed and stacked on top of one another.  One theory is that this new custom became popular around 1000 BCE and was based on economics as Egypt faced a period of instability and collapse.  Another theory is based on the fact that Saqqara had always been the center for cult worship of the gods and their representative pharaohs.  After the turmoil and divisions of the 3^rd Intermediate Period, the Pharoah Psamtik unified the country and encouraged a return to traditional rituals and beliefs.  As a result, Saqqara became a pilgrimage site, and the ancient Egyptians wished to be buried close to the tombs of the gods and pharaohs they worshipped.  As a result, this a new economic business emerged – a “real estate” market for the dead.  People would buy a place in a shaft and would be buried together with many other people wishing to lie close to the tombs of the gods and pharaohs.

As excavations continue, archeologists are finding new discoveries that could “rewrite” the history of Saqqara.  In January 2021, 50 wooden coffins, funerary masks, a 13-foot-long papyrus with part of the Book of the Dead written in hieroglyphics, and the funeral temple of Queen Nearit, wife of King Teti, were found.  King Teti was the first king of the sixth dynasty, and this is the first time that archaeologists finally have a name for the 4200-year-old female monarch whose pyramid had been found in 2010 next to King Teti’s pyramid.  The 50 wooden coffins date back to the New Kingdom (about 3000 years ago), the first time that coffins dating back 5000 years have been found there.  Other artifacts found included a shrine and statues to the god Anubis (Guardian of the Cemetery) and games including a game of “Senet,” which is like our chess, but if the deceased owner wins, he goes safely into the afterlife.

The main attraction at Saqqara is the Step Pyramid, which we will visit as part of our OAT tour.  But perhaps the most interesting of all the tombs is the Mastaba of Ti, a court official who served three kings during the 5^th Dynasty. It is considered the grandest and most detailed private tomb at Saqqara and its wall paintings provided historians with a lot of information on the everyday life in the Old Kingdom of Egypt.  

For those who are interested in additional information about Saqqara, I have added the following Layout of Saqqara

Monuments and tombs in the northern part of the necropolis including the Archaic Tombs, lie just south of the modern-day village of Abusir, where some of the oldest remains of Memphis are said to be buried under the village.  Saqqara is divided into several cemeteries:

 

·         Northern cemetery is an extension of the Archaic Tombs that were built during the Old Kingdom.  It contains mostly mastabas that date from the 5^th and 6^th dynasties.  Before that, most of the burials were in Giza.  To the west of this area are several cemeteries that contained the mummies of sacred animals.

·         Teti cemetery, located to the south of the Archaic Tombs, contains the first pyramid built in this cemetery by King Teti, as well as many of the mastabas of his high officials.   This cemetery was used well into the 1^st Intermediate Period, with very little activity during the Middle and 2^nd Intermediate periods.  The cemetery became popular again during the New Kingdom, when its usage was related to the worship of Teti.

·         Netjerikhet cemetery, located north and west of the Djoser Step Pyramid complex, has several tombs dating back to the 3^rd dynasty of the Old Kingdom.  Located west of this cemetery are some tombs, called Serapeum, that were for the sacred bulls of Apis.  These tombs were constructed during the 19^th dynasty and continued to be used until well into the Roman Empire period.

·         Unas cemeteries are located to the north and south of the causeway Unas’ mortuary complex.  To the north are tombs of the 5^th dynasty, including tombs of two of Unas’ queens.  These tombs were built between and above the tombs of Hotepsekhemwi and Ninetjer, perhaps the oldest royal tombs in Saqqara.  The area to the south of the causeway was built from the late 18^th dynasty and contains two of the most beautiful tombs in Saqqara – the tombs of Horemheb and Maya.

·         The unfinished pyramid of Sekhemkhet and the area around it called the Great Enclosure have yet to be fully explored.

 

North Saqqara

The southern edge borders on Dashur, which may have been an extension of Saqqara.  To the south of the unfinished Sekhemkhet pyramid, lie three pyramids built by kings.  The first was from the 5^th dynasty king Djedkare, who was the first ruler to return to Saqqara following several of his predecessors who preferred to be buried in Abusir.  The other two pyramids were built by 6^th dynasty kings – Pepi I and his son Merenre I.  Pepi I’s funerary complex was of such importance that its name “mn-nfr” – was applied to the city of Memphis, which by this time had spread out so that its center was directly east of Pepi’s pyramid.  Around Pepi’s pyramid are several smaller ones that are the tombs of Pepi I’s many queens.

 

·         The most southern monument and the oldest royal tomb in Saqqara South, was built by Shepseskaf, the last king of the 4^th dynasty.  Its unique shape is similar to the tomb of Queen Khentkaus I in Giza.

·         The pyramid complex of Pepi II, located northwest of Shepseskaf’s tomb, was the last royal funerary monument built at Saqqara. 

 

Saqqara South