Editing Pyramid of Djoser (section)

== Pyramid complex ==

Djoser's Step Pyramid complex included several structures pivotal to its function in both life and the afterlife. A pyramid was not simply a grave in ancient Egypt. Its purpose was to facilitate a successful afterlife for the king so that he could be eternally reborn. The symbolism of the step pyramid form, which did not survive beyond the 3rd Dynasty, is unknown, but it has been suggested that it may be a monumental symbol of the crown, especially the royal mortuary cult, since seven small step pyramids (that were not tombs) were built in the provinces.<ref name="Kathryn A. Bard 2008"/> Another well accepted theory is that it facilitated the king's ascension to join the eternal North Star.<ref name="Martin Isler 2001">[[Martin Isler]], ''Sticks, Stones, and Shadows: Building the Egyptian Pyramids'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001), 90–99.</ref>

The main modern excavator of the Step Pyramid was [[Jean-Philippe Lauer]], a French architect who reconstructed key portions of the complex. The complex covers {{cvt|15|ha}} and is about 2.5 times as large as the Old Kingdom town of Hierakonpolis.<ref name="Kathryn A. Bard 2008"/> Several features of the complex differ from those of later Old Kingdom pyramids. The pyramid temple is situated at the north side of the pyramid, whereas in later pyramids it is on the east side. Also, the Djoser complex is built on a north–south axis, whereas later complexes utilize an east–west axis. Furthermore, the Djoser complex has one niched enclosure wall, whereas later pyramids have two enclosure walls with the outside one being smooth and the inside one sometimes niched.<ref name="Mark Lehner 1997"/>

=== Great trench ===
Before the enclosure wall, Djoser's pyramid complex is surrounded by a trench dug into the underlying rock. At {{cvt|750|m|ft+royal cubit}} long and {{cvt|40|m|ft+royal cubit}} wide, the trench is the largest structure of this kind in the Memphis necropolis. It is rectangular in shape, oriented on the north–south axis. The trench resembles a 𓉔 (hieroglyph h) which represents the floorplan of a house. It is decorated with niches which are suggested by [[Nabil Swelim]] to have hosted the spirits of members of the king's court, there to serve the king in his afterlife. In parts, the trench doubles into two with distinct entries. These make accessing the enclosure wall more difficult, indicating its function as a safe-guard. [[Miroslav Verner]] suspects that a single entrance was built at the south-east corner granting access to the area.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|pp=110–111}}

=== Enclosure wall ===
The complex is enclosed by a wall {{cvt|10.5|m|ft}} high that stretched for over {{cvt|1.6|km|mi}}. This wall was built from a thick core of masonry that was encased with Tura limestone, wholly on the outside but partially on the inside.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|pp=50–51}} The external façade of the wall had a [[bastion]] at a regular interval of {{cvt|4.1|m|ft}} adorned with 1,680 hand-carved niches {{cvt|9|m|ft}} tall.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=84}}{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=51}} Fourteen of these bastions were larger than the rest. These hosted false double-doors, while a fifteenth situated in the south-east corner of the east façade held the real entrance.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=51}}{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}} The entrance was [[Flanking tower|flanked by two towers]] leading to a passage past which lay the colonnaded entrance.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=51}}

The enclosure wall design recalls the appearance of [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First Dynasty]] tombs, such as those found directly north of the complex and at Abydos.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=51}}{{sfn|Spencer|1993|pp=98–99}}{{sfn|Robins|1997|p=40}} Alan Spencer compares the design to the panelled construction of the palace façade, which imitates bound [[Strapping|bundle]]s of reeds.{{sfn|Spencer|1993|pp=98–99}} Jean-Philippe Lauer suggests that the wall was modelled after the "White Walls" of Memphis, though Verner notes that the presence of so many doors renders this unlikely.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=51}}{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}} [[:de:Hermann Kees|Hermann Kees]] thought the fifteen doors were related to the ''sed'' festival and indicated its duration as being half a lunar month.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}} The remaining doors are known as false doors, and were meant for the king's use in the afterlife. They functioned as portals through which the king's ''ka'' could pass between life and the afterlife.{{sfn|Siliotti|Hawass|1997|pp=105–113}}

<gallery class="center" widths="160px" heights="160px">
Saqqara BW 1.jpg|Enclosure wall of the step pyramid complex
Saqqara, tempio di Djoser, 02.JPG|Entrance corridor facing towards the desert
Saqqarah Djeser 01.jpg|The bastions with hand-carved recesses 
</gallery>

=== Entrance colonnade ===
The entrance colonnade led from the enclosure wall to the south court of the complex.{{sfn|Bard|2015|p=142, fig. 6.2}} It comprises two distinct passageways oriented approximately east–west.{{efn|The corridor is oriented slightly to the south-west.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=113}}}} The first is a narrow {{cvt|1.05|m|ft}} wide by {{cvt|6|m|ft}} long corridor cut into the enclosure walls bastion.{{sfn|Lauer|1999|p=861}} The ceiling blocks here were carved into the shape of tree trunks.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}} This is followed by a wider corridor flanked by 40 limestone columns, arranged in pairs, that fronted projecting walls, which formed [[Alcove (architecture)|alcove]]s.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}}{{sfn|Lauer|1999|p=861}}{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=47}} The columns were each nearly {{cvt|6|m|ft}} tall{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}} and were fashioned to resemble bundled reeds{{sfn|Lauer|1999|p=861}}{{sfn|Bard|2015|p=143}} that had between seventeen and nineteen ribs.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=47}} They supported a limestone ceiling whose blocks carved again into the form of palm tree trunks.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}}{{sfn|Lauer|1999|p=861}} There are 24 alcoves which are suggested to have held statues of the king or perhaps, because of their number, a double statue of the king and a [[Nome (Egypt)|nome]] deity. Such statues are present in the monuments of the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]], but no trace of them has been uncovered at Djoser's complex.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=112}}{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=47}} The end walls of the alcoves had slits cut into them near the ceiling thus allow light to filter in.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|pp=47–48}} Near the beginning of the colonnade, at its eastern end, is a corridor which leads to the ''heb-sed'' court.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=46}} Between the twelfth and thirteenth alcove{{sfn|Lauer|1962|p=111}} is a "transverse vestibule" with a passage flanked by eight {{cvt|5|m|ft}} tall columns and cross-walls leading to a sanctuary.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=113}}{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=48}} Lauer believes this chamber contained a statue of Djoser on a pedestal that bore his name and Imhotep's titles.{{sfn|Lauer|1999|p=861}} The torso and base of this statue were found in the entrance colonnade.{{sfn|Verner|2001d|p=114}} The west wall of the entrance colonnade has the form of an open door which leads into the south court.{{sfn|Edwards|1993|p=48}}

<gallery class="center" widths="160px" heights="160px">
Saqqara, Ancient Egypt.jpg|Entrance
Saqqarah Djeser 04.jpg|Entrance colonnade of the step pyramid complex
Saqqara - Pyramid of Djoser - Mortuary temple - Hypostyle hall.JPG|Colonnaded corridor leading into the complex proper
</gallery>

=== South court ===
The south court is a large court between the south tomb and the pyramid. Within the court are curved stones thought to be territorial markers associated with the [[Sed festival|Heb-sed festival]], an important ritual completed by Egyptian kings (typically after 30 years on the throne) to renew their powers.<ref name="Kathryn A. Bard 2008"/> These would have allowed Djoser to claim control over all of Egypt,<ref name="Kathryn A. Bard 2008"/> while its presence in the funerary complex would allow Djoser to continue to benefit from the ritual in the afterlife.<ref name="Gay Robins 2000">[[Gay Robins]], ''The Art of Ancient Egypt'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 40–45.</ref> At the southern end of the court was a platform approached by steps. It has been suggested that this was a platform for the double throne. This fits into the theory proposed by Barry Kemp, and generally accepted by many, that suggests the whole step pyramid complex symbolizes the royal palace enclosure and allows the king to eternally perform the rituals associated with kingship.<ref name="Gay Robins 2000"/> At the very south of the South Court lay the South Tomb.

=== South tomb ===
[[File:Djoser 1.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Relief of Djoser facing the temple of Horus of Behedet (modern [[Edfu]]) in a blue faience chamber of the south tomb]]

The south tomb has been likened to the satellite pyramids of later dynasties, and has been proposed to house the ka in the afterlife. Another proposal is that it may have held the canopic jar with the king's organs, but this does not follow later trends where the canopic jar is found in the same place as the body. These proposals stem from the fact that the granite burial vault is much too small to have facilitated an actual burial.<ref name="Mark Lehner 1997"/>

The substructure of the south tomb is entered through a tunnel-like corridor with a staircase that descends about 30&nbsp;m before opening up into the pink granite burial chamber. The staircase then continues east and leads to a gallery that imitates the blue chambers below the step pyramid.<ref name="Miroslav Verner 1998"/>

Current evidence suggests that the south tomb was finished before the pyramid. The symbolic king's inner palace, decorated in blue faience, is much more complete than that of the pyramid. Three chambers of this substructure are decorated in blue faience to imitate reed-mat facades, just like the pyramid.<ref name="Mark Lehner 1997"/> One room is decorated with three finely niche reliefs of the king, one depicting him running the [[Sed festival|Heb-sed]].<ref name="Kathryn A. Bard 2008"/> Importantly, Egyptian builders chose to employ their most skilled artisans and depict their finest art in the darkest, most inaccessible place in the complex. This highlights the fact that this impressive craftsmanship was not meant for the benefit of the living but was meant to ensure the king had all the tools necessary for a successful afterlife.<ref name="Mark Lehner 1997"/>

=== North temple and serdab court ===
The northern (funerary/mortuary) temple was on the north side of the pyramid and faced the north stars, which the king wished to join in eternity. This structure provided a place in which the daily rituals and offerings to the dead could be performed, and was the cult center for the king. To the east of the temple is the [[serdab]], which is a small enclosed structure that housed the ''ka'' statue. The king's ''ka'' inhabited the ''ka'' statue, in order to benefit from daily ceremonies like the opening of the mouth, a ceremony that allowed him to breathe and eat, and the burning of incense. He witnessed these ceremonies through two small eye holes cut in the north wall of the serdab.<ref name="Gay Robins 2000"/> This temple appeared on the north side of the pyramid throughout the Third Dynasty, as the king wished to go north to become one of the eternal stars in the North Sky that never set.<ref name="Miroslav Verner 1998"/>{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} In the Fourth Dynasty, when there was a religious shift to an emphasis on rebirth and eternity achieved through the sun, the temple was moved to the east side of the pyramid, where the sun rises, so that through association the king may be reborn every day.<ref name="Miroslav Verner 1998"/>{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

=== Heb-sed court ===
[[File:Egypt-12B-047 - Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser.jpg|alt=In the foreground are chapels on the west side of the Heb-Sed Court. In the background the step pyramid is visible.|thumb|In the foreground are chapels on the west side of the Heb-Sed Court. In the background the step pyramid is visible.]]

The Heb-sed court is rectangular and parallel to the South Courtyard. It was meant to provide a space in which the king could perform the Heb-sed ritual in the afterlife.<ref name="Mark Lehner 1997"/> Flanking the east and west sides of the court are the remains of two groups of chapels, many of which are dummy buildings, of three different architectural styles. At the north and south ends there are three chapels with flat roofs and no columns.<ref name="A.J. Spencer, Early Egypt 1993"/> The remaining chapels on the west side are decorated with [[Fluting (architecture)|fluted columns]] and [[Capital (architecture)|capital]]s flanked by leaves.<ref name="Miroslav Verner 1998">Miroslav Verner, ''The Pyramids'' (New York: Grove Press, 1998), 105–139.</ref> Each of the chapels has a sanctuary accessed by a roofless passage with walls that depict false doors and latches. Some of these buildings have [[Niche (architecture)|niche]]s for statues. Egyptologists believe that these buildings were related to the important double coronation of the king during the Heb-sed.<ref name="A.J. Spencer, Early Egypt 1993">[[:fr:Alan Jeffrey Spencer|A. J. Spencer]], ''Early Egypt: The Rise of Civilization in the Nile Valley'' (London: British Museum Press, 1993), 98–110.</ref>