In 2650 BC, King Imhotep, chief architect of Pharaoh Djoser (2667-2648 BC), commissioned the construction of a step pyramid on behalf of the pharaoh. One of the most important things about this building is that it is the first building made of stone that has ever been discovered on earth. The step pyramid, 60 meters high, is located in the center of a vast tomb complex surrounded by a limestone wall 1,645 meters in length on all sides. Today, you can still see the remains of the wall that once encircled the area; The part that once represented the entrance was raised by 10 meters.
Temporary materials were used to build temples, and royal tombs were often underground chambers topped with adobe terraces (bench-shaped structures). On the other hand, Imhotep turned the mastaba into a pyramid using hewn stone, and this foundation can be seen in later Egyptian architectural victories.
The pyramid of the mastaba was built over six distinct periods. During these stages, the construction crew gained experience with new materials and honed their skills in handling massive stones. The first pyramid is 60 meters high and was constructed of polished white limestone so that it would sparkle in the mirror. The construction of this structure involved six distinct steps.
Pyramid composition:
If you enter the building from the southeast, you will find yourself in a colonnaded corridor that leads to a spacious colonnaded hall. The forty columns along the corridor are so named because they resemble palm bundles or stalks of papyrus. However, contemporary concrete has been used to construct the protective structure above, and repair stairs have been made to the walls. The entrance is masked in the form of a vast half-open door with ka (companion spirits). Towards the floor, a stone ‘hinge’ can be used to open the door. A total of fourteen such entrances can be found throughout the structure. This is the first time these doors are made not of wood but stone and then painted to look like wood. They did not hinder the pharaoh’s ka in any way so that he could move freely.
Exiting the Hall of Columns, one finds oneself in the Great South Court, a vast open area on the south side of the pyramid with a cobra frieze carved into a wall (the rest is in the Imhotep Museum). In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Wait – the destroyer who shot and guarded the pharaoh – was represented by a serpent or uraeus. Pharaohs often wore crowns or headdresses depicting a snake with its head held high because the image was considered a symbol of Egyptian sovereignty.
An altar is next to the pyramid’s foundation, and two D-shaped stones stand in the courtyard’s center as boundary markers. To prove his fitness for power, the pharaoh went through a particular race. The race track is marked with these markings. The competition was part of the Jubilee Festival, often known as Heb-Sed. This celebration was held after the pharaoh ruled Egypt for 30 years. The purpose of this ritual was to demonstrate that all of Egypt’s ruling elite recognized and embraced the symbolic birth of the king. Thus, a love dam was placed in Djoser’s tomb to ensure that his resurrection would continue forever.
The structures on the eastern side of the pyramid are also associated with the royal jubilee. Heb-Sid Court (Jubilee) is the name of one of these buildings. The temples in Upper Egypt are represented by the structures on the western side of the courtyard, while those on the eastern side represent the Lower Egyptian temples. All of these structures were constructed to harbor the spirits of the gods who came to witness the pharaoh’s resurrection in the context of the jubilee celebrations.
The North Court House and South Court can be found north of Heb-Sed Court. These structures reflect not only the union of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt but also the two most prominent shrines in each region. The capitals of the columns are decorated with papyrus and lotus leaves, heraldic plants of the north and south, respectively.
The House of the South also contains one of the first examples of graffiti visitors left. Around 1232 B.C., a treasury scribe, Hadnacht, described how he enjoyed his time in Djoser while “on a pleasant vacation west of Memphis.” Almost 1,500 years after the death of Djoser, in the forty-seventh year of the reign of Ramses II, this event occurred. A record of Hadnacht’s ideas was compiled in the forty-seventh year of Ramses II’s reign. His hieroglyphs, written in black ink, are prominently displayed upon entering the structure, and an acrylic board protects it.
In front of the pyramid is a stone structure known as the crypt. In this small room, visitors left offerings before a memorial to honor the departed. It also included a slightly inclined wooden box with two holes on the north side. It will be a little disconcerting to see them and feel like you’re getting to know Zoser for the first time. A near-perfect likeness of the ancient pharaoh stands within, and it is posed such that it gazes into the void. However, the original may be seen at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The original entrance to the Step Pyramid is hidden behind the sedan; it it it’s the beginning of a 6-kilometer-long network of underground passages and rooms. There is a stone vault above the pharaoh’s tomb. Beautiful blue faience tile patterns and reliefs depicting the jubilee race may be seen in other areas around the building. Even though the pyramid’s interior is off-limits because of safety concerns, visitors may see replicas of the pyramid’s blue-tiled embellishments at the Imhotep Museum, located beside the site’s main entrance.
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