Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

bedrock. The vast subterranean complex resembles a palace. It was to

be Djoser’s new home in the afterlife.

Befitting the god-king’s majesty, Djoser’s pyramid (FIG. 3-5)

stands near the center of an immense (37-acre) rectangular enclo-

sure (FIG. 3-6) surrounded by a 34-foot-high and 5,400-foot-long

wall of white limestone. The huge precinct, with its protective walls

and tightly regulated access, stands in sharp contrast to the roughly

contemporary Sumerian Royal Cemetery at Ur, where no barriers

kept people away from the burial area. Nor did the Mesopotamian

cemetery have a temple for the worship of the deified dead. At

Saqqara, a funerary temple (FIG. 3-6,no. 2) stands against the north-

ern face of Djoser’s pyramid. Priests performed daily rituals at the

temple in celebration of the divine pharaoh.

Djoser’s funerary temple was but one of many buildings

arranged around several courts. Most of the others were dummy

structures (FIG. 3-6,no. 6) with stone walls enclosing fills of rubble,

sand, or gravel. The buildings imitated in stone masonry various

types of temporary structures made of plant stems and mats erected

in Upper and Lower Egypt to celebrate the Jubilee Festival, which

perpetually reaffirmed the royal existence in the hereafter. The trans-

58 Chapter 3 EGYPT UNDER THE PHARAOHS

3-5Imhotep,Stepped Pyramid

and mortuary precinct of Djoser,

Saqqara, Egypt, Third Dynasty,

ca. 2630–2611 bce.

Imhotep, the first artist whose name

is recorded, built the first pyramid

during the Third Dynasty for King

Djoser. Djoser’s pyramid resembles

a series of stacked mastabas of

diminishing size.

3-6Plan (top) and restored view

(bottom) of the mortuary precinct

of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, Third

Dynasty, ca. 2630–2611 bce.

Djoser’s pyramid was the center-

piece of an immense funerary

complex that included a mortuary

temple, other buildings, and court-

yards. Its network of underground

galleries resembled a palace.

0 100 200 3 00 feet

N 0501 00 meters

Stepped pyramid

Funerary temple of Djoser

Court with serdab

Large court with altar

Entrance portico

Heb-Sed court and sham chapels

Small temple

Court before North Palace

North Palace

Court before South Palace

South Palace

South tomb

Royal Pavilion

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3-6AEntrance
hall, Djoser
precinct,
Saqqara, ca.
2630–2611 BCE.