loyal to both Zoser and Imhotep for saving their
lives and their land. The second major event of
this period was the building of Zoser’s funerary
complex at Sakkara, designed by his architect
Imhotep. The funerary complex comprises all the
funerary monuments, including the tomb of the
king in the form of a step pyramid, which was
the first introduction to a complete pyramid; an
open court; the serdab (a small closed building
with a life-size statue of king Zoser seated in his
throne currently exhibited in the Cairo Museum
and replaced by a replica); and the house of the
north and the house of the south, which acted as
residences for visitors from all over Egypt com-
ing to the capital (Memphis) during the celebra-
tion of the renewal of the king’s royal power,
Heb Sed, supposed to be celebrated every 39
years to ensure that the king was still capable to
rule the country for another 30 years. This event
was to be witnessed by delegations from all over
Egypt.
Imhotep was not only an architect and vizier
but also a wise man with well-known proverbs
and an engineer. Later on he was identified with
Asclepolis, the Greek god of medicine.
Shaza Gamal IsmailSeealsoAkhenaten
FurtherReadings
Aldred, C. (1998).The Egyptians. New York: Thames &
Hudson.
Grimal, N. (1992).A History of Ancient Egypt(I. Shaw,
Trans.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Hornung, E., Krauss, R., & Warburton, R. (2006).
Ancient Egyptian Chronology. Leiden, Netherlands:
IDC Publishers.
Shaw, I. (2000).The Oxford Dictionary of Ancient
Egypt. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Watterson, B. (1997).The Egyptians. Oxford, UK:
Blackwell.
ZULU
The Zulu (amaZulu) are a Nguni people who
live mainly in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal
province, with smaller numbers in Zimbabwe,
Zambia, and Mozambique. They form the largest
South African ethnic population, estimated at 9
million. They have close cultural, ethnic-linguistic
affinities with the Xhosa, Swazi, Basotho, and
Matabele. Their language,isiZulu, belongs to the
Bantu language stock. In the early 19th century,
Chief Shaka (c. 1787–1828) united various Nguni
peoples through new techniques of warfare and
expansive conquest, thus forming a powerful Zulu
nation. The Zulu kingdom has played a significant
role in forming and shaping South African history.
Today, the Zulu are one of the major players in
South African politics.
The Zulu religious worldview is complex; it is
tied to social, cultural, political, and economic
life. Ritual is central to Zulu religious life and
helps to maintain relationships to the powers of
life. Three elements that are capable of exerting
amandla (power) are the God of the Sky, the
ancestors, and medicine. The Zulu trace their
ancestry to an act of creation byinkosi yezulu
(Sky God), who lives up above along with
inkosazana yezulu(Sky Goddess). The Zulu have
a relationship to the sky as well as to the Earth,
the abode of the ancestors. The ancestors live
down below; hence, they are often referred to as
abaphansi. The God of the Sky is a male father
figure while that of the Earth is a female mother.
Both are believed to have brought Abantu (the
“people”) into being. In Zulu tradition, myths
connect the human and natural cosmos. The cre-
ation myth, for example, relates the gods to the
birth of the first humans. The first human who
existed wasuNkulunkulu; he was believed to have
creative power.
The world below is divided into three levels:
the level of the unborn spirits, the recently
deceased spirits, and the ancestors. The
amalozi/amakhosi/amathonga (ancestors) are of
central significance for the Zulu. Their religious
life, which revolves around ancestral veneration,
attracts extensive ritual obligations. The relation-
ship between the living and the Dead is one of
mutuality that excludes non-kin and reflects the
major emphases of Zulu kinship. Zulu society is
patrilineal; authority and inheritance proceed
through the male line from father to son.
Although Zulu society is patrilineal, women nev-
ertheless occupy a significant space for religious744 Zulu