Cairo: Saqqara (10/17/2023)

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Sunny with smog sitting over the city across the Nile

Today the included excursion was to Saqqara with its ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, the necropolis for the earlier capital of Lower Egypt, the city of Memphis.

A man on crutches is going to cross the road;
pedestrians blithely begin crossing and cars avoid them

Looking down on the dashboard of taxis,
each carried a copy of the Quran

A landmark in Cairo is the Ritz-Carlton Hotel (1959)
with "mod" hieroglyphs on the façade

Cairo Citadel Aqueduct (1311-1312 CE, reworked 1506-1508)
is about 3 km/1.9 miles long

There is a system of canals on the west bank south of Cairo
to support agriculture; here they are dredging the canal

Agriculture fields

Date palm "orchard"

Ruins of King Unas Valley Temple (c 24C BCE)

More tombs have been discovered and uncovered (KSS)

Pyramid of Userkaf (c 2490 BCE) is now in ruins (KSS)

Step Pyramid of Djoser (c 2670-2650 BCE) was the earliest
colossal stone building in Egypt, and a sort of
prototype for the Great Pyramids

Before Djoser, royal tombs were covered by a mastaba, a flat-topped mud-brick rectangular structure, which did not survive over time.

Reconstruction of the entrance and enclosure wall
of the Pyramid of Djoser

Inside the entrance are the remains of the
original fluted columns

The reconstructed entrance gallery has a roof
to show how tall it was

The entrance brings you to the Great Court,
leaving us 187 m/614' from the Step Pyramid!

Climbing up into the token palace, we see a frieze
of cobras with their hoods flared, poised to strike;
this cobra is the symbol of the goddess Wadjet,
patroness and protector of the Egyptian kings

Camels with the Step Pyramid

In the distance we see failed pyramids, 
with different angles of elevation (KSS)

Looking toward the Pyramid of Unas (24C BCE)

We had to duck to follow the tunnel
into the Pyramid of Unas

Every wall was covered with hieroglyphs, here
in high relief (being raised from the surface) (KSS)

More hieroglyphs (KSS)

The walls around the empty sarcophagus
are made from alabaster (KSS)

The peaked ceiling was covered in stars

Next to the pyramid is the entrance to the real tomb

In the tomb of Princess Sesheshet Idut (24C BCE):

Detailed reliefs of fish

Fish are seen under a boat

This relief is described as collecting taxes from defaulters

A crocodile and baby hippo are beneath a boat

Deeper into the tomb, more colors are seen;
these men may be pulling a boat/barge (KSS)

Bringing offerings of food (KSS)

Killing an oryx (KSS)

Cutting off a leg of the oryx (KSS)

Next: Orieental Carpet School.