Saqqara

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The site of the principal necropolis of the ancient city of Memphis, near Cairo, Egypt, used from the 2nd Dynasty to the Christian period. There are 15 royal pyramids, mainly of the Old Kingdom (c 2575-2130 BC), the most being the Step Pyramid erected by Imhotep for Djoser, pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty, c 2630 BC. The royal mastaba tombs of the nobility making up most of the cemetery have yielded much evidence on the Archaic Period. Also buried here, at the Serapeum, were the sacred Apis bulls. With the passage of time burial chambers were more massively constructed of stone, and eventually hewn from solid rock. There are a large number of important private tombs of the Archaic through the Graeco-Roman period.

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A major necropolis in Lower Egypt, adjacent to modern Abusir and close to Memphis. The pharaohs of the Second Dynasty were buried here in graves which were clearly a development and elaboration of the type of royal tomb constructed in First Dynasty times at Abydos. With the passage of time burial chambers were more massively constructed of stone, and eventually hewn from solid rock. During the Third Dynasty this process led to the development of the step pyramids of pharaohs Sekhemkhet and Djoser, each surrounded by a massive walled enclosure some 500 metres in length.

The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied

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