However, it was only a short time after the crisis unfolded that Egypt began to make up for what it had missed, as if that squabbling and instability was a motivation for it later, progressing in all aspects and completing the components of the renaissance.
At this crucial time in the civilized history of the country, a time when Egypt was flowing with youth and vitality, a strong and determined king sat on its throne, marking the beginning of a new era
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| Djoser, founder of the Third Dynasty |
Who founded the Third Dynasty of Egypt?
Although the first king of this dynasty, Djoser, was most likely the son of the last king of the Second Dynasty, the ancients considered him to be the founder of a new dynasty.
Djoser began his life like other kings before him and built a tomb for himself like them in the form of a large mastaba of Mudbrick (95 meters long x 50 meters wide, 10 meters high), but he did not build it in Abydos but built it in the area now known as Beit Khallaf south of Qena, in which many pots were found with seals bearing the name of the king and the names of some of his employees and the various departments that they were in charge of.
What were the major accomplishments of King Djoser?
It is a good fortune for Egypt that one of the geniuses who left a clear impact on the history of mankind appeared in it at that time, the wise Imhotep was ruling a wise-minded king who knew the value of that person's genius and extended a helping hand to him and helped him in realizing his views, so the name of King Djoser was immortalized and his works immortalized, and Egypt advanced during his reign with great progress in all aspects.
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| Seated Imhotep, cast bronze statue from Abydos (664–332 BC) , 25.5 cm tall (Acc. no. 54.402), acquired by Henry Walters source: Walters Art Museum |
Who was Imhotep and what was his role in the Third Dynasty?
Imhotep: We do not know for sure whether Imhotep began his life during the reign of King Khasekhemwy and was among his staff, or whether he appeared only in the days of Djoser.
In any case, his name was associated with the name of King Djoser alone, both during his lifetime and in subsequent generations, as the Egyptians immortalized their names together and people kept mentioning them until the last days of Egyptian history.
Egyptian writers in the New Kingdom considered Imhotep their symbol and protector, and every writer before starting his work was keen to spill a few drops of water as an offering to him.
Until that time, kings were buried in terraced tombs, which did not differ in their general appearance from the tombs of their subjects except for their great size and grandeur, and were built of mudbrick, although some of their internal parts, especially the burial chamber, were built of stone.
Djoser built his royal tomb in the south in the style of his predecessors, if the tomb in Beit Khallaf is attributed to him, but Imhotep thought of building another tomb for his master in the northern capital's necropolis and designed it to be more luxurious than any tomb built before that time for any king before him.
What architectural innovations did Imhotep introduce?
The first bold idea in the construction of that tomb was to be built with blocks of stone instead of Mudbrick, so he built a large mastaba of limestone that he cut from nearby quarries and then clad its outer walls with limestone of the excellent white type that they obtained from the quarries of Tura on the eastern side of the Nile.
This mastaba was undoubtedly more luxurious and grandiose than any other royal tomb in the region, and underneath the mastaba were corridors and side chambers with a large granite chamber in the center as the king's burial chamber.
Unsatisfied with this, Imhotep modified his first design and thought of something new. His master Djoser is a god worshipped by his people, so his tomb must be distinguished from others, and it must rise and rise, and for this he began to build one mastaba on top of another, each of which is less in size than the one below it until the final form of Djoser's tomb became a stepped pyramid with six steps, all covered on the outside with white limestone, thus Imhotep was the first architect in the history of Egypt to build a tomb that resembles a pyramid in its general shape.
He did not limit himself to that, but surrounded the pyramid with a large wall built entirely of limestone cut from Tura, ten meters high, and built several buildings inside this wall, some of which were for holding the Thirtieth Festival and others were a symbolic tomb on the southern side or temples also related to the festivals, as he built on the northern side of the pyramid a temple in which statues of the king were erected.
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| Step pyramid of Djoser |
Why is the Step Pyramid at Saqqara historically significant?
The Step Pyramid is considered one of the most important monuments of Egypt, and we see in its buildings the first steps of the Egyptians when they moved from building with bricks to building with stone. We often see the ancient engineer exerting his effort to make his buildings similar to brick buildings, such as the size of the stones (52) cm in length like the size of the bricks in that era or in the formation of the stone roof to be similar to the roof in which they used tree branches, and like the doors that appear as half open and the stone columns that represent those columns that were made of plant sticks and were combined with each other.
Most archaeologists tend to accept the opinion that the large outer wall on whose sides they drew the shape of the thirteen gates on its four sides is only a copy of the wall that was around the king's palace in the valley near the capital, and that the main entrance in the southeast corner of the fourteenth gate is similar to the entrance to the royal palace with its columns and places for its guards, and that these buildings built in stone were built on the occasion of the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of King Djoser, since this king had permanently moved the capital of the king to the north in that city that later became called Memphis.
Djoser was buried in his pyramid, and in the corridors surrounding the burial chamber, they stacked thousands of vessels made of alabaster and some of diorite, porphyry, granite, basalt and other stones, some of them small and others more than a meter high, and a number of these vessels could be extracted at least twenty thousand, and many of them still remain in the corridors and were broken into small pieces by the fall of the rock above them.
Djoser ruled for many years during which the country saw a general renaissance, and his monuments were not limited to Saqqara only, but he built other temples, and we know that he sent an expedition to discipline some Bedouins of the Sinai Peninsula who were exposed to the campaigns that the kings of Egypt sent to bring copper from the mines near Wadi Maghareh there.
Djoser's reign in Egypt was a prosperous period, but from his death until the end of the dynasty, he was not succeeded by anyone to whom we can compare him. Manetho mentions the names of eight kings who ruled in this dynasty, while Abydos lists only six, and the fragmented Turin Papyrus preserves only five names.
Which kings followed Djoser in the Third Dynasty?
Djoser was followed by his son, whose name was pronounced until recently: Semrekhet, but after the discovery of his step pyramid at Saqqara in 1954, the pronunciation Sekhemkhet is more likely and is sometimes called Djoser-teti.
What happened to Sekhemkhet’s pyramid project?
Sekhemkhet wanted to build a building similar to that of his father and chose a place near it, but he died without completing it, and instead of seeing progress in architecture from what Imhotep started, we see that they were imitating what was made, and we also see evidence that the king's treasury could no longer afford to spend so much.
This king did not complete his pyramid, neither in the construction of the terraces on top of each other nor inside the pyramid, and his coffin was found empty when it was uncovered, but whatever the result of the excavations, this pyramid has added to our knowledge quite a bit about the method of pyramid construction, and we now have confirmed how the Egyptians since ancient times have been building their pyramids by making a long ascending road over which they drag the necessary stones for construction and that this ascending road was longer and higher as construction progressed, and when everything was completed, they removed it from its place.
Although no body was found in the coffin, a large number of stone vessels were found, some of which were made and some of which were not, as well as a few gold ornaments that may have been from the Third Dynasty.
Sekhemkhet ruled for only a few years, and perhaps the most important monument known to him before the discovery of his pyramid in Saqqara was the inscription he left in Wadi Maghareh, close to the inscription of his father Djoser.
Who were the kings of Egypt’s Third Dynasty?
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| Khaba's pyramid at Zawyet el'Aryan |
Who was Huni, and why is he considered the last king of the Third Dynasty?
The last king of this dynasty was King Huni, who reigned for twenty-four years. His name is repeatedly mentioned in the proofs of the names of the kings, and we know from a papyrus written in the Middle Kingdom that he came to the throne after King Nebka, and that King Sneferu, the founder of the fourth dynasty, ruled after him.
Perhaps it was King Huni who started the Maydum pyramid, but he died without completing it, and King Sneferu completed it after that, and this may also be the reason for the connection of Sneferu's name with that pyramid, which made many ancient Egyptians in the days of the New Kingdom attribute this pyramid to him in their writings that they wrote on its stones when they came to visit it.
Written by H. Moses
All rights reserved ©Mythology and History
All rights reserved ©Mythology and History
Sources
Wilkinson, Toby (1999). Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge, London/New York.
The British Museum. Biography of Imhotep and King Djoser.
The Walters Art Museum. Seated Imhotep, Bronze Statue, Late Period.
Oxford Reference. Entry on the Step Pyramid of Djoser.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Architecture of Imhotep and the Evolution of the Pyramid.
University College London (UCL). Digital Egypt for Universities – Third Dynasty Section.
