Memphis, Saqqara, and Dahshur

On Friday morning we met our guide for the day, Amro, and headed to the ancient capital of Memphis. Since this was the Old Kingdom capital, it surprised me to see only statues from the much later New Kingdom. Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom (~2600 BC) were so invested in the afterlife that they didn't consider it worthwhile to make buildings last during this life, so they built with mud brick. There was a statue of Ramses II (a New Kingdom pharoah) made of a single piece of limestone more than 40 feet tall (well, long, since he's now lying down).


Saqqara, a few miles down the road, is the home of the first stone building known in history, the Step Pyramid, built by the Pharaoh Djoser around 2670 BC.

Judy checks it out

The entrance to the pyramid complex is lined with elegant polished limestone columns in the form of papyrus reed bundles. There are 42 alcoves along the entry, representing, Amro believes, the 42 city-states of Egypt at the time.




Off to the side of the complex, is a building that Amro calls the sound temple. It is technically off limits, but one of the guards was Amro's friend and allowed us to go there. It was wonderful to contemplate for a few minutes and soak in the feeling of the place.

Also with Amro's help, we visited the north entrance and spotted an image of Djoser through a hole in a massive stone block.

Amro and his buddy

Just a few hundred yards away is the Serapeum, underground catacombs where the Apis bulls were entombed. The cult of the Apis bull started early in ancient Egypt and continued until the time of Greek and Roman rule. The sacred bulls, thought to represent the power of the pharaoh, were mummified and placed in massive stone coffins, which still line the underground corridors. The bulls are nowhere to be found.

Not far away is the pyramid complex of Dahshur, where we visited the Bent Pyramid, called that for an obvious reason. It's thought to be an intermediate stage of building between the step pyramid and a true straight-sided pyramid. In other words, they were still learning back in 2600 BC. A causeway from the Nile led to it.






A small temple next to it appeared to be partly built with adobe bricks. They were still here after 4600 years.

Beside the Bent Pyramid was a smaller one, who a guard said was for Sneferu's wife. The guard happily took my photo at the entrance, then happily asked for money. I didn't have any, but he seemed OK with it.

The pharaoh Sneferu built the Bent Pyramid, but wasn't happy with just educating engineers, so he had the Red Pyramid built next door for his tomb. It was the first true straight-sided pyramid.

We descended a sloping shaft to the center of the pyramid and hastily retreated due to a very strong smell of ammonia in the burial chamber. Nothing fancy in there, but it was interesting to see the stepped block construction that supported the weight of the blocks above.

We ended the day with a tasty late lunch of babaganoush, tahini, aged cheese, roasted and pickled vegetable appetizers, followed by chicken, lamb, and rice. This lady makes the falafel-style bread. Judy was about to enjoy some.