Viewed as a golden age by later Egyptians, the Old Kingdom was a period of great confidence, stability, organization, and administrative control. Exemplified by the soaring pyramids and royal representations that project a remarkable level of poise and serenity, this period demonstrates the stability and wealth that resulted from the success of the storehouse-based economic system. The kings devoted huge resources to provisioning their mortuary cults via state run building projects. Power was delegated to elite overseers who administered these massive endeavors, earning royal ‘endowments’ for their own afterlife in the process. Labor, both highly-skilled and untrained, was derived from the native population (mostly during the flooding season, when fields could not be worked) and there is archeological evidence that they were fairly compensated.

Old Kingdom (c. 2649–2150 B.C.E.)

Often considered to begin with the Third Dynasty and Netjerikhet (Djoser), whose famous Step Pyramid complex initiated the massive stone royal mortuary monuments that characterize the Old Kingdom period. The role of the king became closely connected with the deities Horus and Ra making the pharaoh responsible for the maintenance of divine order (ma’at). The first Fourth Dynasty king, Snefru, was the greatest of the pyramid builders and constructed 3 massive pyramids that demonstrate the development of the smooth-sided form. The astonishing level of architectural and engineering skills belonging to the craftspeople during this time are still clearly evident, as are their useful, but sometimes less-successful, experiments along the way.

Snefru’s successor was Khufu, who used the lessons of his predecessor to build the Great Pyramid at Giza. The other two main pyramids at Giza were built by his successors Khafre and Menkaure. During this era of monumental pyramid complexes, focus on the local shrines was reduced and received less royal support. The administrative seat continued at Memphis throughout this period. Fifth Dynasty kings built smaller pyramids, some with burial chambers inscribed with texts that are among the earliest religious writings known. These Pyramid Texts, as they are now known, are also the oldest of the collections of funerary literature from Egypt. Several of these rulers constructed marvelous temples dedicated to the sun god Ra, whose cult was on the rise throughout the Old Kingdom.

Elites who served the kings of this period were honored with beautifully decorated tombs located in cemeteries surrounding the royal monuments. The process of mummification was largely developed by this point and bodies were usually interred in rectangular coffins of wood. Near the end of the Sixth Dynasty, sections of the Pyramid Texts, previously reserved for royalty, began to appear in the tombs of important non-royal individuals—an apparent symptom of the breakdown of centralized control that led to the end of the Old Kingdom.

This breakdown was likely caused by a number of factors, possibly including famine. One major factor may have been the unusually long reign of Pepy II in Dynasty 6. Having reigned from early childhood until his 90s, Pepy outlived several of his expected heirs, possibly causing succession issues upon the king’s death. This same period saw the power of regional governors, called nomarchs, increase. These elite positions had become hereditary over time, coalescing into generational control over localities. As their importance grew, these nomarchs became increasingly more independent from the king. The simultaneous rise of numerous nomarchs resulted in conflict between neighboring provinces and exacerbated the disintegration of centralized control that occurred at the end of the Old Kingdom.

First Intermediate Period (c. 2150–2030 B.C.E.)

During this period of disunity, kings continued to rule from Memphis as Dynasties 7 and 8, but they did not control the entire country and there is evidence of civil wars. Other areas were ruled by provincial governors, with one powerful family group ruling from Herakleopolis and another further south at Thebes. These elite figures had close ties with their local shrines and temples, probably serving as priests among their other roles. One Theban nomarch, Intef II, began an assault against the north that continued for several subsequent generations until Nebheptra Mentuhotep II, eventually defeated the Herakleopolitan kings and reunified the country. Despite the political turmoil, there were innovations; Coffin Texts began to appear in tombs and mummy masks made of cartonnage (akin to papier-mâché) started to be produced.

Additional resources:

Read an overview of Egyptian chronology and historical framework

Predynastic and Early Dynastic

Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period

New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period

Late Period and Ptolemaic and Roman Periods

The ancient Egyptian desire to craft an ideal afterlife led to a later (incorrect) perception that they were obsessed with death. Far from it! Instead, in equipping their tombs as thoroughly as possible, each Egyptian was focused on preparing for their ongoing existence in the next life. From early in its history, Egyptian tombs generally had two primary elements:

1. an accessible, above-ground chapel or shrine where visitors could come perform rituals and leave offerings and
2. a hidden, sealed, subterranean chamber containing the mummy, daily life items, food, and other grave goods, as well as texts and spells designed to aid the deceased on their  journey through the netherworld.

There was significant innovation and change over time in the contents of these burial assemblages, but the need to preserve the body and provide for daily needs in the afterlife remained essential.

Private tombs

Predynastic (c. 5000–3000 B.C.E.) and Early Dynastic periods (c. 3000–2686 B.C.E.)

The earliest burials (up through the late Predynastic Period) consisted of a simple shallow pit with the body, surrounded by pots, tools, and other daily life items, being placed directly in contact with the dry sand and covered over. This practice often resulted in natural mummies, where the arid environment has desiccated and preserved the bodies, sometimes in surprisingly excellent condition.

The first properly constructed tombs, commonly brick-lined pits with plastered walls, appeared in Egypt shortly before the time of political unification (around 3100 B.C.E.). This basic type developed into a more complex subterranean structure by the First and Second Dynasty royal burials at Abydos, likely intended to evoke a palace for the afterlife.

While kings were buried in the south during this early period, many nobles were instead buried at Saqqara in the north near the newly established national capital of Memphis. Their large tombs included an impressive rectangular superstructure with niched walls atop a burial chamber dug into the bedrock and roofed with wood. The superstructures included multiple chambers that would have been filled with funerary goods.

Old Kingdom c. 2686–2150 B.C.E.

Once the royal burials moved north to Saqqara starting in Dynasty Three, elites tended to be buried in large cemeteries that surrounded the tombs of their kings. In the Old Kingdom, these private tombs took the form of a bench-shaped mastaba (a flat, rectangular tomb form) that sat atop the burial chamber. Interment was achieved via a shaft from the top of the mastaba that was then filled in, making it inaccessible. Access was instead provided via a cut into the side of the mastaba that led to a stone-lined chapel that housed statues of the deceased sealed within the walls and included a stela known as a false door, which was believed to act as a portal, for the spirit to use, between the realms of the living and the dead. Walls were usually covered with lively, idealized scenes of daily life, representations of the deceased’s achievements, and vignettes of the venerated dead seated before overflowing tables of food. These chapels were for mortuary cult practices, encouraging the performance of rituals and the leaving of offerings intended to benefit the deceased.

First Intermediate Period (c. 2150–2030 B.C.E.) and Middle Kingdom (c.  2030–1640 B.C.E.)

During the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom, the rock-cut chapels of some elite tombs depict scenes of the deceased presiding over religious festivals and venerating cult objects—types of activity that would not have been permitted in private tombs of the Old Kingdom.

‘Daily life’ scenes continue to appear as well, both on the walls and in the form of wooden models.

Coffins from elite burials were often extensively painted with texts and scenes intended to aid the deceased in the afterlife. This collection of funerary literature is now referred to as the Coffin Texts.

New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 B.C.E.) and Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070–713 B.C.E.)

Elite tombs in the New Kingdom continued to include elaborately decorated rock-cut chapels for the family to visit and offer ongoing sustenance for the dead; there were even special cyclical festivals focused on these visits. Chapels were often beautifully decorated with painted scenes related to important events from the life of the deceased and ritual scenes designed to provide for them in the afterlife. Some preserved scenes included lively and vibrant representations of their life on earth.

Thebes remained the primary cemetery for New Kingdom elites until the Twentieth Dynasty when the capital moved to the north-east part of the Delta. Tombs constructed in the north were quite different, being placed within or near temple precincts and incorporating brick-vaulted chambers. Further changes in burial practices are apparent in the Third Intermediate Period, particularly a more intense focus on the mummy and its coffin and and increase of family or group crypts.

Late Period (c. 713–332 B.C.E.)

After the reunification of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty and through the Twenty-sixth, monumental private tombs reappeared briefly again both at Thebes and in the north. Some of the most massive rock-cut tombs ever discovered in Egypt are private tombs constructed at Thebes during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. At Saqqara, burials were placed at the bottom of immense shafts dug into the bedrock that would have been completely filled with sand and rubble to seal the sepulcher; a number of these survived intact into the modern era.

Ptolemaic Period (c. 332–30 B.C.E.) and Roman Period (c. 30 B.C.E.–395 C.E.)

During the Ptolemaic Period, group burials continued and (not surprisingly) there was a marked increase in Hellenistic elements in the iconography given the Macedonian origins of the ruling family in this era. Simultaneously, understanding of the traditional Egyptian funerary imagery begins to erode and a fascinating blend of representational styles develops. Particularly in Alexandria, the blurring of the divide between indigenous Egyptian traditions and Hellenistic cultural approaches creates something of a hybrid between the two.

We see more rounded bodies in relief depictions and Greek-style dress and hairstyle on the mummy portraits of this period. Even old Egyptian deities like Anubis appear with a Hellenistic-style body and Roman armor in the 2nd century Alexandrian catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa.

This is even more apparent in the Roman era, with astonishingly individual portrait panels being placed over the face of the mummy. These startling, often elaborately-wrapped mummies appear to have then been kept on view in the family home or a public repository to receive offerings. After a period of time (presumably to make more room for the more recent dead), they were gathered, stacked atop each other, and interred in mass burial pits.

Provisioning the Dead

From the earliest times, even simple burials included not only the body of the deceased but also items intended for use in the afterlife. Royal and non-royal burials were full of objects of all types—furniture, tools, personal care implements (like razors and stone palettes used to grind mineral makeup), foodstuffs, and clothing.

For example, an ivory label from the tomb of king Den has a ritual scene on one side and a simple depiction of sandals on the other, indicating the grave good they were originally attached to.

The ideal vision of the existence beyond that was the goal of all deceased Egyptians—a perfected, effortless version of the life they experienced when among the living. Scores of ‘support staff’ were often evident in the form of scenes of daily life that covered the walls or wooden models that provided produce and sustenance for the deceased. Many models and scenes show the preparation of various foodstuffs and other goods desired in the afterlife, or were shown bringing offerings. A particularly beautiful example of one of these offering models is a statue of an offering bearer from the Tomb of Meketre.

Beginning in the First Intermediate Period, the deceased was also accompanied by small figures that were intended to perform work on their behalf in the afterlife. Referred to as ushabtis, eventually there could be hundreds of these ‘afterlife workers’ provided to perform a wide range of tasks, along with images of overseers to manage them.

Well-equipped tomb often included a wide range of daily life items, including actual foodstuffs (like dried fruits, grain, honey, jars of beer or wine, and prepared meats), furniture (such as beds, chairs, and footstools), clothing (from headcloths to sandals, and everything between), games, and personal items (mirrors, cosmetics, perfumes, etc.).

In addition, tools particular to one’s profession would be included—officials were interred with scribal palettes, complete with reed pens and pots of ink, while soldiers had swords, chariots, and other weapons. The tomb was ideally provisioned not only to provide all the comforts of home for the deceased in the afterlife, but also to symbolically support their transition to an effective akh. For instance, cosmetic jars were often shaped in the form of a lotus flower, an emblem of regeneration that served a symbolic function in the tomb context in addition to the practical role as a container.

The best possible afterlife

The continued existence of the properly housed and well-provisioned body on earth was clearly considered important for an ideal afterlife from very early in Egypt’s history. Even before the initial political unification, the deceased were provided with the goods needed to support their next life. Burial practices developed over the millennia, shifting and evolving to accommodate changes while maintaining the underlying fundamental requirements: an identifiable, preserved body and a safe place for the mummy (and its provisions) to call home. This terrestrial anchor provided a conduit that allowed the deceased in the afterlife to benefit from those grave goods, foodstuffs, ritual actions, offerings, models, texts, spells and scenes and enjoy an eternal, perfected afterlife in the Field of Reeds. Given this belief, it’s not surprising that Egyptians invested as much as possible in provisioning their tombs and setting themselves up for the best afterlife they could afford.

Additional resources

Discussion of a coffin by a curator at the MFA Boston

Ikram, Salima and Aidan Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson, 1998

Ikram, Salima, Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt, Pearson Education Limited, 2003

Shaw, Ian, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2000

Taylor, J.H., Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, London: BritishMuseum Press 2001

Pyramid building in ancient Egypt had its “big bang” at Saqqara in the 3rd Dynasty with a genius named Imhotep, who served as chancellor to king Netjeryknet, better known as Djoser. Djoser not only placed his mortuary complex (which was intended for the king’s ka (spirit) to use in the afterlife) at the site of Saqqara—a different location from his predecessors—but the complex he developed with Imhotep would impact all royal memorial monuments made after his. While the complex had many innovations, among the most important are that it was the first mortuary structure in stone, the first stepped pyramid instead of a single mastaba (a flat, rectangular tomb form), and the first to combine both mortuary and ritual buildings, and to pair functional buildings with dummy ones that couldn’t actually be used.

Djoser’s complex has numerous features, and this essay introduces some of the most important ones as it walks readers through the site. They include the:

• enclosure wall and entrance to the complex
• entry colonnade
• south court
• T-temple
• Heb Sed Court
• North and South Houses
• Step Pyramid
• Serdab and temple to the ka
• King’s burial chamber
• subterranean chambers
• South Tomb

The move to Saqqara

Djoser’s royal predecessors had created large memorial complexes at the ancient site of Abydos, further to the south. These consisted of a huge, rectangular mud brick enclosure with towering walls decorated with an elaborate pattern of rectangular recesses and a subterranean tomb about 3.2 km to the southwest, towards an opening in the high desert cliffs that was believed to be the entrance to the Netherworld.

Djoser chose instead to place his mortuary complex at the site of Saqqara, where the burials of some earlier local rulers and elite already existed. These earlier burials at Saqqara included elaborate niched facades and subterranean chambers that may have served as models or inspiration. However, the architectural importance of Djoser’s complex cannot be overstated—there were multiple innovations that had a significant impact on all royal memorial monuments that followed.

For Djoser’s complex, a rectangular section of desert was delineated by boundary stela, a massive trench, and a wall containing an area of 37 acres. Inside this substantial enclosure was a series of structures, courtyards, underground tunnels, and chapels in addition to the stepped pyramid that visually dominates the space. Although built of stone, many of the forms and architectural elements within this complex—from the design of the enclosure walls to the shapes of the columns—were based on and often directly mimic structures built from perishable materials. The Step Pyramid complex is a striking example of the transitory made permanent on a massive scale because of the shift from mud brick and other perishable materials to stone.

There is evidence that some structures were partially buried almost immediately upon their completion. This type of ritual burial was also known from Abydos and perhaps signifies the hidden aspect of life after death where successive layers of each building concealed earlier ones and eventually led to the emergence of new life. The ideal cycle of eternal renewal in Ancient Egyptian conception required burial as part of the process. By burying these ritual structures, the Egyptians believed that they (and their associated rejuvenating rituals) became available for the use of the deceased king in the afterlife and remained conceptually accessible to him forever in that realm. At Djoser’s complex, the shift to building entirely with stone shows a desire to provide an even better guarantee of eternal availability.

Innovations

For the first time, the material used was not mud brick, but instead carefully cut stone. Domestic structures for the living and even palaces for the kings had been, and would continue to be, constructed of organic, more temporary materials like reeds, mudbrick, and wood; however, from this point on, royal memorial constructions (like temples and tombs) would be made of stone.

The combination of both mortuary and ritual structures in the same complex was another of Djoser and Imhotep’s innovations—previously at Abydos, the king’s tomb and the royal enclosures used for enacting rituals related to that ruler were physically separated by an expanse of open desert.

There is also a mix within the Step Pyramid enclosure of functional and “dummy” buildings. The functional structures were probably used in the conduct of actual rituals during the king’s lifetime and funerary rites after his death. “Dummy” buildings are as they sound—solid structures behind a façade—that were apparently intended for the ka’s use in the afterlife.

Djoser and his ground-breaking complex were honored thousands of years after his death. His chancellor and the architectural mastermind behind the complex, Imhotep (“He who comes in peace”), was also memorialized for the magnificent monument he designed for his ruler. Imhotep was highly respected for his wisdom and was later deified, which was very rare for non-royal individuals. Even thousands of years after his death, Imhotep was still revered. In the 3rd century B.C.E. a priest named Manetho wrote one of the earliest histories of Egypt. In it, he specifically credits Imhotep with the invention of building in stone. His reputation as a wise man and healer eventually led the Greeks to associate him with Asclepius, the god of medicine, and his worship continued.

Enclosure wall and entrance to the complex

The entire complex was surrounded by a massive wall, built of fine white limestone blocks (see the plan above). The monumental circuit was decorated with niches and recesses that mimic the façade of a palace, much like the earlier mudbrick enclosures from Abydos and elite tombs at Saqqara. A fascinating detail is that these 1,680 recessed rectangular panels were carved into the stone after the wall was constructed rather than being shaped as the blocks were laid. Though we are not sure of its significance, the elaborate niched pattern was considered essential and worth the immense amount of physical effort this must have required.

A series of dummy gates is carved into the enclosure wall at irregular intervals; just one gate includes an actual entrance. This single opening to the ritual enclosure—a passage only 1 meter wide and 5 meters long—enhances and highlights the privacy of this space, which was intended for the king’s ka (his spirit) to use in the afterlife. The entrance corridor leads to a small court that has representations of wooden doors carved in stone as if they were always open so that the king’s ka to come and go. There was almost certainly also a wooden door that actually could be closed and sealed when the complex was functioning.

Entry Colonnade

The entrance corridor and small court lead to a second, slightly wider, passageway that opens into an elegant colonnaded court with two rows of twenty engaged columns flanking the walkway (see the plan above). These were carved to look like bundled reeds and may have been painted green. While in earlier phases of the complex this court was open to the sky, later it was closed in with a roof, carved of stone but shaped like log-beams and originally painted red in an imitation of wood, and a clerestory was added to bring light into the space.

The specific ritual purpose of this space is debated, but the unusual engagement of the columns—connected to the side walls by masonry projections—created deep niches that likely served a cultic function and may have originally held statuary. The end of this colonnade opens into a rectangular hall that includes four similar, if slightly shorter, attached columns. Again, the portal includes the representation of a wooden door rendered in stone with extreme detail and sensitivity.

Given that the only actual entrance through the stone enclosure wall is a mere 1 meter wide and not near to the stepped pyramid (under which Djoser was buried), the funeral procession that occurred after Djoser’s death almost certainly entered via a temporary ramp that went over the wall at a point closer to the pyramid—evidence of such a ramp still exists.

South Court

Emerging from the entrance colonnade, one enters a huge open space that is bordered by the Step Pyramid and by the enclosure wall and a mysterious cenotaph known as the South Tomb (see the plan above). Within the open courtyard are a pair of large stones, shaped like a double-horseshoe and approximately 45 meters apart. These distinctive markers were used as part of the king’s renewal rituals during the important heb-sed festival. This festival was typically celebrated in Year 30 of a king’s reign and, during Djoer’s lifetime, he may have performed it here. During the festival, there was a special ritual “race” he had to run around these markers, which represented the edges of the realm, to demonstrate his athletic nature and continued ability to rule.

Earlier representations, such as on an ebony label of king Den discovered in his tomb at Abydos, show the king racing around a set of similar stones that represented the extent of the ruler’s territory. This important ritual is also replicated in stone, delicately-carved in 3 of the 6 relief panels that were found in the Subterranean Chambers below the Step Pyramid and in the South Tomb (read more on this below).

The T-Temple

Between the Entry Colonnade and courts there is a small structure which is often referred to as the “King’s Pavilion” (also called ‘Temple T’ based on the external form of the structure). This building may have been a model of the king’s palace and included fluted engaged columns (shown in the image above) in an entrance colonnade, an antechamber, and three small inner courts. This structure seems to have been a place where the king rested when he was visiting the complex for ritual actions during his earthly life.

These courts lead to a square chamber with a niche, which may have originally held a statue of the king. Some of the walls in this chamber were decorated with a frieze of djed symbols along the top. Djed symbols embodied the concept of “stability” in ancient Egypt, which the king was supposed to provide.

Heb Sed Court

Beside the T-Temple is a space known as the Heb Sed Court. The heb-sed was an important and ancient royal ritual that was performed to rejuvenate the king and reaffirm the pharaoh’s right to rule. This court was the symbolic realm of the ka; the actual heb-sed ritual may not have even been performed within Djoser’s lifetime in this location. The primary intent instead was to provide a place for the king’s ka to perform the rituals that would allow him to continually regenerate in the afterlife.

At one end of the Heb Sed court was a platform with two staircases, which was the focus of the space. This platform was so central to the ritual that its form became the hieroglyph for “Sed Festival.” The double-dias would have originally presented a pair of statues of Djoser enthroned as Lord of the Two Lands, wearing the White and Red Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt.

The Heb Sed court was lined on two sides by dummy chapels dedicated to the deities of Upper and Lower Egypt. The prototypes for these stone chapels were light, wood-framed structures (they also appear as hieroglyphs). Each chapel was fronted by a baffle wall and had one small room that served as a sanctuary and likely held a statue. Otherwise, they are solid stone structures, with carved details that mimic doors, hinges, and pivots.

The shrines on the east side of the Heb Sed court are the typical shape of those from Lower Egypt, while most of those on the west have the distinctive shape of the shrines of Upper Egypt. All the shrines in this court are in actuality stylized renderings of ancient architectural forms that had been used for local sacred shrines along the Nile since the earliest times. Their presence is a clear indication of the desire to maintain these traditional architectural forms while they also function as icons to represent the extent of the Two Lands and the king’s ability to unite them.

North House and South House

A narrow passage at one end of the Heb Sed Court leads to two long courtyards running parallel to the Step Pyramid and separated by a wall. Within each of these courts is a large chapel, probably intended to represent a pair of archaic shrines belonging to the heraldic goddesses who embodied Upper and Lower Egypt—the vulture Nekhbet and cobra Wadjet, at (respectively) Hierakonpolis to the south and Buto in the north.

At the end of one court is the structure known as the South House. It was originally 12 meters in height and sported a banded cornice and a façade with 4 columns with bundled shafts (seen in the photograph with the khekher-signs) whose capitals have been lost but which were probably in the form of the heraldic plant of Upper Egypt, the lotus. At the top of the preserved wall is a sharply carved frieze of khekher-signs, a stylized fence motif known from earlier imagery that continued to be used as a protective element in tombs and temples for millennia.

The off-center entrance passage of the South House leads to two 90-degree turns and a small sanctuary with 3 niches, which would have originally held statuary. On the walls of this passage is where later New Kingdom visitors to the complex recorded their admiration of Djoser and his monument in ink. Keep in mind that, at their time, this magnificent complex was already around 1,300 years old but was clearly still in relatively good condition and able to be visited.

The North House’s façade included columns and an off-center door like the South House. This corridor, however, led to a sanctuary with 5 niches. The façade included 3 engaged columns with triangular shafts and papyrus capitals with open umbles, mimicking the heraldic plant of Lower Egypt.

Both the North House and the South House probably represent places where the king’s ka could receive homage from his subjects after the heb-sed ritual of rejuvenation was complete.

The Step Pyramid

In its final form, the Step Pyramid was easily visible for some distance over the top of the enclosure wall and would have loomed large over the landscape (see the plan above). It was built in several stages, beginning as a traditional flat, rectangular tomb form typical for elite burials, called a mastaba (Arabic for “bench,” because of their shape). This original core, constructed of packed rubble covered over with finished, smooth limestone, was 63 x 63 meters and approximately 8 meters high.

The subsequent stages covered that mastaba by piling rough, inward-leaning stones on top and then encased that core in finely cut limestone to create a pyramid with 4 steps. The last major stage increased the pyramid’s height to 6 steps and its final height of nearly 60 meters. Approximately 330,400 cubic meters total of stone, clay, and other material was used in the construction of this immense monument.

It has been suggested that the multiple building stages of the Step Pyramid were planned from the beginning. If so, the subsequent “burial” of the completed mastaba may have served a symbolic function as a reference to the buried, underworld aspect of existence after death.

A series of 11 shafts were carved on one side of the pyramid during the second stage of construction. These lead down to long interconnected galleries, that were apparently used as a tomb complex for royal family members. Of note is that radiocarbon dating of some of the bones indicates that at least one female buried here dates to several generations before Djoser’s time.

This older burial may be related to a massive cache of nearly 40,000 carved stone vessels that was discovered in these galleries (not pictured here). These vessels, made of various materials such as slate, diorite, and calcite, were also a variety of shapes. Unfortunately, the ceilings of the chambers had collapsed so many were broken to pieces, but those that remain intact show great creativity and skill in execution. Some of the vessels are inscribed with the names of different First and Second Dynasty kings (including Narmer). Some Egyptologists believe Djoser retrieved these vessels from earlier royal tombs that had been damaged and buried them in his own complex for safekeeping; others believe the vessels came from temple storehouses—exactly how and why they were gathered and deposited here remains unclear. These shafts were covered over during the next phase of construction and sealed off.

Serdab and temple to the ka

On another side of the pyramid was a “serdab” (Arabic for “cellar”) (see the plan above). This small, sealed chamber of finished limestone abutted the casing of the pyramid itself.

Within the chamber sat a life-size statue of the king carved in limestone and painted. Although inaccessible in the sealed chamber, this image of the king engaged with the outside world via two eye holes that allowed it to “see” out. Visitors could present food offerings and incense at a small altar before the holes, providing substance to the ka of the king to benefit him in the afterlife.

The king is depicted wearing the tightly-wrapped white cloak associated with the heb-sed ritual and a long wig covered by an early version of the nemes, the striped royal headcloth. He also sports a long false beard and one of the earliest mustaches ever depicted in sculpture. The eyes of the figure were originally inlaid, probably with painted rock crystal (like those of Rahotep and Nofret) and would have been surprisingly lifelike.

Also on this side of the pyramid was a cult temple for the king’s ka. This temple included two symmetrical interior courtyards. Access to the underground chambers was permitted via a sloping descending passageway that was found in the western court.

King’s Burial Chamber

Under the center of the pyramid is the Central Shaft, a square passageway that is 7 meters on each side and 28 meters deep. At the bottom was a burial chamber carved of Aswan granite, a very hard stone that was both difficult to cut and had to be brought from the quarries in southern Egypt roughly 860 km away. Originally, the burial chamber had a ceiling lined with limestone and inscribed with five-pointed stars. This is the first preserved example of a ceiling type that became widely used for burial chambers from this point forward. These star-lined ceilings conceptually create a burial chamber roof that is “open” to the night sky even when buried within a mountain of stone.

The final burial chamber was carved of granite and had a cylindrical opening in the roof. This opening was blocked with a massive granite plug weighing 3.5 tons that was lowered into place using ropes. Once the king’s body was interred and the plug set into place, the descending corridor was filled with rubble and sealed off.

Although hidden away and completely inaccessible, the king’s burial chamber lying at the center of the pyramid served as the core of the entire complex and was the ultimate focus of all ritual actions in the enclosure. Through the ongoing rejuvenating festival represented by the Heb Sed court, the interactions between the living and the king’s ka in the structures around the pyramid, and the eternally occurring actions that were depicted in relief panels found in the Subterranean Chambers and South Tomb (discussed below), Djoser was symbolically set up for an eternity of renewal in an ideal afterlife. The whole memorial complex was designed for this primary function.

Subterranean Chambers

In addition to the king’s burial chamber, a labyrinth of tunnels totaling nearly 5.5 km in length was quarried out beneath the pyramid. There is a central corridor and two parallel ones that extend 365 meters. These are joined by a complicated tangle of underground galleries, shafts, and tunnels. The corridors connect a series of subterranean galleries—nearly 400 rooms in total!—including those that held the family burials and the cache of finely carved vessels of calcite and hard stone mentioned above.

One suite of rooms was designed as a palace for the king’s ka to enjoy in the afterlife. The decoration of the walls is intended to look like a real structure and includes carved windows and doors. Called the Blue Chamber, this space is covered in thousands of molded blue-green faience tiles (no fewer than 36,000 were discovered in the complex) arranged and set in panels to mimic a building technique using reed matting that is known as wattle-and-daub. The blue-green color was not only brilliant but held regenerative symbolism connected to life-giving primeval waters. The color was also a visual allusion to the idyllic and symbolically potent “Field of Reeds.” This space was mentioned in later royal mortuary texts along with the earth and sky as domains the king was to receive in the afterlife.

Interspersed with these dazzling blue sections, on one wall were 3 large relief panels carved in limestone showing the king engaged in ritual actions. Some of these panels, like their parallels under the South Tomb, depict the king performing in the ritual race around the boundary stones that would have taken place in the South Court. These reliefs were never intended to be seen by the living but instead provided a form of perpetual communication between the king and the gods, where he continuously performs perfect rituals designed to renew him, Egypt, and the cosmos itself.

South Tomb

A mysterious structure in the great South Court, called the South Tomb, is considered a type of “second tomb” for the king’s ka. The superstructure is topped with an elegantly-carved frieze of rearing cobras, known as uraei. Uraei were important protective symbols in ancient Egypt and often represented the goddess Wadjet, the divine guardian of Lower Egypt.

Beneath the superstructure, a deep shaft of identical dimensions to the one inside the Step Pyramid extends 28 meters down. Like the Central Shaft, this one ends in a square, granite vaulted chamber with a round opening that was blocked with a huge granite plug. However, this space is far too small to be an actual burial chamber for an inhumation. It could have served a purely symbolic function or been the burial place for the king’s viscera, the royal crowns, or other equipment the king wanted access to in the afterlife—we simply do not know. One one side of the shaft is a suite of rooms for the royal ka. In structure and design, these closely mirror the blue-tiled rooms with relief panels found underneath the pyramid.

All the essential features of the substructure of the Step Pyramid were replicated in the South Tomb—the descending corridor, central shaft with granite vault, and king’s palace with blue-tiled walls, and relief panels of the king performing ritual actions. However, the South Tomb appears to have been completed before the substructure of the Step Pyramid and its purpose is still unclear. It may have been viewed as a symbolic tomb connected with the important heb-sed ritual, and involved a ritual “death” of the king. It was probably the precursor to the satellite pyramids that were part of later royal pyramid complexes, such as that of Khufu. It was also likely a reference to earlier royal mortuary practices.

The door to new ideas

Djoser and Imhotep opened the door to new ideas. The Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara is a vital crux that represents both the culmination of royal funerary architectural development of the 1st to 2nd Dynasties and the spark of Egypt’s glorious Age of the Pyramids that would follow. Experiments in pyramid building continued during the next several reigns, reaching its pinnacle with the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

Additional resources:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline

Art in the Age of the Pyramids

Photo-filled report from Business Insider

Kathryn Bard, An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, 2nd ed.(London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)

Mark Lehner, The Complete Pyramids (London: Thames & Hudson, 2008)

David O’Connor, Abydos: Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris (London: Thames & Hudson, 2009)

One of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world

The last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the great pyramids of Giza, are perhaps the most famous and discussed structures in history. These massive monuments were unsurpassed in height for thousands of years after their construction and continue to amaze and enthrall us with their overwhelming mass and seemingly impossible perfection. Their exacting orientation and mind-boggling construction has elicited many theories about their origins, including unsupported suggestions that they had extra-terrestrial impetus. However, by examining the several hundred years prior to their emergence on the Giza plateau, it becomes clear that these incredible structures were the result of many experiments, some more successful than others, and represent an apogee in line with the development of the royal mortuary complex.

Three pyramids, three rulers

The three primary pyramids on the Giza plateau were built over the span of three generations by the rulers Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.  Each pyramid was part of a royal mortuary complex that also included a temple at its base and a long stone causeway (some nearly 1 kilometer in length) leading east from the plateau to a valley temple on the edge of the floodplain.

Other (smaller) pyramids, and small tombs

In addition to these major structures, several smaller pyramids belonging to queens are arranged as satellites. A large cemetery of smaller tombs, known as mastabas (Arabic for ‘bench’ in reference to their shape—flat-roofed, rectangular, with sloping sides), fills the area to the east and west of the pyramid of Khufu. These were arranged in a grid-like pattern and constructed for prominent members of the court.  Being buried near the pharaoh was a great honor and helped ensure a prized place in the Afterlife.

A reference to the sun

The shape of the pyramid was a solar reference, perhaps intended as a solidified version of the rays of the sun. Texts talk about the sun’s rays as a ramp the pharaoh mounts to climb to the sky—the earliest pyramids, such as the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara—were actually designed as a staircase. The pyramid was also clearly connected to the sacred ben-ben stone, an icon of the primeval mound that was considered the place of initial creation. The pyramid was viewed as a place of regeneration for the deceased ruler.

Construction

Many questions remain about the construction of these massive monuments, and theories abound as to the actual methods used. The workforce needed to build these structures is also still much discussed. Discovery of a town for workers to the south of the plateau has offered some answers. It is likely that there was a permanent group of skilled craftsmen and builders who were supplemented by seasonal crews of approximately 2000 conscripted peasants. These crews were divided into gangs of 200 men, with each group further divided into teams of 20.  Experiments indicate that these groups of 20 men could haul the 2.5 ton blocks from quarry to pyramid in about 20 minutes, their path eased by a lubricated surface of wet silt. An estimated 340 stones could be moved daily from quarry to construction site, particularly when one considers that many of the blocks (such as those in the upper courses) were considerably smaller.

Backstory

We are used to seeing the pyramids at Giza in alluring photographs, where they appear as massive and remote monuments rising up from an open, barren desert. Visitors might be surprised to find, then, that there is a golf course and resort only a few hundred feet from the Great Pyramid, and that the burgeoning suburbs of Giza (part of the greater metropolitan area of Cairo) have expanded right up to the foot of the Sphinx. This urban encroachment and the problems that come with it—such as pollution, waste, illegal activities, and auto traffic—are now the biggest threats to these invaluable examples of global cultural heritage.

The pyramids were inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, and since 1990, the organization has sponsored over a dozen missions to evaluate their status. It has supported the restoration of the Sphinx, as well as measures to curb the impact of tourism and manage the growth of the neighboring village. Still, threats to the site continue: air pollution from waste incineration contributes to the degradation of the stones, and the massive illegal quarrying of sand on the neighboring plateau has created holes large enough to be seen on Google Earth. Egypt’s 2011 uprisings and their chaotic political and economic aftermath also negatively impacted tourism, one of the country’s most important industries, and the number of visitors is only now beginning to rise once more.

UNESCO has continually monitored these issues, but its biggest task with regard to Giza has been to advocate for the rerouting of a highway that was originally slated to cut through the desert between the pyramids and the necropolis of Saqqara to the south. The government eventually agreed to build the highway north of the pyramids. However, as the Cairo metropolitan area (the largest in Africa, with a population of over 20 million) continues to expand, planners are now proposing a multilane tunnel to be constructed underneath the Giza Plateau. UNESCO and ICOMOS are calling for in-depth studies of the project’s potential impact, as well as an overall site management plan for the Giza pyramids that would include ways to halt the continued impact of illegal dumping and quarrying.

As massive as they are, the pyramids at Giza are not immutable. With the rapid growth of Cairo, they will need sufficient attention and protection if they are to remain intact as key touchstones of ancient history.

Backstory by Dr. Naraelle Hohensee

Additional resources

Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

UNESCO webpage for Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur

Digital Giza

Giza 3D

Giza archives, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Building the Great Pyramid, BBC

Mark Lehner, The Complete Pyramids, Thames and Hudson, 2008.

Size

The Great Pyramid, the largest of the three main pyramids at Giza, was built by Khufu and rises to a height of 146 meters (481 feet). Humans constructed nothing taller than the Great Pyramid until 1221 C.E., when the steeple of Old St. Paul’s Cathedral was built in London and, at 149 meters (489 feet), surpassed it—at least until the steeple collapsed less than 350 years later.

It’s not just the height that is impressive, but also the precision with which the Great Pyramid was designed and executed. With a base length of more than 230 meters (750 feet) per side, the greatest difference in length among the four sides of the pyramid is a mere 4.4 cm (1 ¾ inches) and the base is level within 2.1 cm (less than an inch). This is an astonishing accomplishment that would be a challenge to replicate today even with modern equipment.

Construction: inner core stones, and outer casing stones

The pyramid contains an estimated 2,300,000 blocks, some of which are upwards of 50 tons. Like the pyramids built by his predecessor Snefru and those that followed on the Giza plateau, Khufu’s pyramid is constructed of inner, rough-hewn, locally quarried core stones (which is all that we see today) and angled, outer casing blocks laid in even horizontal courses with spaces filled with gypsum plaster.

The fine outer casing stones, which have long since been removed, were laid with great precision. These blocks of white Tura limestone would have given the pyramid a smooth surface and been quite bright and reflective. At the very top of the pyramid would have sat a capstone, known as a pyramidion, that may have been covered in gold. This dazzling point, shining in the intense sunlight, would have been visible for a great distance.

Interior

The interior chambers and passageways of Khufu’s pyramid are unique and include a number of enigmatic features. There is an unfinished subterranean chamber whose function is mysterious as well as a number of so-called ‘air shafts’ that radiate out from the upper chambers.

These have been explored using small robots, but a series of blocking stones have obscured the passages. When entering the pyramid, one has to crawl up a cramped ascending chamber that opens suddenly into a stunning space known as the Grand Gallery. This corbelled passage soars to a height of 8.74 meters (26 feet) and leads up to the King’s Chamber, which is constructed entirely from red granite brought from the southern quarries at Aswan.

Above the King’s Chamber are five stress-relieving chambers of massive granite blocks topped with immense cantilevered slabs forming a pent roof to distribute the weight of the mountain of masonry above it. The king’s sarcophagus, also carved from red granite, sits empty at the exact central axis of the pyramid. This burial chamber was sealed with a series of massive granite blocks and the entrance to the shaft filled with limestone in an effort to obscure the opening.

Boats for the afterlife

Khufu’s mortuary complex also included seven large boat pits. Five of these are located to the east of the pyramid and were a sort of model; these brick-lined boat shaped elements were probably intended for use in the Afterlife to transport the king to stellar destinations.  Boat burials of this type had a long history in royal mortuary contexts—a fleet of 14 such pits, with actual wooden boats averaging 18-19 meters (60 feet) in length encased inside, were discovered at a Dynasty 1 mortuary enclosure in Abydos, cemetery of Egypt’s earliest kings. Often, however, as with Khufu, the pits were simply boat shaped models rather than containing actual boats.

In addition to his boat pits, however, on the south side of the pyramid Khufu had two massive, rectangular stone-lined pits that contained completely disassembled boats. One of these has been removed and reconstructed. This cedar boat measures 43.3 meters (142 feet) in length and was constructed of 1,224 separate pieces stitched together with ropes.  These boats appear to have been used for the the last earthly voyage of the king—his funerary procession—before being dismantled and interred.

Size and appearance

The second great pyramid of Giza was built by Khufu’s second son Khafre. At the very top, a section of outer casing stones like those that would have originally covered all three of the Great Pyramids still survives. Although this monument appears larger than that of his father, it is actually slightly smaller but was constructed 10 meters (33 feet) higher on the plateau.

Interior

The interior is much simpler than that of Khufu’s pyramid, with a single burial chamber, one small subsidiary chamber, and two passageways. The mortuary temple at the pyramid base was more complex than that of Khufu and was filled with statuary of the king—over 52 life-size or larger images originally filled the structure.

Valley temple

Khafre’s valley temple, located at the east end of the causeway leading from the pyramid base, is beautifully preserved. It was constructed of megalithic blocks sheathed with granite and floors of polished white calcite. During excavation, a magnificent just over life size statue of the king carved of an extremely hard stone known as gneiss was discovered buried under the floor of the Valley Temple. This sculpture shows the king seated on a lion throne that has on its sides a symbol of the two heraldic plants of Upper and Lower Egypt, the papyrus and lotus, bound around a hieroglyph for “stability.” This important emblem, known as a sema-tawy (“binding the Two Lands”), represents the king’s primary duty—to “bind” the country under the authority of a single ruler. The king is supported in his task by the Horus falcon that wraps protectively around the back of his nemes headdress. Statue bases and other fragments indicate that this was one of about 23 such images of the pharaoh that were originally located in this temple.

The Great Sphinx

Right next to the causeway leading from Khafre’s valley temple to the mortuary temple sits the first truly colossal sculpture in Egyptian history: the Great Sphinx. This close physical association (along with other evidence) indicates that this massive depiction of a recumbent lion with the head of a king was carved for Khafre.

The Sphinx is carved from the bedrock of the Giza plateau, and it appears that the core blocks used to construct the king’s valley temple were quarried from the layers of stone that run along the upper sides of this massive image.

Khafre

The lion was a royal symbol as well as being connected with the sun as a symbol of the horizon; the fusion of this powerful animal with the head of the pharaoh was an icon that survived and was often used throughout Egyptian history. The king’s head is on a smaller scale than the body. This appears to have been due to a defect in the stone; a weakness recognized by the sculptors who compensated by elongating the body.

Directly in front of the Sphinx is a separate temple dedicated to the worship of its cult, but very little is known about it since there are no Old Kingdom texts that refer to the Sphinx or its temple. The temple is similar to Khafre’s mortuary temple and has granite pillars forming a colonnade around a central courtyard.  However, it is unique in that it has two sanctuaries—one on the east and one on the west—likely connected to the rising and setting sun.

The third of the major pyramids at Giza belongs to Menkaure. This is the smallest of the three, rising to a height of 65 meters (213 feet), but the complex preserved some of the most stunning examples of sculpture to survive from all of Egyptian history.

Menkaure’s pyramid chambers are more complicated than those of Khafre and include a chamber carved with decorative panels and another chamber with six large niches. The burial chamber is lined with massive granite blocks. His black stone sarcophagus, also carved with niched panels, was discovered inside, but was lost at sea in 1838 as it was being transported to England.

Within Menkaure’s mortuary and valley temples, neither of which were completed before his death, excavation revealed a series of statues of the king. The stunning diad of the king with a queen (now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), as well as a number of triads showing the king being embraced by various deities, were discovered in the valley temple and were originally set up surrounding the open court.

This temple was still an active place of cult late in the Old Kingdom and was almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the 6th dynasty after it was heavily damaged by a flood.

Serene ethereal beauty, raw royal power, and evidence of artistic virtuosity have rarely been simultaneously captured as well as in this breathtaking, nearly life-size statue of the pharaoh Menkaure and a queen from c. 2490–2472 B.C.E. Smooth as silk, the meticulously finished surface of the dark stone captures the physical ideals of the time and creates a sense of eternity and immortality even today.

Undoubtedly, the most iconic structures from Ancient Egypt are the massive and enigmatic Great Pyramids that stand on a natural stone shelf, now known as the Giza plateau, on the south-western edge of modern Cairo. The three primary pyramids at Giza were constructed during the height of a period known as the Old Kingdom and served as burial places, memorials, and places of worship for a series of deceased rulers—the largest belonging to King Khufu, the middle to his son Khafre, and the smallest of the three to his son Menkaure.

Pyramids are not stand-alone structures. Those at Giza formed only a part of a much larger complex that included a temple at the base of the pyramid itself, long causeways and corridors, small subsidiary pyramids, and a second temple (known as a valley temple) some distance from the pyramid. These Valley Temples were used to perpetuate the cult of the deceased king and were active places of worship for hundreds of years (sometimes much longer) after the king’s death. Images of the king were placed in these temples to serve as a focus for worship—several such images have been found in these contexts, including the magnificent enthroned statue of Khafre with the Horus falcon wrapped around his headdress.

On January 10, 1910, excavators under the direction of George Reisner, head of the joint Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Expedition to Egypt, uncovered an astonishing collection of statuary in the Valley Temple connected to the Pyramid of Menkaure. Menkaure’s pyramid had been explored in the 1830’s (using dynamite, no less). His carved granite sarcophagus was removed (and subsequently lost at sea), and while the Pyramid Temple at its base was in only mediocre condition; the Valley Temple was—happily—basically ignored.

Reisner had been excavating on the Giza plateau for several years at this point; his team had already explored the elite cemetery to the west of the Great Pyramid of Khufu before turning their attention to the Menkaure complex, most particularly the barely-touched Valley Temple.

In the southwest corner of the structure, the team discovered a magnificent cache of statuary carved in a smooth-grained dark stone called greywacke or schist. There were a number of triad statues—each showing 3 figures; the king, the fundamentally important goddess Hathor, and the personification of a nome (a geographic designation, similar to the modern idea of a region, district, or county). Hathor was worshipped in the pyramid temple complexes along with the supreme sun god Re and the god Horus, who was represented by the living king. The goddess’s name is actually ‘Hwt-hor’, which means “The House of Horus”, and she was connected to the wife of the living king and the mother of the future king. Hathor was also a fierce protector who guarded her father Re; as an “Eye of Re” (the title assigned to a group of dangerous goddesses), she could embody the intense heat of the sun and use that blazing fire to destroy his enemies.

There were 4 complete triads, one incomplete, and at least one other in a fragmentary condition. The precise meaning of these triads is uncertain. Reisner believed that there was one for each ancient Egyptian nome, meaning there would have originally been more than thirty of them. More recent scholarship, however, suggests that there were originally 8 triads, each connected with a major site associated with the cult of Hathor. Hathor’s prominence in the triads (she actually takes the central position in one of the images) and her singular importance to kingship lends weight to this theory.

In addition to the triads, Reisner’s team also revealed the extraordinary dyad statue of Menkaure and a queen that is breathtakingly singular.

The two figures stand side-by-side on a simple, squared base and are supported by a shared back pillar. They both face to the front, although Menkaure’s head is noticeably turned to his right—this image was likely originally positioned within an architectural niche, making it appear as though they were emerging from the structure.

The broad-shouldered, youthful body of the king is covered only with a traditional short pleated kilt, known as a shendjet, and his head sports the primary pharaonic insignia of the iconic striped nemes headdress (so well known from the mask of Tutankhamun) and an artificial royal beard. In his clenched fists, held straight down at his sides, Menkaure grasps ritual cloth rolls. His body is straight, strong, and eternally youthful with no signs of age. His facial features are remarkably individualized with prominent eyes, a fleshy nose, rounded cheeks, and full mouth with protruding lower lip.

Menkaure’s queen provides the perfect female counterpart to his youthful masculine virility. Sensuously modeled with a beautifully proportioned body emphasized by a clinging garment, she articulates ideal mature feminine beauty. There is a sense of the individual in both faces. Neither Menkaure nor his queen are depicted in the purely idealized manner that was the norm for royal images. Instead, through the overlay of royal formality we see the depiction of a living person filling the role of pharaoh and the personal features of a particular individual in the representation of his queen.

Menkaure and his queen stride forward with their left feet—this is entirely expected for the king, as males in Egyptian sculpture almost always do so, but it is unusual for the female since they are generally depicted with feet together. They both look beyond the present and into timeless eternity, their otherworldly visage displaying no human emotion whatsoever.

The dyad was never finished—the area around the lower legs has not received a final polish, and there is no inscription. However, despite this incomplete state, the image was erected in the temple and was brightly painted; there are traces of red around the king’s ears and mouth and yellow on the queen’s face. The presence of paint atop the smooth, dark greywacke on a statue of the deceased king that was originally erected in his memorial temple courtyard brings an interesting suggestion—that the paint may have been intended to wear away through exposure and, over time, reveal the immortal, black-fleshed “Osiris” Menkaure (for more information on the symbolic associations of Egyptian materials, see Materials and techniques in ancient Egyptian art).

Unusual for a pharaoh’s image, the king has no protective cobra (known as a uraeus) perched on his brow. This notable absence has led to the suggestion that both the king’s nemes and the queen’s wig were originally covered in a sheath of precious metal and that the ubiquitous cobra would have been part of that addition.

Based on comparison with other images, there is no doubt that this sculpture shows Menkaure, but the identity of the queen is a different matter. She is clearly a royal female. She stands at nearly equal height with the king and, of the two of them, she is the one who is entirely frontal. In fact, it may be that this dyad is focused on the queen as its central figure rather than Menkaure. The prominence of the royal female—at equal height and frontal—in addition to the protective gesture she extends has suggested that, rather than one of Menkaure’s wives, this is actually his queen-mother. The function of the sculpture in any case was to ensure rebirth for the king in the Afterlife.

Cite this page as: Dr. Amy Calvert, “King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and queen,” in Smarthistory, August 8, 2015, accessed April 17, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/king-menkaure-mycerinus-and-queen/.

Seated cross-legged, with rolls of belly fat, this painted statue differs from the ideal statues of pharaohs.

Seated Scribe​, c. 2500 B.C.E., c. 4th Dynasty, Old Kingdom, painted limestone with rock crystal, magnesite, and copper/arsenic inlay for the eyes and wood for the nipples, found in Saqqara

Additional resource

This sculpture at the Louvre

Cite this page as: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, “The Seated Scribe,” in Smarthistory, November 25, 2015, accessed April 17, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/seated-scribe/.