Does The Lost Pyramid of Huni Exist? Has It Been Found?

Does The Lost Pyramid of Huni Exist? Has It Been Found? Kriti Mehrotra Kriti Mehrotra July 3, 2023

As a Max-Salomon special documentary living up to its title in nearly every way imaginable, Netflix’s ‘Unknown: The Lost Pyramid’ can only be described as equal parts cultural and intriguing. That’s because it incorporates not just archival imagery but also exclusive interviews to really shine a light on how archeologists in Egypt seek to unearth archaic treasures to verify their history. Amongst them was actually the legendary Dr. Zahi Hawass as he hunts for traces of ancient King Huni — so now, if you simply wish to learn more about the same, we’ve got the details for you.

Does The Lost Pyramid of Huni Exist? If we’re being honest, the tale of King Huni is a bit complicated since the only things uncovered until now are his name on a few age-old scrolls and a head of a statue many believe could be his. However, it has been confirmed he was the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt during the infamous Old Kingdom period, wherein he proudly reigned for a total of 24 years until 2613 BC. We say infamous because the Old Kingdom was the “Age of the Pyramids” — monarchs here were buried inside local limestone structures alongside their fortune, so Huni was likely no different.

The truth is many Egyptologists assume Huni was the father as well as the direct predecessor of King Sneferu from the Fourth Dynasty, yet even this has been questioned by other specialists. This is actually imperative to note since the Step Pyramid style is thought to have been kickstarted by him before being perfected by successors, making it possible he was buried in such a design. After all, over the past century, the Meidum or Maydum Pyramid, Edfu South Pyramid, and Cultic Step Pyramids have been either associated or outrightly credited to this pharaoh as his monuments.

Has The Lost Pyramid of Huni Been Found? Unfortunately, no; The Lost Pyramid of Huni, aka the tomb suspected of housing the king’s casket, treasures, and papyrus’ documenting his entire life, has not been discovered as of writing. In fact, there haven’t ever been any confirmed traces of it as desert sand has hidden a lot of necropolis Egypt from the world for millennia, plus his palace at Elephantine had no clear clues either. Nevertheless, Dr. Zahi Hawass is dedicated to locating this resting place no matter how long it takes, not just because he thinks it’s high time a local Egyptian makes such a find but also because this point of history intrigues him and he wants to impact the same.

As per archeologist Dr. Zahi’s (aka Dr. Egypt’s) careful research as well as decades of experience, King Huni’s lost pyramid is likely concealed deep within the sands of Gisr el-Mudir, Saqqara. This patch of open, unforgiving desert was reportedly never been excavated by anyone before the industry icon himself stepped foot on it in 2022, so of course, he was destined to find something. His team actually located a 100-meter-long structure within nine months, one of the largest ever found in the area, but it’s unclear precisely what it contains since its entry point has been seen.

Therefore, there’s an equal chance for it to be or not be The Lost Pyramid of Huni. “If you discover a Pyramid of a king, it’s something amazing,” Dr. Zahi candidly expressed in the original production. “I really believe that when we excavate the site completely, this will be the news all over the world because hundreds of archeologists have searched for the Pyramid of Huni. We need at least one more year of excavation.”

He continued, “…It took Howard Carter five years to find the tomb of King Tut, but he kept going because he believed in his dream. If you don’t have a dream, you’ll never get to your destination. Every morning when I wake up, I begin to dream and wonder. ‘What will we find at the excavation today? What’s inside the Pyramid? Does it really belong to Huni or some other lost pharaoh we have never heard of?’ All my dreams are in it.”

What was the first pyramid in Egypt? Who built the first pyramid and what was it's purpose? We follow the 3rd Dynasty Pharaohs and detail their pyramid constructions. We also focus on early 4th Dynasty art, which are some of the most beautiful masterpieces in Egyptian history.

CONTENT
00:00 - INTRO
00:53 - I. PHARAOH KHASEKHEMWY
05:25 - II. PHARAOH NEBKA
07:11 - III. PHARAOH DJOSER AND THE STEP PYRAMID
15:26 - IV. PHARAOH SEKHEMKHET AND THE BURIED PYRAMID
17:54 - V. PHARAOH KHABA AND THE LAYER PYRAMID
20:20 - VI. PHARAOH HUNI AND THE MEYDUM PYRAMID
21:57 - VII. THE PYRAMID COMPLEX
24:45 - VIII. 4TH DYNASTY ART
Ancient Egypt - 04 - Rise of the Old Kingdom | 27:52
DW World History | 6.49K subscribers | 8,071 views | September 17, 2021

Transcript
· INTRO
0:04 · Welcome to the DW World History Series.
0:07 · In the last episode, we discussed the first Pharaohs and ended with the little known Dynasty II.
0:12 · Here, we begin with Khasekhemwy, the last Pharaoh of the 2nd Dynasty, since more is
0:17 · known about him than any other king from this period.
0:47 · Pharaoh Khasekhemwy
0:52 · Most Egyptologists believe Khasekhem changed
· I. PHARAOH KHASEKHEMWY
0:58 · his name to Khasekhemwy when he reunited Upper and Lower Egypt after a civil war between
1:04 · the followers of the gods Horus and Seth.
1:06 · As a result, he ended the infighting of the Second Dynasty and reunited Egypt.
1:12 · Khasekhemwy is unique in Egyptian history as having both the symbols of Horus and Seth
1:18 · on his serekh.
1:21 · (A serekh was a royal crest that accentuated and honored the name of the pharaoh).
1:28 · Some scholars believe that this was an attempt to unify the two factions; but after his death,
1:33 · Seth was dropped from the serekh permanently.
1:38 · He was one of the earliest Egyptian kings known to have built statues of himself.
1:43 · A limestone statue, restored from fragments at Hierakonpolis was discovered by the Quibell
1:48 · and Green excavations in 1897-98.
1:52 · The king is shown enthroned wearing the White Crown, the symbol of Upper Egypt, and the
1:57 · close-fitting jubilee robe.
2:00 · His right hand is drilled for insertion of a separate object, probably a flail or sceptre,
2:05 · and his name is scratched on the base within the early 'palace facade' form of a cartouche.
2:11 · This statue, together with another in green siltstone, almost identical and also from
2:16 · Hierakonpolis, is the earliest surviving example of royal sculpture from Egypt.
2:21 · The base of the statue records a military campaign of the king against the inhabitants
2:25 · of the Delta, symbolized at the front right by a group of papyrus springing from the head
2:30 · of a bound figure being struck by a mace.
2:34 · The rest of the base is inscribed with the bodies of slain enemies, with the total - 47,209
2:41 · - given on the front panel.
2:45 · He built a unique and large tomb at Abydos, known as (Tomb V), the last such royal tomb
2:51 · built in that necropolis.
2:53 · The trapezoidal tomb measures some 230 ft in length and is 56 ft wide at its northern
2:59 · end, and 33 ft wide at its southern end.
3:03 · This area was divided into 58 rooms.
3:06 · Prior to some recent discoveries from the First Dynasty, its central burial chamber
3:11 · was considered the oldest masonry structure in the world, being built of quarried limestone.
3:16 · Here, the excavators discovered the king's scepter of gold and sard, as well as several
3:22 · beautifully made small stone pots with gold leaf lid coverings,
3:26 · apparently missed by earlier tomb robbers.
3:29 · In fact, Petrie detailed a number of items removed during the excavations that included
3:34 · flint and copper tools, vessels filled with grain and fruit, and a large quantity of seals
3:39 · among other smaller objects.
3:43 · Khasekhemwy built a funerary cult enclosure at Abydos called the Shunet ez Zebib.
3:50 · Originally thought of as a fort by earlier archaeologists, the structure is one of Egypt’s
3:55 · oldest standing royal monuments and one of the oldest preserved mud brick buildings in the world.
4:01 · The two-part funerary complex, consisting of the underground tomb and the above-ground
4:06 · enclosure, is of great architectural importance, as it portrays the earliest stages of the
4:11 · evolution of the pyramid.
4:13 · The structure includes two concentric rectangular enclosure walls.
4:17 · Most of the inner wall is intact while only part of the outer wall remains.
4:22 · The enclosure walls stand 35-40 feet high in some places but suffers from structural
4:27 · instability due to the elements of nature.
4:34 · Khasekhemwy also built the Great Enclosure, one of the oldest known stone structures in Egypt.
4:44 · Located at Saqqara, this structure was also called the Gisr el-Mudir, which is Arabic
4:49 · for 'Bridge of the Chief'.
4:51 · The structure consists of a rectangular wall oriented north-south and
4:56 · measuring about 2100 x 1150 ft.
4:59 · The style of construction suggests an original height of around 33 feet.
5:06 · This pattern recurs in the larger funerary complex of Djoser's step pyramid.
5:11 · The walls were probably completed, but no remains of a construction have been found
5:15 · within the center of the complex and the monument remains somewhat of a mystery.
5:21 · Pharaoh Nebka
5:24 · The Old Kingdom and 3rd Dynasty starts with King Nebka.
· II. PHARAOH NEBKA
5:29 · His reign began with the exploitation of mineral wealth of the Sinai Peninsula which is the
5:33 · gateway to Egypt from the North.
5:36 · This area is particularly rich in copper and turquoise.
5:39 · This is important, because most of the kings would continue to mine this area for the remainder
5:44 · of their history.
5:46 · This is also important because, this is about the only thing we know about Nebka.
5:49 · He is one of the most disputed kings of the Old Kingdom and is as vague as the kings of
5:55 · the Second Dynasty, whom we know nothing about.
5:59 · Nebka is thought to be the brother of Djoser, who succeeds him for the rule of Egypt.
6:05 · Let's first examine the burial practices of Egypt up to this time, as they are about to
6:09 · drastically change.
6:11 · Originally, the dead were placed into sand pit burials in the middle of the desert.
6:15 · These burials were impermanent by nature and were often disturbed by the wind and jackals,
6:21 · which had the terrible habit of digging up the dead.
6:24 · Jackals have an unusual digestive system and prefers decayed meat.
6:30 · These animals would prowl the cemeteries and find these bodies, thus revealing that these
6:35 · sand pit burials were not so permanent.
6:38 · As a result, the Egyptians began removing sand to ground level and cutting into the
6:42 · bedrock to carve a tomb.
6:45 · Eventually these burials became more elaborate and structures began to be built over them,
6:50 · some with rooms in them, where one could go in and pay respect to the dead.
6:55 · These constructions created became known as mastabas – the Arabic word for bench – because
7:01 · its rectangular construction resembled a bench.
7:06 · Pharaoh Djoser and the Step Pyramid
7:10 · The mastabas of officials from the previous
· III. PHARAOH DJOSER AND THE STEP PYRAMID
7:12 · dynasties had lined the edge of the plateau at Saqqara, overlooking Memphis from the West.
7:18 · Djoser decided to move his monument back from the plateau's edge by about a mile before
7:23 · building his mastaba.
7:25 · Originally, this project was a normal mastaba, however, his architect and vizier, Imhotep,
7:31 · enlarged the mastaba several times while stacking mastaba on top of mastaba.
7:36 · What he created was the first stone building in history which consisted of six unequal
7:41 · steps rising to 204 feet.
7:44 · Known as the Step Pyramid, this temple complex also had a substructure of honeycomb shafts
7:49 · and tunnels.
7:51 · This construction was probably three or four times larger than any other building on the
7:55 · planet at the time.
7:56 · Here, Djoser built chapels and planned a complex intended for use as a courtyard for the Heb-sed
8:03 · and other rituals.
8:06 · The Heb-sed festival celebrated the rejuvenation of the aging pharaoh every thirty years.
8:13 · When observing the decoration details for this temple complex, one can see that the
8:17 · stone imitates the reed construction techniques from previous temples in the past.
8:23 · The fine fluting on the columns immediately call to the mind the Greek Doric column, but
8:27 · this comes an amazing 2000 years later.
8:32 · The complex covers 37 acres and is about 2.5 times as large as the Old Kingdom town of
8:39 · Heirakonpolis.
8:41 · Several features of the complex differ from those of later Old Kingdom pyramids.
8:46 · The mortuary temple is situated at the north side of the pyramid, whereas in later pyramids
8:51 · it is on the east side.
8:53 · Also, the Djoser complex is built on a North-South axis, whereas later complexes utilize an East-West axis.
9:01 · Furthermore, the Djoser complex has one niched enclosure wall, whereas later pyramids have
9:07 · two enclosure walls, with the outside one being smooth and
9:10 · the inside one being sometimes niched.
9:14 · The enclosure wall was built of light Tura limestone 34 ft high.
9:19 · The wall is interrupted by 14 doors, 13 of which were fake, or false doors, that were
9:25 · meant only for the king’s use in the afterlife.
9:28 · They functioned as portals through which the king’s ka, or soul, could pass between life
9:33 · and the afterlife.
9:35 · The functional door at the southeast end of the complex lead to a narrow passageway that
9:39 · connects to the roofed colonnade.
9:42 · The roofed colonnade led from the enclosure wall to the south of the complex.
9:47 · A passageway with a limestone ceiling, constructed to look as though it was made from whole tree
9:52 · trunks, led to a massive stone imitation of two open doors.
9:57 · Beyond this portal was a hall with twenty pairs of limestone columns composed of drum
10:02 · shaped segments built to look like bundles of plant stems and reaching a height of 22 ft.
10:09 · The columns were not free-standing, but were attached to the wall by masonry projections.
10:15 · Between the columns on both sides of the hall were small chambers, which some Egyptologists
10:19 · propose may have been for each of the provinces of Upper and Lower Egypt.
10:24 · At the end of the colonnade was the transverse hypostyle room with eight columns connected
10:29 · in pairs by blocks of limestone.
10:32 · This led to the South Court.
10:34 · The South Court was the large court between the South Tomb and the pyramid.
10:39 · At the southern end of the court was a platform approached by steps.
10:43 · It has been suggested that this was a platform for the double throne.
10:47 · This fits into the theory proposed by Barry Kemp, and generally accepted by many, that
10:52 · suggests the whole step pyramid complex symbolized the royal palace enclosure and allowed the
10:58 · king to eternally perform the rituals associated with kingship.
11:02 · At the very south of the South Court lay the South Tomb.
11:06 · The South Tomb is comparable to the satellite pyramids of later dynasties, and is considered
11:11 · the home of the ka in the afterlife.
11:14 · This was Djoser's southern burial, just a couple of hundred yards from the Step Pyramid.
11:19 · This construction was a mastaba – not a pyramid.
11:24 · The substructure of the South Tomb was entered through a tunnel-like corridor with a staircase
11:29 · that descended about 100 feet before opening up into the pink granite burial chamber.
11:34 · The staircase then continued west and lead to a gallery that imitated the blue chambers
11:39 · below the step pyramid.
11:41 · Blue tiles on the inside, made of ceramic called faience, featured the king running
11:46 · a Heb-sed festival.
11:48 · The symbolic king’s inner palace is much more complete than that of the pyramid.
11:54 · The pyramid was not simply a grave in ancient Egypt.
11:58 · Its purpose was to facilitate a successful afterlife for the king so that he could be
12:02 · eternally reborn.
12:04 · It also facilitated the king’s ascension to join the eternal North Star.
12:09 · Under the step pyramid is a labyrinth of tunneled chambers and galleries that total nearly 4
12:15 · miles in length and connect to a central shaft 23 feet wide and 92 feet deep.
12:22 · These spaces provided room for the king’s burial, the burial of family members, and
12:26 · the storage of goods and offerings.
12:29 · The entrance to the shaft was built on the north side of the pyramid, a trend that would
12:33 · remain throughout the Old Kingdom.
12:36 · The sides of the underground passages were limestone inlaid with blue faience tile just
12:41 · like the South Tomb's substructure.
12:44 · These walls also revealed the king participating in the Heb-sed Festival.
12:48 · These chambers resembled the palace and would serve as the new palace of the royal ka.
12:53 · In the storerooms, over 40,000 stone vessels were discovered, many of which predated Djoser.
13:00 · These would have served Djoser’s visceral needs in the afterlife.
13:03 · An extensive network of underground galleries were located to the north, west, and south
13:08 · of the central burial chamber and crude horizontal magazines were carved into these.
13:14 · The burial chamber was a vault constructed of four courses of well-dressed granite.
13:18 · It had one opening, which was sealed with a 3.5 ton block after the burial.
13:24 · No mummy was recovered as the tomb had been extensively robbed during antiquity.
13:29 · Archaeologists found evidence of limestone blocks with five pointed stars in low relief
13:35 · that were likely on the ceiling, indicating the first occurrence of what would become
13:39 · a tradition.
13:41 · The northern (funerary/mortuary) temple was on the north side of the pyramid.
13:47 · This structure was the cult center for the king.
13:50 · To the east of the temple was the serdab, which was a small enclosed structure that
13:54 · housed the ka statue.
13:57 · This small statue of the Pharaoh was where his soul could live if his body was destroyed
14:01 · or until he was resurrected.
14:04 · This temple appeared on the north side of the pyramid throughout the Third Dynasty,
14:07 · as the king wished to go north to become one of the eternal stars in the North Sky that
14:12 · never set.
14:14 · In the Fourth Dynasty, when there was a religious shift to an emphasis on rebirth and eternity
14:19 · achieved through the sun, the mortuary temple was moved to the east side of the pyramid
14:23 · where the sun rises, so that through association with the sun the king could be reborn every day.
14:32 · The Heb-sed court was parallel to the South Courtyard.
14:35 · It was meant to provide a space in which the king could perform the Heb-sed ritual in the afterlife.
14:41 · Flanking the east and west sides of the court were the remains of two groups of chapels,
14:45 · many of which were dummy buildings, of three different architectural styles.
14:50 · Imhotep is one of the few Egyptian architects to be known to us by name.
14:55 · Revered as a scribe, counselor, doctor, priest, and astronomer, he was later deified and worshiped
15:02 · as a god of architecture and medicine.
15:04 · Devotees made pilgrimages to Saqqara where he is most likely buried.
15:10 · He was one of only two commoners ever to be deified after death (the other being Amenhotep,
15:15 · son of Hapu), whom we discuss in Episode (15) of this series.
15:22 · Pharaoh Sekhemkhet and the Buried Pyramid
15:25 · Djoser was succeeded by Sekhemkhet who attempted
· IV. PHARAOH SEKHEMKHET AND THE BURIED PYRAMID
15:28 · to build a step pyramid at Saqqara, but died when the walls were only a few meters high.
15:34 · Known as the Buried Pyramid, this step pyramid would have risen in seven steps to a height
15:38 · of around 230 feet, 16 feet higher than Djoser's pyramid.
15:44 · Through the tomb of Sekhemkhet, we discovered that stone blocks were not finished by workers
15:48 · until they were on site.
15:50 · We've always pictured these stones as already finished before they were transported.
15:55 · But on his unfinished tomb, its stone walls were still rough.
16:00 · In 1951, the burial chamber was discovered still sealed.
16:04 · Believing this to possibly be another King Tut's tomb, a great discovery was expected.
16:10 · Upon entry, a small cache of gold jewelry was discovered, all apparently having been
16:14 · deposited together in a wooden box that had perished over time.
16:19 · In 1954, Sekhemkhet's stone sarcophagus was opened, but that turned out to be empty.
16:25 · It was a major disappointment.
16:28 · His sarcophagus was unique, however, because it was not closed with a lid, but had a T-shaped
16:33 · sliding panel set in its northern end.
16:37 · This still bore traces of the plaster that had sealed it in position and there were organic
16:42 · remains on top of it, possibly some type of plant or shrub.
16:47 · So why was Sekhemkhet not in his pyramid?
16:50 · There are two possibilities: He may have constructed two tombs and this was his second burial.
16:56 · Why would you go through all the effort in sealing the empty sarcophagus and then seal
17:00 · the burial chamber if you weren't going to use it?
17:04 · Another possibility is that he wanted to throw off the tomb robbers.
17:07 · He may have built this pyramid as a decoy.
17:10 · That would explain the small jewelry box in the corridor.
17:15 · Unfortunately the tomb robbers were the ones who built the tombs.
17:18 · They knew the ins-and-outs of tombs, and they would know what was placed inside the tombs.
17:24 · The workers on his pyramid would know it was a dummy pyramid and they left it alone.
17:28 · That's a reason it was still sealed in 1951.
17:33 · The interesting thing though, we still don't know where Sekhemkhet was buried.
17:37 · He must have another tomb.
17:39 · If this was the decoy to throw off the tomb robbers, or if this was the cenotaph burial,
17:45 · there is another burial out there waiting to be discovered.
17:50 · Pharaoh Khaba and the Layer Pyramid
17:53 · Sekhemkhet's successor, Khaba, did not use
· V. PHARAOH KHABA AND THE LAYER PYRAMID
17:56 · Saqqara as a burial ground, but instead built his pyramid at Zawiyet el-Aryan, a mile south of Giza.
18:04 · Known as the Layer Pyramid, this construction was most likely intended as a step pyramid
18:09 · with six or seven steps.
18:11 · There is debate whether the pyramid was completed or left unfinished.
18:15 · The disposition of the substructures of the layer pyramid was extremely similar to that
18:20 · found in the Buried Pyramid of Sekhemket.
18:23 · Consequently, Mark Lehner and others suggest that the two pyramids were constructed very
18:28 · close in time.
18:31 · The entrance to the subterranean structure began on the east, a disposition which would
18:35 · be unparalleled until the construction of the pyramid of Senusret II, almost 1000 years later.
18:42 · The entrance lead to a 118 ft long steep stairway and then down on to a corridor which headed west.
18:50 · The corridor ended in a straight vertical shaft, at the top of which was the so-called
18:54 · upper corridor, an unfinished passage which went south toward the center of the pyramid.
19:00 · At the bottom of the shaft was a T-shaped crossway.
19:03 · To the left, this crossway lead south to the lower corridor, half-way of which was a narrow
19:08 · stairway, so narrow that a sarcophagus could hardly have been passed through it.
19:13 · The lower corridor then finished in the king's burial chamber.
19:17 · To the right of the T-shaped crossway was a U-shaped gallery system.
19:21 · The ground plan of the gallery system resembled that of a comb, comprising of 32 chambers,
19:26 · in rows.
19:28 · The gallery proved to be:
19:30 · "clean and empty, as if the workmen had only left" -Mark Lehner
19:35 · The king's burial chamber was located 85 ft below ground and contained no traces of a
19:41 · sarcophagus, which together with the absence of artifacts in the gallery, hinted to the
19:45 · premature death of the king.
19:47 · A side note about the term 'sarcophagus'.
19:50 · Its different from a coffin – its made of stone.
19:54 · A coffin is usually made of wood.
19:57 · The reason they are always stone is the word comes from the Ancient Greeks.
20:01 · When the Greeks first came to Egypt and opened some of these stone sarcophagi, they looked
20:06 · inside and discovered the badly preserved mummies, basically skeletons.
20:11 · They thus called these sarcophagi – 'flesh eaters'.
20:17 · Pharaoh Huni and the Meydum Pyramid
· VI. PHARAOH HUNI AND THE MEYDUM PYRAMID
20:20 · Little is known about Khaba's successor, Huni,
20:22 · who became the fifth and last king of the Third Dynasty.
20:26 · Huni made an even more drastic move away from Saqqara by constructing his pyramid at Meydum,
20:32 · on the edge of the Faiyum, 50 miles south of Cairo.
20:36 · Known as the Meydum Pyramid, it was the first to have a square ground plan and was intended
20:41 · to be the first that was geometrically 'true'.
20:44 · There is general agreement between scholars that this pyramid was completed by his son
20:49 · and successor, Sneferu.
20:51 · Due to a lack of bonding to the case stones that had originally filled in the seven steps,
20:55 · and because the outer layer was founded on sand and not on rock, this pyramid collapsed
21:00 · and did so violently.
21:02 · Whether the pyramid fell before its final completion is debated, but the evidence suggests
21:08 · that it came down during the reign of Sneferu.
21:11 · A corbelled ceiling in the burial chamber prevented total collapse by distributing the
21:16 · weight of the huge stones in the pyramid, creating an arch made of steps.
21:21 · The valley temple was never constructed and the mortuary temple was discovered under the
21:25 · rubble and found incomplete.
21:28 · Two uninscribed stele nearby also suggest the pyramid was never used.
21:33 · A priest from the later 18th Dynasty inscribed the following in the small mortuary temple:
21:38 · “I came to the Temple of Sneferu, found the
21:42 · sun shining in it, and it was beautiful!”
21:46 · Only because of this inscription are we sure that he built it.
21:53 · The Pyramid Complex
21:56 · The following pyramids demonstrate what was to become the norm
· VII. THE PYRAMID COMPLEX
21:59 · for the layout of a pyramid complex.
22:02 · Archaeologist Peter Clayton best describes this in his book, Chronicle of the Pharaohs:
22:07 · 'This consisted of the pyramid itself, with an entrance on the
22:11 · north face which gives access, via a descending passage, to a
22:15 · burial chamber normally located in the bedrock or a ground
22:19 · surface within the mass.
22:21 · There can be more than one chamber, and at different levels, within this group.
22:26 · On the east face of the pyramid is a small pyramid or mortuary temple.
22:30 · From this a causeway runs down to the edge of the cultivation
22:34 · where the valley temple is located.
22:36 · Very fine reliefs are usually a feature of later examples of these buildings.'
22:42 · What was the purpose of the pyramid complex?
22:45 · The complex began its purpose at the valley temple, where the mummy was usually unloaded
22:50 · from a ceremonial solar barge.
22:53 · The body of the king could have actually been mummified in the valley temple, but that has
22:57 · not been confirmed.
22:59 · By a sacred ceremony, the mummy was brought up the causeway with priests carrying the
23:04 · body of the pharaoh to the mortuary temple and from there placed at rest inside the actual pyramid.
23:11 · The mortuary temple was the location where the priests could make offerings to his soul forever.
23:17 · This mortuary temple was the location of the cultic worship of the deceased god-king.
23:22 · The early pyramids were built differently from the later ones.
23:26 · During the Old Kingdom, these constructs were made of stone blocks, while those of the later
23:30 · Middle Kingdom were made of mud brick cased in limestone.
23:35 · As a result, the Middle Kingdom pyramids were smaller and did not last.
23:39 · The early structures usually had a core of local limestone, cased in an outer layer of
23:44 · better quality limestone, or occasionally granite.
23:48 · Granite was also traditionally used for the royal chambers inside the pyramid.
23:52 · Up to 2.5 million limestone blocks and 50,000 granite blocks might be used to construct
23:59 · a single pyramid.
24:00 · The average weight might be anything up to 2.5 tons per block, with some very large megaliths
24:06 · weighing up to 200 tons.
24:09 · The capstone at the top of the structure usually consisted of basalt or granite and, if plated
24:14 · with gold, silver, or electrum (a mixture of both), would temporarily blind observers
24:18 · with its reflection in the sun.
24:21 · Based upon the excavation of a series of workers' cemeteries discovered during the early 1990s,
24:28 · archaeologists now believe the pyramids were built by tens of thousands of salaried workers
24:32 · and craftsmen, who were lodged in huge encampments nearby.
24:40 · Highlights of 4th Dynasty Art
24:43 · In 1871, French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette discovered some of the great masterpieces
· VIII. 4TH DYNASTY ART
24:49 · of Egyptian art.
24:51 · Near the pyramid of Huni, in the tomb of Prince Nefermaat, known as Mastaba 16, three pairs
24:57 · of realistic and beautifully painted geese on a frieze were found.
25:02 · Prince Nefermaat was one of the several relatives of Pharaoh Sneferu who were buried in Meydum.
25:18 · Along with him was Prince Rahotep and his wife, Nofret,
25:21 · who were buried with two companion statues.
25:24 · These works of art may be the most extraordinary ever found and are in an excellent state of preservation.
25:31 · This was due to the fact that the chapels in the mastaba were sealed off in ancient
25:35 · times, and apparently never known until modern discovery.
25:39 · The colors appear almost freshly painted.
25:42 · They are each just over 120cm high.
25:46 · Great detail was taken in constructing these statues.
25:50 · For example, Nofret is seen wearing a wig.
25:53 · Wealthy Egyptian women often wore wigs, which were large and made of real hair.
25:58 · If you look close enough at her statue you can see her natural hair peaking out from under it.
26:04 · Again, great details.
26:06 · The most outstanding feature is that both of these statues retain their lifelike inlaid
26:11 · eyes of crystal that originally stunned the Egyptian workmen who first opened the tomb.
26:16 · In the torch light of the dark tomb they looked alive and the workmen fled in terror.
26:22 · The craftsmanship involved in creating these works of art still remain a mystery to scholars.
26:28 · The end of the Third Dynasty closed with the death of Pharaoh Huni.
26:31 · His son-in-law, Sneferu, would lead the Fourth Dynasty into the greatest period of the Old Kingdom.
26:37 · We begin the next episode on this incredible pharaoh.
26:40 · Thank-you for joining us!

A discussion about the Second and Third Dynasty. Playlist. *'Civ note: I set the time index to 3:54, which is where the 3rd dynasty discussion starts.
Ancient Egypt History - Second and Third Dynasty - 05 | 10:49
Historyden | 19.7K subscribers | 12,276 views | April 25, 2015

Transcript
0:00 · in this video we're going to go over the
0:01 · first and second dynasties of
0:03 · ancient Egypt now the second dynasty
0:06 · lasted approximately from 28 92 26 86 BC
0:11 · now I should state right away that the
0:13 · second dynasty is one of the least
0:15 · understood dynasties in the annals of
0:18 · ancient Egyptian history the evidence is
0:20 · very meager
0:21 · and that is especially the case for the
0:23 · first four to five pharaohs now there is
0:25 · also quite a bit of disagreement about
0:27 · the chronological order of the pharaohs
0:30 · in the second dynasty now the best way
0:32 · to think of this is there is consensus
0:33 · on the first four pharaohs and there is
0:36 · consensus on the last fair of the second
0:38 · dynasty Kazakh my but it is in the
0:40 · Middle where things start to get a
0:42 · little bit murky now you can see here
0:44 · these two columns one column has what
0:46 · Egyptologists think is the chronological
0:47 · order and then you have mana 'those King
0:50 · lists now you remember mana though is
0:52 · the Egyptian priests who came much later
0:54 · on of course during the Macedonian rule
0:56 · over Egypt and it was mana though who
0:58 · put together all the dynasties and
1:00 · provided the list of pharaohs but some
1:03 · of those names Egyptologists have not
1:05 · been able to verify in the
1:07 · archaeological record so if you look
1:09 · here you can see the name kairi's but
1:11 · Egyptologists have found no evidence of
1:13 · that in the archaeological record now
1:15 · the best guess is that kairi's is in
1:17 · fact seth paracin so where did moneth o
1:20 · get these names well did he make them up
1:22 · well no he didn't but he might have had
1:24 · access to materials that Egyptologists
1:26 · have not discovered in modern times and
1:28 · so again it's quite unclear about the
1:30 · names and the chronological order now if
1:32 · you take a look at this name on mount
1:34 · athos list Nefer Curie's Egyptologists
1:37 · can't associate any name in the
1:38 · archaeological record with Nefer Curie's
1:41 · so it's quite unclear where this name
1:43 · exactly came from now this doesn't mean
1:45 · that at some point in the future
1:47 · Egyptologists won't be able to unlock
1:48 · some of these mysteries in future finds
1:51 · and that's always kind of the exciting
1:53 · ongoing research about ancient Egypt now
1:56 · the two pharaohs that we have the most
1:57 · information about are Seth paracin and
2:00 · Kasich Emily but it is Seth paracin who
2:02 · we are going to focus on in the second
2:04 · dynasty and so we will talk about that
2:06 · pharaoh in the next slide now Seth Parab
· Second Dynasty
2:08 · sins rain was around 27 40 BC
2:11 · and one thing
2:13 · his greatly intrigued Egyptologists is
2:16 · that he took the name Seth instead of
2:19 · Horace as his patron DD now he will
2:21 · remember that most of the early pharaohs
2:24 · chose the DD Horace as their royal
2:26 · protector and so this is very very
2:28 · strange and you can see right here this
2:30 · image which we looked at in the last
2:31 · video this is the symbol of Horace and
2:34 · it is this Falcon shaped symbol that
2:36 · appears in most of the seals of the
2:38 · early Pharaohs but if you take a look at
2:40 · this sirak found in seth / absence tomb
2:42 · there is no symbol of horus here this is
2:45 · actually the symbol of seth and it has
2:47 · been called the seth animal i guess they
2:49 · are not exactly sure what animal this is
2:51 · and so Egyptologists have tried to
2:53 · understand why / Ibsen chose Seth now an
2:57 · original theory about why this occurred
2:59 · was that / Ibsen was committing heresy
3:02 · and that he sought to introduce a new
3:04 · state religion that involved around Seth
3:07 · and that in turn this caused some sort
3:09 · of large civil war in Egypt over the
3:12 · state religion now lately this has been
3:15 · largely discounted by modern
3:17 · Egyptologists and one major problem with
3:20 · this original theory is the fact that
3:22 · several other deities have been found on
3:24 · several seals inside of seth / Epsons
3:27 · tomb and so as i said the idea of /
3:29 · absent as a heretic has largely been
3:31 · discounted today some Egyptologists
3:34 · actually think this was more of a
3:35 · political maneuver rather than some
3:37 · serious attempt at altering the state
3:39 · religion of ancient Egypt now a seal
3:42 · found in Seth / absence tomb contains an
3:44 · entire sentence written in hieroglyphics
3:47 · and that is the earliest sentence
3:49 · written in hieroglyphics that
3:51 · archaeologists have found okay let's
3:53 · move on to the third dynasty now the
· Third Dynasty
3:55 · third dynasty is where things really
3:57 · start to get going in ancient Egyptian
4:00 · history it is the first dynasty of the
4:02 · Old Kingdom now you'll remember from the
4:04 · first lecture I mentioned that kingdoms
4:06 · represented a period of great prosperity
4:08 · for the Egyptians and there were three
4:11 · kingdom time periods in ancient Egyptian
4:13 · history and so this is the first Kingdom
4:16 · the Old Kingdom and what we start to see
4:18 · are the very first pyramids and so there
4:21 · is a succession architecture and so that
4:25 · represents a greater access to
4:27 · materials greater wealth and the list
4:29 · goes on and on now the Third Dynasty
4:32 · similar to the second dynasty also has a
4:35 · chronological problem but it occurs at
4:37 · the beginning of the dynasty rather than
4:39 · the middle and that involves exactly who
4:42 · the first Pharaoh is of the third
4:43 · dynasty there are three primary lists
4:46 · that have been discovered in Egyptian
4:48 · archaeology there is the turn king list
4:50 · there's the Abydos King list and there
4:52 · is the Saqqara tablet and those are
4:55 · named for where they were discovered so
4:56 · the turn king list was discovered and
4:58 · Turin the Abydos king list was
5:00 · discovered Abydos and the Saqqara tablet
5:03 · was discovered at saqqara now as you can
5:05 · see there is a dispute between these
5:07 · three lists about who exactly was the
5:09 · first Pharaoh the turn in the Abydos
5:11 · King list have nebka as the first
5:13 · Pharaoh and Jose are as the second
5:16 · Pharaoh the Saqqara tablet has Jose er
5:18 · as the first Pharaoh so it is unclear
5:21 · exactly who the first Pharaoh was of the
5:23 · 3rd dynasty but what is clear is that
5:25 · Jose er is the most famous Pharaoh
5:27 · during this dynasty and usually you will
5:29 · see his name prop up in the top 10 lists
5:32 · of the most famous pharaohs of all time
5:34 · and he is associated with the Step
5:36 · Pyramid and so he is the first Pharaoh
5:39 · to build a pyramid and we'll talk about
5:40 · that in the next few slides but before
5:42 · we move on you might be wondering what
5:44 · are these lists have to do with the
5:46 · monotheistic Oh was probably pulling his
5:49 · lists from some of these archaeological
5:51 · artifacts that have been found and
5:53 · probably he was formulating his list
5:55 · from the turn king list but we can't be
5:57 · exactly certain of that nonetheless
5:58 · remember it is mono though who created
6:01 · the idea of the dynasties these lists
6:04 · here does have a straight list of the
6:06 · Pharaohs but it is mono though who
6:07 · starts to divide up the Pharaohs in
6:09 · terms of dynasties so let's take a look
· Architecture
6:11 · at the progression of ancient Egyptian
6:14 · architecture now we talked about in the
6:16 · first lecture in the pre-dynastic
6:17 · periods of ancient Egypt Egyptians were
6:20 · buried in just simple open pits and then
6:23 · in the first and second dynasties
6:24 · mastaba start to appear and those are
6:27 · these single-level flat-roofed
6:28 · structures in the third dynasty we see
6:31 · the very first pyramid the Step Pyramid
6:33 · you can see that in this image right
6:35 · here on the right and this was an
6:36 · amazing upgrade over the previous
6:39 · mastaba
6:40 · there
6:40 · nothing really like this in the ancient
6:42 · world during this time period and it was
6:44 · over 200 feet tall and so it was the
6:47 · largest structure during this time
6:49 · period and this is why the 3rd dynasty
6:51 · is where things really get going for the
6:53 · Egyptians I mean you would have needed a
6:55 · large labor force a greater economy and
6:58 · even greater access to materials such as
7:00 · stone to build a structure like this and
7:02 · this was built out of stone rather than
7:05 · mud brick and we'll talk about the
7:06 · construction of this pyramid in a few
7:08 · slides now this was intended to hold the
7:11 · mummified body of Djoser
7:13 · but unfortunately like other tombs in
7:15 · ancient Egypt it has already been looted
7:17 · but interestingly enough they did find
7:19 · the mummified left foot of Djoser
7:21 · in this tomb now the Step Pyramid was
7:23 · built at saqqara now let's take a look
7:26 · at a map of ancient Egypt so I can show
7:28 · you where Saqqara is in relation to
7:30 · other ancient Egyptian sites now Saqqara
· Location
7:33 · is located on the map right here and
7:35 · obidos is located down in southern Egypt
7:38 · on the map right here now we talked
7:40 · about Abydos in the last lecture as the
7:42 · place where the first pharaohs were
7:44 · entombed now during the first dynasty
7:46 · there were some Nobles
7:48 · that were buried at saqqara but as far
7:50 · as we know none of the pharaohs were
7:52 · actually entombed at saqqara during this
7:54 · time period now during the second
7:56 · dynasty some of the ferals built their
7:57 · tombs at saqqara and some built their
8:00 · tombs at Abydos so sort of split in half
8:02 · by the third dynasty Djoser chose to
8:05 · build his Step Pyramid at Saqqara and
8:08 · the second Pharaoh who was likely his
8:09 · son also chose to build a Step Pyramid
8:11 · at Saqqara now this made sense for a few
8:14 · reasons
8:15 · first Saqqara was right next to the
8:16 · capital city of Memphis and you can see
8:19 · this on this 18th century map right here
8:21 · here is Memphis and here is where Sakura
8:23 · and the Step Pyramid are located so it
8:26 · was a shorter distance for the Pharaoh
8:28 · to travel to oversee the progress on his
8:30 · tomb for his busy afterlife remember
8:32 · pharaohs had two primary functions first
8:35 · was oversee the egyptian state of course
8:37 · but also they were very much involved
8:39 · with the building of their tomb now
8:40 · let's talk about the construction of the
8:42 · Step Pyramid now if you take a look at
8:44 · this image of the Step Pyramid you can
8:46 · see that it's six levels high and these
8:48 · are actually six most Abbas built on top
8:51 · of one another now there is some debate
8:53 · about whether
8:54 · these actually were intended to be
8:55 · mastaba stacked on top of each other
8:57 · because of the way the stone was cut and
8:59 · the stone for this step pyramid was cut
9:01 · very differently nonetheless as I said
9:04 · it was one of the tallest structures in
9:06 · the world during this time period
9:08 · now the architect behind the step
9:09 · pyramid was a man named Imhotep and he
9:12 · was Djoser's master builder now Imhotep
9:15 · was a man of many different traits he
9:17 · was not only an architect he was a
9:19 · physician a scribe and an astronomer and
9:22 · so he was sort of the Leonardo da Vinci
9:25 · of his time period and he was so
9:27 · important that he was later deified as a
9:29 · god and so he had an enormous impact on
9:32 · Egyptian architecture now you remember
9:34 · the last video I talked about how the
9:36 · burial chambers for the mastaba z-- were
9:39 · built underground and that is the same
9:41 · procedure that was used for the
9:42 · construction of the Step Pyramid all of
9:45 · the burial chambers are underground and
9:47 · they are hidden in this elaborate maze
9:49 · of tunnels and that was probably to
9:51 · confuse future grave robbers in the end
9:53 · of course this maze of tunnels did not
9:55 · stop the grave robbers they were
9:56 · successful in looting it almost
9:58 · completely but as I said archaeologists
10:00 · found the mummified left foot of Djoser
10:02 · in one of the burial chambers now the
10:04 · Step Pyramid was actually part of a
10:06 · larger complex and so it is surrounded
10:09 · by several temples and originally there
10:12 · was a 30 foot wall around the entire
10:15 · complex which today is pretty much gone
10:17 · now Jose ur like many pharaohs sought to
10:20 · associate himself with stars because
10:22 · stars were seen as eternal and so the
10:25 · North temple which is called the North
10:26 · temple because it's on the north side of
10:28 · the pyramid faces the north stars and so
10:31 · it's thought by doing this
10:32 · Jose er could join the north stars in
10:34 · eternity okay so we've seen this
10:37 · progression from mustapha's to the Step
10:39 · Pyramid we're not to the Great Pyramid
10:41 · of Giza but we're almost there and we're
10:44 · gonna get to that in the next dynasty
10:46 · which is the 4th dynasty see you guys
10:48 · then

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Transcript
0:00	·	in this video we're going to go over the
0:01	·	first and second dynasties of
0:03	·	ancient Egypt now the second dynasty
0:06	·	lasted approximately from 28 92 26 86 BC
0:11	·	now I should state right away that the
0:13	·	second dynasty is one of the least
0:15	·	understood dynasties in the annals of
0:18	·	ancient Egyptian history the evidence is
0:20	·	very meager
0:21	·	and that is especially the case for the
0:23	·	first four to five pharaohs now there is
0:25	·	also quite a bit of disagreement about
0:27	·	the chronological order of the pharaohs
0:30	·	in the second dynasty now the best way
0:32	·	to think of this is there is consensus
0:33	·	on the first four pharaohs and there is
0:36	·	consensus on the last fair of the second
0:38	·	dynasty Kazakh my but it is in the
0:40	·	Middle where things start to get a
0:42	·	little bit murky now you can see here
0:44	·	these two columns one column has what
0:46	·	Egyptologists think is the chronological
0:47	·	order and then you have mana 'those King
0:50	·	lists now you remember mana though is
0:52	·	the Egyptian priests who came much later
0:54	·	on of course during the Macedonian rule
0:56	·	over Egypt and it was mana though who
0:58	·	put together all the dynasties and
1:00	·	provided the list of pharaohs but some
1:03	·	of those names Egyptologists have not
1:05	·	been able to verify in the
1:07	·	archaeological record so if you look
1:09	·	here you can see the name kairi's but
1:11	·	Egyptologists have found no evidence of
1:13	·	that in the archaeological record now
1:15	·	the best guess is that kairi's is in
1:17	·	fact seth paracin so where did moneth o
1:20	·	get these names well did he make them up
1:22	·	well no he didn't but he might have had
1:24	·	access to materials that Egyptologists
1:26	·	have not discovered in modern times and
1:28	·	so again it's quite unclear about the
1:30	·	names and the chronological order now if
1:32	·	you take a look at this name on mount
1:34	·	athos list Nefer Curie's Egyptologists
1:37	·	can't associate any name in the
1:38	·	archaeological record with Nefer Curie's
1:41	·	so it's quite unclear where this name
1:43	·	exactly came from now this doesn't mean
1:45	·	that at some point in the future
1:47	·	Egyptologists won't be able to unlock
1:48	·	some of these mysteries in future finds
1:51	·	and that's always kind of the exciting
1:53	·	ongoing research about ancient Egypt now
1:56	·	the two pharaohs that we have the most
1:57	·	information about are Seth paracin and
2:00	·	Kasich Emily but it is Seth paracin who
2:02	·	we are going to focus on in the second
2:04	·	dynasty and so we will talk about that
2:06	·	pharaoh in the next slide now Seth Parab
	·	Second Dynasty
2:08	·	sins rain was around 27 40 BC
2:11	·	and one thing
2:13	·	his greatly intrigued Egyptologists is
2:16	·	that he took the name Seth instead of
2:19	·	Horace as his patron DD now he will
2:21	·	remember that most of the early pharaohs
2:24	·	chose the DD Horace as their royal
2:26	·	protector and so this is very very
2:28	·	strange and you can see right here this
2:30	·	image which we looked at in the last
2:31	·	video this is the symbol of Horace and
2:34	·	it is this Falcon shaped symbol that
2:36	·	appears in most of the seals of the
2:38	·	early Pharaohs but if you take a look at
2:40	·	this sirak found in seth / absence tomb
2:42	·	there is no symbol of horus here this is
2:45	·	actually the symbol of seth and it has
2:47	·	been called the seth animal i guess they
2:49	·	are not exactly sure what animal this is
2:51	·	and so Egyptologists have tried to
2:53	·	understand why / Ibsen chose Seth now an
2:57	·	original theory about why this occurred
2:59	·	was that / Ibsen was committing heresy
3:02	·	and that he sought to introduce a new
3:04	·	state religion that involved around Seth
3:07	·	and that in turn this caused some sort
3:09	·	of large civil war in Egypt over the
3:12	·	state religion now lately this has been
3:15	·	largely discounted by modern
3:17	·	Egyptologists and one major problem with
3:20	·	this original theory is the fact that
3:22	·	several other deities have been found on
3:24	·	several seals inside of seth / Epsons
3:27	·	tomb and so as i said the idea of /
3:29	·	absent as a heretic has largely been
3:31	·	discounted today some Egyptologists
3:34	·	actually think this was more of a
3:35	·	political maneuver rather than some
3:37	·	serious attempt at altering the state
3:39	·	religion of ancient Egypt now a seal
3:42	·	found in Seth / absence tomb contains an
3:44	·	entire sentence written in hieroglyphics
3:47	·	and that is the earliest sentence
3:49	·	written in hieroglyphics that
3:51	·	archaeologists have found okay let's
3:53	·	move on to the third dynasty now the
	·	Third Dynasty
3:55	·	third dynasty is where things really
3:57	·	start to get going in ancient Egyptian
4:00	·	history it is the first dynasty of the
4:02	·	Old Kingdom now you'll remember from the
4:04	·	first lecture I mentioned that kingdoms
4:06	·	represented a period of great prosperity
4:08	·	for the Egyptians and there were three
4:11	·	kingdom time periods in ancient Egyptian
4:13	·	history and so this is the first Kingdom
4:16	·	the Old Kingdom and what we start to see
4:18	·	are the very first pyramids and so there
4:21	·	is a succession architecture and so that
4:25	·	represents a greater access to
4:27	·	materials greater wealth and the list
4:29	·	goes on and on now the Third Dynasty
4:32	·	similar to the second dynasty also has a
4:35	·	chronological problem but it occurs at
4:37	·	the beginning of the dynasty rather than
4:39	·	the middle and that involves exactly who
4:42	·	the first Pharaoh is of the third
4:43	·	dynasty there are three primary lists
4:46	·	that have been discovered in Egyptian
4:48	·	archaeology there is the turn king list
4:50	·	there's the Abydos King list and there
4:52	·	is the Saqqara tablet and those are
4:55	·	named for where they were discovered so
4:56	·	the turn king list was discovered and
4:58	·	Turin the Abydos king list was
5:00	·	discovered Abydos and the Saqqara tablet
5:03	·	was discovered at saqqara now as you can
5:05	·	see there is a dispute between these
5:07	·	three lists about who exactly was the
5:09	·	first Pharaoh the turn in the Abydos
5:11	·	King list have nebka as the first
5:13	·	Pharaoh and Jose are as the second
5:16	·	Pharaoh the Saqqara tablet has Jose er
5:18	·	as the first Pharaoh so it is unclear
5:21	·	exactly who the first Pharaoh was of the
5:23	·	3rd dynasty but what is clear is that
5:25	·	Jose er is the most famous Pharaoh
5:27	·	during this dynasty and usually you will
5:29	·	see his name prop up in the top 10 lists
5:32	·	of the most famous pharaohs of all time
5:34	·	and he is associated with the Step
5:36	·	Pyramid and so he is the first Pharaoh
5:39	·	to build a pyramid and we'll talk about
5:40	·	that in the next few slides but before
5:42	·	we move on you might be wondering what
5:44	·	are these lists have to do with the
5:46	·	monotheistic Oh was probably pulling his
5:49	·	lists from some of these archaeological
5:51	·	artifacts that have been found and
5:53	·	probably he was formulating his list
5:55	·	from the turn king list but we can't be
5:57	·	exactly certain of that nonetheless
5:58	·	remember it is mono though who created
6:01	·	the idea of the dynasties these lists
6:04	·	here does have a straight list of the
6:06	·	Pharaohs but it is mono though who
6:07	·	starts to divide up the Pharaohs in
6:09	·	terms of dynasties so let's take a look
	·	Architecture
6:11	·	at the progression of ancient Egyptian
6:14	·	architecture now we talked about in the
6:16	·	first lecture in the pre-dynastic
6:17	·	periods of ancient Egypt Egyptians were
6:20	·	buried in just simple open pits and then
6:23	·	in the first and second dynasties
6:24	·	mastaba start to appear and those are
6:27	·	these single-level flat-roofed
6:28	·	structures in the third dynasty we see
6:31	·	the very first pyramid the Step Pyramid
6:33	·	you can see that in this image right
6:35	·	here on the right and this was an
6:36	·	amazing upgrade over the previous
6:39	·	mastaba
6:40	·	there
6:40	·	nothing really like this in the ancient
6:42	·	world during this time period and it was
6:44	·	over 200 feet tall and so it was the
6:47	·	largest structure during this time
6:49	·	period and this is why the 3rd dynasty
6:51	·	is where things really get going for the
6:53	·	Egyptians I mean you would have needed a
6:55	·	large labor force a greater economy and
6:58	·	even greater access to materials such as
7:00	·	stone to build a structure like this and
7:02	·	this was built out of stone rather than
7:05	·	mud brick and we'll talk about the
7:06	·	construction of this pyramid in a few
7:08	·	slides now this was intended to hold the
7:11	·	mummified body of Djoser
7:13	·	but unfortunately like other tombs in
7:15	·	ancient Egypt it has already been looted
7:17	·	but interestingly enough they did find
7:19	·	the mummified left foot of Djoser
7:21	·	in this tomb now the Step Pyramid was
7:23	·	built at saqqara now let's take a look
7:26	·	at a map of ancient Egypt so I can show
7:28	·	you where Saqqara is in relation to
7:30	·	other ancient Egyptian sites now Saqqara
	·	Location
7:33	·	is located on the map right here and
7:35	·	obidos is located down in southern Egypt
7:38	·	on the map right here now we talked
7:40	·	about Abydos in the last lecture as the
7:42	·	place where the first pharaohs were
7:44	·	entombed now during the first dynasty
7:46	·	there were some Nobles
7:48	·	that were buried at saqqara but as far
7:50	·	as we know none of the pharaohs were
7:52	·	actually entombed at saqqara during this
7:54	·	time period now during the second
7:56	·	dynasty some of the ferals built their
7:57	·	tombs at saqqara and some built their
8:00	·	tombs at Abydos so sort of split in half
8:02	·	by the third dynasty Djoser chose to
8:05	·	build his Step Pyramid at Saqqara and
8:08	·	the second Pharaoh who was likely his
8:09	·	son also chose to build a Step Pyramid
8:11	·	at Saqqara now this made sense for a few
8:14	·	reasons
8:15	·	first Saqqara was right next to the
8:16	·	capital city of Memphis and you can see
8:19	·	this on this 18th century map right here
8:21	·	here is Memphis and here is where Sakura
8:23	·	and the Step Pyramid are located so it
8:26	·	was a shorter distance for the Pharaoh
8:28	·	to travel to oversee the progress on his
8:30	·	tomb for his busy afterlife remember
8:32	·	pharaohs had two primary functions first
8:35	·	was oversee the egyptian state of course
8:37	·	but also they were very much involved
8:39	·	with the building of their tomb now
8:40	·	let's talk about the construction of the
8:42	·	Step Pyramid now if you take a look at
8:44	·	this image of the Step Pyramid you can
8:46	·	see that it's six levels high and these
8:48	·	are actually six most Abbas built on top
8:51	·	of one another now there is some debate
8:53	·	about whether
8:54	·	these actually were intended to be
8:55	·	mastaba stacked on top of each other
8:57	·	because of the way the stone was cut and
8:59	·	the stone for this step pyramid was cut
9:01	·	very differently nonetheless as I said
9:04	·	it was one of the tallest structures in
9:06	·	the world during this time period
9:08	·	now the architect behind the step
9:09	·	pyramid was a man named Imhotep and he
9:12	·	was Djoser's master builder now Imhotep
9:15	·	was a man of many different traits he
9:17	·	was not only an architect he was a
9:19	·	physician a scribe and an astronomer and
9:22	·	so he was sort of the Leonardo da Vinci
9:25	·	of his time period and he was so
9:27	·	important that he was later deified as a
9:29	·	god and so he had an enormous impact on
9:32	·	Egyptian architecture now you remember
9:34	·	the last video I talked about how the
9:36	·	burial chambers for the mastaba z-- were
9:39	·	built underground and that is the same
9:41	·	procedure that was used for the
9:42	·	construction of the Step Pyramid all of
9:45	·	the burial chambers are underground and
9:47	·	they are hidden in this elaborate maze
9:49	·	of tunnels and that was probably to
9:51	·	confuse future grave robbers in the end
9:53	·	of course this maze of tunnels did not
9:55	·	stop the grave robbers they were
9:56	·	successful in looting it almost
9:58	·	completely but as I said archaeologists
10:00	·	found the mummified left foot of Djoser
10:02	·	in one of the burial chambers now the
10:04	·	Step Pyramid was actually part of a
10:06	·	larger complex and so it is surrounded
10:09	·	by several temples and originally there
10:12	·	was a 30 foot wall around the entire
10:15	·	complex which today is pretty much gone
10:17	·	now Jose ur like many pharaohs sought to
10:20	·	associate himself with stars because
10:22	·	stars were seen as eternal and so the
10:25	·	North temple which is called the North
10:26	·	temple because it's on the north side of
10:28	·	the pyramid faces the north stars and so
10:31	·	it's thought by doing this
10:32	·	Jose er could join the north stars in
10:34	·	eternity okay so we've seen this
10:37	·	progression from mustapha's to the Step
10:39	·	Pyramid we're not to the Great Pyramid
10:41	·	of Giza but we're almost there and we're
10:44	·	gonna get to that in the next dynasty
10:46	·	which is the 4th dynasty see you guys
10:48	·	then