Djoser place of burial Pyramid of Djoser
Reign
Third Dynasty
The lands of Upper and Lower Egypt were united into a single kingdom sometime around 2686 BC. The period following the unification of the crowns was one of prosperity, marked by the start of the Third Dynasty and the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The exact identity of the founder of the dynasty is a matter of debate, due to the fragmentary nature of the records from the period. Djoser is one of the principal candidates for the founder of the Third Dynasty. Other candidates are Nebka and Sanakht. Complicating matters further is the possibility that Nebka and Sanakht are referring to the same person.Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson believes that the weight of archeological evidence favours Djoser (Netjerikhet) as Khasekhemwy's successor and therefore founder of the Third Dynasty. A seal from Khasekhemwy's tomb at Abydos, in combination with a seal from mastaba K1 at Beit Khallaf dated to Djoser's reign, links the two pharaohs together as father and son respectively. The seal at Abydos names a 'Nimaat-hap' as the mother of Khasekhemwy's children, while the other seal at Beit Khallaf names the same person as the 'mother of the dual-king'. Further archaeological evidence linking the reigns of the two pharaohs together are found at Shunet et-Zebib, which suggest that Djoser oversaw the burial of his predecessor. Ritual stone vessels found at the sites of the tombs – Khasekhemwy's tomb at Abydos and Djoser's tomb at Saqqara – of the two pharaohs also appear to have come from the same collection, as samples from both sites contain identical imagery of the god Min. This archeological evidence is supplemented by at least one historical source, the Saqqara king list, which names Djoser as the immediate successor of Beby – a misreading of Khasekhemwy.Construction projects
His most famous monument was his step pyramid, which entailed the construction of several mastaba tombs one over another. These forms would eventually lead to the standard pyramid tomb in the later Old Kingdom. Manetho, many centuries later, alludes to architectural advances of this reign, mentioning that "Tosorthros" discovered how to build with hewn stone, in addition to being remembered as the physician Aesculapius, and for introducing some reforms in the writing system. Modern scholars think that Manetho originally ascribed (or meant to ascribe) these feats to Imuthes, who was later deified as Aesculapius by the Greeks and Romans, and who corresponds to Imhotep, the famous minister of Djoser who engineered the Step Pyramid's construction.
Some fragmentary reliefs found at Heliopolis and Gebelein mention Djoser's name, and suggest he commissioned construction projects in those cities. Also, he may have fixed the southern boundary of his kingdom at the First Cataract. An inscription known as the Famine Stela and claiming to date to the reign of Djoser, but probably created during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, relates how Djoser rebuilt the temple of Khnum on the island of Elephantine at the First Cataract, thus ending a seven-year famine in Egypt. Some consider this ancient inscription as a legend at the time it was inscribed. Nonetheless, it does show that more than two millennia after his reign, Egyptians still remembered Djoser.
Although he seems to have started an unfinished tomb at Abydos (Upper Egypt), Djoser was eventually buried in his famous pyramid at Saqqara in Lower Egypt. Since Khasekhemwy, a pharaoh from the 2nd dynasty, was the last pharaoh to be buried at Abydos, some Egyptologists infer that the shift to a more northerly capital was completed during Djoser's time.Djoser and Imhotep
One of the most famous contemporaries of king Djoser was his vizier (tjaty), "head of the royal shipyard" and "overseer of all stone works", Imhotep. Imhotep oversaw stone building projects such as the tombs of King Djoser and King Sekhemkhet. It is possible that Imhotep was mentioned in the also famous Papyrus Westcar, in a story called "Khufu and the magicians". But because the papyrus is badly damaged at the beginning, Imhotep's name is lost today. A papyrus from the ancient Egyptian temple of Tebtunis, dating to the 2nd century AD, preserves a long story in the demotic script about Djoser and Imhotep. In Djoser's time, Imhotep was of such importance and fame that he was honoured by being mentioned on statues of king Djoser in his necropolis at Saqqara.Tomb
Djoser was buried in his famous step pyramid at Saqqara. This pyramid was originally built as a nearly square mastaba, but then five further mastabas were literally piled one upon another, each smaller than the previous one, until the monument became Egypt's first step pyramid. Supervisor of the building constructions was the high lector priest Imhotep.
final resting place burial site last resting place grave site interment location