Since ancient times, Egypt’s necropolises have always been west of the places where people live. Like Giza Necropolis, People at that time lived based on the sun’s path.
This idea was made into a religion, which made people want to live on the eastern side of the Nile or on the right bank.so The Saqqara Necropolis is an important archaeological site.
Where is Saqqara Necropolis, and what is its history?
The Saqqara Necropolis is an important archaeological site. It is a few kilometers south of Cairo and about fifteen kilometers from the Giza Plateau.
It is about 8 kilometers long and is on the western bank of the Nile. It is the largest in Egypt and can be reached by car from the capital.
A tour of this ancient complex of Egyptian tombs is a treat for people who want to learn about other cultures, archaeologists, and those who wish to become Egyptologists.
So, the land on the west side of the river, where the sun goes down, was set aside for building eternal homes, funeral complexes, and other tombs and graves.
The cemetery of the same name is very impressive, and it is spread out over the Saqqara Plateau. The area was used for tombs and burials for the first time in 3,050 B.C., during the First Dynasty. But this was where most of these chambers were built during the whole time of the old empire.
After a period of change, when the necropolis of Saqqara wasn’t used as much, rulers and other essential people went back to burying their dead there until the New Empire Period.
The necropolis was one of the most popular places to build tombs, monuments, and other funerary complexes for at least 2,000 years, from 3050 to 1050 B.C.
At Saqqarah, visitors rub up against explorers and archaeologists since the cemetery is still being dug up. New tombs are constantly being found, adding to ancient Egypt’s information.
The Saqqara Necropolis is very important to history because the ruins and traces of these tombs give Egyptologists important information about what life was like for the Egyptians back then.
The ancient cemetery of Memphis
The ancient cemetery of Memphis is where dozens of pharaohs, their families, administrators, generals, and sacred animals are buried. It is 7 kilometers long and is in the western desert, above the area where the Nile valley was farmed.
The name may come from the god of death, Sokar. The ancient kingdom’s pharaohs were buried in the 11 large pyramids, while their people were buried in hundreds of smaller tombs.
Since Roman times, when the area stopped being used (except for the stepped pyramid), most of it has been covered by sand, except for the stepped pyramid. The Serapeum wasn’t found until the middle of the 19th century when an Egyptologist named Auguste Mariette found it. It was put on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979.
In July 2018, a mummification lab was dug up with five mummies in their coffins. This was the most recent find.
The most famous pyramid in Saqqara and the necropolis of Saqqara
The stepped pyramid of Djoser (or Zoser) is the most renowned structure in Saqqara. It is made up of six mastabas, which are truncated pyramid tombs that get smaller as they go up.
Imhotep, an architect, built it in the 27th century B.C. for the third dynasty’s pharaoh, who had the same name as the pyramid.
It is a vast building made from the world’s oldest stone. Today, the pyramid is closed, and no one is allowed to go inside, but it is still a stunning sight to see from the outside.
Many of the pyramids in this area were built when the economy was terrible, so the materials used were not very valuable and did not last.
In addition to the incredible architecture of the pyramid above Djoser, there are ten other pyramids, some open to visitors. The Pyramid of Teti, a sixth-dynasty pharaoh whose coffin is still in the tomb, is the most interesting.
The series of tombs and Mastabas of Saqqara
There are also several impressive tombs and mastabas in the Saqqara area. These include the mastaba of Kagemni, the chief judge of Teti, and the mastaba of Ti, who was in charge of the pyramids in Abusir.
The reliefs and friezes on the last tomb are especially interesting because they have been carefully restored and are considered one of the best examples of art from the ancient kingdom.
The pictures are interesting because they show scenes from everyday life in ancient Egypt and have dialogues written in hieroglyphs.
The Serapeum of Saqqara
As we’ve already said, the Serapeum was the first part of the area to be found. It is another must-see attraction in Saqqara, the underground room where the Apis bull was buried.
The sacred bulls were raised and honored at the Temple of Ptah in Memphis during their lives. After they died, they were mummified and taken to the Serapeum, buried in stone coffins. This was done for more than 1,300 years.
Don’t miss the Imhotep Museum at the entrance to Saqqara if you want to learn more about this and other Old Kingdom rituals.
Some of the most interesting things found on the site are in the five rooms of this building, which you should see. These include the wooden coffin of the same Imhotep, the oldest royal mummy ever found, and a reconstruction of the library of the French architect Jean-Philippe Lauer.
