Saqqara Step Pyramid Egypt

Saqqara Step Pyramid | Saqqara Pyramid Egypt

Despite the fame of the Giza Pyramids, Saqqara is one of several other notable necropolis sites near Cairo that offer impressive sights and hold great archaeological significance. In fact, Saqqara may hold more interest to archaeologists than Giza. The huge site hosts burials dating from before the beginning of the Old Kingdom up through the Greek Period of Egyptian history.

The most famous structure by far at Saqqara is Djoser’s Step Pyramid. Dating from the 3rd dynasty (2667—2448 BC), it was the first all-stone complex ever built on earth. It also displays an important architectural innovation for the construction of the Giza Pyramids and other later pyramids in the 4th dynasty and later.

Djoser’s pyramid was the first to use multiple mastabas (rectangular tomb structures) stacked on top of one another to form a step pyramid.This construction set the stage for the smooth sides of the Giza Pyramids and the smaller 5th and 6th dynasty pyramids that are found at Saqqara and other sites nearby, such as Dahshur and Abu Sir.

Scattered around the area of Djoser’s Step Pyramid are more than ten other pyramids and a large number of tombs and burial temples from throughout the Pharaonic and Greek Periods, which are in different states of repair.

Many later pyramids are completely ruined due to the inferior construction methods that were used by pharaohs during the Middle Kingdom when Egypt’s economy faltered, but more than one at Saqqara are still well-preserved enough that you may have the opportunity to enter them.

The entire site of the Saqqara Necropolis is one of the largest burial sites in all of Egypt, certainly worth a visit to anyone interested in the history of the pyramids.