Detail View: Archivision Base to Module 9: Funerary Complex of Djoser

Preferred Title: 
Funerary Complex of Djoser
Alternate Title: 
Complex of Djoser: Step Pyramid and the enclosure
Image View: 
The Entrance Corridor, north entrance, detail of entry wall, showing engaged column and stacked drums of stone simulating bundles of reed or palm stems
Creator: 
Imhotep (Egyptian (ancient) architect, ca. 2630-ca. 2611 BCE)
Location: 
site: Saqqara, Desert, Egypt
Date: 
ca. 2630-2611 BCE (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Egyptian (ancient)
Style Period: 
Early Dynastic (Egyptian); Old Kingdom (Egyptian); Third Dynasty
Work Type 1: 
pyramid (tomb)
Work Type 2: 
temple
Classification: 
architecture
Material: 
stone
Technique: 
construction (assembling)
Relation Work: 
part of Saqqara [site]
Subjects: 
architectural exteriors; death or burial; rulers and leaders; Djoser, King of Egypt; Egypt--Civilization; Egypt--Religion; column: engaged column
Description: 
Saqqara is an Egyptian site on a desert plateau about 20 km south of Cairo and just west of the ancient city of Memphis, which flourished as a necropolis and religious centre in the Dynastic, Late and Greco-Roman periods. In the Coptic period it continued in use as a monastic centre. The most important structure of the Early Dynastic period, however, is the funerary complex of Djoser [Djoser, Zoser, Netjerikhet, ca. 2630-ca. 2611 BCE, first ruler of the 3rd dynasty], which marks the first appearance of monumental stone architecture in Egypt. Its central element is a massive stepped pyramid (140 x 118 x 60 m); of limestone masonry. The complex is surrounded by a recessed limestone wall with bastions and 14 imitation closed gates enclosing an area roughly 300 x 500 m. The single genuine entrance in the south-eastern corner leads into an entrance colonnade comprising 48 ribbed columns. The southern massif of the enclosure conceals a structure known as the 'Southern Tomb' which includes a shaft, a burial chamber,
Collection: 
Archivision Addition Module One
Identifier: 
1A3-EG-SQ-1-D9
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.