Reign

Other spellings: Djoser, Zhoser

(Dead 2648 BCE) King of Egypt, 2nd king of the 3rd Dynasty, ruling 2667-2648 BCE, 19 years. His official name was Netjerykhet.

Zoser succeeded his brother Sanakht to the throne. His father Khasekhemwy had been the last king of the 2nd Dynasty. He was the first ruler to only reside in Memphis, making it the political and cultural centre of Egypt in the times of the Old Kingdom.

Zoser is famous for his funerary complex at Saqqara, the 6-stepped mastaba, which also often is referred to as a step pyramid. This structure is unprecedented in the architectural history, and it appears that it represented a giant leap in building techniques. Its success was so great that its architect, Imhotep, came to be deified.

We know little of Zoser's political, military and administrative achievements. But from judged from his fabulous mortuary complex, it must be concluded that his regime was a wealthy one, that there was peace and stability in the kingdom through large parts of his reign, and that he had a well-working administration around him. How much of this was the result of his politics, or his predecessors cannot be clearly answered. But we can once again assume with great certainty, that he managed to keep stability, hence he was a fit ruler.

He was preceded by Sanakhte, possibly his brother, and suceeded by Sekhemkhet.

FROM: http://i-cias.com/e.o/zhoser.htm
 

Djoser

Zoser Palace Façade (Sakkara, Egypt)

Djoser (Netjerikhet)
Turin King List "Dsr-it" Manetho "Tosarthros"
Statue of Djoser in Cairo Museum, originally in his serdab at the Step Pyramid
Pharaoh of Egypt
Reign	29 years Manetho or 28 years Palermo Stone,  3rd Dynasty
Predecessor	Sanakhte? or Khasekhemwy
Successor	Sekhemkhet
Royal titulary[show] Horus name: Netjerikhet
Consort(s)	Hetephernebti[1]
Children	Inetkaes[1]
Father	Khasekhemwy?
Mother	Nimaethap?
Monuments	Pyramid of Djoser

Netjerikhet or Djoser (Turin King List "Dsr-it"; Manetho "Tosarthros") is the best-known pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt. He commissioned his official, Imhotep (ca. 2650-2600 BC), to build the first of the pyramids, a step pyramid for him at Saqqara. Variants of his name include Zoser, Dzoser, Zozer, Dsr, Djeser, Djésèr, Horus-Netjerikhet, and Horus-Netjerichet.

Though there is significant controversy about dating the reigns of the Old Kingdom, The Third Dynasty is conventionally placed in the 27th century BC, with Djoser's reign roughly in the period ca 2635 to 2610 BC.

The painted limestone statue of Djoser, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, is the oldest known life-sized Egyptian statue. Today at the site in Saqqara where it was found, a plaster copy of the statue stands in place of the original. The statue was found during the Antiquities Service Excavations of 1924-1925.

In contemporary inscriptions, he is called Netjerikhet, meaning "body of the gods." Later sources, which include a New Kingdom reference to his construction, help confirm that Netjerikhet and Djoser are the same person.

While Manetho names Necherophes and the Turin King List names Nebka as the first ruler of the Third dynasty, many Egyptologists now believe Djoser was first king of this dynasty, pointing out that the order in which some predecessors of Khufu are mentioned in the Papyrus Westcar suggests Nebka should be placed between Djoser and Huni, not before Djoser. More significantly, the English Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson has demonstrated that burial seals found at the entrance to Khasekhemwy's tomb in Abydos name only Djoser, rather than Nebka. This supports the view that it was Djoser who buried, and hence directly succeeded, Khasekhemwy, rather than Nebka.^[2]

Reign length

Step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, Egypt

Manetho states Djoser ruled Egypt for twenty-nine years, while the Turin King List states it was only nineteen years. Because of his many substantial building projects, particularly at Saqqara, some scholars argue Djoser must have enjoyed a reign of nearly three decades. Manetho's figure appears to be more accurate, according to Wilkinson's analysis and reconstruction of the Royal Annals. Wilkinson reconstructs the Annals as giving Djoser "28 complete or partial years", noting that the cattle counts recorded on Palermo Stone register V, and Cairo Fragment 1 register V, for the beginning and ending of Djoser's reign, would most likely indicate his regnal Years 1-5 and 19-28.^[3]

 Reign

Djoser dispatched several military expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula, during which the local inhabitants were subdued. He also sent expeditions there to mine for valuable minerals such as turquoise and copper. This is known from inscriptions found in the desert there, sometimes displaying the banner of Seth alongside the symbols of Horus, as had been more common under Khasekhemwy. The Sinai was also strategically important as a buffer between the Nile valley and Asia.

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 of the 2nd dynasty was thus the last pharaoh ever to be buried at Abydos, some Egyptologists infer that the shift to a more northerly capital was completed during Djoser's time.

 Family

Because Queen Nimaethap, the wife of Khasekhemwy, the last king of the Second dynasty of Egypt, is mentioned on a jar sealing of Khasekhemwy with the title "Mother of the King's children", some writers argue she was Djoser's mother and Khasekhemwy was his father. This is also suggested by another jar sealing, dating to Djoser's reign, calling her "Mother of the King of the Two Lands". Her cult seems to have still been active in the later reign of Sneferu.

Hetephernebti is identified as one of Djoser's queens "on a series of boundary stela from the Step Pyramid enclosure (now in various museums) and a fragment of relief from a building at Hermopolis" currently in the Egyptian museum of Turin.^[4]

Inetkawes was their only daughter known by name. There was also a third royal female attested during Djoser's reign, but her name is destroyed. The relationship between Djoser and his successor, Sekhemkhet, is not known, and the date of his death is uncertain.

 References

1. ^ ^{a b} Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, ISBN 0-500-05128-3 p.45
2. ^ Toby Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, Routledge, 1999, pp.83 & 95
3. ^ Toby Wilkinson, Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt, pp.79 & 258
4. ^ Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (2004), p.48

 Bibliography

• Rosanna Pirelli, "Statue of Djoser" in Francesca Tiradriti (editor), The Treasures of the Egyptian Museum, American University in Cairo Press, 1999, p. 47.
• Toby Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, Routledge, (Routledge:1999), pp.83 & 95
• Toby Wilkinson, Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt: The Palermo Stone and Its Associated Fragments, (Kegan Paul International), 2000.

• A Detailed profile of Djoser

v • d • e Notable List of pharaohs   Early Dynastic Period of Egypt rulers Narmer · Menes · Hor-Aha · Djer · Khasekhemwy     Old Kingdom rulers Djoser · Sneferu · Khufu · Khafra · Menkaura · Sahure · Pepi II   Middle Kingdom of Egypt rulers Mentuhotep II · Amenemhat I · Senusret I · Senusret III · Amenemhat III · Sobekneferu   Second Intermediate Period rulers Khendjer · Neferhotep I · Sobekhotep IV · Ay · Nebiriau I · Apophis · Sobekemsaf II · Intef VII · Seqenenre · Kamose   New Kingdom rulers Ahmose I · Hatshepsut · Thutmose III · Amenhotep II · Amenhotep III · Akhenaten · Tutankhamun · Seti I · Ramesses II · Ramesses III   Third Intermediate Period of Egypt rulers Psusennes I · Siamun · Shoshenq I · Osorkon II · Shoshenq III · Osorkon III · Piye · Tefnakht · Shabaka · Taharqa   Other rulers Psamtik I · Necho II · Ahmose II · Nepherites I · Nectanebo I · Alexander the Great · Ptolemy I · Ptolemy II · Ptolemy XIII · Cleopatra VII   Consorts Tetisheri · Ahhotep I · Ahmose-Nefertari · Ahmose · Tiye · Nefertiti · Ankhesenamen · Nefertari · Mark Antony   Court officials Imhotep · Weni · Sobeknakht II · Ahmose-Ebana · Ineni · Senenmut · Rekhmire · Yuya · Maya · Yuny · Bay · Manetho · Pothinus

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djoser"

Categories: Pharaohs of the Third dynasty of Egypt

The major attraction of Saqqara is Zoser's Pyramid, also known as the Step Pyramid. In the 27th century BC, the reigning Pharaoh, a powerful leader named Zoser, decided he wanted a final resting place more grand than the underground tombs or low, flat brick buildings (mastabas) in which most previous kings had been buried. Fortunately, Zoser had in his service an architect of brilliance, named Imhotep. Under the direction of Imhotep, Zoser's tomb started as a large mastaba but soon evolved into a much more ambitious structure. Imhotep kept stacking mastabas until Zoser's tomb became a six-tiered pyramid 62 meters (203 ft) high, built of thousands of carefully cut stones and encased in a fine limestone shell.

Zozer's stepped pyramid. Individual stones

The mortuary temple is not the most visually impressive part of the entire complex. It lies to the north of the pyramid, and all that remains now are the two lower stone layers of the original buildings, together with the entrance to the underground tomb of Zoser (closed).

In order to get a better feeling of its original state, you need to mount the House of the North. But be quick, some zealous guards might call on you not to make the climb.

Certainly one of the oldest standing stone structures in the world, Zoser's Pyramid was also the biggest stone building constructed up to that time. Somehow Imhotep found solutions to the problems of moving, precisely placing and securing each of the thousands of blocks it took to complete the pyramid. The building of the Step Pyramid provided the inspiration and technical expertise that ushered in the age of pyramid-building. And while not as large or well preserved as the Great Pyramids in Giza, Zoser's Pyramid still deserves to be listed among one of the most impressive monuments we've seen.

It took nearly an hour to make it through Cairo traffic and then down the Nile to Saqqara. Again we were amazed at how big Cairo is, but this time we were also amazed at how abruptly the city ended and the farms began. The scenery changed from gray concrete to brilliantly green farmland in just seconds. The green seemed that much more green since we could see the brown of the desert hemming in both sides of the valley.

If we had taken the same ride 4000 years earlier, the urban and the rural areas would have been reversed. We would have been leaving rich farmland to enter a big city, instead of vice versa. Although there is little indication left within the valley itself, during the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (long before Cairo had been founded), the nearby settlement of Memphis was the largest city and capital of Egypt. This helps to explain why there are so many archaeological treasures in the desert near what is today a tiny village.

As impressive as Zoser's Pyramid itself was the huge funerary complex that surrounded it. The pyramids might have been the center point of the pharaoh's cemetary, but it was always surrounded by an elaborate complex of temples, chapels, and the burial sites of relatives and friends. So, to enter the Step Pyramid site we had to walk through a long hallway of tall columns which brought us to a large central courtyard just in front of the pyramid itself. In this courtyard were the ruins of Zoser's two thrones (which symbolized the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt). Surrounding the pyramid were a number of ceremonial temples, including a mortuary temple at which Zoser's relatives were supposed to pay him homage after his death.

Just next to this temple is a stone structure known as a serdab, in which you find a large wooden box with holes drilled into it. Peering into the hole you are startled to find Zoser himself staring back out at you! It's just a statue, but spooky nonetheless.

After walking around Zoser's pyramid, we climbed to the top of the wall that once surrounded the entire complex. We were rewarded by a nice view of the entire area. Besides the small pyramids of Unas, Sekhemket, and Userkef, which are only a few hundred meters from the Step Pyramid, we could also see pyra

mids stretching off into the distance to both the north and south. In one direction the Great Pyramids at Giza were just visible across the desert ; in the other direction we could identify the impressive"Bent" pyramid and "Red" pyramids in Dahshur. It helped us realize that we were standing in a field of pyramids — many of which aren't very big, or have long since deteriorated — that stretched over 30 km (19 mi) along the desert ridge just west of the Nile. We tried to imagine what the site must have looked like thousands of years ago, when as many as 70 pyramids lined the ridge, and immediately understood why this whole area is a included on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.

The sites at Saqqara also provide a good illustration that not all pharaohs were buried in pyramids, not even during the pyramid-building phase of Old Kingdom Egypt. They, and many of the other prominent members of Egyptian society, also had less impressive but still fairly elaborate tombs — some underground chambers, some mastabas. Indeed, when surrounded by all the non-pyrmiad archaeological sites, you realize that dozens of Pharaohs, and thousands of ancient Egyptians are buried around you. It's like a huge city of the dead. With this eerie thought in mind we set out to explore some of the other notable tombs.

Just south of Zoser's pyramid we wandered through a number of ancient tombs, all of which were in various states of excavation and renovation. None of the mummies were still around, but we found a lot of neat art and hieroglyphics on the walls. Particularly interesting were the tombs of Akhti-Hotep and Ptah-Hotep, father and son officials during the reign of the Pharaoh Djedkare. Inside their tombs we found pictures of the father-son duo in various settings — from hunting scenes to depictions of them receiving manicures. Although over 4000 years old, the pictures have been restored to their original bright color.

Our next stop was the Serapium, the ancient burial chamber not for pharaohs or their servants, but for mummified bulls! As gods on earth, these bulls too received special treatment in death. A monument to the sacred bull, Apis (who is the incarnation of Ptah, the god of Memphis), the Serapium is a huge but dimly light underground chamber which once held the mummified remains of dozens of sacred bovine. All that remains are the gigantic outer coffins (sarcophagi), but these are impressive enough — some were over 3 meters (10 ft) high and 9 meters (30 ft) long, carved out of black granite. To get these immense coffins into the chamber, the builders dug a big hole, filled it with sand, dragged the sarcophagus on top of the sand, and then dug the sand out from under it, slowly lowering the sacred remains into their final resting place.

Our final stop was the Mastaba of Ti, the tomb of a prominent member of the Pharaoh's court. Again the paintings and hieroglyphics on the walls of the tomb were remarkably well preserved and colorful. These decorations vividly portray everyday life in ancient Egypt, depicting such activities as the harvesting of grain, the butchering of cattle, and the brewing of beer. It also showed how well the elite of Egyptian society lived. Ti himself is shown floating down the Nile on a barge, sniffing sweet smelling flowers while being fanned by slaves!

FROM: http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/africa/egypt/gelber7.htm