Saqqara ( : saqqāra[t], ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient mausoleum crypts of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, including the Pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Pyramid, and a number of mastaba tombs. Located some south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around .
Saqqara contains the oldest complete stone building complex known in history, the Pyramid of Djoser, built during the Third Dynasty. Another sixteen Egyptian kings built pyramids at Saqqara, which are now in various states of preservation. High officials added private funeral monuments to this necropolis during the entire Pharaonic period. It remained an important complex for non-royal burials and cult ceremonies for more than 3,000 years, well into Ptolemaic and Roman times.
North of the Saqqara site lies the Abusir pyramid complex, and to its south lies the Dahshur pyramid complex, which together with the Giza Pyramid complex to the far north comprise the Pyramid Fields of Memphis, or the Memphite Necropolis, which was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.
Some scholars believe that the name Saqqara is not derived from the ancient Egyptian funerary deity, Sokar, but from a local Berber tribe called the Beni Saqqar, even though a tribe of this name is not documented anywhere.Graindorge, Catherine, "Sokar". In Redford, Donald B., (ed) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, vol. III, pp. 305–307. Medieval authors also refer to the village as Ard as-Sadr ().
History
Early Dynastic
of nobles can be traced back to the First Dynasty, at the northern side of the Saqqara plateau. During this time, the royal burial ground was at Abydos. The first royal burials at Saqqara, comprising underground galleries, date to the early Second Dynasty reigns of Hotepsekhemwy, Raneb and Nynetjer. This is followed by a hiatus, with Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy, the last Second Dynasty king, both buried in Abydos. Khasekhemwy may nonetheless also have built a funerary monument at Saqqara consisting of a large rectangular enclosure, known as Gisr el-Mudir, although this enclosure could also belong to Nynetjer. It probably inspired the monumental enclosure wall around the Step Pyramid complex. Djoser's funerary complex, built by the royal architect Imhotep, further comprises a large number of dummy buildings and a secondary mastaba (the so-called 'Southern Tomb'). French architect and Egyptologist Jean-Philippe Lauer spent the greater part of his life excavating and restoring Djoser's funerary complex.
Early Dynastic monuments Tomb of king Hotepsekhemwy and Nebra Tomb of king Nynetjer Buried Pyramid, funerary complex of king Sekhemkhet Gisr el-Mudir, funerary complex of a Second Dynasty king, possibly Nynetjer or Khasekhemwy Step Pyramid, funerary complex of king Djoser
Old Kingdom
Nearly all Fourth Dynasty kings chose a different location for their pyramids. During the second half of the Old Kingdom, under the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, Saqqara was again the royal burial ground. The Fifth and Sixth Dynasty pyramids are not built wholly of massive stone blocks, but instead with a core consisting of rubble. Consequently, they are less well preserved than the world-famous pyramids built by the Fourth Dynasty kings at Giza. Unas, the last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty, was the first king to adorn the chambers in his pyramid with Pyramid Texts. During the Old Kingdom, it was customary for courtiers to be buried in mastaba tombs close to the pyramid of their king. Thus, clusters of private tombs were formed in Saqqara around the pyramid complexes of Unas and Teti.
Old Kingdom monuments Pyramid of Djoser (Dynasty Three) Mastabat al-Fir'aun, tomb of king Shepseskaf (Dynasty Four) Pyramid of Userkaf of the Fifth Dynasty Pyramid of Djedkare Isesi Pyramid of king Menkauhor Mastaba of Ti Mastaba of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum Pyramid of Unas Mastaba of Ptahhotep Pyramid of Teti (Dynasty Six) Mastaba of Mereruka Mastaba of Kagemni Mastaba of Akhethetep Pyramid of Pepi I Pyramid of Merenre Pyramid complex of king Pepi II Neferkare Tomb of Perneb (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York) Tomb of Henu
First Intermediate Period monuments Pyramid of king Ibi (Dynasty Eight)
Middle Kingdom From the Middle Kingdom onward, Memphis was no longer the capital of the country, and kings built their funerary complexes elsewhere. Few private monuments from this period have been found at Saqqara.
Second Intermediate Period monuments Pyramid of king Khendjer (Dynasty Thirteen) Pyramid of an unknown king
New Kingdom
During the New Kingdom, Memphis was an important administrative and military centre, being the capital after the Amarna Period. From the Eighteenth Dynasty onward, many high officials built tombs at Saqqara. While still a general, Horemheb built a large tomb here, although he later was buried as pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Other important tombs belong to the vizier Aperel, the vizier Neferronpet, the artist Thutmose, the priest Bakenhori and the wet-nurse of Tutankhamun, Maia.
Many monuments from earlier periods were still standing, but dilapidated by this period. Prince Khaemweset, son of Pharaoh Ramesses II, made repairs to buildings at Saqqara. Among other things, he restored the Pyramid of Unas and added an inscription to its south face to commemorate the restoration. He enlarged the Serapeum, the burial site of the mummified Apis bulls, and was later buried in the catacombs. The Serapeum, containing one undisturbed interment of an Apis bull and the tomb of Khaemweset, were rediscovered by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette in 1851.
New Kingdom monuments Several clusters of tombs of high officials, among which the tombs of Horemheb and of Maya and Merit. Reliefs and statues from these two tombs are on display in the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden, the Netherlands, and in the British Museum, London.
After the New Kingdom During the periods after the New Kingdom, when several cities in the Delta served as capital of Egypt, Saqqara remained in use as a burial ground for nobles. Moreover, the area became an important destination for pilgrims to a number of cult centres. Activities sprang up around the Serapeum, and extensive underground galleries were cut into the rock as burial sites for large numbers of mummified ibises, baboons, cats, dogs, and falcons.
Monuments of the Late Period, the Graeco-Roman and later periods Several shaft tombs of officials of the Late Period Serapeum (the larger part dating to the Ptolemaic Period) The so-called 'Philosophers circle', a monument to important Greek thinkers and poets, consisting of statues of Hesiod, Homer, Pindar, Plato, and others (Ptolemaic) Several Coptic monasteries, among which the Monastery of Apa Jeremiah (Byzantine and Early Islamic Periods)Wietheger, Cäcilia (1992). Das Jeremias-Kloster zu Saqqara unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Inschriften [The Monastery of Apa Jeremiah at Saqqara, with particular focus on the inscriptions]. Altenberge: Oros, .
Site looting during 2011 protests Saqqara and the surrounding areas of Abusir and Dahshur suffered damage by looters during the 2011 Egyptian protests. Store rooms were broken into, but the monuments were mostly unharmed.
Archaeology In 1842 and 1843, as part of a Prussian expedition, Karl Richard Lepsius studied, mapped, and reported on the remains at Saqqara. Lepsius, Carl Richard, "Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien Nach den Zeichnungen der von Seiner Majestät dem Könige von Preussen Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Nach diesen Ländern gesendeten und in den Jahren 1842 1845. Ausgeführten wissenschaftlichen Expeditionvorläufige Nachricht über die Expedition, ihre Ergebnisse und deren Publikation", Berlin, 1849 The expedition was the first to systematically number the monuments at Saqqara. Staring, Nico, "The Saqqara necropolis through the New Kingdom: biography of an ancient Egyptian cultural landscape", Brill, 2022
From 1851 until 1855 Auguste Mariette excavated at Saqqara, discovering the Serapeum. He returned to Egypt as Director of Antiquities in 1858 and worked periodically at Saqqara until his death in 1881. A. Mariette-Pacha, "Le Serapeum de Memphis", Paris, 1882 - English translation Mariette, Aug, "La table de Saqqarah", Revue archéologique, pp. 169-186, 1864 Mariette, Aug, "Sur les tombes de l'Ancien Empire que l'on trouve à Saqqarah", Revue Archéologique 19, pp. 7-22, 1869 Under the remaining Directors in the 1900s, Gaston Maspero and Jacques de Morgan the focus at Saqqara, as in the rest of Egypt, was on uncovering monuments in support of tourism.Mariette, A. and Maspero, G., "Le Serapeum de Memphis", Paris, 1882de Morgan, Jacques, "Notice des principaux monuments exposés au Musée de Gizeh. Imprimerie nationale", 1897De Morgan, Jacques, "Découverte du Mastaba de Ptah-Chepsès dans la nécropole d'Abou-Sir", Revue archéologique 24, pp. 18-33, 1894
Alessandro Barsanti excavated here between 1899 and 1901.Barsanti, A., Maspero, G., "Fouilles autour de la pyramide d’Ounas (1899-1900)", ASAE 1, pp. 150–190, 1900Barsanti, A., Maspero, G., "Fouilles autour de la pyramide d’Ounas (1899-1900) Suite", ASAE 1, pp. 230–284, 1900Barsanti, A., "Fouilles exécutées à Saqqarah autour de la pyramide d’Ounas", in Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte 3, pp. 1–24, 1902
Saqqara was excavated between 1905 and 1914 by James Edward Quibell. Quibell, James Edward, "Excavations at Saqqara, 1905-1906", Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1907. Quibell, J. E., & Lacau, P., "Excavations at Saqqara, 1906–1907: With a section on the religious texts", Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1908 Quibell, James Edward, "Excavations at Saqqara: 1907-1908", Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1909 Quibell, James Edward", Excavations at Saqqara (1908-9, 1909-10)", Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1912 Quibell, James Edward, "Excavations at Saqqara: 1912-1914: the tomb of Hesy", Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1913 Quibell, J.E., "Excavations at Saqqara (1905-1914)", Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Le Caire, 1911-1912 One of the excavation reports was delayed until 1927. Quibell, J. E., Hayter, A. G. K., "Excavations at Saqqara: Teti Pyramid, North Side", Cairo, 1927 Cecil Mallaby Firth, collaborating with Quibell, excavated at the site in the 1920s until his death.Firth, Cecil Mallaby, and Battiscombe George Gunn, "Excavations at Saqqara: Teti pyramid cemeteries", Imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1926Firth, C. M., "The Step Pyramid, Saqqara", Antiquity 2.8, pp. 461-463, 1928
The Egypt Exploration Society worked at Saqqara, primarily in North Saqqara, in the 1950s and 1960s with excavations led by Walter B. Emery, Geoffrey T. Martin, and Harry Smith.Edwards, I. E. S., "Excavations at Saqqara: Great Tombs of the First Dynasty, I", pp. 116-118, 1950Smith, Harry Sidney, "La mère d'Apis. Fouilles récentes de L'Egypt Exploration Society à Saqqara-Nord", Bulletin de la Société française d’égyptologie 70.1. pp. 11-27, 1974Emery, Walter B., "Preliminary report on the excavations at North Saqqara 1964–5", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 51.1, pp. 3-8, 1965Emery, W. B., "Preliminary Report on the Excavations at North Saqqâra, 1965-6", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 52, pp. 3–8, 1966Emery, W. B., "Preliminary Report on the Excavations at North, Saqqâra 1966-7", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 53, pp. 141–45, 1967
Recent discoveries
2010s