Step and Bent Pyramids

After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the bus at 8:00 a.m. for our trip to Dashur and Saqqara. We drove about 30 km to the step pyramid of King Djoser, which is the oldest stone structure on earth, more than 4700 years old. The step pyramid was built in the 3rd dynasty by the architect Imhotep, who is arguably more famous than Djoser, a King who ruled Egypt before the word “Pharaoh” was used. The step pyramid is huge. At 197 feet tall, it was almost as big as the pyramids at Giza, although it has eroded a bit over the years. Today, it has quite a bit of scaffolding around it as part of a restoration program that Heba, our Egyptologist guide, disapproved of. The restoration is smoothing out the eroded edges of the stones that make up the pyramid. Heba feels that the restoration makes the pyramid look too new and smooth. I’m inclined to agree with her.

It’s called a pyramid complex because a wall surrounded an area much larger than the pyramid itself. The wall was topped with a frieze of cobras – the first stone frieze in the world. Construction of the pyramid began when King Djoser first assumed office. In the meantime, the very large enclosed area inside the wall was used for public ceremonial functions. To enter the complex, the king (and, today, tourists) would walk through a colonnade made of stone – the first stone colonnade in the word. The columns were made to imitate bundles of papyrus, which were at that time used as construction materials in more modest buildings. The roof of the colonnade was carved to imitate wooden logs, which had previously been used in the roofs of such buildings. The ancient roof has been replaced with modern concrete, but we would later see sections of the world’s first stone roof in the Imhotep museum.

On one side of the step pyramid is a small statue of King Djoser, now cast in plaster because the original is at the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo. The statue is behind a stone wall and peers out through two holes at those leaving offerings or praying to the late king. We had no offerings or prayer, but were able to peer through the two holes to see the plaster copy of King Djoser’s statue.

Our next stop was the tomb of Mereruka, the vizier to King Teti of the 6th dynasty, about 2300 B.C. The tomb of Mereruka was discovered in 1893, and is one of the most complete tombs of a non-royal Egyptian. Although many of the limestone wall carvings were removed after 1893, many others still remain. You can see the depictions of upper class life in the 6th dynasty carved in exquisite detail. Some of the original red and black color still remains, 4300 years later. The representations of fish, hippos, crocodiles and birds along the Nile River were particularly striking.

Immediately next to the tomb of Mereruka, the pyramid of King Teti looks like a large pile of rubble. Less claustrophobic souls than Abby and I were able to crouch low enough to walk down a steep slope through a narrow tunnel into the burial chamber containing pyramid texts and a basalt sarcophagus.

We then drove through the third-world town of Dahshur to the Bent Pyramid. Many of the buildings in Dahshur were made of mud brick. We saw lots of people dressed in traditional Egyptian attire, rather than the western attire worn in Giza, at least by men.

The bent pyramid was built for Pharaoh Sneferu (2575-2551 B.C.) of the 4th dynasty. The builders apparently felt that the sides were too steep after they had already started construction, and changed the angle of them well into the project. This change in angle may have kept the pyramid from collapsing under its own weight. Sneferu was the father of Khufu of Great Pyramid of Giza fame. Sneferu, through his architect, Imhotep, built the first pyramid that was not a step pyramid; it was, however, rather badly bent.

We then visited the Red Pyramid, also built by Sneferu. Why he felt that he needed two pyramids was unknown. Perhaps he didn’t like the odd shape of the Bent Pyramid. The Red Pyramid has a base of 721 square feet and was originally 341 feet tall, just a bit smaller than Khufu’s Great Pyramid. What the father (Sneferu) started, the son (Khufu) perfected. However, the great architect of Sneferu’s pyramids was Imhotep.

Our last stop before lunch was at a museum dedicated to Imhotep. In our first attempt to stop there, we were told that the power was out and that we would have to come back later. The museum director was trying to restore power with a backup generator, but was out of fuel. Heba, our guide, told us that this never used to happen before last year’s revolution. Later we came back, and power was briefly restored, just enough to give us a short visit before we were told it was time to leave. We got the feeling that the expense of the kerosene fuel for the generator was not in the budget.

Heba has pointed out many instances where life has changed since the revolution. Several times she started to tell us what we were going to do the next day, only to add, "At least, that's what I would have expected before the revolution." She doesn't always know in advance which sites will have working bathrooms or, if they do have bathrooms, will they have toilet paper? The irrigation canals in Cairo are full of floating pop bottles and other litter. Such was not the case before the revolution. It must leave Egyptians wondering when they will get their country back to normal. Or is this the new normal? If so, it is a disappointment.

The Imhotep Museum included a beautiful display of the turquoise faience tiles that decorated the inside of Djoser’s tomb, as well as a portion of the world’s first stone arch from the Step Pyramid complex. Abby noticed that the feet of some of the sculptures and statues in the museum were disproportionately large. Ancient Egyptians are depicted with bare feet. Perhaps large feet – on both men and women – was a point of pride with them.

We stopped for lunch on the way back to Cairo at a restaurant that had an appetizer buffet and served grilled chicken and beef sausage on smoking braziers that were brought right to our table. We were serenaded by a trio of musicians playing a drum, a flute and two-stringed instrument similar to a violin but was played like a double bass. The pita bread was fresh out of the oven and the braised eggplant appetizer was out of this world. On the way out we admired massive wooden doors that had once been painted turquoise, with a pair of large iron door knockers, each shaped like a hand holding a ball.

On the way out of the restaurant, we came upon a doorway surrounded by flowering bougainvillea. Norm took our picture in front of it. October is a good time to visit Egypt, because bougainvillea and other flowering shrubs were blooming in abundance.

At 5:00 p.m. we were treated to a presentation in Islam by Dr. Jailan Abbas, a professor at Cairo American College. She dispelled many of the myths about Islam, such as that it is inherently warlike or that it inherently suppresses women. She said that there are a lot of Imams who don’t truly understand the Koran and who promote cultural values or political points of view as if they are part of the religion.

After a buffet dinner at the hotel we retired to our room early. Tomorrow, we hit the road for Alexandria and the Mediterranean Sea.