The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara

Don’t just see the Pyramids of Giza. The tombs at Saqqara are the architectural stepping stones that led to those wonders. Oh, and the Step Pyramid is the oldest building in the world.

The tiered structure known as the Step Pyramid at Saqqara is the direct descendant of the smooth-surfaced Great Pyramids at Giza

Using a verbal sleight of hand to distract us after our whirlwind tour of the Giza necropolis, our guide Ahmed, who was selected for us by the Kempinski Nile Hotel in Cairo, began telling us about the history of Saqqara. He paused only briefly to encourage us to stop at a souvenir shop on the way, this one peddling papyrus or perfume, where he would surely get commission if we bought anything. Ahmed seemed to be a knowledgeable guide, but his lack of enthusiasm was glaringly obvious. 

“Considered the first recorded architect in history, Imhotep designed the Step Pyramid at Saqqara and was later portrayed as an evil high priest who had been buried alive in ‘The Mummy.’”

After spending our morning getting rushed through the Pyramids and Sphinx, I mentioned stopping for lunch at the Marriott Mena House, having been told there was a spectacular view of the Pyramids while you ate alfresco. Ahmed replied that he had recently eaten there and dismissed it as overrated and ridiculously expensive, lying about the prices of the meals. It became clear that he wasn’t going to let us go there, even though it was part of our planned itinerary.

It was about this time that I turned to Wally and muttered, “We must have passed the Solar Boat Museum when we were leaving Giza.” We were both upset by this, never imagining we’d have a guide who wouldn’t even ask if we’d want to see the various sites at an attraction. There’s a good chance this would be our only time in Egypt and we wanted to see as much as we could — especially since we were paying for our guide and car service until 4 p.m. 

But were in a stranger’s car in a foreign country and by this time too far away to go back. 

Pharaoh Djoser commissioned the Step Pyramid for his tomb in 2630 BCE

Step on It

Frequently paired with the more famous Giza Plateau, the Saqqara necropolis is where the world’s oldest large-scale stone monument, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was built. Admission costs 150 Egyptian pounds per person (a bit over $9 at the time of this writing).

Prior to its construction, Ancient Egyptian kings were buried beneath great oblong mud-brick structures with a flat roof and sloping sides known as mastabas. According to the Abydos King List, carved on a temple wall, Djoser was the first king of the Third Dynasty, and it was his 19-year reign that allowed the grandiose plan for his pyramid complex to be completed during his lifetime. 

Built in stages, the Step Pyramid was constructed between 2630 and 2611 BCE. The tomb began as a traditional mastaba, but instead of mud-brick, it was built of stone taken from the nearby enclosed burial complex of Gisr el-Mudir. It was gradually enlarged, with smaller mastabas stacked on top of one another in concentric tiers to form the final height of 200 feet high — steps which the dead king could use to ascend into the heavens.

What’s truly amazing is that that’s just the beginning. What can’t be seen are the three miles of passageways and chambers that were carved beneath the pyramid!

Scaffolding covered parts of the Step Pyramid when we visited

When we visited the atmospheric Step Pyramid of Djoser, it was partially covered in scaffolding. Ahmed told us that it was closed due to ongoing conservation work and structural concerns after an earthquake in 1992. 

Imhotep was many things, including the architect of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara — but a reanimated evil mummy he was not

Imhotep: The Man, the Myth, the Legend 

A man named Imhotep was responsible for the design of the Step Pyramid of Saqqara. Considered the first recorded architect in history, he was later portrayed as an evil high priest who had been buried alive in The Mummy movie franchise. But he was actually just a mortal man whose name translated as “The One Who Comes in Peace.” 

A savant who rose to the top of Egyptian society, Imhotep served as a scribe, architect and vizier in the court of Pharaoh Djoser. He was also a high priest of the creator god Ptah, physician and scientist. That talent would eventually lead to his posthumous deification as the patron god of medicine by the Egyptians and later by the Greeks as Asclepius. 

Duke insisted we include a historically accurate image of Imhotep as well

King Djoser was so pleased with Imhotep’s work that he allowed the architect’s name to be inscribed on the pyramid along with his own. 

Imhotep’s tomb is probably located at Saqqara but has yet to be found. 

Fun fact: In 1964, archaeologist Walter Bryan Emery discovered a network of catacombs holding the remains of thousands of mummified ibises, long-legged, long-necked birds with downward-curving beaks, brought to the necropolis by pilgrims as offerings to the deified Imhotep. (These weren’t the only mummified animal remains found at Saqqara. Learn more about animal mummies here.)

Some of the buildings of Ancient Egypt struck us as surprisingly modern, including the entrance hall to Djoser’s funerary complex

Entrance Hall Colonnade 

Like Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple, the clean geometric exterior of Djoser’s entrance hall struck me as quite modern. There’s only one way into the complex, situated in the center of the largest bastion of the enclosure wall. The narrow hall is comprised of 20 pairs of columns, each connected to the side wall by masonry, as opposed to free-standing, and are carved to resemble bundles of reeds. The colonnade was probably once timber-roofed, though now austere concrete slabs hover high above these unique, but decaying, pillars. 

The columns at Djoser’s complex aren’t in the best shape

Heb Sed Court

After passing through the entrance hall colonnade, Wally and I wandered over a low wall and into a sunken open-air courtyard with a raised stone platform. I later learned that this was known as the Heb Sed Court. 

Beyond a pair of elevated shrines or chapels are replicas in stone of structures that would have been used for Heb Sed, the king’s jubilee festival marking the 30th year of a pharaoh’s reign. (As we know, Djoser never quite made it there.) One chapel appears to be a flat-roofed tentlike structure, while the other has a curved roof and false door, a symbolic passageway for the king’s ka, or spirit, to use in the afterlife. 

While we enjoyed our visit, which also included an expedition into the Pyramid of Unas and the Mastaba of Mereruka, Ahmed never went beyond his own agenda and he certainly didn’t encourage us to explore. A lot of the information contained in our posts pertaining to Giza and Saqqara has been supplemented with our own research and curiosity about the sites. –Duke

 

The Mystery of the Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre

Whose head is that on the Sphinx? The site is crowded with limited access. Still, one of Ancient Egypt’s oldest monuments should be paired with the Pyramids of Giza near Cairo.

Riddle me this: What’s it like visiting the Great Sphinx of Giza?

While many of the ancient sites of Egypt have had their stones upcycled for other uses, the rose granite covering the walls of the Valley Temple of Khafre were somehow spared. The temple gives visitors a glimpse of the past and makes for a dramatic reveal of one of the world’s oldest colossal monoliths, the Great Sphinx of Giza. Just don’t expect to get too close or walk around it. 

A statue of Pharaoh Khafre in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum

After taking a few photos of the pyramids from the panoramic overlook, Wally and I returned to the car (driver and subpar guide) we had hired for the day. They drove us a short distance to another parking lot within the pyramid complex outside of Khafre’s temple. 

“Did Napoleon and his troops shoot off the nose of the Sphinx during target practice?

Read on to find out!”

Duke and Wally peek out from the columns in the open-air Temple of Khafre

Like the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the structure remains well preserved, thanks to having been buried under sand until it was rediscovered and excavated by French archaeologist Auguste Mariette in 1853. A diorite statue of Khafre, an Old Kingdom pharaoh circa 2570 BCE, shows the ruler seated with the falcon symbolizing the god Horus behind his head. It was discovered by Mariette’s workmen in 1860, inside a pit within the temple. You can now see the statue amongst the many finds scattered about the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Duke in the temple, en route to the Sphinx

Inside the now-open-air temple lies a peristyle hall containing a series of monumental limestone blocks quarried from the bedrock surrounding the Sphinx. The walls, lintels and columned court are sheathed in pink granite stone brought 500 miles downriver from Aswan. It’s nothing short of amazing to know that we were walking inside a structure erected thousands of years ago.                                                             

As Wally and I wandered through, the previously mentioned guide, Ahmed, whom we booked through the Kempinski concierge — beware! — mentioned that the temple floors were fashioned from slabs of white-veined calcite. The temple ends at a narrow ascending passage leading up to an open doorway, making for a dramatic exit anf reveal of the Great Sphinx.                                                                  

Whose head is that on the Sphinx, seen here in a 1790 illustration by Louis Francois Cassas?

The Sphinx’s Identity Crisis

In Ancient Egypt, statuary and art was reserved for the ruling class and often served a political or religious function. The elite were the only ones who could afford to commission their likeness in stone, but it remains a mystery as to whose face the Great Sphinx of Giza was meant to represent. No inscriptions were left to confirm who erected it or when. However, Ahmed referred to the Sphinx as Khafre, and archaeological evidence has since indicated that it was constructed during Khafre’s reign, so I’d be willing to agree it was him.

The Great Sphinx is one of the oldest and largest monolithic statues in the world. Because nobody knows its original name, the Greeks referred to it as a sphinx — which to them was traditionally a bare-breasted woman with a lion’s body and eagle’s wings who kills those who cannot answer her riddle. Carved from a single deposit of limestone bedrock on the Giza plateau, the recumbent, mythological creature has the body of a lion and the head of a king, and most likely was intended to symbolize Khafre's unification with the sun god Re (or Ra), who also acted as guardian of the Giza necropolis. 

Oedipus and the Sphinx by Gustave Moreau, 1864. She doesn’t look too fierce — but notice the corpse at the bottom of the painting

Limestone is a soft sedimentary rock composed primarily of the compressed remains of marine organisms that died in the waters of ancient seas. Time has not been kind to the Sphinx, and due to variations in the density of the bedrock, its surface appears to undulate. 

You can get a good shot of the Sphinx, but you’ll have to fight your way through the crowd

We were only allowed to walk within a narrow space to one side of the Sphinx and not around the monument as is often seen on so many television programs. It was crowded on that strip, and there were tourists taking selfies and other photos, which made viewing the Sphinx a letdown for us. 

For centuries, only the head of the Sphinx peeked out from the desert, with the rest buried in the sand

Dream Stele: When Dreams Come True 

The Great Sphinx was already ancient and abandoned by the time Prince Menkheperure discovered it on a hunting expedition. The colossal monument had been swallowed to its neck by the desert sands, and the prince decided it was as good a spot as any for a nap. He fell asleep beneath the shadow of its head. He later claimed that the Sphinx, in the embodiment of the sun god, Horemakhet, or Horus on the Horizon, appeared to him in a dream and made him a deal that the ambitious young royal couldn’t refuse: Although he wasn’t next in line, the Sphinx promised the prince the throne if he freed the great statue from the desert sands.

We don’t know what happened to his older brother, who was next in line, but Menkheperure did indeed become pharaoh, changing his name to Thutmose IV. To commemorate the event, he erected a small chapel between the front paws of the Great Sphinx. Inside the sacred chamber, Thutmose placed a 15-ton pink granite memorial slab inscribed with a telling of the so-called miracle. It’s also entirely possible that the stone table known as the Dream Stele was fabricated to legitimize Thutmose IV’s authority after usurping the throne. 

British soldiers pose at the base of the still-buried and noseless Sphinx

Sphinx Myth Busting: Who Nose?

The biggest myth perpetuated over time claims that Napoleon and his troops used the nose of the Sphinx for target practice and were responsible for this missing feature. European visitors to Egypt prior to Napoleon’s expedition had already discovered the vandalism to the Sphinx, and 18th century sketches of the beast indicate that the statue’s disfigurement occurred well before the French emperor was even born.

Another tale is that it was deliberately hacked off by a Sufi Muslim named Muhammad Sa’im al-Dahr, who was outraged by peasants making offerings to the colossal beast in hopes of controlling the flood cycle of the Nile, which would result in a successful harvest.                                          

Though it’s now indistinct from the hue of its desert surroundings, Ahmed told us that the Sphinx was once elaborately painted. He gestured to the residue of original blue pigment that remains near the ear, but I couldn’t see it.  

A historic illustration of the Sphinx. We wish we could climb a ladder onto its head!

After taking in the pyramids and Sphinx, Wally and I both needed to use the bathroom. Make sure to keep small bills for this purpose — the attendants will hand you a single square of toilet paper and ask for money before permitting you to go in. 

Before using the restroom, Wally and I stood on the terrace of a café and took some great photos of the Sphinx, with the Pyramids in the background. This is where I suspect the nightly Sound and Light Show is held. If you want some pics here, take them quickly — a guard came right over to scold us. I thought it might be because the grounds outside the monument were strewn with garbage, and a photo would have cast it in a less-than-flattering light. Wally thought it was a privilege reserved for those who paid for a meal on the terrace overlook. I guess this will remain an unsolvable riddle for the time being. 

The nearby restaurant offers a front-on view of the Sphinx

Admission for the valley temple and Great Sphinx are included with the 160 Egyptian pound ticket to the Giza Plateau. –Duke

Duke and Wally were bummed they couldn’t get closer to the massive monument

 

Pyramids of Giza: Essential Tips

How to avoid a bad experience while visiting the Great Pyramid of Giza, Khufu (aka Cheops) and Khafre — the only surviving of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.

Wally and Duke pretend to jump for joy during their visit to the Giza Necropolis — but really their guide made the experience quite unpleasant

Constructed over 4,000 years ago, the enigmatic pyramids of Giza are one of the most recognizable architectural achievements of Ancient Egypt and are the oldest remaining monuments of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Here’s what to know when planning a day trip to see them. Hopefully you won’t have a frustrating experience like Wally and I did. 

We’re typically very good about doing our research prior to visiting a travel destination. Part of the fun is in the planning, and we’ve often networked with friends to share resources and experiences. But when it comes to drivers, we usually leave that to be discovered on the trip. It usually works out: For example, our hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand paired us with an incredible driver and tour guide, who got the message that we were into off the beaten path places and after spending an afternoon exploring Ubud, Bali, we managed to find an excellent guide on Jalan Raya, the main thoroughfare that runs through town. 

“We think of the pyramids as having nice straight edges, but up close they look pixelated, as jagged as the cubes in the Q*bert video game. ”

There’s a good spot for pics of all three pyramids in the distance

The First Sign of Trouble

I scoured through TripAdvisor threads, Instagram and Pinterest images and found an excellent guide for Upper Egypt, Egypt Sunset Tours, but for whatever reason, we threw caution to the wind in Cairo and decided to book a tour through our hotel. What could possibly go wrong? 

(Full disclosure: Our friend Margaret had visited Cairo previously and shared her guide’s information with us, but why we forgot all about this is a mystery that only Hercule Poirot can solve. But I digress.)

Wally and I spoke with a concierge at the Nile Kempinski. We explained that we would like to visit the Giza Plateau, see the pyramids, Solar Boat Museum and Sphinx, have lunch at the Marriott Mena House, move on to Saqqara and end at Rhoda Island to see the Nilometer. We were told that the itinerary was possible and would cost 1600 EGP. A private car, driver and English-speaking guide would be provided from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. the following day. What we didn’t know is that he would go rogue and give us a second-rate experience. 

We opted not to take a camel ride, but it’s a good way to see more of the Giza area

We met our guide, Ahmed, the following morning at the concierge desk, and before we even got into the car, he asked why we wanted to visit the Nilometer, as it was within walking distance of the Kempinski. I explained to him that I had seen images of it online and was hoping we could see it on our return. He then proceeded to tell us that it was closed and we could only view the exterior of the building that contained it, which isn’t very impressive. As if to drive the point home, he added that traffic could come into play, depending on the time of day. I was confused, as I hadn’t read anything online about it being closed, but I trusted that he knew better than we. And as we had experienced at the Khan el-Khalili market the night before, traffic in Cairo was no joke. Little did we know that this was the first red flag. 

Horse-drawn carriages are another way to get around Giza

Misguided at Giza

As we drove to the pyramids, we listened intently to Ahmed as he gave us a bit of history, telling us that according to Ancient Egyptian lore, the alluvial mud from the Nile flood had formed a natural primeval mountain, and the deity Djehuty, more commonly known as Thoth, in the form of a sacred ibis bird, laid an egg at the apex, from which the sun god Ra was born. Interesting stuff, right? 

Ahmed asked if we wanted to ride camels around the pyramids or stay with the vehicle, as there’s a service road for cars and a separate dropoff for quadrupeds. He made it sound like we’d be on our own, going from pyramid to pyramid. Confused, Wally and I agreed to stay with the car as riding a camel didn’t seem ethical and we wanted to learn as much as we could about these incredible ancient man-made mountains of limestone. Plus, having a guide with us kept aggressive touts away. 

You can climb the base of the pyramids, but even if you go first thing in the morning, the site will already be quite crowded

There are actually six pyramids at Giza. the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure, along with three much smaller pyramids located behind Menkaure’s that are known as the queens’ pyramids.

The pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs, using approximately 2 million blocks of  limestone and granite — each weighing an average from 2.5 to 15 tons. Their jagged appearance was once concealed by a layer of pale, polished white limestone that was later removed and repurposed to build mosques and madrasas of medieval Cairo.

Duke and a Wonder of the Ancient World

A Tour of the Pyramids

The first pyramid we saw was the Great Pyramid of Khufu, once more commonly referred to by its Greek name, Cheops. It stands at a towering 445 feet tall and was the tallest man-made for nearly 4,000 years until the Lincoln Cathedral claimed the title in the 1300s. The Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who visited the site in 450 BCE was told by Egyptian guides that it was built over a 20-year period.

We think of the pyramids as having nice straight edges, but up close they look pixelated, as jagged as the cubes in the Q*bert video game. We climbed up on a few of the polished stones, but you can no longer go all the way up for picnics and sunbathing like the Victorians were able to do.

The second pyramid, built by Khufu’s second son, Khafre, had less of a crowd and that’s why we decided to venture inside this one. You have to decide when you’re at the ticket booth which, if any, of the pyramids you want to venture within and pay a bit more. 

Ahmed, of course tried to dissuade us. There are three reasons not to go in, he said: They’re claustrophobic, the air quality is poor, and there aren’t any reliefs to see. Clearly he didn’t know us, as we weren’t going to see the pyramids without going inside one. It turns out he was just rushing us through the sites so he could end his day earlier. 

The pyramids are constructed of large blocks of stone fitted together and have stood for over 4,000 years!

Duke sits at the base of the Great Pyramid. Wally says the pyramids are full-on Monets: gorgeous from afar…but a big old mess when you get up close

Wally and I presented our tickets and began the steep descent down a narrow corridor wide enough for only a single person to go down or up — and you have to walk hunched over.  Thankfully, at times the passage flattens out and opens up so you can stand upright again.

At the end of this passage you’ll find the vaulted burial chamber and black granite sarcophagus that once held the bones of a bull, an animal who symbolically represented the strength and virility of the reigning monarch. The tomb itself was stripped of its treasures and earthly remains by robbers in antiquity. Giovanni Belzoni, who uncovered the pyramid’s entrance, prominently recorded his deed on a wall of Khafre’s tomb, where it can still be seen today: “Scoperta da [Discovered by] G. Belzoni. 2. Mar. 1818.” 

Attack of the Giant Wally! The one talent our slacker guide had was capturing the goofy obligatory photos of the pyramids

Silly Pyramid Photo Opps

We then got back into the car and were shuttled to a barren, rock-strewn plateau known as a great panoramic lookout with a view of all three pyramids. This was the one moment that Ahmed shone as a guide — taking silly photos of us with the pyramids in the background.

When we visited, the entry fee to the complex cost 160 Egyptian pounds (L.E.) per person, 10 L.E. for parking and an additional 100 L.E. to go inside either the Pyramid of Khafre or Menkaure. 

A pack of stray dogs line up for photos at the base of the Pyramid of Menkaure

Ahmed failed to mention the Solar Boat Museum to see the barque of Khufu, which we didn’t realize until we were off the complex and couldn’t go back. But he made sure to mention stopping at a papyrus shop after — this was deemed worthy of his time because he undoubtedly gets baksheesh for all the poor saps he convinces to go there. –Duke