 |
| King Djoser |
When we mention Egypt, inevitably the first
thing that leaps to our mind is no doubt the pyramids; that triangular
structure serving as great burial places for glorious Pharaohs of the long lost
eras. Pyramids continue to enthrall and enrapture countless generations of
people from the Greeks, Romans to modern day tourists visiting Egypt. But when
did pyramids enter Egypt’s great history? Who started the construction of such
a marvel that helps immortalise Egypt and its culture?
The answer lies about 24 km south of Cairo,
the current Egyptian capital. Memphis had served as the Egyptian capital during
the old kingdom period, the first capital when Egypt became united by the
famous and enigmatic Narmer. It remained an important religious and
administrative centre of Egypt through the Pharaonic Period.
It is the Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt that
began the culture of pyramid-building at Memphis. King Djoser was the son of
king Khasekhemwy and queen Nimaathap, the last king and queen of the Second Dynasty
of Egypt. One of the most famous contemporaries of king Djoser was his vizier,
"head of the royal shipyard" and "overseer of all stone
works", Imhotep, who of such importance and fame that he was honoured by
being mentioned on statues of king Djoser in his necropolis. Indeed, it was
Imhotep, who designed the famous step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, the first
forerunner of a myriad of later pyramids to come (including the famous Pyramids
of Giza). The pyramid was originally built as a nearly quadratic mastaba, but
then five further mastabas were literally piled upon the first, each new
mastaba smaller than the ones below, until the monument became Egypt's first
step pyramid. The monument was clad in polished white limestone and considered the
earliest large-scale cut stone construction. |
| The Pyramid Complex |
King Djoser was the first Pharaoh to set a celebrated
precedent for the later cohorts. His step pyramid truly represented a novel
departure from the previous architecture since people were often entombed in
mastabas of a relatively small-to-medium size. So why not just stack one
mastable on top of one another to create something different? This must be an
awe-inspiring idea Imhotep put forward to king Djoser nearly 5000 years ago. The
process of building such a structure would be far more labor-intensive than
previous monuments small scale, suggesting that the state and the royal
government had a new level of control over resources, both material and human.
From this point onward, never again would kings of the Old Kingdom would be
buried in Abydos, but instead the north.
 |
| Imhotep |
Given the ingenuity of her architecture and
the craftiness of her people, Egypt’s prosperity indeed becomes inevitable….
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น