King Djoser the King with the Divine body

Who is King Djoser?

King Djoser the son of King Khasekhemwy and the founder of the 3rd Dynasty, the king whose name was nṯri-ẖt which means the one who has divine body and this is the Horus name of the King. Although that he is the actual son of King Khasekhemwy but he considered as a founder of a new dynasty, which is strange in the Egyptian history as the kings in ancient Egypt were starting a new Dynasties because that they were not from the same blood of the Kings preceded their ruling period (not from the same family).

But in the case of King Djoser it was reasonable as he with the help of his royal architect made probably the greatest invention in the history which was the core of the development of the pyramids so Manetho (The first one who divided the ancient Egyptian history into 30 Dynasties) considered Djoser founder of a new Dynasty because of his new invention which was the stepped pyramid the first attempt to build a higher tomb than the Mastaba tomb which was the official tomb for a while. The ambitious King was looking forward a change and to build a thing that never vanish. 

 The Architect of the Pyramid:

The Architect Imhotep was chancellor and vizier of King Djoser and the first doctor and architect in history. He is the owner of the unique idea of adding several Mastabas above each other to make this pyramidal shape. This unique structure has many burial champers which was said that the scholars found nearly 40000 potteries in this champers and also found the beautiful galleries with the unparalleled blue tiles that are displayed nowadays in Imhotep Museum.

 The complex don’t end at the step pyramid only of course it has an enclosure wall which is imitating the movement of the water as it has many recess parts indicating the primeval ocean the base of the universe in ancient Egyptian mythology, also there are many false doors to fool the thieves. In addition to the wall the complex has another tomb for the king! This tomb is just imitating the tomb that the King built in Upper Egypt in Abydos but other scholars believed that this tomb was either to one of the royal wives or to the mummified organs and placenta of the King.

In ancient Egypt it was a usual thing for the king to build two tombs one in Upper Egypt and the other in Lower Egypt but most probably the Kings were buried in Upper Egypt but they do so to satisfy their people all over Egypt.

The southern tomb is also decorated with recess panels but looks more like the façade of the palaces in ancient Egyptians and frieze of cobra heads to protect the King from the evils in the afterlife as the cobras will attack those who will try to harm the King.  

Behind the pyramid you will find the halls that were used by the King to celebrate the Heb Sed festival (The jubilee that was celebrated by the king to renew his power to rule Egypt for another period which was celebrated every 30 years) 

You will also find the chapels of the gods and some changing rooms which was for the King to change his clothes during the celebration where the king used to walk from one chapel to another to get the approval of every god with the red crown one time and with the with crown in the other time all this was happened in short time to approve that the health and the power of the king still exist after that the king was announced again King of Upper and Lower Egypt.

If you continued walking towards the south you will find the Serdab room, this structure is a square projection out in the first step in the pyramid which continuing the life-sized statue of the King with two holes directly in front of the eyes of the King, the purpose of the holes is very mysterious so the archeologists assumed that : 

• The Archeologists believed that these two holes was for the King’s statue to see the Sirius which was a star it’s appearance means the start of the inundation season and it was a pleasant to see it.

• The second opinion that the holes was made for the King’s statue to smell the incense that was burn daily by the priests for him as the statue was the representation of the King on earth.

• The third and last opinion that the holes was made for the King’s statue to see the daily sacrifices that were made for the King by the priests in the Alter that was in front the Serdab room. 

From also the Stelas that were attributed to Djoser the Famine Stela in Seheil Island. The Stela describes seven years of drought happened to Egypt when the inundation didn’t came for seven years that’s meant hunger everywhere as the Egyptian economy based on the agriculture. All this drama was said to happen in the time of King Djoser so the King went to the Temple of Khnum in the Elephantine Island at the first Cataract and rebuilt it and made some offerings to him to satisfy the god Khnum which was regulating the annual inundation and it was said that the inundation returned to come regularly. This Stela was probably created during the Ptolemaic era, maybe it’s true and maybe it’s not as it was known in the time of the Ptolemaic era they used to create a lot of myths based on the ancient Egyptian mythology as the beautiful girl the priests used to throw every year in the Nile to satisfy the Nile god; at first there was not a Nile god it was always a personification and it was Hapi (of the North or of the South) secondly the only case the ancient Egyptians threw someone in the Nile it was as a punishment to make this person not be able to be resurrected in the afterlife. In ancient Egypt they respected the Nile without limits as they used to punish anyone tried to contaminate its water in a very cruel way as it was the source of their lives.