TVM Entry Floor: Egypt on Tour -- Saqqara and Giza

Egypt on Tour
in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Lower
Egypt

Necropolis of Saqqara and Giza

Both Saqqara and Giza are really suburbs of Cairo. But the pyramids really belong to the ancient Memphis. There are slightly less than 50 known royal pyramids in the Memphis Necropolis. There are many more smaller pyramids for lesser nobles and administrators. The owner of about a quarter of the royal pyramids is still unknown because either so little remains or they are still insufficiently explored or excavated to tell. Some royal pyramids are still to be found, there are gaps and insufficient pyramids to cover the gaps. No royal pyramid appears to be occupied by a mummy; all of them have been robbed in the distant past. Pyramid building as a form of burial lasted on and off from Dynasty 3 to Dynasty 13.

The earliest burials occurred at Saqqara in fake palaces, called Mastaba, made from mud. These were solid structures except for the grave sites which were in deep pits covered by the Mastaba itself.

The first pyramids were step pyramids like that of Netjerykhet Djoser.

Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara

Plan of Saqqara

Giza became the central place of burial in the Dynasty 4, the Old Kingdom. The three great pyramids and the Sphinx are world famous tourist sights. Here is a rough map of Giza with pictures and drawings of the sights. Tourist sites spawn pictures; thus there is no shortage of pictures here, and there are plenty of antique postcards availble as well.

Plan of Giza

Roberts:
Side View of Sphinx
and Great Pyramid
c1830

Khufu's Solar Boat
Boat Museum Giza

Roberts:
Pyramids of Egypt at Giza
c1830

Lear:
The Pyramids of Gizah

Great Pyamids in Giza

Roberts:
Great Sphinx
c1830

Frey:
Sandstorm at Gizah

Great Sphinx

Roberts:
Pyramid and Sphinx
c1830

Faiyum

The Faiyum is an oasis, but it really is a sink like the Dead Sea. Part of the Nile, called Bahr Yusuf, branches off and flows into this low spot in the desert and forms Birket Qarun (called Lake Moeris in Pharaohic times). Water only leaves the lake by evaporation. So the lake is salty. This area was settled early (about 7000 BC) by hunters and gatherers, but by the time of the Old Kingdom agriculture was practiced there. The flow of water into the area has been controlled from sometime in the 4th Dynasty. Major works in the 12th Dynasty reclaimed much land for agriculture. In Greek times the Ptolemies made it into a prosperous and a heavily populated area, with irrigation making much of the desert around the lake into agricultural land.

As our U2 Spy plane makes its way South one can see the Faiyum beneath us on the right. Our position is almost directly over Cairo.

The Desert

The desert is most of Egypt. Leave the magic waters of the Nile for a few miles and desert is what you will find. For the Egyptians the desert provided mineral resources: gold, amethyst, copper malachite, emerald, beryl, tin, turquoise, alum, and lead. Iron primarily came from the upper reaches of the Nile. Stone for building came primarily from along the banks of the Nile: limestone, granite, and alabaster. Natron the salt used to preserve mummies came from water sinks, not the Faiyum, but other sinks that were not so tightly controlled.