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Saqqara
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Beside the cemetery area of Western Thebes, Saqqara is
the most extensive mortuary town in Egypt, and it is
known to have been used from the Early Dynastic period
(First/Second Dynasties) right into the time of the
Ptolemies, indeed, down into the Christian era with the
construction of the monastery of St. Jeremiah in the 5th
century A.D. As the main necropolis for Memphis the area
extends over four and a half miles (seven km) in a
north/south direction, along the edge of the western
desert.
In keeping with the political situation of the country,
Saqqara experienced its greatest age during the Old
Kingdom, with the Step Pyramid of King Djoser as the
outstanding feature of the whole burial field. Around
its complex are more pyramids, with the mastabas of the
officials and courtiers from the Third to the Sixth
Dynasties.
Further to the north animal cemeteries of the Late
Period were hewn out of the rocky ground, and close by
the slope of the desert plateau are the impressive brick
tombs of the first two dynasties. The Subterranean
burial chambers for the Apis bulls were also created in
Saqqara, as were tombs in the New Kingdom cemetery
Section near the Unas Pyramid. Some of the kings of the
late Old Kingdom chose to have their pyramids set up in
South Saqqara.
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