On the south side of the Great South Court was a bottomless pit. The guidebooks don't go into detail, but this was perhaps a second tomb for Zoser (this south one symbolizing Upper Egypt, the one under the pyramid to the north symbolizing Lower Egypt).
You could climb the southern walls and look out at the "village" below. These were actually mastabas of princesses and other important people, possibly even the architect Imhotep. Excavation continues here.
In addition to mastabas of important people, another more recent structure used to be here. The monastery of St. Jeremias, an important site for Copts back in the 5th century A.D., was destroyed by Arabs around 950 A.D. and has subsequently succumbed to the desert sands. Whatever important pieces remained have all been moved to the museum and churches in Coptic Cairo.
In the distance, you can see the pyramids of South Saqqara, and on a clear day, I suppose you could see Dahshur. We didn't go to South Saqqara (it's a long slog out in the desert), but I'm told two of its pyramids' burial chambers (Pepi I and Pepi II) are much like Teti I's, which I'll describe in a future post.
That pile of rubble is the pyramid of Unas. He was the last pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty. So, he was long after the pyramids of Zoser, Dahshur, and Giza. What makes his pyramid remarkable was he was the first pharaoh to have his burial chamber decorated. Boy did that style take off! Soon, they were using the chamber decorations to tell life stories and write whole books (including the Book of the Dead). Some day we'll have to come back to Egypt and see Luxor. That's where the really awesome tombs are located.
Speaking of rubble, the site was covered with trash and litter. I think this may have been the garbage pit for the workers who were doing the excavations and restorations.
On the south side of the Great South Court was a bottomless pit. The guidebooks don't go into detail, but this was perhaps a second tomb for Zoser (this south one symbolizing Upper Egypt, the one under the pyramid to the north symbolizing Lower Egypt).
You could climb the southern walls and look out at the "village" below. These were actually mastabas of princesses and other important people, possibly even the architect Imhotep. Excavation continues here.
In addition to mastabas of important people, another more recent structure used to be here. The monastery of St. Jeremias, an important site for Copts back in the 5th century A.D., was destroyed by Arabs around 950 A.D. and has subsequently succumbed to the desert sands. Whatever important pieces remained have all been moved to the museum and churches in Coptic Cairo.
In the distance, you can see the pyramids of South Saqqara, and on a clear day, I suppose you could see Dahshur. We didn't go to South Saqqara (it's a long slog out in the desert), but I'm told two of its pyramids' burial chambers (Pepi I and Pepi II) are much like Teti I's, which I'll describe in a future post.
That pile of rubble is the pyramid of Unas. He was the last pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty. So, he was long after the pyramids of Zoser, Dahshur, and Giza. What makes his pyramid remarkable was he was the first pharaoh to have his burial chamber decorated. Boy did that style take off! Soon, they were using the chamber decorations to tell life stories and write whole books (including the Book of the Dead). Some day we'll have to come back to Egypt and see Luxor. That's where the really awesome tombs are located.
Speaking of rubble, the site was covered with trash and litter. I think this may have been the garbage pit for the workers who were doing the excavations and restorations.