Memphis and Saqqara

Hieroglyphs from a tomb in Saqqara

Each day of our trip brought exciting new adventures. I woke up early on Sunday morning in anticipation of our visit to the ancient city of Memphis and its necropolis at Saqqara. Even though I’d already seen plenty of Egyptian antiquities in Cairo’s museums, I was eager to see some antiquities in their original setting. And this morning, we’d be traveling outside of the city to two ancient sites – first to Memphis and then to Saqqara. 

 

We set out by motor coach from our hotel through the streets of Cairo. Not long after crossing the Nile, we were speeding along on a new multi-lane highway through modern Giza with its high-rise residential buildings. I remembered that Hussein had told us that Egypt was investing heavily in infrastructure. Along the way to Memphis, he also discussed education in Egypt today, another priority for the government. There are three categories of schools. The public schools are free to everyone but the classes tend to be huge. There are two other options for families that can afford to pay tuition. So-called national schools have smaller classes but are still large. The most expensive schools are the international schools that teach classes in English using an American curriculum.  

 

About an hour after leaving Cairo, we arrived at the ruins of ancient Memphis, now open to tourists as an open-air museum. The city was built by King Narmer, who unified Upper and Lower Egypt around 3200 BCE and Memphis as his capital. At the time, it was located strategically at the head of the Nile delta. Memphis, known as the White City because of the color of its buildings, served as the capital of Egypt for approximately 500 years during the Old Kingdom. Even afterwards, it remained an important cosmopolitan city with temples, settlements, and palaces. Later rulers continued to add monuments.

 

Hussein pointed out the cartouches with the names of pharaohs in hieroglyphs. 

Of special note was Ramses II of the New Kingdom. During his 67-year reign, he was known as a great builder. Centuries after the city’s founding, he built a temple to the god Ptah here. The temple is in ruins today. 

 

We also viewed what remains of a colossal limestone statue of Ramses II that originally stood by the entrance to the main temple in Memphis. When upright, it stood over over 10 meters (nearly 33 feet) tall and weighed 60 tons. The pharaoh is represented in a traditional pose, standing with his left leg forward. He is dressed in the ceremonial kilt and a false beard. I learned that the ancient Egyptians considered hair to be dirty but pharaohs tied on false beards to look older. The sculpture is decorated with 15 cartouches containing the name of Ramses II. 

 

Another impressive sight was the alabaster sphinx that was unearthed in 1912. This smiling sphinx was created during the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BCE, 18^th dynasty). It is the second largest sphinx, surpassed in size only by the Great Sphinx at Giza. But unlike the one in Giza, this one has its nose intact.

 

After an hour or so in Memphis, we continued on to its burial ground, Saqqara, where the tombs of several early dynasty pharaohs and notables are located. Before the Egyptians learned to build pyramids, they buried their kings in mastabas. These were low flat-roofed tombs with underground burials.

 

Hussein brought us to the largest mastaba in Saqqara, the mastaba of Mereruka, built around 2400 BCE. It wasn’t discovered and excavated until 1892. Mereruka was the vizier (a position similar to prime minister) for the pharaoh Teti I. In fact, he was married to a daughter of the pharaoh. As vizier, he was extremely wealthy and the second most powerful person in the kingdom.  

 

Nearly all the surfaces inside the mastaba were decorated. Considering that the carvings were thousands of years old, they looked remarkably well-preserved. Hussein explained that the surface of the building, both inside and out, was covered with a thin layer of plaster and the carving was done into the dried plaster. Here are some details from a large wall carving that shows a hunting scene within the marshes along the Nile. 

Men are punting a papyrus raft along the riverbank.

.

Notice the various types of fish that live in the Nile.

 

An adult hippo attacks a crocodile who is threatening her baby.

Nesting lapwings protect their young from an Egyptian mongoose.

Hunters harpoon a hippopotamus.

There are other scenes of daily life which show activities from the three seasons of the Egyptian calendar, i.e. planting, harvesting, and flooding. This scene shows the herding of cattle.

In the scene below, we see sculptors and other craftsmen at work. Mereruka and his wife are depicted inspecting a jeweler’s workshop where some of the workers are dwarves.

To reach the underground portion of the tomb, we had to descend, crouching at times, through a narrow passage. The 33 rooms located underground are decorated with both painted and carved scenes. The vivid colors were quite striking.

After passing through a series of small rooms, we finally reached the main chamber where we found a life-size statue of Mereruka himself. He’s walking forward from a false door, waiting to receive offerings that were set on a table in front of him. The false door is supposed to allow spirits access to the tomb.  

 

In another royal mastaba, we saw magical spells on the walls that were needed for the journey to the afterlife. And in the innermost chamber, we looked up at stars that were carved into the ceiling.

 

Perhaps the most widely recognized sight at the Saqqara necropolis is the so-called Step Pyramid. This is the first pyramid in history, and it is also considered the first ever stone construction. The pyramid was built in stages, with one mastaba being added on top of another. Imhotep was the architect responsible for the design. The pyramid was built for the Old Kingdom pharaoh Djoser (first king of the 3^rd dynasty – circa 2670-2650 BCE). It served as a tomb for the king, his wives, and several others. Shafts go down 28 meters (over 90 feet) to burial chambers under the pyramid. You can get an idea of the scale of the step pyramid from the photo below.

 

Smooth blocks of limestone originally covered the outside of the pyramid. They were removed by later builders and repurposed.

 

We enjoyed a great buffet lunch at the nearby Sakkara Palm Court restaurant, where we feasted on a wide variety of Egyptian food, including pita, baba ganooj, tahini, eggplant moussaka, stuffed okra and zucchini, stuffed cabbage, sautéed veggies, sweet potatoes in bechamel, falafel made from fava beans, spiced eggplant, sambousek, pickles, rice, stewed meat, kofta, and chicken. I’m sure there was dessert as well. 

 

When we got back to Cairo, several of us opted to visit the Palace of Muhammad Ali Tawfik. Born in 1875, he served as regent and was the Crown Prince for much of his life but never ascended to the throne of Egypt. He is responsible for the architecture of the palace and its lavish interior designs and furnishings. The construction took place between the years 1903 and 1937. The palace is a complex of buildings that includes a reception hall, a clock tower, a mosque, a hunting museum, a throne hall, a residence hall, and a private museum. 

 

When you step inside the residence hall, you're standing in the midst of extreme luxury.  

The décor of the rooms in the residence hall reflects Persian, Mamluk, Syrian, Andalusian, and Moroccan artistic styles. 

detail of tilework

 

The throne hall, a separate building, contains portraits of the kings of the dynasty, which was founded by the prince’s ancestor, Muhammad Ali Pasha. He was an Albanian Muslim who was appointed viceroy and governor of Egypt by the Ottomans in 1805. Muhammad Ali became the de facto ruler of Egypt and remained in power until his death in 1848. He is considered the founder of modern Egypt.

The two-story reception pavilion is located near the mosque.

Mosque

 

In addition, there is a large garden, which is a popular place for photo shoots. 

 

That was a lot for one day but we weren’t finished yet. When we returned from the palace, it was time to get ready for our home hosted dinner. It was dark when we arrived so I didn’t see much of the neighborhood. Fortunately, it was on a quiet street in a residential area of Cairo. The family (father, mother, three sons) gave us a warm welcome. All spoke excellent English. The oldest son lives at home and attends the university in Cairo, where all of his courses are taught in English. The younger two attend a private school where French is the language of instruction. The family is Coptic Christian and they had a familiar looking Christmas tree in the corner of their living room. Dinner featured homestyle Egyptian food and conversation flowed easily throughout the evening. 

It had been a wonderful, albeit exhausting, day. I fell into bed as soon as we returned to the hotel and set my alarm for another early wake-up, knowing there would be more exciting discoveries tomorrow.