Visit to Memphis and Saqqara

After the pyramid visit we had yet more to cover before we were to head to the station to get the sleeper train to Luxor.

As we were not very hungry, we straight away took to route towards Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt during Pharaonic times. Memphis was the capital uniting both the upper and the lower Egypt and located about 24km away from Cairo.

So when we stopped in Memphis it was almost noon and sunny. So with the tickets we entered the premises after a security check (Egypt has these security checks at all locations).

According to a commonly accepted tradition, Memphis was founded about 2925 BCE by Menes, who supposedly united the two prehistoric kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. The original name of the city was the White Walls, and the term may have referred originally to the king’s palace, which would have been built of whitewashed brick. Ptah, the local god of Memphis, was a patron of craftsmen and artisans and, in some contexts, a creator god as well.

The first artifact to see was the giant statue of the king Ramesses II inside the museum. It is about 13m long and is made up of limestone.  

The premises also has a giant sphinx made of alabaster that belongs to the new kingdom. Among the others are the statue of the triad of Ptah, Sekhemat and Nefertem, various other parts of statues, tablets and capitals and bases of columns. They were built from alabaster, granite and marble.

After spending about one hour, we moved to Saqqara to see the step pyramid complex. On our way we stopped at a road side fruit seller to buy some oranges, apples and bananas as we were feeling hungry.

It is an immense necropolis located west of the ancient city of Memphis. This has been used as a burial ground during the ancient times. Site stretches for about 6km. It is best known for the step pyramid that was built during the 3^rd dynasty by Imhotep for king Djoser. This is believed to be the first stone work done by the ancient Egyptians. The Djoser complex is surrounded by a wall of light Tura limestone 10.5 m high.

Apart from the pyramid it contains a burial chamber, a temple, serdab court (a small enclosed structure that housed the ka statue) and a Heb-sed court (a space in which the king could perform the Heb-sed ritual in the afterlife). The remaining chapels on the west side are decorated with fluted columns and capitals flanked by leaves. Each of the chapels has a sanctuary accessed by a roofless passage with walls that depict false doors and latches. Some of these buildings have niches for statues.

 Heb-Sed, also called Sed Festival, one of the oldest feasts of ancient Egypt, celebrated by the king after 30 years of rule and repeated every 3 years thereafter. The festival was in the nature of a jubilee, and it is believed that the ceremonies represented a ritual reenactment of the unification of Egypt, traditionally accomplished by Menes. The king first presented offerings to a series of gods and then was crowned, first with the white crown of Upper Egypt and then with the red crown of Lower Egypt. Finally, the king, dressed in a short kilt with an animal’s tail in back, ran a ritual course four times and was then carried away in a great procession to visit the chapels of the gods of Upper and Lower Egypt.

The superstructure of the Step Pyramid is six steps and was built in six stages. The pyramid began as a square mastaba (this designation as a mastaba is contended for several reasons) which was gradually enlarged, first evenly on all four sides and later just on the east side. The mastaba was built up in two stages, first to form a four-stepped structure and then to form a six-stepped structure, which now had a rectangular base on an east–west axis.

After the step pyramid complex we moved few kilometers away from it to visit some tombs in the area. They were named as the tombs of Ti, Princess Idut, Kagemni, Mererika and so on who were either members of the royal family or some high ranking officials. You need to pay extra if you want to get photographs inside. Special one to remember is the joint tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum.

The walls were covered with pictures of scenes of everyday life. There are scenes of hunting, baking, dancing, offerings. Some have animals such as hippopotamus, birds, and crocodiles. Some of the colours are still well preserved. In the mastaba of Mehu on the wall to the right of this corridor, there is a door that leads to the wide courtyard that hosts two large pillars with reliefs of Mehu on both sides. On the back of these two pillars, there is the false door leading to the tomb of Kahotep, Mehu's son.

There was a lot of information that was given by our guide which was hard to digest. The pictures tell many stories and reveal many information about the everyday life in Egypt.

There were two visits for us to do, visit to a carper factory and papyrus factory. These are tourist attractions and they will teach you how these are made and you can purchase any souvenirs that you like at a good price. We bought some Papyrus scrolls and my friend who was such a lover of carpets had to satisfy herself with a small piece as the prices were too much to spend.

After a long and a fruitful day, we headed back to the hotel from where we packed our luggage and head towards the railway station to get the sleeper train to Luxor where we were to take our 4 day cruise.