Saqqara: Djoser’s Step Pyramid and Heb-Seb Court / Teti and Unas’ Pyramids: Pyramid Texts

Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex is amazing and a must see because of its uniqueness. (The following is more archaeological tid-bits than most of you want to know – but remember they are HUGE as far as Egyptology goes.  So, take them to cocktail parties to impress your friends.) Djoser’s complex was the only completed complex to have a Step Pyramid, Heb-Sed Court and Festival Temple, subsidiary mastaba instead of pyramid and serakh facade enclosure wall.  The only other time these features occurred was in the pyramid complex of Sekhemkhet, Djoser’s successor.  But Sekhemkhet died before his pyramid complex was finished.  So Djoser reigns supreme as the ONLY king to incorporate a Heb-Sed court into his funerary site.  Djoser’s Pyramid was the first large stone structure in the world and it was the first time in Ancient Egypt that the cult center was located next to the King’s burial site.

The entry colonade is a unique, unusual and slightly bizarre structure.  There are 40 columns that are reeded or thought to represent imitations of columns made of bound bunches of reeds.  The wall surrounding the entire pyramid complex was based on a funerary fort at Abydos. Inside the Step Pyramid are blue faience tiles representing reed matting.  They are gorgeous and are now in the Cairo Museum.

So why am I making such a big deal of the fact that Djoser created a Heb-Sed court in his Afterlife complex?  (Besides the fact that he was really the only one to do it.  Yes, it’s more significant than just him being a rebel.)  The Heb-Sed Court is the court in which the Pharaoh runs the Heb-Sed race during the royal jubilee festival.  During this ritual the king’s right to rule and his royal powers were renewed.  In this race, held thirty years into the Pharaohs rule, and sometimes sooner (especially with Pharaohs who had short reigns), the Pharaoh raced the Apis bull.

If the Pharaoh won, then he continued to be Pharaoh.  If not then well too bad for him, he was no longer virile enough to be king and it was the next guys turn to take a stab at it.  So, DID early Kings such as Den, Djer or Djoser ACTUALLY run this race?  Well, interestingly in the Heb-Sed court at Saqarra there are two boundary stones that would have been used as race markers.  Also, Djoser is depicted running the race on a false door relief.  Another odd point, a Pharaoh’s tomb is usually designed to help him bring to the Afterlife the things he loved in this life.  So, why would Djoser design his funerary complex as a Heb-Sed Court?  He would spend his Afterlife forever running the Heb-Sed race.  Sounds like something out of Homer.  Or maybe he just wanted to continually be reafirmed as King, forever.  Well, whatever floats your boat Djoser.

Not to be discounted at Saqqara are all the other fine burials and smaller 5th and 6th Dynasty Pyramids.  First stop is  Unas’ and Teti’s Pyramids and Causeways.  Unas’ and  Teti’s Pyramids were inscribed with Pyramid texts, the spells that the King used to successfully pass to the afterlife.  It was really cool to have studied the texts in my Heiroglyphics class and then be able to go to Teti’s Pyramid and read them!!  There are no pictures on the walls of either pyramid, just wall to ceilings inscriptions.  But, they are quite breathtaking, and definitely worth the visit.

“Himiko” – the Primordial Universe Blob…Or what a naked baby photo of the Universe would look like

I was using a Facebook application to look at my 2009 yeary in terms of all my facebook status updates and came across

Himiko the Primordial Space Blob. Photo from Sky and Telescope. Photo credit Masami Ouchi & others.

one that I found interesting so though I would post it here.  It’s Himiko, the Primordial Universe Blob.  Unlike his cousins the primordial blobs that were around on Earth when it was just a tiny, winy planet; Himiko formed when the Universe was 800 million years old.  It’s a primordial blob that was cruising around the vacuum of space when space was still a spry pre-teen. Basically it’s an oober-cool primordial space blob; it’s like a naked baby photo of the universe.

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/43975492.html

Alexandria: The City of Alexander the Great

Alexandria, one of the prettiest sites Mr. The Great founded and the only place in Egypt where it snows, is located on the Mediterranean and is a plethora of Greco-Roman goodies.  From crawling through the labyrinth of catacombs under the city in search of my buddy Alex’s lost soma (tomb), to admiring Pompey’s Pillar (which was really built by Diocletian), to climbing around the site of the Pharos Lighthouse (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) which has been replace by the Citadel of Qaitbey – Alexandria and I really hit it off.  The city has a different feel than the rest of Egypt.  It is usually a little bit cooler due to the fact that it is a port town.  It’s more laid back than Cairo and has more of a Mediterranean than Arab vibe.

And there is weather!  I know, who thought I would be so happy to feel wind, see clouds, experience rain, and be able to breath the air without inhaling a lungful of smog!  But, after spending months living in Cairo, where every day (but the 3 days a year it rains) it is sunny, 90 – 100 degrees F, not a cloud in the sky, no wind and a thick blanket of smog; Alexandria seemed like another world.

The Greco-Roman museum had some nice pieces and was definitely worth the visit (and this from a Egyptology snob who snoodes most of Greco-Roman things because they’re so “young”).   There are also a number of Greco-Roman necropoli that are not connected to the catacombs.  These are good representations of Greco-Roman tombs, but not as interestingly carved as the tombs in the catacombs.  The Greco-Roman era was a time when people combined gods from different civilizations – just in case.  For example, one carving in the catacombs depicts Anubis with a snake tail and wearing Roman armor.  It’s about covering all your bases in a fast changing and expanding world.

You can do Alexandria in one full day, but if you have the time two days is ideal.  If you happen to get the urge to crawl into some dark, dank hole, wiggle your way through into an underground chamber, and then happen to stumble upon Mr. The Great’s tomb; drop me a line.  I’m an ace at tombs, plus I have a date with Alexander’s mummified remains.

Memphis: One of the Old Capitals of Ancient Egypt

There isn’t much left to see at Memphis since most of it, including the old Ancient Egyptian palace, is located under Cairo.  That’s the problem with continuing to build on the same spot for 5,000 years.  Memphis is located just beyond Abu Sir and across from Saqqara.  The small museum has rather nice pieces for its size.  There is a 26ft long alabaster sphinx of Amenhotep III, an ENORMOUS fallen collossus of Ramesses II (of course, Rameses couldn’t leave Memphis without atleast one collossus), stelae of Apris (Dyn 26 – uck, not my favorite) and a sarcophagus of Amenhotep I (Dyn 19).  Memphis is a great place, full of tremendous historic significance.  If you want a place seldom visited by tourists, off the beaten path, or this isn’t your first visit to Egypt, or you’re an Egyptology nut, then definitely visit Memphis.  But, if it isn’t, then your time would be better spent at all the other really cool stuff right around Cairo.  It is really easy though to lump Memphis in with Saqqara, Abu Sir (if it’s open – big ?), and Dahshur.

What must we give up to be an individual?

To be an individual we must first know ourselves, be truthful to ourselves and dare to be 100% authentic at the risk of being excommunicated from our tribe.  We risk a lot to be an individual, especially in today’s astoundingly shallow world.  But the rewards, if we can dump fear and stand out from the crowd as ‘just us’, far out-weight what we are afraid of losing.

What is it that we give up to be an individual?

Well first off fear.  All kinds of different fears keep us constrained to how society and the people around us tell us to be.  Fear says that those we hold close will leave us for being ourselves.  It says we won’t be accepted for being us.  Fear says we may not make it in the work place or in the job we love if those things don’t fit societal standards.  Are these fears worthy of giving them so much worth? No.  When we stand in our truth, 100% us, owning every aspect of our soul and who we are as an individual – the people who will support and love us will stay, the people who are not truly good for who we truly are will fall away thus making room for new people and things that fit the authentic us to come in.  We may not have a plethora of people (for there are so many unauthentic people sharing this planet we call home), but there will be enough.

To be individuals we must also give up need.  Dump the ego and give up needing anything from anyone.  Need makes us be a certain way or do a certain thing to get something from someone.  Attachment to that person or that outcome blocks us from truly be ourselves and living fully in the present.  Need feeds on fear, insecurities, anger and all the shadow material society programs us with; growing larger and larger until it becomes hard to be just us since who we are depends on so many things from other people.  We are surrounded by need.  People needing things from us, people needing us, parents projecting their need onto their children, society telling us that we need to be needed and we need to have the person we love in our lives. It’s no wonder we get programed to need and become attached.  But this isn’t who we are.  And so to become an authentic and 100% real individual we need to give up this need and attachment.  To stand in our truth and need nothing from anyone.

Is this easy to achieve?  No.  If it was we’d all be doing it with a snap of our fingers.  But it is achievable.  With awareness and a whole lot of effort we can strip away the form that society and those around us imprinted on us and step out in our own right to shine brightly and uniquely.