Djoser

Djoser (also read as Djeser and Zoser) was an ancient Egyptian

Djoser
pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, and was the
founder of that epoch. He is also known by his Hellenized names Netjerikhet, Tosorthros, Sesorthos
Tosorthros (from Manetho) and Sesorthos (from Eusebius). He
was the son of King Khasekhemwy and Queen Nimaathap, but
whether he was also the direct successor to their throne is unclear.
Most Ramesside king lists identify a king named Nebka as
preceding him, but there are difficulties in connecting that name
with contemporary Horus names, so some Egyptologists question
the received throne sequence. Djoser is known for his step
pyramid, which is the earliest colossal stone building in ancient
Egypt.[7]

Identity
The painted limestone statue of Djoser, now in the Egyptian
Museum in Cairo, is the oldest known life-sized Egyptian statue.[8]
Today, at the site in Saqqara where it was found, a plaster copy of
it stands in place of the original. The statue was discovered during Limestone Ka statue of Djoser from
the Antiquities Service Excavations of 1924–1925. his pyramid serdab
Pharaoh
In contemporary inscriptions, he is called Netjerikhet, meaning
"divine of body". Later sources, which include a New Kingdom Reign 19 or 28 years ca.
reference to his construction, help confirm that Netjerikhet and ca. 2686–2648
Djoser are the same person. BC,[1]
2687–2668 BC,[2]
While Manetho names Necherophes and the Turin King List 2668–2649 BC,[3]
names Nebka as the first ruler of the Third Dynasty, many 2667–2648 BC,[4][5]
Egyptologists now believe Djoser was first king of this dynasty,
or
pointing out that the order in which some predecessors of Khufu
2630–2611 BC[6]
are mentioned in the Westcar Papyrus suggests Nebka should be
placed between Djoser and Huni, not before Djoser. More Predecessor Khasekhemwy
significantly, the English Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson has (most likely) or
demonstrated that burial seals found at the entrance to Nebka
Khasekhemwy's tomb in Abydos name only Djoser, rather than
Successor Sekhemkhet (most
Nebka. This supports the view that it was Djoser who buried and,
likely) or Sanakhte
hence, directly succeeded Khasekhemwy, rather than Nebka.[9]
Royal titulary

Family Consort Hetephernebti

Children Inetkawes, maybe
Djoser is linked to Khasekhemwy, the last king of the Second
Sekhemkhet ?
Dynasty of Egypt, through his wife Queen Nimaethap (Nimaat-
hap) via seals found in Khasekhemwy's tomb and at Beit Khallaf. Father Khasekhemwy
The seal at Abydos names Nimaat-hap as the "mother of the king's Mother Nimaethap
children, Nimaat-hap". On mastaba K1 at Beit Khallaf, the same
Died c. 2649 BC or c.
person is mentioned as the "mother of the dual king". Dating of
2611 BC
other seals at the Beit Khallaf site place them to the reign of
Djoser. This evidence suggests that Khasekhemwy is either the Burial Step pyramid at
direct father of Djoser or that Nimaat-hap had him through a Saqqara
previous husband.[10] German Egyptologist Gunter Dreyer found Dynasty 3rd Dynasty
Djoser's sealings at Khasekhemwy's
tomb, further suggesting that Djoser
was the direct successor of
Khasekhemwy and that he finished the
construction of the tomb.[11]

Her cult seems to have still been active Egyptian Museum: Base of a Djoser
in the later reign of Sneferu. statue with royal titulary

Hetephernebti is identified as one of

Djoser's queens "on a series of boundary stela from the Step Pyramid
enclosure (now in various museums) and a fragment of relief from a building
at Hermopolis" currently in the Egyptian museum of Turin.[12]
Cartouche name Inetkawes was their only daughter known by name. There was also a third
...djeser-sah in the king
royal female attested during Djoser's reign, but her name is destroyed. The
list of Abydos. Note the
relationship between Djoser and his successor, Sekhemkhet, is not known, and
upper part of the
the date of his death is uncertain.
cartouche, which shows
signs of erased
hieroglyphs. Reign

Third Dynasty

The lands of Upper and Lower Egypt were united into a single kingdom sometime around 2686 BC. The
period following the unification of the crowns was one of prosperity, marked by the start of the Third
Dynasty and the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The exact identity of the founder of the dynasty is a matter of
debate, due to the fragmentary nature of the records from the period. Djoser is one of the principal
candidates for the founder of the Third Dynasty. Other candidates are Nebka and Sanakht. Complicating
matters further is the possibility that Nebka and Sanakht are referring to the same person.[13]

Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson believes that the weight of archeological evidence favours Djoser
(Netjerikhet) as Khasekhemwy's successor and therefore founder of the Third Dynasty. A seal from
Khasekhemwy's tomb at Abydos, in combination with a seal from mastaba K1 at Beit Khallaf dated to
Djoser's reign, links the two pharaohs together as father and son respectively. The seal at Abydos names a
'Nimaat-hap' as the mother of Khasekhemwy's children, while the other seal at Beit Khallaf names the same
person as the 'mother of the dual-king'. Further archaeological evidence linking the reigns of the two
pharaohs together are found at Shunet et-Zebib, which suggest that Djoser oversaw the burial of his
predecessor. Ritual stone vessels found at the sites of the tombs – Khasekhemwy's tomb at Abydos and
Djoser's tomb at Saqqara – of the two pharaohs also appear to have come from the same collection, as
samples from both sites contain identical imagery of the god Min. This archeological evidence is
supplemented by at least one historical source, the Saqqara king list, which names Djoser as the immediate
successor of Beby – a misreading of Khasekhemwy.[14]

Length of reign

Manetho states Djoser ruled Egypt for twenty-nine years, while the Turin King List states it was only
nineteen years. Because of his many substantial building projects, particularly at Saqqara, some scholars
argue Djoser must have enjoyed a reign of nearly three decades. Manetho's figure appears to be more
accurate, according to Wilkinson's analysis and reconstruction of the Royal Annals. Wilkinson reconstructs
the Annals as giving Djoser "28 complete or partial years", noting that the cattle counts recorded on
Palermo stone register V, and Cairo Fragment 1, register V, for the beginning and ending of Djoser's reign,
would most likely indicate his regnal years 1–5 and 19–28. Unfortunately, next to all entries are illegible
today. The Year of coronation is preserved, followed by the year events receiving the twin-pillars and
stretching the cords for the fortress Qau-Netjerw ("hills of the gods").[15]

Period of reign

Various sources provide various dates for Djoser's reign. Professor of Ancient Near East history Marc van
de Mieroop dates Djoser's reign to somewhere between 2686 BC to 2648 BC.[1] Authors Joann Fletcher
and Michael Rice date his reign from 2667 BC to 2648 BC giving a regnal period of 18 partial or complete
years.[4][5] Rice further states that Nebkha was Djoser's brother and predecessor. Writer Farid Atiya
provides a similar regnal period to Fletcher and Rice, offset by a single year – 2668 BC to 2649 BC.[3]
This dating is supported by authors Rosalie and Charles Baker in Ancient Egypt: People of the
Pyramids.[16] Egyptologist Abeer el-Shahawy in association with the Egyptian Museum in Cairo places
Djoser's reign to the period of 2687 BC to 2668 BC for a similar 18 partial or complete years.[2] Author
Margaret Bunson places Djoser as the second ruler of the Third Dynasty, and places his reign to the period
of 2630 BC to 2611 BC for 19 partial or complete year reign.[6] In her chronology, Djoser is preceded by
Nebka as the "Founder of the Third Dynasty", reigning for the period 2649 BC to 2630 BC.[17] She, like
Rice, makes Nebka a brother of Djoser.[18]

Military expeditions

Djoser dispatched several military expeditions to the Sinai

Peninsula, during which the local inhabitants were subdued. He
also sent expeditions there to mine for valuable minerals such as
turquoise and copper. This is known from inscriptions found in the
desert there, sometimes displaying the banner of Set alongside the
symbols of Horus, as had been more common under
Khasekhemwy. The Sinai was also strategically important as a
buffer between the Nile valley and Asia.

Construction projects

His most famous monument was his step pyramid, which entailed The Famine Stela, mentioning
the construction of several mastaba tombs one over another.[19] Djoser.
These forms would eventually lead to the standard pyramid tomb in
the later Old Kingdom. Manetho, many centuries later, alludes to
architectural advances of this reign, mentioning that "Tosorthros" discovered how to build with hewn stone,
in addition to being remembered as the physician Aesculapius, and for introducing some reforms in the
writing system. Modern scholars think that Manetho originally ascribed (or meant to ascribe) these feats to
Imuthes, who was later deified as Aesculapius by the Greeks and Romans, and who corresponds to
Imhotep, the famous minister of Djoser who engineered the Step Pyramid's construction.

Some fragmentary reliefs found at Heliopolis and Gebelein mention Djoser's name, and suggest he
commissioned construction projects in those cities. Also, he may have fixed the southern boundary of his
kingdom at the First Cataract. An inscription known as the Famine Stela and claiming to date to the reign of
Djoser, but probably created during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, relates how Djoser rebuilt the temple of Khnum
on the island of Elephantine at the First Cataract, thus ending a seven-year famine in Egypt. Some consider
this ancient inscription as a legend at the time it was inscribed. Nonetheless, it does show that more than
two millennia after his reign, Egyptians still remembered Djoser.

Although he seems to have started an unfinished tomb at Abydos (Upper Egypt), Djoser was eventually
buried in his famous pyramid at Saqqara in Lower Egypt. Since Khasekhemwy, a pharaoh from the 2nd
dynasty, was the last pharaoh to be buried at Abydos, some Egyptologists infer that the shift to a more
northerly capital was completed during Djoser's time.

Djoser and Imhotep

One of the most famous contemporaries of king Djoser was his vizier (tjaty), "head of the royal shipyard"
and "overseer of all stone works", Imhotep. Imhotep oversaw stone building projects such as the tombs of
King Djoser and King Sekhemkhet. It is possible that Imhotep was mentioned in the also famous Papyrus
Westcar, in a story called "Khufu and the magicians". But because the papyrus is badly damaged at the
beginning, Imhotep's name is lost today. A papyrus from the ancient Egyptian temple of Tebtunis, dating to
the 2nd century AD, preserves a long story in the demotic script about Djoser and Imhotep. In Djoser's
time, Imhotep was of such importance and fame that he was honoured by being mentioned on statues of
king Djoser in his necropolis at Saqqara.

Medieval tradition
Egyptian historian Al-Nuwayri (1279–1333) described Djoser as "a king who was a wise ruler of Egypt"
and claimed that the Copts had a feast in honour of him called the "vine festival".[20] Al-Nuwayri also
visited the South tomb of the pyramid complex of Djoser in Saqqara, identifying it as the tomb of "Zosara"
and describing a vault decorated with lapis lazuli, as well as a large court with a large granite door inscribed
with 30 lines of hieroglyphs.[20]

Egyptologist Okasha El-Daly noted that "Demotic romances of ancient Egyptian rulers such as Zoser,
Inaros and Nectanebo also became popular in the medieval Arabic sources, which show them as heroes,
with their names and deeds well recognised by the writers".[21]

Tomb
 Djoser was buried in his
famous step pyramid at
Saqqara. This pyramid was
originally built as a nearly
square mastaba, but then
five further mastabas were
literally piled one upon
another, each smaller than
the previous one, until the Step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara,
Step pyramid of Djoser, old Egypt
monument became Egypt's
photograph
first step pyramid.
Supervisor of the building
constructions was the high lector priest Imhotep.

The pyramid

The step pyramid is made

of limestone. It is massive
and contains only one tight
corridor leading to the close
midst of the monument,
ending in a rough chamber
where the entrance to the
tomb shaft was hidden.
Step pyramid and limestone columns This inner construction was
later filled with rubble, for
it was of no use anymore.
The pyramid was once 62 metres high and had a base measurement
of c. 125 × 109 metres. It was tightly covered in finely polished, King Djoser running for the Heb-Sed
white limestone.[22] celebration (relief from the
underground galleries)

Subterranean structure

Under the step pyramid, a large maze of long corridors and

chambers was dug. The burial chamber lies in the midst of the
subterranean complex; a 28 meter deep shaft that leads directly
from the surface down to the burial chamber. The shaft entrance
was sealed by a plug stone with a weight of 3.5 tons. The
subterranean burial maze contains four magazine galleries, each
pointing straight to one cardinal direction. The eastern gallery
contained three limestone reliefs depicting king Djoser during the
West colonnade of the Djoser
celebration of the Heb-Sed (rejuvenation feast). The walls around
necropolis and between these reliefs were decorated with bluish faience tiles.
They were thought to imitate reed mats, as an allusion to the
mythological underworld waters. The other galleries remained
unfinished.

At the eastern side of the pyramid, very close to the blue chambers, eleven tomb shafts lead straight down
for 30–32 metres, and then deviate in a right angle to the west. Shafts I–V were used for the burials of royal
family members; shafts VI–XI were used as symbolic tombs for the grave goods of royal ancestors from
dynasties I–II. More than 40,000 vessels, bowls and vases made of various kinds of stone were found in
these galleries. Royal names such as of kings Den, Semerkhet, Nynetjer and Sekhemib were incised on the
pots. It is now thought that Djoser once restored the original tombs of the ancestors, and then sealed the
grave goods in the galleries in an attempt to save them.

Serdab statue of Djoser

The statue of Djoser is walled into the serdab. The main purpose of the statue was to allow the king to
manifest himself and be able to see the rituals performed in and out the serdab. This painted statue is
plastered and made out of limestone. Each characteristic of the statue represents something, the striated
tripartite wig he is wearing assimilates him to the living world as a dead king. The striped head cloth that
covers the wig was used to cover all of his hair. This was a ritual that began to be used by kings in the
fourth dynasty. The body is wrapped under a long robe, his hands are placed in a specific way. His right
arm is horizontally displayed on his chest while his left arm is resting on his thigh. The placement of his
arms are a resemblance to Khasekhem seat.[23][24] One of the oldest representations of the Nine bows, and
the first representation of the nine bows fully developed, is on the seated statue of Pharaoh Djoser. His feet
rest upon part of the nine bows, which may have referred to Nubians during his reign because of their use
of bows and arrows.[25]

Funerary complex

The funerary complex is the first architectural project to be built

entirely out of stone. This complex had fourteen entrances but only
one was functional. It is made up of the Great South Court, and the
Heb-sed north court with Djoser's step pyramid in the center. The
complex is enclosed by a 10.5 meters high stone wall, referred to as
the enclosure wall. Along with the main courts there is a Roofed
Colonnade Entrance located within the south court and a Serdab Aerial view of king Djoser's funerary
chamber that holds the seated statue of the king Djoser.[26] complex

See also
Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)
List of pharaohs
Old Kingdom of Egypt

Notes
a. For unknown reasons, the first sign was deliberately removed.

References
1. Mieroop 2010, p. 55. 6. Bunson 2014, p. 103.
2. El-Shahawy & Al-Masri 2005, p. 39.
3. Atiya 2006, pp. 30 & 103.
4. Fletcher 2015, p. 7.
5. Rice 1999, p. 50.
 7. Hawkes, Jacquetta (1974). Atlas of Ancient
Archaeology (https://archive.org/details/atl
asofancientar00hawk/page/149). McGraw-
Hill Book Company. p. 149 (https://archive.
org/details/atlasofancientar00hawk/page/1
49). ISBN 0-07-027293-X.
8. Berrett 1996, p. 265.
9. Wilkinson 2001, pp. 83 & 95.
10. Wilkinson 2001, p. 79.
11. Bard 2015, p. 140.
12. Dodson & Hilton 2004, p. 48.
13. Baker & Baker 2001, p. 15.
14. Wilkinson 2001, pp. 79 & 81.
15. Wilkinson 2000, pp. 79 & 258.
16. Baker & Baker 2001, p. 17.
17. Bunson 2014, pp. 105 & 264.
18. Bunson 2014, p. 264.
19. Atiya 2006, p. 103.
20. Okasha El-Daly (2005). Egyptology: The
Missing Millenium. London: UCL Press.
p. 93.
21. Okasha El-Daly (2005). Egyptology: The
Missing Millenium. London: UCL Press.
p. 125.
22. Adès 2007, p. 48.
23. Robins 2014, p. 44.
24. Baker & Baker 2001, pp. 17–19.
25. Poo 2012, p. 43; Bestock 2017, p. 149.
26. Robins 2014, pp. 40–44.

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oHt2kC). Interlink Books. ISBN 978-1-566-56654-4.
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American University in Cairo Press. pp. 104–11. ISBN 977-17-3634-5.
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e.org/details/ancientegyptians0000bake). USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 15 (https://archi
ve.org/details/ancientegyptians0000bake/page/15)–19. ISBN 0-195-12221-6.
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the Eight International Congress of Egyptologists, Volume 2. American University in Cairo
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Bunson, Margaret (2014). Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt (https://books.google.com/books?id=-
6EJ0G-4jyoC). Infobase Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-438-10997-8.
Dieter, Arnold (2005). Temples of Ancient Egypt. I.B.Tauris. pp. 40–47. ISBN 1-850-43945-1.
Dodson, Aiden; Hilton, Dyan (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt (https://boo
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(1971). The Cambridge Ancient History (https://archive.org/details/cambridgeancient1971ed
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Further reading
Rosanna Pirelli, "Statue of Djoser" in Francesco Tiradritti (editor): The Treasures of the
Egyptian Museum. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo 1999, p. 47.
Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards: The Pyramids of Egypt. West Drayton 1947; Rev. ed.
Harmondsworth 1961; Rev. ed. Harmondsworth 1985 (deutsche Ausgabe: Die ägyptischen
Pyramiden, 1967)

External links
A Detailed profile of Djoser (https://web.archive.org/web/20040606150313/http://www.ancien
t-egypt.org/kings/0301_netjerikhet/history.html)

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