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The Pyramid of Djoser (Zoser), or step pyramid (kbhw-ntrw in Egyptian) is an archeological remain in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the city of Memphis. It was built for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by his vizier Imhotep, during the 27th century BCE. It is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration.
This first Egyptian pyramid consisted of six mastabas (of decreasing size) built atop one another in what were clearly revisions and developments of the original plan. The pyramid originally stood 62 metres (203 ft) tall, with a base of 109 × 125 m (358 × 410 ft), and was clad in polished white limestone. The step pyramid (or proto-pyramid) is considered to be the earliest large-scale cut stone construction, although the nearby enclosure known as Gisr el-mudir would seem to predate the complex. The oldest known uncut stone pyramid structure dates to 3000 BCE in the city of Caral, Peru.
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Original image by Charlesjsharp. Uploaded by Jan van der Crabben, published on 26 April 2012 under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
Related Images
Step Pyramid Complex of Saqqara
Step Pyramid at Saqqara
Step Pyramid Complex at Saqqara
Detail, Step Pyramid of Djoser
Pyramid of Cestius, Rome
Reconstruction of Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan
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APA Style
Charlesjsharp, . (2012, April 26). Step Pyramid of Saqqara. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/image/539/
Chicago Style
Charlesjsharp, . "Step Pyramid of Saqqara." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 26, 2012. https://www.ancient.eu/image/539/.
MLA Style
Charlesjsharp, . "Step Pyramid of Saqqara." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 26 Apr 2012. Web. 20 Jan 2021.
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