In the 3rd millennium BCE, Egypt accomplished a remarkable feat for its time under Pharaoh Djoser—it united. Polish Egyptologist, Dr Kamil Kuraszkiewicz, Professor, Department of Egyptology, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, joins the show to explain what scholars know about Pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty and his associated pyramid.
Some topics explored
- What scholars know about who Pharaoh Djoser was
- Geopolitics in Egypt at the time of his reign
- Egypt unifying under his reign
- His pyramid which is located in the Saqqara, a necropolis with several pyramids in Egypt
- How scholars know about Djoser
- His tomb being discovered and part of his mummified body—a foot and part of an arm, under his steppe pyramid in Saqqara
- Details about the pyramid
- Administrative personnel that are believed to have functioned on the site (and lived next to the complex) to administer pyramids like Djoser’s, principally performing religious rituals
- Rituals thought to be performed at his tomb
- Djoser having two tombs—one for his mummified body and one for religious purposes
- Other tombs
- What’s known about if Djoser had marriages and any children
- Succession after Djoser’s reign
- The architect Amhenhotep and him being eventually deified
- Djoser’s pyramid being the first built of stone and this influencing many future developments
Listen to the episode
The episode can be streamed below and is also available on major podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
Show Notes
- Professor Kuraszkiewicz is author of the monograph Saqqara V, Old Kingdom Structures Between the Step Pyramid Complex and the Dry Moat (Neriton, 2013) and was part of a series written by members of the Polish Egyptian Archaeologist Mission at Saqqara
- The website for the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological Mission Saqqara — http://saqqara.uw.edu.pl/en/
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