27th Century BC and 9.5MM People

Nope this isn’t a photoshopped image. The Kaufman’s are once again on the move in Egypt!

 

First - It’s terrific to be in touch with all of you again! 

Second - I’m a bit rusty, (i.e. you may have received a couple of random posts) so please bear with me.

Third - Visiting Egypt means covering centuries in hours, so entries may not be as thorough as in the past. 

Welcome to the Step Pyramid of Djuser - the prototype for ALL other pyramids - period. 

Built in the 27th century BC by Imhotep, the high priest and architect for Pharaoh Djuser, who desired something beyond the traditional “Mastabas” which were underground rooms covered by low box like mud-brick structures.  You can almost imagine the meetings between Djuser and his architect, Imhotep:

 - Imhotep, I want to do something different. What if we used limestone instead of mud and we made it a bit higher. 

- Two stories is affective your majesty, but can you imagine the presence if we added another?

- Yes and if we continued to step back the mastabas even more, the structure would look as if it was reaching for the stars!

And so it was.  The 205 foot high limestone structure was built ad renegotiated one mastabas at a time and completed in 20 years, in around 2605BC - yes that’s 4,627 years ago. After his resurrection, the giant stairway would allow King Djuser to join sun god Ra in the sky. Imhotep, who the Greeks later honored as the king of medicine, allowed for both a burial chamber 41 feet below the pyramid and a store room yet another 40 feet down, that was filled with 30,000 jars - the most important made of granite, alabaster and schist. 

The Step Pyramid is located in Saqqara, Egypt’s  Old Kingdom’s (3,100 - 2,000 BC) funerary site for royalty and close to the then capital, Memphis. This City of the Dead is one of Egypt’s richest archeological sites with monuments spanning 3,000 years. There are numerous sites to see here. Although many of the pyramids were eventually raided, there are numerous examples of Pharaonic art which began here. In essence, one cannot truly understand what we think of as Egyptian art and architecture without first coming to Saqqara.  As Memphis grew, so did the site, eventually covering 4 miles.  (More on this later)   With the exception of the top of Djuser’s  pyramid, the site was buried in the sand for centuries, until uncovered in 1851 by French archeologist August Mariette. 

So where is Saqqara? In Giza, fifteen miles southwest of Cairo. 

SO WHAT ABOUT CAIRO??

Where to start:

- Egypt’s capital city has a population of 9.5 million in a country of 102 million. 

- Want to feel like you live in a small city without traffic and with enough housing? Come to Cairo.

- Truly a city that never sleeps - restaurants, stores and sporting venues seem to be open 24/7.

- Public works are everywhere, architecture is widely varied, with Minarets slim towers punctuating the cityscape.

- COVID continues to be taken seriously here, so have your QR code ready and bring masks and hand sanitizers.