* The stele of Sehêl has enabled us to verify the fact that
the preamble king, buried in the Step-Pyramid, is identical with that of
King Zosiri: it was, therefore, Zosiri who constructed, or
arranged for the construction of this monument as his tomb.
The Step-Pyramid of Saqqâra was opened in 1819, at the
expense of the Prussian General Minutoli, who was the first
to give a brief description of the interior, illustrated by
plans and drawings.
It forms a rectangular mass, incorrectly orientated, with a variation from the true north of 4° 35', 393 ft. 8 in. long from east to west, and 352 ft. deep, with a height of 159 ft. 9 in. It is composed of six cubes, with sloping sides, each being about 13 ft. less in width than the one below it; that nearest to the ground measures 37 ft. 8 in. in height, and the uppermost one 29 ft. 9 in. It was entirely constructed of limestone from the neighbouring mountains. The blocks are small, and badly cut, the stone courses being concave to offer a better resistance to downward thrust and to shocks of earthquake. When breaches in the masonry are examined, it can be seen that the external surface of the steps has, as it were, a double stone facing, each facing being carefully dressed. The body of the pyramid is solid, the chambers being cut in the rock beneath. These chambers have been often enlarged, restored, and reworked in the course of centuries, and the passages which connect them form a perfect labyrinth into which it is dangerous to venture without a guide. The columned porch, the galleries and halls, all lead to a sort of enormous shaft, at the bottom of which the architect had contrived a hiding-place, destined, no doubt, to contain the more precious objects of the funerary furniture. Until the beginning of this century, the vault had preserved its original lining of glazed pottery. Three quarters of the wall surface were covered with green tiles, oblong and slightly convex on the outer side, but flat on the inner: a square projection pierced with a hole, served to fix them at the back in a horizontal line by means of flexible wooden rods.
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the coloured sketch by
Sogato. M. Stern attributes the decoration of glazed pottery
to the XXVI '' dynasty, which opinion is shared by
Borchardt. The yellow and green glazed tiles hearing the
cartouche of Papi I., show that the Egyptians of the
Memphite dynasties used glazed facings at that early date;
we may, therefore, believe, if the tiles of the vault of
Zosiri are really of the Saïte period, that they replaced a
decoration of the same kind, which belonged to the time of
its construction, and of which some fragments still exist
among the tiles of more recent date.
The three bands which frame one of the doors are inscribed with the titles of the Pharaoh: the hieroglyphs are raised in either blue, red, green, or yellow, on a fawn-coloured ground. Other kings had built temples, palaces, and towns,—as, for instance, King Khâsakhimu, of whose constructions some traces exist at Hieracônpolis, opposite to El-Kab, or King Khâsakhmui, who preceded by a few years the Pharaohs of the IVth dynasty—but the monuments which they raised to be witnesses of their power or piety to future generations, have, in the course of ages, disappeared under the tramplings and before the triumphal blasts of many invading hosts: the pyramid alone has survived, and the most ancient of the historic monuments of Egypt is a tomb.
