PART 2 : Djoser’s Complex at Saqqara

The whole complex was a manifestation par excellence of Heb Sed structures.

There was a continuity of concepts from Khasekhemwy to Djoser, but with big improvements. First, many of the structures for the Heb Sed were represented in stone, although the stones were often carved to look like the temporary materials normally used.

A second difference between Djoser’s enclosure and Khasekhemwy’s is that the tomb was built inside it, instead of separately.
There were two burial chambers, one under the Step pyramid and another in the South Tomb. Both had starry ceilings.

The Step Pyramid had successive smaller steps that made five square ledges. The south tomb was thin, 81 meters long and lay east-west.

The tombs and the Stars

Just as with Khasekehmy, Djoser wanted to be reborn in the polar region of the north sky and the burial chamber would need to be near or at the celestial pole - closest star Thuban.

A doorway had the domain name inscribed : “Horus is the star at the head of the sky”. This probably meant : (the risen) Horus Netjerikhet has become the star Thuban.

It is likely that the builders quite intended that the ledges created by the steps of the Step Pyramid resemble the (squared) orbits of circumpolar stars, the smallest one being Thuban.



In Part 1 it was proposed that Khasekhemwy modelled his tomb on 5 circumpolar stars and got a long narrow shape (see these 5 stars below). By using an orbit design and the same stars, the area in the sky for Djoser was square, a much more useful shape ! (diagram taken from sky software)



Alioth and Mizar are two stars of Ursa Major, Kocab and Pherkad are stars of Ursa Minor – the two adzes. Thuban here is seen at the eastern side of its orbit around the pole. This resembles the position of the burial chamber (the little square) beneath the top step of the Pyramid :



Note that the burial chamber was mid-way between the north and south edges of the pyramid. This matches Thuban which was midway between stars Mizar and Pherkad.

The South Tomb in turn represented the southern sky. It was long and straight like the paths of southern stars at the meridian. On later depictions of the two skies, north and south, such as Senenmut’s ceiling, the southern decan stars were shown this way. Orion in this case was shown centrally.



The King’s Run

In the open space near the House of the South was a small King’s run field with two single stone markers (see top diagram). In the south court between the Step Pyramid and the South tomb there were two pairs of double markers. These were modelled on the boundary stones used to demarcate land ownership in Egypt. By running round these markers the king took possession of the two lands (north and south).
A raised platform for the throne with steps leading up was at the northern end along the base of the Pyramid (see top diagram above and below). This was for a king’s ritual run and was a traditional dais and throne.



The South Court was most probably built for a Sed Festival during the lifetime of the king - not for the buried King. For the buried king we need to look underground.

In the Heb Sed court on the right of the South Court was the double dais for the double crowning of the King before the deities attending at their pavilions.

The 3 + 3 False Doors

Alongside each burial chamber deep underground was a set three niches with false doors. 3 under the Step Pyramid and 3 under the South Tomb. These were both aligned to each other in a north-south direction.



The false doors led out from the King’s palace. The green faience walls of the palace represented the cosmic waters, meaning the palace was ‘in the sky’.



On the 3 + 3 false doors were reliefs of the king’s Heb Sed run. In all six reliefs the glyph for the two halves of the sky were shown. (see diagram below, right hand side above the markers) These refer to the north half of the sky and the south half of the sky.

In each of the three running reliefs there were two sets of three Run markers, bottom right and bottom left. These were the boundary stones at the start and turnaround of the Run .

The king clearly ran from the north to the south and back, i.e. round the markers. In this ritual the king had circumnavigated the whole sky and took dominion over it. The title deeds to it were in his hand!



While this run was also between the Step Pyramid and the South Tomb it was bigger than the one in the south court. In fact 4 times bigger. With three markers - not two.
So there were three boundary markers shown at each end of the run. And there were three false doors at each end of the run. Were the false doors acting as the markers for this Run ?

Now, for the underground run we need to look for the plinth with the steps for the king’s throne.

The Throne Dais

We find it right up in the north court near the wall. This mysterious structure looks very much like a dais for a throne with its steps leading up. It is often labelled ‘altar’ because excavators were not sure what it was.

.....

It was carved from the rock 15m x 15m with steps towards the pyramid. A central raised area suggests a place for the throne. The whole north court was then buried by the builders – which put the structure underground - so it could also go to the afterlife in the stars.

This next diagram shows the South Court run scaled up to the underground run. Totally similar.



By recognizing the structure in the north was indeed the dais for the buried king’s run we can see where the main Heb Sed field was. It was the WHOLE enclosure, the complete cosmos, the two skies. In fact, it follows Khasekhemwy’s use of the whole enclosure.

This is an important realisation. It means the Step Pyramid ‘occupied’ a position in the northern sky and included the three northern sky markers. The southern tomb ‘occupied’ a position in the southern sky and was over the three southern sky markers. The buried throne dais in the northern end of the complex completed this Heb Sed field.

The markers in the Sky

Having established a link between the step pyramid and the northern sky and the South tomb with the southern sky, a little question comes up. What are the sky markers ? There are no stones in the sky - only stars. If stars were acting as markers, then the best candidates would be Orion’s Belt in the south and the Kocab-Thuban-Mizar trio the north. These had matching shapes.

While we cannot be sure, it may be worth noting that for Khufu’s shafts these same asterisms were selected. More on this in Part 5.

The Colonnaded Hall

At the entrance to the enclosure is the colonnaded hall. This is a major feature of the complex and we need to discover its purpose. Only by knowing its Heb Sed role can it be explained.
In the Introduction to this article, the third part of the Heb Sed was “meetings and acceptance by the gods”. This acceptance was needed to enter the sky and take charge. The sky was represented by the enclosure.

The Gods who greeted the resurrected King are made clear in the Pyramid Texts. It was the two Enneads. The great Ennead had 9 major gods, and the Little Ennead was comprised of 11 regional deities (again from the PTs).



The spaces using both sides BETWEEN the walled-in columns were like shrines for the gods. Here there would have been statues.

From the entrance, the King would have passed by 11 shrines. Then there was a step and some low dividing walls, and we enter the second section of the hall. In this were 9 more shrines for the Great Ennead. Having got approval of the 20 gods, the King was able enter the ‘sky’ ( ie the enclosure).

There is some similarity between this shape and that of Khasekhemwy’s tomb. But what is most interesting is that there were twenty shrines here, and Khasekhemwy’s tomb was also divided into twenty sections. So his tomb was also his entrance to the sky to ensure his ‘ticket to heaven’ !

The Enclosure Wall

There is one more structure to mention. The walls of the enclosure were elaborate and amazing in their own right.
Bauval in the Egypt Code referred to a French researcher who counted the panels using Lauer’s drawings. He found there were 1461 of them on the west wall. This was 4 x 365 plus one for the leap year (I have checked the numbers). In other words the 4 year cycle of the calendar.

This could act a symbolic daily and yearly marker, with Sirius rising heliacally on the first day of each year. The wall could have been a feature for the timing of the Heb Seds which always took place at the New Year, the time of the flooding of the Nile.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the requirements of the Heb Sed have totally determined the design of Djoser’s complex.
There are links, needed for the Heb Sed, between the Stepped Pyramid and the South tomb with the northern and southern skies respectively and their stars.
The Step Pyramid probably had, as its ‘double’, a square section with 5 stars in the northern sky around the celestial pole.