The Great Pyramids of Giza | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 2 (Part 17) 01D19

The Sakkara Complex: Tomb of Ka-Gmni, TiTi Pyramids, Step Pyramids

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

The Sakkara (or Saqqara) complex is an extensive archaeological site in Egypt that hosts many tombs and pyramids. Our tour covered only three sites from the complex: the Tomb of Ka-Gmni, the TiTi Pyramids, and the Steps Pyramids.

Tomb of Ka-Gmni (Mastaba of Kagemni)

Kagemni was a vizier or high-official/high-priest of King Teti of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt and he had his own tomb in Sakkara. This type of tomb called a mastaba, or eternal house, in Ancient Egyptian. The tomb was a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward-sloping sides.

The Tomb of Ka-Gmni was discovered in 1843. The tomb is huge. There is a chapel which has six rooms, a hall by the entrance and another pillared hall, five magazines, two chambers containing boats, and a serdab. There is a staircase you can take to reach the roof.

The burial chamber has an inscribed stone sarcophagus with a coffin inside. The walls have beautiful and decorative bas reliefs all over depicting agricultural scenes, fishing scenes, and presentations of offerings. Some of them looked colourful, but I saw some of them were damaged or the colour was fading.

The Pyramid of Djoser or Step Pyramid

The Step Pyramid is located inside a huge pillared complex. The 6-tier, 4-sided structure is a colossal stone building built for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser.

The Step Pyramid is considered one of the oldest stone structures built by man. Entirely made of limestone, the Step Pyramid has survived for more than 4700 years. As the name suggests, the Step Pyramid is made of 6 steps, 60m high on top of each other and built as a step pyramid, and gradually getting smaller as the steps ascended.

I was more mesmerized by the huge complex made of tall walls and gigantic pillars. To enter the complex, you must go through a narrow door-like entrance curved in the stones. The complex had lots of unfinished structures and ruins.

My next stop will be TiTi Pyramid, where I will go inside the Pyramid.