Djoser's Step Pyramid Djoser's Step Pyramid represented a great building achievement in ancient Egypt. Prior to its building, most tombs were mastaba's, which were essentially mounds surrounded by a rectangular stone enclosure. Djoser took this design one step further, adding his step pyramid to the mastaba complex, which was, essentially, several mastabas placed on top of each other. The architect of this pyramid was none other than the priest Imhotep. Citation Djoser's Step Pyramid was built in the third dynasty (2686 - 2613 B.C.), sometime after 2650 B.C. It is the first known pyramid in the history of architecture. The buildings seen in the foreground are a part of the temple complex that the pyramid is a part of. The Dimensions of this pyramid are as follows: Number of Steps: 6 Height: 196.5 feet Base: 397 x 358 feet The building of this pyramid would have been a particularly difficult challenge for the workers because of a major difference in how it was built compared to how buildings are built currently (aside from the modern technology, of course). Instead of forming the recesses (doors, etc.) before the blocks were layed, each was hand-carved into the face of the masonry that had been layed, which was an enormous task, because there were 1,680 recessed panels and dummy doorways, each more than 30 feet tall, similar to the following, which was found in the South Tomb, that depicts Djoser performing the ceremonial heb-sed run, a ritual performed by the king every 30 years after his coronation which reaffirms his fitness to rule: Citation Return to Saqqara. This site is maintained by Ryan Cohagan at Creighton University. Please feel free to visit our course syllabus. My e-mail address is cohagan@creighton.edu I would appreciate some feedback. Created: November 10, 2001 Updated: December 12, 2001