![]() ![]() The pyramid at Saqqara is actually a stack of mastabas rather than a true pyramid and, regarding the political reforms and creation of nomes, the central government of the Third Dynasty did not have the reach nor command the resources of the 4th Dynasty. Even though Djoser's pyramid of stone was a wholly new creation it still utilized Early Dynastic Period techniques. Today, however, scholars see the Third Dynasty as a transitional phase more closely linked to the earlier period than the latter. These developments in architecture, politics, and also in religious practices - all a departure from the past - made it clear to Egyptologists that the Third Dynasty was the beginning of a new period in Egypt's history and should be included in the Old Kingdom rather than the Early Dynastic Period. The early tombs of Egypt were mud brick mastabas, but Imhotep wanted a lasting memorial to his king and so created a complex with a stone pyramid as its center and surrounding temples thus inventing the paradigm which would be followed by every dynasty which followed to greater or lesser degrees.įurther, it was during the Third Dynasty that the independent states of the country came to be known as nomes (districts) directly under the rule of a centralized government at Memphis. Prior to Imhotep's innovation, tombs and other structures were built of mud brick. 2667-2600 BCE) revolutionized construction in Egypt by building the king's tomb at Saqqara out of stone. 3150-2613 BCE) than the Old Kingdom as are cultural practices and observances.ĭjoser's architect Imhotep (c. Recent scholarship, however, rejects that view as the construction of Djoser's pyramid is more in keeping with the Early Dynastic Period in Egypt (c. 2670-2613 BCE) in the period of the Old Kingdom because of the Pyramid of King Djoser at Saqqara, the first pyramid ever built in Egypt, seemed to link that dynasty to the building efforts of the 4th Dynasty, because the last king of the Third Dynasty was related to the first king of the 4th, and because Djoser and his successors ruled from Memphis ("the white walls") which remained the capital during the Old Kingdom. Scholars traditionally included the Third Dynasty of Egypt (c. The Egyptians themselves did not refer to this period by that name and would have seen no difference between the period which preceded or succeeded it. ![]() The name 'Old Kingdom' was coined by archaeologists in the 19th century CE in an attempt to demarcate Egypt's long history. The long-standing designation of a political and cultural collapse at the end of the 6th Dynasty is still considered viable, however, in that the central government's loss of power and wealth led directly to the regional rule of the district nomarchs. Many scholars today no longer see the end of the Old Kingdom as a 'collapse' so much as a transition to the new paradigm of the First Intermediate Period, when local rulers governed their districts directly and the kind of wealth previously only available to nobility became more widespread. Scholars have also pointed to the exceptionally long reign of Pepi II of the 6th Dynasty as a contributing factor because he outlived his successors and left no heir to the throne. The rise of these local officials and the power of the priesthood were not the only causes of the collapse of the Old Kingdom, however, in that a severe drought toward the end of the 6th Dynasty brought famine which the government could do nothing to alleviate. ![]() The Old Kingdom began to collapse as more and more local governors assumed more power over their regions, and the central government at Memphis was increasingly seen as irrelevant. During the 5th and 6th Dynasty, however, the priesthood began to grow in power, primarily through their hold over the very mortuary practices which gave rise to the great pyramids, empowering the local officials of the districts and the kingship suffered. ![]() The 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom was a time of progress and a strong centralized government which could command the kind of respect necessary for such building projects. They diverted enormous resources from the entire country for this purpose, filling a 70-kilometer-long stretch of the desert edge along the west bank of the Nile near modern Cairo with huge monuments still awe-inspiring today despite the ravages of time. Most of the 20-some kings compelled thousands of laborers to quarry, transport, put in place, and decorate vast quantities of stone in order to construct royal mortuary monumnets. ![]()
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