Photo by A. W. Cutler 



Kntrance: to the tombs of the sacred bules at saooara 



The tunneling goes far under the desert. There are 24 huge marble sarcophagi, each dedi- 

 cated to one of the sacred bulls 



succeeding. In 1900 Garstang excavated 

 at Bet-Khallaf, near Abydos, the tombs 

 of two of the earliest kings of the third 

 dynasty — Zeser and Sa-nekht. The tomb 

 of Zeser is a huge mass of brickwork 

 300 feet in length by 150 in breadth and 

 40 in height. The actual tomb chambers 

 are hewn in the rock 20 feet below the 

 ground level and 60 feet below that of 

 the summit of the tomb. 



Unfortunately, like so many of the 

 royal tombs of Egypt, the great sepul- 

 cher had been rifled in ancient days ; but 

 sufficient relics survived, in the shape of 

 clay jar-sealings, alabaster vases and 

 bowls, and other articles, to identify the 

 owner of the tomb. Sa-nekht's tomb 

 was very similar to Zeser's, and the 

 skeleton of the dead king, which was 

 found in it, seems to suggest that poor 

 Manetho, whose credit as an accurate 

 historian has often suffered at the hands 

 of incredulous moderns, was not always 

 so inaccurate as he has been accused of 

 being. 



Among the marvels which he relates 

 of the early kings there is a statement 

 that a certain king named Sesokhris 

 measured 5 cubits in height. The skele- 



ton of Sa-nekht proves its owner to have 

 been a giant 7 feet high, and it is tempt- 

 ing to identify him with Manetho's five- 

 cubit Sesokhris, especially as names were 

 never Manetho's strong point. 



THE BUIEDERS OE THE PYRAMIDS 



Like many of these ancient kings, Ze- 

 ser was not content with a single tomb. 

 He had another at Saqqara, near Mem- 

 phis — well known to Egyptian tourists 

 as the Step Pyramid — the most imposing 

 structure wdiich has survived from such 

 an early date. It measures between 300 

 and 400 feet in length on the sides and is 

 195 feet in height, while the chambers of 

 the interior were lined with fine blue and 

 green glazed tiles (see page 959). 



A king who could rear such a struc- 

 ture had evidently at command the re- 

 sources of a very well organized state 

 and capable architects. Zeser's architect 

 and vizier, Imhotep, became in later days 

 the typical wise man of Egypt, ''whose 

 counsel was as though one inquired at 

 the oracle of God." He was the patron 

 saint of the Egyptian scribe, who always 

 poured a libation to him from his water- 

 jar before beginning to write. Two 



970 



