(ORDO NEWS) — The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has announced another opening in Saqqara, the necropolis of the former capital of the ancient Egyptian empire, Memphis.
Ongoing excavations have revealed five carved tombs in Egypt with many burials and archaeological finds from the Old Kingdom (c. 2700-2200 BC) and the First Intermediate/Intermediate Period (2181-2055 BC) .), about 4,700 and 4,000 years ago, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
“An Egyptian archaeological mission has discovered five tombs about 100 meters (328 feet) northwest of the Merenre Pyramid in south Saqqara,” the ministry said in a statement.
Dr. Mustafa Vaziri, General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that five tombs belonging to high officials and dignitaries from the respective time periods are in a state of good preservation.
The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Dr. Khaled El-Enani, posed for a photo with Dr. Mustafa Waziri inspecting five tombs with inscriptions from two periods. By the way, the Old Kingdom is a period of time in Egypt associated with the construction of pyramids, the most famous of which is the Step Pyramid.
The decision to establish Saqqara as an official royal necropolis was made under King Djoser (c. 2686-2648 BC), the first king of the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.
The first cemetery discovered belonged to a man named Irie, one of the highest nobles of the court. The grave included a clearly defined path leading to the burial chamber, the walls of which were decorated with engraved images of many funeral scenes.
They depict tables in cemeteries, the façade of a palace, and pots filled with many essential oils. There is a huge limestone coffin as well as engraved artifacts.
Grave number two belonged to the wife of a man named Yart – this aspect is deciphered by the proximity of her grave to his. This grave also has a rectangular rampart.
Meanwhile, grave number three belonged to a man named Babi Farhafai, also called Bi Nafarhafai, who held several important positions in the court, namely the caretaker of the Great House, the priest-singer, and the cleaner of the house.
The fourth grave is interesting in that a well discovered six meters (19.6 feet) underground belonged to a woman named Betty, who was in charge of the makeup, appearance and clothes of the king.
She is said to have been a priestess of Hathor, the goddess of love, beauty, music, dancing, fertility, and pleasure. Her role in idolatry is mentioned in several sources of the time.
The fifth cemetery is the tomb of a man named Hannu. This tomb in Egypt also consists of a rectangular shaft 7 meters (22.9 ft) long.
Hannu also held many titles and roles, including caretaker of the royal palace, mayor, caretaker of the Great House, bearer of the seals of Lower Egypt and caretaker of an orchard, reports Cairo Scene.
Over the past few years, Saqqara has become a center of discovery, where hundreds of colored coffins have been found with the preserved mummies of high-ranking officials, priests and other noble people of the 26th dynasty (or the period of the Saite dynasty, i.e. from 664 to 525 BC. .), the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement.
In 2020, after the discovery of 100 sealed human coffins and 40 grandiose statues, Zahi Hawass, an Egyptologist and former Minister of State for Antiquities, remarked that “this discovery is very important because it proves that Saqqara was the main burial site of the 26th Dynasty “.
However, Saqqara was not only a place for the burial of people. In 2011, 8 million animal mummies were discovered near the temple of Anubis, the god of death and mummification. “Saqqara was the place where you could see the dead.
It had a numinous, divine energy that helped you get to the afterlife,” said Campbell Price of the Manchester Museum, quoted by Smitshonian Mag in a 2021 report, which is beautiful the spiritual and cultural significance of the Saqqara pyramids is summed up. Price worked at this place for many years.
After all, the necropolis has historically been a center of religious worship and subsequent burials, beginning with low, flat-roofed tombs called mastabas.
Under the pharaoh Psamtik of Sait, who ruled from 664 to 610 BC, attempts were made to revive traditional rituals and beliefs, and this brought Saqqara back into the spotlight.
It exploded in popularity and became a place of pilgrimage, “ancient Mecca or Lourdes”. Pilgrims began to compete and vie for places that were often contested over social status and connections to the king.
At a press conference scheduled for Saturday, we will likely learn more about this mystical burial paradise in Saqqara. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism has been especially active in the last decade, so we will no doubt learn more and more about one of the most advanced civilizations of ancient history and its tombs in Egypt.
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