Image Saqqara Persian Shaft eg9511510jhp by Jim Henderson

 
Egypt > Saqqara & Memphis > Saqqara Persian Shaft eg9511510jhp
This gallery contains pictures of the two main sites usually visited together on a day trip south of Cairo - Saqqara with the famous Step Pyramid, a huge necropolis with many tombs and other pyramids and Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt now will an open air museum with the alabaster sphinx and the huge partial statue of Ramasses 11.
Saqqara Persian Shaft eg9511510jhp Egyptian Saqqara Persian period shaft tomb Pediese end wall passageway hieroglyphics texts pyramid funerary spells one of many tombs around the Pyramid of Unas near the Step Pyramid. The so-called Persian Shaft was for officials of the Pharaoh, possibly Ahmose 11 c530BC, 26th Dynasty, from the First Persian period, some 2000 years after the Step Pyramid was built. Entered by a wrought iron spiral staircase down a vertical shaft of some 20-25mm depth, three tombs are entered by small horizontal shafts. One tomb that of Psamtik, a royal chief physician still has an enormous carved anthropoid sarcophagus which is empty-the lower half shaped to receive a coffin, the lid, a monolith weighing many tons is perched above it on stone built columns-the custodian suggested I climb on it to photograph the ceilings of beautifully carved hieroglyphic text from the Book of the Dead. For the purist the flash had a UV filter to minimise any unlikely damaging effect on any coloured paintings [Sanders: technical bulletin 16 1995-NPG]. Debate about stone sarcophagus made of, as larger than any of existing shafts-from memory did not feel like granite. The carving skills though were brilliant and the arched tombs covered with text awesome. In the tomb of Pediese, son of Psamtik has coloured ceilings with stars and some painted hieroglyphic text. Access I understand is now limited and is mostly closed. Keywords: Egypt, Egyptian, Saqqara, Saqqarah, Pyramid, Unas, Unis, south, necropolis, Persian, period, Shaft, tombs, Psamtik, Psamtek, Psametik, chief, physician, Zannehib, Djenhebu, Tjanhebu, admiral, Pediese, Paydees, Padiaset, son, below, ground, deep, spiral, staircase, subterranean, underground, hieroglyphs, hieroglyphics, texts, Book, Dead, funerary, spells, mortuary, formulas, walls, carvings, painted, coloured, reliefs, stars, ceiling, curved, arched, sarcophagus, shaped, base, stone, monolith, lid, granite, carved, coffin, form, November, 1995, 645, transparency, film, Fuji, RDP2, 100asa, colour, scanned, scan, Bronica, ETRSi, medium, wide angle, 40mm f4, flash, Metz, 45CL-4, ultra-violet, filter, upright
© Jim Henderson
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Photographer: Jim Henderson
Collection: Saqqara & Memphis
Filename:
Saqqara Persian Shaft eg9511510jhp
Upload Date: 2018-09-16 20:49:23
Photo Size: 18mb 3798x4967 pixels
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Caption:

Egyptian Saqqara Persian period shaft tomb Pediese end wall passageway

hieroglyphics texts pyramid funerary spells one of many tombs around the Pyramid of Unas near the Step Pyramid. The so-called Persian Shaft was for officials of the Pharaoh, possibly Ahmose 11 c530BC, 26th Dynasty, from the First Persian period, some 2000 years after the Step Pyramid was built. Entered by a wrought iron spiral staircase down a vertical shaft of some 20-25mm depth, three tombs are entered by small horizontal shafts. One tomb that of Psamtik, a royal chief physician still has an enormous carved anthropoid sarcophagus which is empty-the lower half shaped to receive a coffin, the lid, a monolith weighing many tons is perched above it on stone built columns-the custodian suggested I climb on it to photograph the ceilings of beautifully carved hieroglyphic text from the Book of the Dead. For the purist the flash had a UV filter to minimise any unlikely damaging effect on any coloured paintings [Sanders: technical bulletin 16 1995-NPG]. Debate about stone sarcophagus made of, as larger than any of existing shafts-from memory did not feel like granite. The carving skills though were brilliant and the arched tombs covered with text awesome. In the tomb of Pediese, son of Psamtik has coloured ceilings with stars and some painted hieroglyphic text. Access I understand is now limited and is mostly closed.
Keywords: Egypt, Egyptian, Saqqara, Saqqarah, Pyramid, Unas, Unis, south, necropolis, Persian, period, Shaft, tombs, Psamtik, Psamtek, Psametik, chief, physician, Zannehib, Djenhebu, Tjanhebu, admiral, Pediese, Paydees, Padiaset, son, below, ground, deep, spiral, staircase, subterranean, underground, hieroglyphs, hieroglyphics, texts, Book, Dead, funerary, spells, mortuary, formulas, walls, carvings, painted, coloured, reliefs, stars, ceiling, curved, arched, sarcophagus, shaped, base, stone, monolith, lid, granite, carved, coffin, form, November, 1995, 645, transparency, film, Fuji, RDP2, 100asa, colour, scanned, scan, Bronica, ETRSi, medium, wide angle, 40mm f4, flash, Metz, 45CL-4, ultra-violet, filter, upright