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Saqqara (or Sakkara, Saqqarah; Arabic: سقارة‎) is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of mastabas. Located some 30 km south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around 7 km by 1.5 km.

At Saqqara, the oldest complete hewn-stone building complex known in history was built: Djoser's step pyramid, built during the third dynasty. 16 other Egyptian kings built pyramids at Saqqara, which are now in various states of preservation or dilapidation. High officials added private funeral monuments to this necropolis during the entire pharaonic period. It remained an important complex for non-royal burials and cult ceremonies for more than 3,000 years, well into Ptolemaic and Roman times.

From Wikipedia

( R.W.Emerson)

“When Moses was alive, these pyramids were a thousand years old. Here began the history of architecture. Here people learned to measure time by a calendar, to plot the stars by astronomy and chart the earth by geometry. And here they developed the most awesome of all ideas - the idea of eternity.”

(Walter Cronkite)

(Plato, the Symposium)