Comparing Djoser and Khafra as Egyptian pharaohs

While the pyramids at Giza are the most recognizable, they represent the culmination of architectural developments in Egypt occurring during the Fourth Dynasty. The progenitor of the pyramid was the mastaba, basically a mound with a subterranean chamber containing the sarcophagus of the dead elite. The mastaba also contained a small chapel, a “false door,” and burial shaft leading to the underground burial chamber (Carr, 2014). Around 2780 BCE, Djoser’s architect Imhotep became the first to stack mastabas one on top of the other to form a step pyramid located in Saqqara. The Step Pyramid of Djoser is located near Memphis, on the West Bank of the Nile River, and literally raised the bar for Egyptian regal burial sites. Whereas prior burial mounds were relatively humble in comparison, the step pyramid was a far more grandiose memorial to kings and other members of the Egyptian aristocracy. Thus setting a precedent, Imhotep left an important legacy and it took several centuries before the initial step pyramid design would be changed significantly, into the smooth-sided pyramids that have become world renown.
Between the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara and the Great Pyramid of Giza was a span of several hundred years, during which time architects and kings vied to surpass the remarkable work of Imhotep. The step pyramid gradually evolved into the smooth-sided pyramid, in a series of steps, so to speak. The first successors to the Djoser pyramid included the Sekhemkhet and the Layer pyramids, neither of which made any significant deviations from the Imhotep design. In 2575 BCE, Snofru, the founder of the Fourth Dynasty, commissioned the Meidum Pyramid near Fayoum. The Meidum pyramid was the first step pyramid to be “encased,” thus becoming effectually a smooth-sided pyramid (Carr, 2014). However, the Meidum pyramid was not a “true” smooth-sided pyramid. It was merely a step pyramid that was filled in with stone and then covered in limestone (“The Egyptian Pyramid,” n.d.). The first attempt at a “true” step pyramid essentially failed, leading to the name “Bent Pyramid.” The Bent Pyramid was constructed to be genuinely smooth-sided, but the architect failed to make correct calculations and the result was a mismatch of angles from the base to the top (Carr, 2014; “The Egyptian Pyramid,” n.d.). Another “true” smooth-sided pyramid is the red limestone one at Dahshur, which was more proportionally correct than the Bent Pyramid, but a visibly “squat” one with an angle of 43 degrees (“The Egyptian Pyramid,” n.d.). However insignificant these incremental architectural developments may seem, they did pave the way for the eventual masterwork that is the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Prompting the evolution in architectural design and technique was the radical changes taking place in Egyptian society and particularly among the philosophies guiding the ruling classes. When the mastaba era first shifted to the step pyramid mortuary design, the cult of Re, the sun god was in full force and Imphotep himself was Re’s high priest (Vanderzwet, n.d.). Sun worship was therefore integral to the alignment of the Djoser pyramid. While intermediate designs like those of Snefru incorporated many elements from the Djoser construction including alignment and placement of interior elements like chapel, Snefru's son, Khufu, known in Greek as Cheops, was the first true smooth-sided pyramid and remains the grandest example thereof. Ruling roughly between 2589 BCE and 2566 BCE, Khufu appointed his nephew Hemiunu as project manager (Carr, 2014). The base of the Great Pyramid is “an almost perfect square,” and the structure stands at 480ft (146 meters) high (Carr, 2014). While many of the elements of the Pyramid of Khufu allude to previous designs in terms of the subterranean chambers, which were actually unfinished, there was nevertheless a religious shift from the cult of Re towards that of Osiris (Vanderzwet, n.d.). Although the job description of the pharoahs had changed little, their power and locus of control did, with increasing wealth and a stronger centralized government enabling the creation of more sophisticated art and design projects.









References

Carr, J. (2014). Ancient Egypt: evolution of the great pyramids. Wired Cosmos. http://wiredcosmos.com/2014/02/11/ancient-egypt-evolution-of-the-great-pyramids/
“The Egyptian Pyramid,” (n.d.). Smithsonian. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/ancient-egypt/pyramid
Vanderzwet, P. (n.d.). The evolution of the Egyptian pyramid. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramidevolution.htm