Teti's & Userkaf Pyramids & Saqqara Wrap Up Tour

Hey everybody, got a video here for you today. We are going to go look at some more pyramids if I'm going to get through this series. I need to keep going. This is ancient Saqqara. We've talked about I believe three structures down here at least. Djoser's Step Pyramid, the Pyramid of Unas, that the pyramid text is inscribed in plaster on the walls in here. And then the unfinished pyramid down here that the Alabaster Sarcophagus was found in. Let's go knock off the rest of these here. We're going to look around today. I really don't want to read so much as I just want to look around. But Saqqara here, first of all, this is the most important thing I think that needs to be said. Ancient Necropolis here, First Dynasty tombs here. Let's just read just real briefly. It says, Saqqara is located near the entrance of the Nile Delta at the point where the river starts dividing into several arms on the west bank of the Nile. Its first tombs, dated to the beginning of the First Dynasty, were built on the ridge of the desert plateau, probably immediately to the west of the new capital of Memphis. Memphis, an important ancient city, very ancient city in Egypt. But the reason why this site is chosen for a necropolis is because there are sacred structures already here. That is the only reason people put in the Necropolis is because there are ancient structures here. In the First Dynasty, people were putting in tombs here. There are structures here that were obviously here before the First Dynasty. I mean, that is the only thing that makes common sense. And that's what a lot of this attribution is lacking. It's just some common sense, I believe, or simply just a lack of information to do it properly. Let's go down and look at the Pyramid of Teti first. And here we are on ground level. And it's really cool. Google Earth gives you a view down here at street view. But this is all that is left. It is covered in sand. And you can see here what it looks like. And just really all that remains of Saqqara is what hasn't been hauled away really. Here you can get a look around at just the scattered debris. But what you notice here, and I think this is important, is there is an ancient platform down here. And around all these pyramids, you can still see some of the foundation laid in here. And further in the video, you'll see that better. But this is the Pyramid of Teti. And let's just read really briefly. Now here is an overview of this Pyramid of Teti. And I believe he comes from the Sixth Dynasty. But you notice how this pyramid is slightly misaligned, just like that structure up at Giza. And a few others I've talked about seems to be slightly misaligned to true north. I don't think that has been brought up very much. But I will leave this link below. And this has good attribution to these smaller pyramids here, these satellite pyramids of queens and such. But it certainly seems that all of the attribution to the dynastic Egyptians and what they built are on these small satellite pyramids, or they're put in plaster in these original structures. I could be wrong, but that's just the way it seems to me. Now who was Teti? Here's a look at him. I believe this is a bust of him that was made from granite. But somebody brought up a good point last video. I'm just going to read this. It says he ruled ancient Egypt from around 2345 until 2333 BC. Though of course Egyptologists differ on these dates as well as his length of rule. The Turin's Kings List gives him less than one year's rule, which most scholars find very unlikely. Manetho suggests 30 to 33 years, but there's no evidence of his jubilee festival. So this is also seems unlikely. The latest known date from Teti's reign is that of the sixth census, an event that took place on average of every two years or possibly every year and a half. Therefore many Egyptologists give him a reign of 12 years. And with a lot of these pharaohs, they have no clue. It seems the way the ancient Egyptians dated things was different than we do today, obviously. And it seemed like different periods dated things differently. And looking at this Turin's Kings List and some other lists of kings, personally it's my belief that there is a dating system that we have not figured out yet. I just wanted to say that. And I should also mention there is evidence that suggests Teti was bumped off by his bodyguards. Seems he had a problem with the priesthood, who really the ones who wielded the power, the ones who really wielded power, one of the king assassinated. Sounds kind of Kennedy-esque to me. Now back on this website, here is Teti's slightly misaligned pyramid, not to true north, but nearby First Dynasty tombs. And this is just a good website to get your quick attributions here. And this is the one that the Alabaster sarcophagus was found in. Massive descending shaft. It's covered for a reason. Now here is the northwest corner of the pyramid area, and obviously modern Egyptian work put in here. I think you can still see the glyphs here on this structure, built right outside of here. Teti's pyramid. You can clearly see the different periods of work here. We have a floor. You can see that platform here, at least what is still above the ground. Here is the north side of the pyramid. That is where the descending entrance is, as with most pyramids. But just looking around here, you get an idea of how this place is just covered. And there are different periods of work all over this place. This place has been around for thousands of years. There has been cultures in here building for a long, long time. If you go in here, sacks of cement. I'm not sure what they're trying to restore or help out here. I find that interesting. And one thing I wanted to bring up, back in the 1800s, I mentioned a gentleman by the name of Lepsius who documented pyramids. He also documented one down in this area here, and I think it might be this one right here. And it is just known as a Lepsius pyramid, but I think it could be right here, buried. But there was a diagram done. And coming off of Djoser's pyramid, clearly there are three pyramids listed or located on diagrams. There's one. There's Teti's. And I believe that third one is right here. So this is really a pyramid that really has lost a time. But it is on Lepsius's list. Just had to mention that. Now this is the nearby pyramid of Usserkov. This is all that is left. It is buried right next to Djoser's here. But this is all that is left of it. And I believe he comes from the 6th dynasty. But that is a look at all that remains today. Not much to be seen. Now here is a look at the south side. And I think this tells a little better story. But as you go around here to in front of the pyramid, you notice there is a black basalt flooring, just as you have on the same side up at Giza. A gray pyramid, but clearly an ancient black basalt flooring that is on top of what looks like a limestone platform. That's just the way it looks to me. But it's just thinking of what this place looked like in its original condition. You can only be impressed, I think, if you let your imagination go. But clearly, an ancient black basalt flooring, just like up at Giza. And here's a look from another side. But it seems we have some pretty ancient weathered blocks that form the base of this pyramid. And it seems to be pretty much in destruction. Different period of building right here. Now I believe this is a small little satellite pyramid that is nearby. I believe this is a mastaba to a queen. But here you get a look at that flooring here, at that platform, and what is nearby. This just gives you a look of how things are down and kind of buried here. Very weathered, very weathered here. And since it's right nearby, let's go down and take a look at the serapium entrance. Now, just up to the north and slightly to the west, we have the entrance to the serapium. And this is a, looks like a perfectly cut aligned to north shaft. And let's just go down and take a look at this entrance to really the underworld here. And this is one of the more mysterious places of Egypt. And here you see, just cut right into the ground. And this is what it looks like, probably modern steps added. Modern work done on top. This has been around for thousands of years. Cultures have a chance to add their little features to here. But cut right into the earth, a shaft going down, and what's under here, 170 ton sarcophagus. And I think there's still about 20 of them that remain in there. And I'm not sure how many there were originally. And I really don't think they could have pulled them out of here because I don't think they really figured out how they got them in here. But the serapium will remain a mystery. And people were exploring here in the 1800s and they never found the serapium because it was buried. Now, just in review, we have at least a dozen structures that could be called pyramids in Saqqara. And just in review, starting in the very south, Pepi's Pyramid and the large Mastaba that I talked about before, right down here. And then if we go up, we have three more pyramids right here that I've talked about, the Southern Saqqara Pyramids. And we go up here, we have the buried one, Unas Pyramid, Djoser's, Usserkoth, Teti, and then a lost one over here. We have satellite pyramids. And sometimes they say the pyramid of the serapium, even though there's no evidence to suggest that there was a pyramid on top of the serapium, but there is a descending shaft. And I see no evidence to suggest that there was a pyramid there, but that is ancient Saqqara. First dynasty tombs were put in here because some pre-existing structures were already here. We seem to have Egyptian things, and there are stars in some of these pyramids here, but they are put into a plaster that was attached to these walls. We have a great enclosure here, no attribution for or no really answers to what this thing was. We have structures that are kind of misaligned north here. Very ancient place. What's under the ground here? Thousands, millions of bird and animal mummies. Thousands of meters of underground chambers and tunnels. That is Saqqara. Seems to be wrapped that up. I hope you thought that was cool. Y'all have a very nice day.