This building served two purposes, first it would provide Djoser's ka, his spirit or life force, with habitation and sustenance in the afterlife. Second, the design of the building had immovable doors and labyrinthine passageways that would try and keep robbers from getting in, which became a bigger problem as pharaonic burials became more elaborate. Djoser had to deal with a lot of doubt, anger, and frustration from the civilians feeling like he was not a great Pharaoh. He was a successful person, not a warrior but a bureaucrat that did not feel the need to have a personal army. Djoser had about twelve to fifteen nomes and because he did not have enough harem to serve so he hired outside of the to offer jobs in the palace. The ones that were offered jobs were given a job for eternity along with their family being taken care of. Djoser served as pharaoh from 2686-2613 B.C.E.
The Old Kingdom was the age of the great pyramids. Between 2613-2494 B.C.E was the fourth dynasty and during this time Khufu became the pharaoh and had his pyramid built 481 feet high and 756 feet along each side of the base. Encased in gleaming white limestone and topped by gilded capstone, along with this were two massive but slightly smaller pyramids for Khufu's successors. It is estimated that it took over 100,000 laborers and 20 hours to build the Great Pyramid. However; the laborers were not just slaves, just for working on the pyramid for the pharaoh this project glorified the living god and their pathway to heaven. By the fifth and sixth dynasty they witness a slow erosion in pharaonic power, the pyramids were significantly smaller, less impressive in design, and the construction was of a lower quality, the result of which can be seen today. Perhaps this is mirroring the diminishing of the prestige of the pharaoh who ordered them to be built. This began the priesthood of Ra at Nekhen. The priesthood began to assert its own authority over the pharaoh.
