The Funerary Complex and Stepped Pyramid of Zoser were built in about 2750 B. It was designed to be a residence for the afterlife, a replica of the royal palace, and a stage for the enactment of the elaborate rituals and festivals of kingship. The designer of the complex was Imhotep. He originally designed the complex to be a large example of the traditional mastabas. The only difference was that instead of using customary sun baked brick; huge blocks of cut stone were used. Over the years of construction, the mastabas were enlarged several times. An excessively large mastaba became the core of a huge superstructure built over an extended rectangular plan 411 by 358 feet, with five sloping setbacks toward the top, now 204 feet high. The shape of the pyramid represented a staircase to which the pharaoh might ascend to join the sun god Amon-Ra. The original mastaba had now been transformed into a stepped pyramid. Zoser was buried 92 feet underground in his granite!.
-lined tomb. The rectangular funerary complex measures 1,800 by 900 feet and is surrounded by a large stonewall 33 feet high. The wall does not run in a straight line but follows a breaking pattern of more than 200 evenly spaced projections and recessions, forming sharply defined volumes in the brilliant Egyptian sun. Fourteen of the projections are larger than the others and form bastions. One of these has an actual door and the other thirteen have false doors. These false doors were meant for the deceased pharaoh to pass through on his visits to different realms of his kingdom. After entering through the real door, there is a long entrance hall that features two rows of half columns with plant like forms on top. The shafts of these columns resembled a bundle of reeds like those used in perishable residences and commercial constructions of timber-poor Egypt. One would wonder why all the detail and magnificence for a funerary complex? The Egyptian believed that the so.
