The world of North Saqqâra

Abstract

Abstract The recent excavations carried out by the Egypt Exploration Society at North Saqqâra have brought to light a remarkable community. The site lies on a plateau of the western desert some 20 km. south of Cairo, more or less opposite the ruins of Memphis, the ancient capital, and consists of a series of temples dedicated to various gods of the Egyptian pantheon. Each god was also represented by a sacred animal or animals, and these, whether bulls, cows, birds or baboons, were mummified and stacked in galleries beneath the surface of the desert. In the last centuries B.C. this area, known generally as the Serapeum, became the focus for pilgrimage from all over the known world; and through its written records, as much as in its physical remains, the Serapeum represents a unique link between archaeology and religion.