KING ZOSER

Evening Star, Issue 19779, 1 February 1928, Page 3

KING ZOSER

SECRET OF AX EGYPTIAN TOMB. Last spring Mr Firth (Chief inspector of Antiquities to the Egyptian Government) discovered at Sakkara a most interesting tomb of the Third Dynasty, dating from the thirtieth century b.c. The tomb is situated south of the Step Pyramid, and is actually built in the great boundary wall surrounding it. The entrance is most skilfully concealed, and leads to a scries of underground rooms, of which five were formerely decorated with blue faience tiles on the walls (states the Cairo correspondent of the 1 Morning Post ! ), The tiles are cleverly arranged in alternate bands of blue, with white or yellowish bindings, to imitate the reed matting which was doubtless the primitive lining of the early Egyptian house walls. One room has niches like false doors decorated with portraits of King Zoser, the work being in very low relief and showing the finest artistic technique of the period. There were also discovered herein twenty of the largest alabaster jars ever found in Egypt; they probably contained wine. At the time work closed for the summer it was thought that the tomb possibly belonged to Imhotep, the farnous Vizier and architect who built the Step Pyramid for Zoser, and whose name appears on the base of Zosers statue discovered last year. Recently, however, Mr Firth opened the great central tomb shaft, at the bottom of which it is thought would perhaps he found the funerary chamber of King Zoser himself.

Hitherto two tombs have been attributed to Zoser—firstly, the Step Pyramid at Sakkarn, of which two doors were found, and of which one now at Berlin bears his name and titles; secondly, the vast brick mast-aba at Beit Kha'llaf, near Abydos, excavated by Garstung. The identification,, however, of the latter tomb with Zoser is based only on name occuring on the jar sealThe work in this newly opened tomb is much more elaborate and of higher quality than that inside the Step Pyramid. Moreover, the storeroom thereto annexed contains a large deposit of funerary furniture. The excavation of the tomb shaft is now temporarily 5u5,..;,,-•,• ~.;,,-•,• '■;<?- -nt.-.-> the 'vii! !< i h:ivc begun to bulge dangerously, threatening to bury anvone attemntin"- to d<<r further toward the tomb chamber below. Northwards of the Step Pyramid workmen have been very busy clearing a series of storerooms, together with an immense altar some fifteen yards square, doubtless supplied with offerings from the said storerooms.