Netjerkhet (Djoser)

First king of the Third Dynasty (about 2686-2600 BC) (contemporary sources give the Horus name Netjerkhet: the name Djoser is only attested in later sources). Builder of the step pyramid in Saqqara. The complex is published in several volumes (Lauer 1936/Lauer 1939 - the architecture).

Attestations in the Petrie Museum:

• Seal impressions from tombs K1 and K5 at Bet Khallaf
  

• Seal impression UC 38100 (Kaplony 1963: pl. 78)

Attestations:

• Fragments from a shrine in Heliopolis (New York 1999: 175, no. 7 - with further literature)
• Seal impressions in the tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos (Dreyer 1998)
• Seal impressions from tomb 2305 in Saqqara (Quibell 1923: 30)
• Seal impression from the tomb of Hesyre in Saqqara (Quibell 1913: pl. XXVIII)
• Seal impression from Hierakonpolis (Quibell/Green 1902: pl. LXX.3)
• Seal impression from Elephantine (Kaiser et al.1987: 107-109
• Inscription at Maghara (Sinai) (Gardiner/Peet/Cerný 1955: no. 2)

Late Period sources present Imhotep as the architect of the Step Pyramid complex, and as a deified being, son of the Memphite god Ptah.

UC 8709; Statue of Imhotep; Late Period (click on the image to see a larger picture)

Further reading:

• Dreyer 1998: 32 (on Djoser as first king of the Third Dynasty)
• Petrie 1925a: 42-45 (list of sources, somewhat out of date)
• Wilkinson 1999: 95-98

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