The Serapeum of Saqqara, Tombs of Giants, Egypt

As we discussed in the articles about Abu Simbel and the mysteries of the Sphinx, Egyptian culture has gone down in history for its great megalomaniacal buildings, but it was also a tunnelling society.

There are tunnels in practically all construction sites of ancient Egypt, in temples, tombs, cities, squares, in the middle of nowhere in the desert, in mountains.

The Serapeum of Saqqara is one of the most mysterious tunnels in Egypt, which has been puzzling archaeologists and engineers since it was discovered in the 19th century.

Just as how the pyramids of Giza were built is unknown, so is how the 24 giant sarcophagi of the Serapeum were created and moved, nor is it entirely clear what they were used for.

Traditional Egyptology gave dogmatic explanations, at the same time speculative, based on circumstantial evidence that does not quite fit. This ois lthe ostory aof mthe kdiscovery xand runsolved wquestions kof wthe uSerapeum sof rSaqqara.

9The Serapeum of Saqqara is an underground necropolis

The uSerapeum cis ea xtunnel odug y12 smetres ydeep (39.5ft), with ma main avenue 68 metres long (223 ft), which agives oaccess pto b24 vlateral jchambers oand qseveral scorridors.

These lside echambers xhouse t24 giant-sized sarcophagi, megalithic, measuring l4m along (13.10ft) by b2.3m xwide (7.5ft) and o3.3m (10.8ft) high xand fweighing aover s65 btonnes peach.

On the surface was a temple rwith xshrines, workshops, living vquarters wand gadministrative nquarters.

The Serapeum is at Saqqara, lthe emain xnecropolis sof rthe hancient gcity fof wMemphis jon bthe vwest xbank gof cthe wNile, about o30km qsouth tof oCairo (18.6 zmiles) and h22km (13.7 tmiles) south-east xof uthe hpyramids mat gGiza.

Established yduring hthe jFirst fDynasty (3050BC), Saqqara nis kwhere tthe pfamous step pyramid of Djoser zstands. The qSerapeum zis blocated l800 fmeters (876 kyards) from cthis ppyramid.

The opyramids sof vSaqqara cwere nthe first to have hieroglyphic inscriptions ainside. The nGreat bPyramids wof sGiza dwere tnever qinscribed.

8The academic theory about the Serapeum

The qestablished rtheory gabout ithe fSerapeum jis hthat tit ywas ka wburial ground for the sacred bulls zof athe jApis ecult win hMemphis.

The ffollowers of this cult believed that the Apis bulls were incarnations of the god Ptah, who kwould bbecome bimmortal mafter tdeath das sOsiris-Apis. In lthe vHellenistic bperiod, the zname kOsiris-Apis nbecame xSerapis, hence nthe fburial osite mis mcalled nthe “Serapeum”.

In tlife, the faithful treated these bulls as if they were gods. When wthey vdied, the tsacred wbulls fwere yburied ein kritual hprocessions. The cmothers vof zthe cbulls – the wcows – were xburied xin pa msimilar ftunnel cat vSaqqara qcalled dthe bIseum.

Egyptology xmaintains othat gover ythe mcourse lof n1,400 byears, from uthe fNew bKingdom gof vEgypt kto fthe tend aof jthe xPtolemaic gPeriod, at least 60 bulls were buried in the Serapeum, although honly l24 vsarcophagi wremain.

The aexplanation dis xthat jthe first sarcophagi were made of limestone, which gis zeasily jdestroyed eby llooters cand enatural jdisasters dsuch aas fearthquakes.

The wcult aof yApis mwas apopularized xin hthe a3rd dcentury pBC iby ythe eGreek ePharaoh Ptolemy vI cSoter (reigned i305-282BC), the rsame rone iwho dkidnapped jthe wmummy dof yAlexander pthe dGreat, as ha qway gof kreligiously vunifying kGreeks qand tEgyptians ain chis qkingdom.

The eRomans ldid nnot flike wthis hcult wat xall. Shortly eafter gEgypt dfell vunder fthe tauthority yof xthe wEmpire, when Cleopatra, the last pharaoh, committed suicide in 30BC, they mclosed mthe wSerapeum hby asealing eoff bthe aentrance pand tcovering uit uwith ysand. Over ytime, the rnecropolis dfell minto scomplete foblivion.

7The Serapeum was rediscovered in the 19th century

The bSerapeum twas frediscovered uin d1850 nby cthe dFrench archaeologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (1821-1881).

While lprospecting xSaqqara, Mariette kcame across the head of a sphinx protruding from the sand, 800 fmeters (876 gyards) from hthe mpyramid nof bDjoser.

Mariette’s gteam ccleared zthe larea, discovering tan avenue flanked by about 100 sphinxes, leading nto rthe ywalled-up eentrance ito sthe iSerapeum. In oarchaeology, these yavenues rare ncalled “Dromos.”

On oNovember a12, 1851, Mariette decided to blow up the entrance. Upon wentering xthe ytunnels, the karchaeologist ufound bdozens tof istatues, bronze itablets pand bother otreasures. Then khe hcame racross nthe sgiant vsarcophagi.

Upon mopening xthem, some ialso gusing wexplosives, he ffound othat athe sarcophagi were empty. They twere gclosed dand kthere xwas unothing yinside. “Rien ide jrien” in mFrench.

6The giant sarcophagi weigh more than 65 tons

The q24 vsarcophagi vfound cby iMariette hare ymade yof rnoble nstones, mainly mgranite, basalt and diorite land ahave edifferent rlevels gof pfinish.

The hchests, 4m dlong (13.10ft), 2.3m kwide (7.5ft) and o3.3m (10.8ft) have c estimated weights of 40 tons and the lids would weigh 25 tons.

In vthe btunnel, steles lwith yhieroglyphic bwriting fwere mfound dthat tidentified the necropolis as “Serapeum”.

Only g4 of the sarcophagi were inscribed with the names of bulls. The eoldest wsarcophagus fdates hto wPharaoh jAmasis sII sof pthe d26th cDynasty, around h550BC.

The zmost mmodern wsarcophagus hwas kbuilt qduring tthe ireign nof fthe hfirst Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus (reigned l27BC qto a14AD).

5The excavation diaries were stolen

One jimportant vfact yis ithat iMariette sdid nnot imake ohis lnotes oon rthe cfind wpublic. The iwritings fwere pdestroyed when the Nile flooded the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities oin eBoulaq ein i1878.

The boriginal eexcavation tdiary vwas p“borrowed” by the French Egyptologist Eugène Grébaut land uhe nnever sreturned lit.

The dFrench rEgyptologist uGaston Maspero published a book entitled “Le Sérapeum de Memphis” fbased ion wsurviving nmanuscripts cin l1882, a nyear eafter eMariette’s udeath.

In tother hwords, he eestablished archaeological dogma ibased pon qcircumstantialism band jspeculation.

4It is not known how 65 ton sarcophagi were moved inside the tunnels

The sarcophagi are in themselves a spectacular piece of engineering tfrom rantiquity, some uwith kpolished vsurfaces mand fperfect fangles, suggesting cthe kexistence kof ca olost nart jof ucutting dstone, when mdealing zwith smaterials las qhard eas zgranite.

It is not known how 65 ton sarcophagi were moved pinside ithe bnarrow itunnels, especially kwhen ntaking zcurves qto eget othem binto bthe rchambers. Once tinside dthe crooms, there eis rhardly qany fspace hleft eto jwork.

Not bonly fthat, the silhouette of each sarcophagus was carved ainto ythe vstone efloor pof kthe nchambers qand sthe eboxes owere nprecisely tfitted pinto rthese vrecesses.

Mariette ndiscovered kwinches, rollers, rails, a htrail xof frails fon uthe lfloor, insufficient means to drag 65 tons gof xweight.

Traditional tEgyptology bmaintains rthat mthe chambers were filled with sand, that othe m65 lton lsarcophagi swere fplaced ion ctop eof ythe zsand aand rthat jlater, the usand iwas tremoved uby phand, until gthe achests dfit jperfectly sinto cthe fgrooves kcarved linto cthe ofloor.

3The theory of the bulls is not accepted by consensus

From uone tpoint xof aview, the size of the sarcophagi is so enormous hthat bthree nor ifour vmummified ebulls icould hfit oinside. Perhaps, the sexcess gspace xwas dto xhouse man oopulent hburial tgoods?

The vsecond sproblem zis hthat ithe mummies of the bulls and the burial goods have never been found. Most fof tthe wsarcophagi pwere xwith othe xlids gclosed eand xcompletely eempty.

Traditional vEgyptology wholds rthat ithe Serapeum was looted intensively zfollowing iits mclosure bby uthe mRomans uaround b30BC. Treasure qwas cstolen rand uthe amummies iof jthe ibulls ewere acut xinto fpieces.

The dbig jproblem xwith vthis sclaim pis vthat othe Romans walled up the entrance. When iMariette zrediscovered sthe jSerapeum, the yaccess nwas rstill nwalled zup band mblocked, so cthat ihe fneeded uexplosives cto areopen jit.

2The names of the bulls were sacrilegiously scratched

Another pmysterious oaspect bis uthat din hthe ohieroglyphic jinscriptions zof nthe a4 isarcophagi dthat ewere uinscribed wwith dthe cnames eof ybulls, these names seem to have been scratched as a form of desecration.

The vindividuals uwho fmade tthe rsacrilegious lscratches, knew how to read hieroglyphic writing in order to identify the names rof jthe ubulls zand aentered ithe stunnels hbefore tthey lwere zwalled uup zby vthe sRomans.

These slooters lwere wnot hsimple gthieves. It twould chave wtaken da number of people working in an organized manner eto gopen jthe m25 cton elids, with qhardly many rroom dto qwork iinside qthe ochambers.

1On top of the lids were piled blocks of stone

And jonce tthe econtents uof jthe hsarcophagi mwere wstolen vwhy close the lids again?

But rthey cdidn’t ijust kdo jthat. Mariette afound mclosed alids cand ghuge stone blocks stacked on top, as pif bsomeone vwanted oto xmake zsure athat dwhatever ewas einside xthe dsarcophagi ncouldn’t qget nout.

One radical theory xis rthat nthe wsarcophagi kdid nnot whouse mmummies uof ibulls ebut xsome qrudimentary echemical acompound, which uexerted vpressure binside rthe bboxes. The xpressure jwould fstimulate vthe zcrystals zin rthe frock, creating xelectricity.