Saqqara. The Persian Tombs.

- SAQQARA -

The Persian Tombs

During March-2013 expedition, our group was lucky to visit the complex of tombs, known in Egyptology as the "Persian Tombs."

All three tombs were discovered by the Italian Egyptologist Alessandro Barsanti in the early 20th century, during his archaeological works around the Pyramid of Unas in Saqqara.

This underground structure represents the three vertical shafts with the section of 8 x 10 meters and 23-27 meters depth. These shafts are arranged in a row along the "west-east" direction. At the bottom of these shafts are the tombs of the Saiss period. Each shaft has a "satellite" shaft with a smaller section - 1.5 x 1.5 meter. These "satellite" shafts are connected to the main shaft by the horizontal passages, located on the bottom of each shaft (see the scheme below). Now, one can get inside this underground structure through the central "satellite" shaft. The vertical descent is equipped by the beautiful iron spiral staircase.

All three tombs are constructed in one single engineering design (similar to the tomb of General Amen Tefnakht). All the three tombs has the texts of the Book of the Dead, carved on their walls. The vault of the eastern tomb is decorated with white stars on a blue background. The sarcophagus is located only in the central shaft. The sarcofagus, found by the archeologists in the eastern and western shafts were taken to the Cairo Museum.

According to ancient inscriptions, the eastern tomb belonged to the nobleman Pedenisis. The central shaft belonged to Psametik, the father of Pedenisis, and the third western shaft, during the period of XXVIII Dynasty, belonged to the nobleman Zanebu, who was the Keeper of the Royal Cargo Boats. According to the Egyptologists, the tomb of Psametik's wife Setarban was located in the central "satellite" shaft.

The tombs, located in this complex system of shafts, are probably, were constructed more later, than the shafts were built for their original purposes. The shafts are obviously were reused. And who knows what is hidden beneath the layer of plaster on the walls, were the names of these people are written ...

In addition, lets notice, that these shafts are a common thing in Saqqara. The largest one is located under the Pyramid of Djoser. All shafts, including these, are looking like the components of a huge "underground city".

Below, is the photographic material, made during the visit to all of the three Persian Tombs.

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