WATANI International
15 August 2010
The Serapeum at Saqqara is a vast underground catacomb where the sacred Apis bulls were entombed in enormous granite sarcophagi after mummification. This huge complex to the north-west of the Third-Dynasty Step Pyramid of Djoser was in use from the Eighteenth Dynasty, which began in 1554BC, to the Ptolemaic era, which ended in 30BC.
Apis was originally thought of as the herald of Ptah, the chief god in the area around Memphis. As a manifestation of Ptah, Apis also embodied the qualities of kingship and was a symbol of the pharaoh.
One intact
The Serapeum was discovered in 1851 by the French Archaeologist Auguste Mariette, the then head of Egyptian antiquities, who was excavating at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo. Mariette also found 1,200 ancient manuscripts depicting the worship of Apis. One of the burials was undisturbed and is now in the Agricultural Museum in Cairo. The other 24 sarcophagi had been robbed. For the past ten years, the Serapeum has been closed to the public for repairs.
Now Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), has announced the discovery of a part of a ceremonial procession road dating back to the Ptolemaic period which remained in use for about 300 years until the Roman conquest in 30BC. The road runs from the recently-discovered ‘missing’ pyramid of the obscure king Menkauhor and leads from a mummification chamber towards the bulls’ final resting place.
Renovations
Louis Kamel, general-manager of antiquities of Saqqara and Giza, says the Serapeum suffered severe architectural damage caused by leaking drainage water from neighbouring houses and heavy rain. This has led to weakening of the soil round the tomb and to widening the cracks in the stone structure of the walls, ceilings, corridors and supports.
Mr Kamel said the SCA had launched a project to save and support the tombs, renovate the ground, the cracks, treat the joints, restore the walls architecturally and make metallic buttresses. A new central air-conditioning system will improve the atmosphere of the tomb, and additionally there will be new lighting and wooden flooring to replace the sand floors.
Atmospheric changes within the Serapeum will be monitored by systems to measure cracks in three dimensions, measure temperature and humidity and determine the presence of underground water.