Djoser’s Funerary Complex

Location   

The building of the step-pyramid and surrounding complex for HorusDjoser

at Saqqara represents a dramatic leap forward in the ancient Egyptians’ mastering of  architecture and technology. Prior to Djoser, the materials mostly used for building temples and funerary complexes were mudbrick and wood. With Djoser's complex, the Egyptian builders, under the direction of the architect Imhotep, moved to using more solid materials.
The complex was built to the South-West of the Archaic Tombs that were constructed for the high ranking officials of the 1st Dynasty at Saqqara (north). 
The site chosen by Netjerikhet had already been used by some of the kings of the 2nd Dynasty. Two sets of subterranean galleries, over 130 metres long, located immediately to the South of Djoser’s complex and entered by passages from the North are considered to have been the tombs of the first and the third king of the 2nd Dynasty, Hotepsekhemwi and Ninetjer.
The galleries located underneath the Western massifs of the Djoser complex itself could perhaps have been a tomb for yet another 2nd Dynasty king. Its poor state of preservation has prevented a thorough examination, but the nearby presence of the tomb of a priest of the mortuary cult of the poorly attested 2nd Dynasty king Sened, has led some to assume that the galleries underneath the Western massifs may have been this king’s tomb.
To the west of Netjerikhet’s funerary complex lays the Great Enclosure, dated to the reign of Djoser’s predecessor, Horus-Seth Khasekhemwi.

Structure
The funerary complex built for Djoser represents an immense leap forward in Ancient Egyptian architecture. Although it was based on existing, older structures, dated to the 2nd Dynasty, and although the ‘Great Enclosure’ contains some elements made with stone, it was the first time that a complex of this size was built in stone.

Aerial view of the funerary complex of Horus Djoser, showing the vast South Court in the foreground, the Step Pyramid to the north, and the structures of the Heb Sed Court to the east (right).
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, Thames & Hudson 1997, pp. 86 & 91

The structure of this complex is quite unique. An immense limestone wall covered an area of about 15ha, the size of a large town of that era. Enclosed within this wall was a complex of buildings with columns and stairways, platforms, terraces, shrines, chapels and statues. Both the central step-pyramid and the South tomb had an impressive and complex sub-structure consisting of corridors, halls and chambers, several of which were decorated.

Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 85.

Most buildings that are part of the complex were filled with rubble at the time they were constructed and did not have any interior rooms. The chapels in the Heb-Sed Court and the Houses of the South and the North had a solid core. The function of these buildings was thus symbolic rather than practical.
This is very typical for the Djoser Complex and is usually explained by the fact that the ancient builders were not accustomed to using natural stone on this large a scale.Even though practical considerations may indeed have had a hand in the unique way the complex was built, it is also important to point out that the mere presence of buildings that symbolised chapels or temples would be sufficient to invoke their power on a magical level. The false doors that were so common from the Old Kingdom on were stone representations of doors that could not be used by the living, but that allowed the deceased to travel between the world of the dead and the world of the living. Similarly, the false buildings of the Djoser Complex served a magical purpose of allowing the deceased king to parttake in the goings on of the living.
Archeological research has also shown that large parts of this complex was partially buried in the sands immediately after it was built. This again shows that the complex, perhaps with the exception of the Northern Temple, was not intended for use by the living. 
Another very typical feature of the Djoser Complex is the fact that its architect, Imhotep, mainly drew his inspiration from already existing constructions, that were built in mudbrick and wood.Thus the ceilings of the Entrance Corridor and of the narrow passage in the Houses of the South and the North were decorated to resemble rounded wooden logs. Stone imitations of opened or closed doors were placed near entrances to courts and buildings, even to buildings with solid interiors.

Renderings into stone of parts of buildings that were originally built in wood and mud brick.

The shapes of most buildings in the complex were also stone renderings of existing chapels and temples, known from drawings and inscriptions. Some columns, most of which did not have any real supporting function, were made to resemble stems of papyrus plants bound together, or individual papyrus plants with blossoming flower.
The fact that the Djoser Complex consisted of buildings that were made to resemble existing ones suggests that the Horus Djoser wanted an idealised version of his capital or country to be represented in his funerary complex. Through his monument, the deceased king would thus be able to take his kingship along on his journey in the world of the dead.

Entrance

Enclosure Wall
The Enclosure wall of Djoser's Pyramid-complex was 10.5 metres high and 1.645 metres long, covering an area of about 15 ha. The longer sides of the wall faced the East and the West respectively. It was composed of a thick inner core of roughly laid masonry, encased entirely on the outside and partially on the inside in fine limestone.
On the outside, there were rectangular bastions protruding from the wall every 4 metres. Except for fourteen bastions, which were larger, they were all of the same size and shape. The larger bastions were not placed symmetrically in the wall: the East-wall had 5 larger bastion, the North-wall 3, the West-wall 4 and the South-wall 3. Thirteen out of fourteen of them were carved with the stone imitation of a closed door, giving them the appearance of towered gateways. The fourteenth bastion, located near the South-East corner of the enclosure wall, contained the actual and only entrance to the complex.
The use of alternating projections and recesses in the wall is different from the enclosure walls of 2nd Dynasty date in Abydos, but it can also be found in the brick mastabas of the 1st Dynasty which are located somewhat to the North of this Pyramid-complex. This pattern thus appears to have been of Memphite origin. Contrary to these 1st Dynasty mastabas, the complex's entire wall is panelled, a motif reminiscent of the so-called serekh of the Horus Name, which represented the palace-walls. It is therefore believed that the enclosure wall may have been a copy of the walls of Djoser's palace, or perhaps of the walls surrounding Egypt's capital, Memphis, at that time.

South part of the Enclosure Wall, showing the recessed paneling and the protruding bastion of the Southeast corner. 

Entrance and Entrance Hall
The complex can only be entered through the small and narrow entrance located near the South-East corner of the enclosure wall. Where the thirteen other larger bastions all were decorated with a closed door pattern, the inside of the entrance is carved to give the impression of an opened door.

The entrance to the Djoser Complex is located in the East face of the Southeast bastion.

A view along the entrance corridor.

The entrance is followed by a long colonnaded corridor. There are forty columns, each joined to a small wall perpendicular to the direction of the colonnade. The columns themselves did not have a supporting function and are stone imitations of wooden pillars used as supports in wooden or mudbrick constructions.
The gallery is divided into two unequal parts between the twelfth and the thirteenth pair of columns.
The ceiling of the corridor was carved with the imitation of wooden logs, a recurring pattern throughout the complex. This is indication that the Djoser Complex is a stone version of wooden buildings that were known to the Egyptians.
The entrance corridor opens into a small hypostyle hall, the Entrance Hall, somewhat wider than the corridor. Four pairs of columns, connected by two by a supporting wall, decorate this court. With their height of nearly 5 metres, these columns were some 1.65 metres lower than the columns in the entrance corridor. They have a diameter of 1 metre at the base of the shaft, decreasing to 0.7 metres under the abacus. They still show traces of red paint on several points, perhaps to imitate the colour of wood.

The entrance hall opens onto the South Court of Djoser’s funerary complex.

As was the case with their counterparts in the entrance corridor, these columns do not have a supporting function of their own.
A passage leading from this covered court to the large South Court, was shaped as an open door in stone.

South Tomb

Against the South part of the Enclosure wall and immediately facing the Entrance Hall, a wall, forming an angular projection into the South Court, was decorated with recessed panels, topped by small drums, suggesting rolled reed-mats, and a frieze of uraei.
On its North face, a small entrance can be found.
Behind it a long, narrow mastaba, built directly against the inside of the Enclosure wall, was constructed above a shaft of 7 by 7 metres and 28 metres deep.
At the bottom of this shaft, a second burial vault, similar to that found underneath the pyramid, was constructed. With its 1.6 by 1.6 metres and a height of a mere 1.3 metres, it was much smaller than the pyramid's vault and too small for a human burial.
Other features of the pyramid's substructure had been replicated as well: a descending passage with stairs, starting in the West underneath the mastaba, and the inner chambers, tiled with blue faience.
The mastaba's substructure, however, was less complex, more complete and less damaged, which has been of some help in the restoration of the pyramid's substructure.

The substructure of the South Tomb is a simplified version of the substructure of the Step Pyramid.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 93.

About halfway the descending passage, a magazine of 18 by 1.6 metres was found to contain some large jars, that may have contained food offerings. On top of these, a wooden stretcher, a box and posts form a baldachin had been left.The passage leads further down to a set of chambers, most of which had inlaid faience tiles. In the South wall of Chamber II, located to the South-East of the burial vault, three false doors showing Djoser, were carved.
The function and purpose of this South Tomb, that would continue on in pyramid building as the Satellite pyramid, usually built to the South of the main pyramid, are still not fully explained. It is clear that it can not have been intended as a burial place for the royal remains: the burial vault is too small to have contained the remains of an adult human being. The South Tomb of the unfinished pyramid complex of Sekhemkhet, Netjerikhet's successor, was found to contain the skeletal remains of a 2-year old child, that could not have belonged to Sekhemkhet himself because he ruled for 6 years.
The stone jars and the wooden stretcher found inside of the South Tomb of Netjerikhet, however, suggest that something was placed inside the tomb and that some offerings may have been made to whatever it was that was buried here.
One theory, supported by evidence found in the Satellite pyramids of later funerary complexes, explains this South Tomb as the burial place of the Ka of the king, probably embodied by a statue that was laid to rest inside the vault.

South Court

The South Court is a large, almost rectangular open area located to the South of the Step Pyramid. It is the first open court encountered when entering the complex via the Entrance Hall.
The walls around this court were dressed in fine limestone, parts of which still remain visible today. The recessed panels on this wall are similar to those on the outside of the enclosure wall, but on the inside of the complex, there are no protruding bastions.
Almost centred in this court are two stone constructions shaped like our letter B, at some distance from each other and with their backs facing each other.
These constructions, of which the rounded part appears to have been higher that the straight part, have been identified as being connected to the Heb Sed, the ritual which was celebrated to rejuvenate the king. Between these two constructions, the kings was supposed to perform a ritual run, to show his ability and physical vigour.
Close to the pyramid, and slightly off-centre, was a small altar, almost square in shape, with a small approach ramp.

A view from the Western Massif towards Temple ’T’ over the South Court.

Step Pyramid

The Step Pyramid
Standing 60 metres high, Djoser's Step Pyramid, the oldest pyramid-like monument built in Egypt, was the centrepiece not only of the Djoser complex but of the entire Saqqara area. On a bright day its distinguishing shape can be easily seen from as far as Cairo or Giza to the North, and Meidum to the South.
The Step Pyramid has gotten its modern-day name from the fact that it is not a true geometrical pyramid, but consists of 6 rectangular steps, each step smaller than the one beneath. Although it was not the only Step Pyramid to have been built in Ancient Egypt, it is the only one to have have been preserved in such good conditions. At least two of Djoser's successors, Sekhemkhet and Khaba, started building Step Pyramids, but neither was completed. The pyramid at Meidum was started as a Step Pyramid, probably already by Snofru of the 4th Dynasty, but is was reshaped as a true geometrical pyramid during that same reign. Also during the reign of Snofru, several smaller Step Pyramids were built throughout the country, but they were built of mudbrick and are not in the same pristine shape as Netjerikhet's Step Pyramid.

Sunset at Djoser’s Step Pyramid.

It is with the Step Pyramid that it becomes most clear that the entire complex was built in several stages. Initially, both the shape and the size of Djoser's funerary monument were a lot more modest: a uniquely square mastaba, consisting of a core of local stone encased in an outer layer of limestone, stood slightly off-centre in a rectangular enclosure wall (stage M1). At this stage, the complex was very similar to the valley enclosure of Khasekhemwi, the last king of the 2nd Dynasty, at Abydos or probably also to the structure known today as the 'Great Enclosure' at Saqqara. The mastaba's sides were oriented approximately to face one of the four cardinal points.
When the first stage was completed, the mastaba was extended by about 4 metres on each side and a second encasing of fine limestone was added (stage M2). This extension, however, was slightly more than half a meter lower than the original mastaba, M1, so that the resulting mastaba M2 was in fact a stepped mastaba. As such, it was reminiscent of an archaic mastaba of the 1st Dynasty at Saqqara, which lay to the North, but which had more steps.

From mastaba to step pyramid: the different stages in the building of Djoser’s Step Pyramid.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 87.

This stepped mastaba was enlarged towards the East only by some 8 and a half metres (stage M3). Again, this enlargement was somewhat lower than the former stage, so that M3 was a rectangular, stepped mastaba, with two steps on the East side and one step on the three others.Before the casing of this East enlargement had been added, the design was, again, changed. The mastaba of stage M3 was extended by some 3 metres on all sides and was converted into a regular, rectangular mastaba, without any steps. This mastaba became the first step in what was to become the Step-pyramid. At first, three mastaba-like structures were stacked on each other and on the lowest mastaba, resulting in a 4-stepped pyramid of some 40 metres in height (stage P1).
This structure was largely extended towards the North and the West, and somewhat towards the South and the East. Two additional steps were then added resulting in the final 6-stepped pyramid (stage P2). The pyramid was completed when it was encased entirely in limestone.
Substructure
The substructure of the pyramid too was built in stages and altered to compensate for the increasing size of the superstructure. It consisted basically of a great Central shaft of 7 metres square and 28 metres deep, that gave access to a maze of corridors and rooms. With its more than 5.7 kilometres of shafts, tunnels, chambers and galleries, this substructure was without parallel both in size and complexity among the other Old Kingdom pyramids.

3-D drawing of the pyramid substructure.
Left inset: cutaway of the pyramid.
Right inset: plan of the substructure. The Eastern Galleries, in yellow, are not shown in the 3-D drawing.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 87.

At the bottom of this Central Shaft, a granite vault, measuring 2.96 by 1.65 metres and with a height of 1.65 metres, was constructed as Djoser's final resting place. Jean-Philippe Lauer, who has spent an entire lifetime examining and restoring this funerary complex, has found evidence that there may have been an earlier vault with walls of alabaster and a pavement of schist or diorite. Limestone blocks with a decoration of large five-pointed stars, which had been re-used, must originally have formed the roof of the first burial vault. If so, then this is the first known example of a ceiling decorated with stars, a motif that would continue to be used in the royal burial chambers or tombs for centuries. This motif symbolically denotes the burial chamber, even though it was located under ground, as a micro-cosmos, with its own sky.

Some mummy parts, among which a foot, were found in the burial vault. The mummification technique used on these remains are characteristic of the oldest mummies of the Old Kingdom, so it was long assumed that these were the remains of Netjerikhet himself. A recent carbon dating, however, has dated these remains to several centuries younger than Djoser.

 

The granite burial vault at the bottom of the pyramid’s central shaft.

The only opening that the builders left in the vault was located in the North part of the roof. It was through this hole that the royal remains were introduced into the vault, after which the hole was closed by a 3.5 ton granite plug with a diameter of 1 metre and a height of 2 metres.
During the first stages (M1 through P1), a descending passage was cut in the rock from the North, connecting to the Central Shaft. At its most Northern point, it reached ground level and could used by the builders to clear out the waste of the Central Passage. As the surface of the pyramid was enlarged, the descending passage got covered by it and became unusable. A new access to the substructure was therefore created, which begins as a trench to the North of Pyramid P2, inside one of the chambers of the Northern Temple. From this opening and after a flight of stairs, a passage of 1.8 metres in height goes slightly down to a large Gallery that opens to the left and at one point, about halfway its length, crosses the original descending passage. At the crossing of the second access corridor  and this Gallery, a robbers passage, perhaps dated to the end of the Old Kingdom, bores down into the rock. 
From the bottom of the Central Shaft, passages in all but the Eastern shaft wall lead towards 3 sets of crudely cut  magazine galleries. In the East of the Shaft's wall, another passage opens unto a set of corridors and chambers, decorated with rows of blue faience tiles set in the limestone, perhaps an imitation of the reed-mats that adorned buildings for the living or even the king's palace. This decoration was organised in 6 panels, three of which were topped by an arch of blue faience Djed-pillars. In the West-wall of the Eastern-most of these chambers, there are three false door stelae, showing Djoser performing a ritual run and visits to shrines. The east-wall of this room was apparently never finished. The builders left it roughly hacked from the rock and the decorators appear to have finished their job in a hurry. Two further rooms, believed to represent the king's inner apartments, were fully decorated with faience tiles. Their doorways were framed with Netjerikhet's name.

 

Some of the chambers underneath the pyramid were decorated with blue faience tiles.

It is not impossible that the three sets of magazine galleries were also intended to receive such an exquisite decoration. The similarity in shape of these three galleries and the difference with the structure of the corridors and chambers on the East side, however, may suggest that their purpose was entirely different.

Before the extension of stage M3, 11 vertical shafts were dug to the East of the mastaba, to a depth of about 33 metres. At the bottom of each shaft, a long gallery extended to the West, underneath the superstructure. The northern most of these galleries could be reached by a staircase outside of the final Step-pyramid.
At least four of these galleries were used as tombs: two of them contained an intact alabaster sarcophagus, and fragments of other sarcophagi were also found. One of the intact sarcophagi appears to have contained the remains of a child. In the room at the end of one of the Eastern galleries, the hip-bone of an approximately 18-year old woman was found.
The long-held belief that these Eastern galleries were tombs for the direct members of Djoser's family has been contradicted by a carbon-dating of one of the female remains, that has shown at least the examined body to have been several generations older than Djoser. Fragments of vessels made of alabaster and other fine stone, were also found in the galleries. Based on the inscriptions they bore, most of them were not made for Djoser, but were probably older. A seal impression found in one of the galleries, on the other hand, gave the Horus name of Djoser, which indicates that at least this shaft had been accessed in Djoser's time. Were the galleries part of Djoser's funerary complex, or were they perhaps older and accidentally stumbled upon when work on the complex was started? Does the seal impression with Djoser's name indicate that the burial found in the galleries occurred during his reign, but that older mummies, perhaps members of Djoser's ancestors, were (re-)buried, or that an existing set of burials was examined?

Western Massif

To the West of the South Court were three massifs. A structure  similar to but with its over 400 rooms considerably larger than the tombs of Hotepsekhemwi and Ninetjer, was found underneath the massif that forms the western enclosure wall of the Complex of Djoser. Unfortunately, the weak structure of the rock and the resulting danger for collapse have prevented this 'gallery' from being fully cleared and examined. Both its proximity to and its close resemblance with the two other royal tombs of the 2nd Dynasty confirm that this 'gallery' too is very likely to have been a 2nd Dynasty royal tomb. However, as yet, no royal names have been discovered here, so any attempt to credit this tomb to a 2nd Dynasty king would be hypothetical:

• A likely candidate may be Hotepsekhemwi's successor, Nebre, if, indeed, as we assume, he did not usurp his predecessor's tomb. A funerary stela bearing his name has been found in the vicinity of Memphis and is likely to once have stood near his tomb. So at least there is an indication that Reneb may have had a tomb in Saqqara. This is confirmed by the fact that he, like Hotepsekhemwi and Ninetjer did not have tombs at Abydos. But this does not mean that the tomb underneath Djoser's western massif belonged to Reneb: it is indeed possible that other 2nd Dynasty tombs are still hidden in the sands.
• There was a mortuary cult for a 2nd Dynasty king named Sened, who is not attested by any contemporary sources, at Saqqara. The tomb of an Old Kingdom priest assigned to this cult was found near the Djoser Complex. This might make Sened another likely candidate for the ownership of this tomb, making it the only contemporary testimony of Sened's existence. It must, however, be noted that it would be quite strange for a king able to build a large tomb not to have left any other marks in his country.
• Although both a tomb and a palace-simulacrum at Abydos have been identified as having belonged to Khasekhemwi, some archaeologists are convinced that the tomb under the western massif belonged to this king. The primary arguments forwarded by the proponents of this hypothesis are the size of the tomb and the presence of Khasekhemwi's name in another gallery underneath the northern part of the Netjerikhet complex. The tomb in Abydos is explained by them as a cenotaph.
• The Western Massif is well incorporated into the funery complex of Djoser, excluding it from being built after the complex. This would logically make Horus Djoser the last possible king to have built the massif. Perhaps the Western Massif represents the king's first tomb, built in the tradition of the 2nd Dynasty, before Djoser decided to create a larger funerary complex at the site.

Contrary to the tombs of Hotepsekhemwi and Ninetjer, the superstructure of this tomb may perhaps have been preserved. An examination by J.-P. Lauer of the different building stages of Djoser's Step Pyramid has shown that the western massif already existed at the time when the Step Pyramid was extended towards the west: the west side of the pyramid only starts at a height of 4.7 metres and was partially built on top of the western massif. This means that either the western massif belonged to an earlier building-stage of the Djoser Complex, or that it predates it all together.
The western massif is in fact composed of three long, narrow structures: an eastern and a western flat-roofed massif flanking a central one that is substantially higher and had a rounded roof. According to the German archaeologist Stadelmann, all three parts appear to have been built at approximately the same time. The filling material of these massifs appears for a large part to have come from the substructure, making it likely that the sub- and superstructures were also built at the same time. The western wall of Djoser's complex was apparently built against the western most of these massifs, again a possible indication that the three massifs predate Djoser's complex. One can only wonder why Djoser chose to incorporate this already existing structure into his own, rather than demolish it.

Temple 'T'

At the east side of the South Court, at some 60 metres to the north of the Entrance Hall, near the passage leading to the Heb-Sed court, there is a small structure, now called Temple 'T'.
This 'temple' was a rectangular building with three delicately carved fluted columns. It is on of the few buildings at the funerary complex of Djoser, that is not just an inaccessible copy of a building. As was the case with the columns in the Entrance corridor and the Entrance hall, these columns were joined by supporting walls. It is believed that the niches formed between the columns may have contained statues, perhaps of the king or of some gods.
Except for a torus moulding on the South face, this building's exterior was undecorated. On the East side of this building, there was a false door in half-open position carved in stone.
The building's inner structure consisted of an imposing entrance hall, three inner courts and a group of side-chambers. To the north of the three columns, a niche has a lintel decorated with Djed-pillars, the same type of decoration that was found in faience in some of the rooms underneath the pyramid.

A view on Temple 'T' with the Step Pyramid in the background.

The location of this Temple T, near the corridor connection the South Court to the Heb-Sed Court has led some Egyptologists to believe that this building was a representation of a pavilion in which the king prepared himself for the rituals of the Heb-Sed. The fact that Temple T was not a dummy building may perhaps indicate that it served another than a purely magical purpose.

Heb Sed Court

The Heb Sed Court is a long, rectangular and relatively narrow open court, located between the Entrance Corridor and the House of the South, along the inside of the Eastern Enclosure Wall.It can be entered either through a narrow passage that leads North from the Entrance, or via the South Court, passing Temple 'T' and a curved wall, which is a unique feature in ancient Egyptian architecture. Modern-day visitors usually take the latter route.
To the West and East, this vast court is flanked by several chapels. Contrary to Temple 'T', however, none of these chapels have an interior structure. Instead, their inner core was filled with rubble at the time they were built. Thus, like most other structures that are part of Djoser's funerary complex, the chapels of the Heb-Sed court appear to have had a symbolic function, rather than a real-life purpose.
Only a couple of chapels on the West and East side of the court have been fully restored. The others have been reconstructed to a certain height, still revealing their inner cores.

The Southwest part of the Heb Sed Court, with part of the Step Pyramid in the background.

There are different types of chapels, each of them preceded by a small court. A stone imitation of an open wooden door provided the entrance to these courts. Some of the chapels had a niche in their façade or in their side walls. This niche may perhaps at one time have contained a statue of the king, a god or the deified personification of a part of the country. Or it may simply have symbolised the entrance to the chapel.

Reconstruction drawings of the three types of chapels in the Heb Sed Court.

Entering the Heb Sed Court from the South Court, the first chapel to the left (West) has a rectangular façade. Its walls are left plain, except for a torus moulding at the top and sides. The roof is flat, topped with an imitation in stone palm-tree leaves sticking up and out of the building. This would become a template for many other Ancient Egyptian buildings.

The chapel located in the Southwest of the Heb Sed Court has a simple façade. It is preceded by a small open court. A "dummy" door gives the impression that it can be entered.

Examples of the second type of chapel can also be found on the West side of the Heb Sed Court. Their façades were "decorated" with three engaged columns that had a capital composed of pendent leaves. Here too, the columns were nothing more than a highly raised relief in the wall, without any actual supporting function. Near the top, the columns had a single round hole into which a pole supporting an emblem may perhaps have been inserted. A corniche, "supported" by two dummy pillars at the corners of the façade, followed the curve of the roof. Some chapels had imitation doors, which could be reached by narrow staircases.This type of chapel was a stone imitation of the late prehistoric temples with rounded roofs.

The majority of chapels on the West side of the Heb Sed Court had round roofs and façades that were "decorated" with dummy columns.

The third type of chapels can be seen on the East side of the Heb Sed Court. They were high and relatively narrow, with a curved roof, set slightly apart from the rest of the building. Two of these chapels have been reconstructed at the North side of the court. Their extraordinary shape makes them quite unique and illustrates how ancient Egyptian architecture was just being defined by the builders of the Djoser Complex.

The chapels on the East side of the Heb Sed Court are quite unique.

No inscriptions have been found to inform us of the purpose of this court, or even of its name. Its modern-day name, Heb Sed Court, used throughout this site and other Egyptological publications, is based on what is believed to have been this court's function.The presence of a raised podium with two separate flights of stairs, one in the South and one in the North, near the court's entrance, may perhaps reveal its purpose. Representations of the so-called Heb Sed, dated from before and after the reign of the Horus Djoser, often show the king twice, seated on a throne which is placed on a raised podium. As in the Heb Sed Court, there are two stairs leading up to the dual thrones. The chapels in this court are likely to have symbolised Egypt's most important shrines. It is therefore believed that this vast open court was related to the king's Heb Sed.
This jubilee was a ritual or a set of rituals that allowed the living king, after he had ruled for some years, to magically refresh his physical powers and thus continue to reign. For the deceased king, the ritual could be repeated endlessly in the Netherworld, rejuvenating him and refreshing his powers, thus enabling him to have an eternal afterlife. It is possible that, as part of his funerary cult, Djoser's Heb Sed was meant to be re-enacted at this place after his death.

Houses of South and North

The Houses of the South and the North are located to the East of the Step Pyramid, North of the Heb-Sed Court. The House of the South lies to the Southeast of the House of the North and neither house is linked directly to the other. They owe their modern-day names in part to their location relative to each other, in part to the decoration of their open courts.
Each house has its own courtyard extending to the South, the court of the House of the South being the larger one. The courts are surrounded by an enclosure wall. Near the Eastern corner of each building, there was a recess in the enclosure wall. The recess in the northern court was decorated with three engaged columns, with papyrus-shaped capitals, symbolising Lower-Egypt. The recess in the southern court appears to have been decorated with only one engaged column with a lotus-shaped capital, symbolising Upper-Egypt.
It is the decoration of these capitals that gives us a hint about what may have been the purpose and meaning of these two buildings. The southern building was shaped like the pre-dynastic shrine of the vulture goddess Nekhbet in Hierakonpolis and the presence of the heraldic symbol of Upper-Egypt may suggest that the southern building -the House of the South- was meant to represent the Upper-Egyptian national shrine.
The same should therefore also be the case for the northern building -the House of the North- which may have represented the Lower-Egyptian national shrine of the snake goddess Uto. If this interpretation is correct, then the complex built for Djoser may have been intended to be a magical rendering of the whole of Egypt.

The false columns in the open court of the House of the North have papyrus- shaped capitals, a reference to Lower Egypt.

The façade of each building was decorated with four dummy columns. These columns were nothing more than a rendering in highly raised relief and did not have a supporting function. The capital of each column resembled two large pendant leaves, a motif found only in this complex. Near the tops of the columns, there were two square holes into which poles carrying emblems may have been inserted.

At both sides of their front faces a dummy pillar "supported" a corniche that followed the curve of the roofs. Again, these pillars did not have a true supporting function but were a copy in stone of the wooden beams that were used to mark the corners in wooden buildings.
The façade of the House of the South has been preserved better than that of the House of the North. Above its door, there was a so-called khekeru frieze, yet another stone imitation of a construction normally made with plants.

The khekeru frieze above the entrance to the House of the South is a stone imitation of some plant material used to top the roofs.

As is the case with the chapels in the Heb-Sed Court, the interior of both houses is mostly solid. Contrary to the chapels in the Heb-Sed Court, though, there was some limited internal structure. Both buildings have an asymmetrically placed entrance near the centre of their front face. After two right turns, a narrow passage leads to some niches in the walls, that were probably intended to house statues.
The ceilings of these passages were carved to resemble the wooden logs that would have served as roofs in wooden and mudbrick buildings, a feature that can be found throughout the complex.

Reconstruction drawings of what the Houses of the South and the North may once have looked like.

Recent research also has pointed out that the House of the South and that of the North, together with some other structures, appear to have been partially buried almost immediately after they had been built. This may perhaps have been intended to send these buildings into the Netherworld, where the king too would reside after his death

Mortuary Temple

The Northern temple is located to the North of the Step Pyramid, to the West of the Serdab and the House of the North. It is attached to the lowest step of the Step Pyramid, hiding the entrance to the Pyramid's substructures.It is one of the few buildings in Djoser's complex that is not a dummy building, in that it actually had rooms and chambers. It appears to have been moved to the North as the Pyramid was enlarged to a six-stepped pyramid with a larger surface. It may originally have been located in the area where the first access corridor reached ground level.
Its structure and its position vis-à-vis its tomb are similar to that of a mudbrick temple of an archaic mastaba at Saqqara, dated to the reign of Qa'a, the last king of the 1st Dynasty.
The northern location of the temple is notable, as in most other, more recent cases a temple or offering chamber was located to the East of the tomb. At this early stage of pyramid building, the funerary cult was still focussed on the northern stars, among which the deceased king was believed to take his place.
The temple was entered through a doorway in its Eastern wall. The doorway is indicated by a stone imitation of an open wooden door, a feature that can be found in many other places throughout the complex.
A long corridor led from the entrance to two open courts, one in the East and one next to it, in the West. From the Western court the second access staircase ran down towards the Pyramid's substructure. Three gangways in the South wall of each court gave access to a wide gallery, running from East to West. Short walls, supporting two columns, separated the gangways from each other. These columns, like the others in this complex, did not have a supporting function and are probably a rendering in stone of the columns used to support the roofs in wooden and mudbrick buildings.

View on the scanty remains of the Mortuary Temple.

To the West of the two open courts, two more chambers can be discerned. Each chamber had a stone basin in its floor.
Although little more can be recognised in this badly damaged temple, it should be noticed that many of the rooms have been built in pairs. This may mean that the temple was designed for a ritual that needed to be performed twice, perhaps the first time by or for the King of Upper Egypt and the  second time by or for the King of Lower Egypt.

North Court

Despite or perhaps due to its vastness, the large area  north of the Northern temple, named the North Court, has not yet been fully explored.There are some subterranean galleries underneath this court, but their function is unknown pending further research. Neither is it known whether these substructures predate Djoser's funerary complex, or if they were a part of it.
We also do not know if this court once housed dummy chapels like in the Heb-Sed Court, or platforms as is the case in the South Court.
Against the northern end of the wall surrounding the complex, an altar shaped like the hieroglyph for offering was built. The precise function of this altar is not known but may probably have been connected with any other structures that may have been built in the northern area. The fact that it is located in the North, thus sharing the same orientation as the entrance to the Step Pyramid, may perhaps suggest a connection with the Circumpolar Stars, which the Ancient Egyptians believed would receive the spiritual essence of the deceased king.

A large part of the rock was shaped to resemble the hieroglyph for 'altar'. It is located on the northern edge of the North Court.