Saqqara, located near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis houses the oldest surviving pyramids of Pharaonic Egypt. It was one of the preferred necropolises by ancient Egyptian pharaohs and the ruling elite.
It is one of the richest archaeological sites in ancient Egypt and is still full of surprises.
It is a magical place, and it’s shrouded in mystery due to numerous reasons.
The underground chambers of the Serapeum of Saqqara
The Serapeum of Saqqara is an underground necropolis located north of Saqqara – about 20 kilometers south of Cairo – where supposedly, the ancient Egyptians buried the sacred Apis bulls sometime around 1300 BCE.
The Apis Bulls were considered extremely sacred creatures to the ancient Egyptians and were part of one of the first sacred cults in Ancient Egyptian History.
Scholars believe that the Apis Bull were both a deity and manifestation of Egyptian pharaohs.
In 1851, the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (1821-1881) rediscovered the huge sarcophagi that had contained some thirty sacred bulls, but which had been plundered from the sarcophagi supposedly centuries ago.
The most ancient burials found at this site are believed to date back to the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, the ninth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty. Scholars believe the Serapeum was created by Pharaoh Amenhotep III, one of the greatest pharaohs of Egypt, who in 1402 BC, at only 12 years old, ascended the throne and reigned for almost 40 years.
The sacred bulls remained buried in the same place until times of the Roman Empire.
But ever since the discovery of this mysterious place, the massive sarcophagi and lack of information about them has puzzled both archaeologists and historians.
This majestic ancient labyrinth is home to around 24 super massive boxes that range in weight between 70 and 100 tons.
If the size of the boxes wasn’t impressive enough, each one of the massive sarcophagi has been polished to a degree worthy of modern technology.
Amazing precision, created with what kind of tools?
The corners and sharps lines and edges that compose the massive granite boxes are another mystery which experts have not been able to solve.
How on Earth did the ancient Egyptians achieve such a degree of perfection thousands of years ago without the use of modern-day tools?
We agree that the Serapeum is incredible and the sarcophagi are worthy of excellence, but how did they do it?
Using what tools did the builders of this massive Serapeum construct the supermassive boxes which were allegedly the final resting place of the Apis Bulls— the living manifestations of the Egyptian God Ptah?
It is noteworthy to mention how most of the sarcophagi at the Serapeum were made of rose granite, which is an extremely hard rock believed to have been mined at a quarry located some 800 kilometers away from Saqqara. Other sarcophagi at the Serapeum were made from an even stronger material, diorite, found even further away from Saqqara.
Extreme precision… all of it thousands of years ago, the only question that remains is: How is this possible?
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