Saqqara: Living in a City of the Dead

"For more than 3,000 years Saqqara, located 30 km south of Cairo, served as a burial site for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis, an important administrative and religious centre throughout Pharaonic history. The National Museum of Antiquities has been excavating at Saqqara for more than 40 years. The original purpose of the excavations was to rediscover the archaeological context of many of the objects that had been in the museum collection since the 19th century, including the famous statues of Maya and Merit.

This publication presents the preliminary results of the NWO research project "The Walking Dead at Saqqara". The research project focuses on the use of the landscape and the meaning of religious traditions in Saqqara over a broad span of time. Who had his tomb built where, and why? How were the tombs decorated, and what can the reliefs tell us? How were the tombs used in daily life and by whom?"

Short booklet written to tie into the exhibition 'Saqqara: Living in a City of the Dead', as part of the research project "The Walking Dead at Saqqara: The Making of a Cultural Geography". Published simultaneously in English, Dutch, and Arabic.