The Serapeum of Saqqara

The amazing aspect of the Saqqara Necropolis is that it continues to astound Egyptologists and the public by the new discoveries that are made continuously.   Saqqara has been, and is, the most active excavation site in the world.  And from the perspective of being rich in what it reveals about Ancient Egypt, Saqqara also has some of the largest animal cemeteries in the world.

What Serapeum Is All About?

The Serapeum of Saqqara is located northwest of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.  It was a burial place of the Apis, sacred bulls, that were incarnations of Ptah. It was believed that the bulls became immortal after death as Osiris-Apis.  Apis was a god originally associated with fertility, and later connected with the god Ptah.

As the cult gained importance, underground galleries were dug that connected burial chambers. Above ground, the main temple enclosure was supplemented by shrines, workshops, housing and administrative quarters.   In other words, there were buildings, not dissimilar to those found around a pharaoh’s tombs, which signified the importance of animals to the ancient Egyptians and cult worship.

Many other animals were mummified and buried in other cemeteries around Saqqara. Sometimes this was as beloved pets, sometimes as food offerings to the deceased, but primarily for religious purposes and dedicated to specific gods. Other animal cemeteries at Saqqara include cats, dogs, jackals, ibis and baboons.  All of these identified to specific Egyptian Gods

The Temples of The Serapeum

The main temple enclosure was supplemented by shrines, workshops, housing and administrative quarters

• An entrance passage (called Dromos) or avenue leading to a building, tomb or passageway. In ancient Egypt the dromos was a straight, paved avenue flanked by sphinxes as was the case at Serapeum.
• The avenue was bordered by low walls of dressed stone. Under the pavement, hundreds of bronze statuettes were found buried, representing various deities
• A semi-circular platform of eleven life-sized statues of Greek poets and philosophers adjoined the dromos.

Why Bulls?

The Apis bulls were carefully selected by priests and had the role of serving as a physical manifestation of Ptah.  The bull was chosen for its markings and for its divine birth. The bulls were treated like royalty both during their lifetime (around 20 to 25 years) and in their funerary ceremonies.

Four events marked the career of an Apis: birth, installation, death and burial. The bulls were honoured as gods and consecrated to Osiris:

• When an Apis died in the early days of the Serapeum, it was partially consumed
• The burial ceremonies lasted for 70 days
• The bulls were embalmed for 68 days
• They were embalmed in the position of a sphinx, in a seated pose with their legs tucked beneath them.
• Thereafter funerary precessions were held, terminating at the Serapeum.
• The bulls were buried in splendour

One of the intriguing issues surrounding the Serapeum of Saqqara has to do with the construction methods used to build the elaborate underground tombs and to move the large sarcophagi to their tombs. The construction methods are as intriguing as those to do with building the pyramids.

• Each sarcophagus in the Serapeum weighs an amazing 60 to 80 tons and is carved from a single block of granite, basalt or diorite.
• The winches, rollers and rails found in the Serapeum might have been used to transport the stones through the narrow tunnels.
• It is also likely that the sarcophagi were lowered into their final position by removing sand that the burial chambers had been filled with.

Some Other Interesting Facts

Of course, the religious cults and practices varied over the years that the cemeteries existed (the cults were banned in 398 AD) and the following practices are relevant to specific periods

• Pets sometimes were buried with their owner in a tomb. These were usually mummified with the same care as humans were
• Animal mummies were sold to the public as offerings to the gods.
• In ancient Egypt, cats were sacred animals.
• People dedicated mummified cats at the sanctuary of the cat goddess Bastet as offerings.
• Cats were so special that those who killed them, even by accident, were sentenced to death.
• According to Egyptian mythology, gods and goddesses had the power to transform themselves into different animals.
• Only one deity, the goddess named Bastet, had the power to become a cat.
• The sacred ibis was mummified in large numbers and buried in catacombs (was the most common species of the bird regarded in ancient Egypt as an incarnation of the god Thoth.
• The mummified ibises were probably bought by pilgrims and donated as gifts to Thoth or offered by those in search of healing from the deified Imhotep.
• A society evolved in the area which included embalmers, stonecutters, craftsmen of various kinds and no doubt those who provided food and lodging to the many pilgrims visiting the shrines.

Millions of Mummified Dogs

• All in all, nearly 8 million mummified animals have been found in the catacombs of Saqqara, and mostly dogs.
• The catacombs are dedicated to Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the afterlife.
• Archaeologist and Egyptologist Salima Ikram, a professor at the American University in Cairo, and who is a world-renowned authority on animal mummification in Ancient Egypt explained: “The faces of the gods are also associated with different animals that have the same attributes as the gods do”
• Salima Ikram says the huge number of dog mummies suggests the existence of ancient Egyptian puppy mills. “You don’t get 8 million mummies without having puppy farms,” she says. “And some of these dogs were killed deliberately so that they could be offered. So for us, that seems really heartless. But for the Egyptians, they felt that the dogs were going straight up to join the eternal pack with Anubis. And so they were going off to a better thing.”