The Third Dynasty The Third Dynasty The 3rd Dynasty marked the beginning of the Old Kingdom, of which two main features appear distinctively, in other words the Old Kingdom is famous for: A) The Pyramid Age: starting from the pyramids of 3rd Dynasty, then the Giza groups, later lots of pyramids that were built in the 5th and 6th Dynasties at Saqqara and Abusir. They raised the idea of the centralization of the government. B) The Old Kingdom was the time in which appeared the idea of the 'Divinity of the King'. The king was regarded as a divine figure, as the god himself starting from the time of Djoser, whereas the kings of the first two dynasties were regarded as followers of Horus, except Peribsen.

Some opinions suggest that King Djoser was not the first ruler of the 3rd Dynasty, although the archaeological evidence and the king-lists tend to suggest that he was its founder, there are reasonable grounds for suggesting that the first king of this dynasty would actually have been Nebka. He was also known to Manetho and a priest of Nebka's mortuary cult is known to have lived in the reign of Djoser. He and Djoser would have reigned for the same length of time. Their parentage is not documented; it is possible that Djoser may have been either the brother or son of Nebka. According to some king-lists, Djoser was preceded by a king called Sa-nakhet. He appears to have possessed large brick mastabas and was closely associated with Djoser at Beit-Khallaf in Upper Egypt. Lauer has suggested that Sa-nakhet died young and that the mastaba out of which the Step Pyramid grew was originally meant for him.

Yet another pyramid of the type of the 3rd Dynasty was discovered by Barsanti in 1900 at Zawiyet el-Aryan (midway between Giza and Abusir or a few miles south of Giza), and is known as the Layer Pyramid. This pyramid has been attributed to a king called Kha-ba whose name was found on stone vessels in the vicinity. Kha-ba is perhaps to be linked with King Huni, wjio is himself cited by the Saqqara King-List and the Turin Canon where he is credited with a 24-year reign. A third pyramid of this category was found situated many miles south of Saqqara at Meidum, not far from the entrance to the Faiyum. Graffiti found in the small temple at its base show that in the 18th Dynasty it was believed to belong to Sneferu, the first king of the 4th Dynasty. According to the Turin Canon, the 3rd Dynasty covered a span of no more than 55 years.

Djoser is the real founder of the 3rd dynasty. Djoser: Horus name Netjerykhet Djoser or Zoser is the 3rd king of the 3rd dynasty, he was related to his predecessors from the second dynasty. Zednakhet and Nebka,We have no information about their achievements.  Djoser is the real founder of the 3rd dynasty. What is the meaning of the king’s name? Djoser means bold, the Arabic word جاسور is derived from his ancient Egyptian language. The name Djoser is represented with a strong arm holding something.

The hypothesis for the names Djoser (Neterkhet) Neterkhet seems to be the names of the king during his life time but King Zoser or +sr which means the Sacred one is the founder of the Third Dynasty because his name was inscribed with red ink in the Turin Papyrus. He is considered the founder of a new era known as the Old Kingdom because : His time witnessed the usage of stones in building the tombs instead of the mud bricks. The appearance of new design for the royal tomb represented in the Step Pyramid instead of the rectangular mastabas.

The Egyptian historian Manethon said that he ruled for 29 years but according to the Turin papyrus, he ruled for 19 years. During his time, he was called nTr-Xt (the divine body) or ny-NTr-Xt (who belongs to the divine body). While the name of Zoser was attributed to him starting from the 12th dynasty because the people who visited his Pyramid Complex used to mention in their graffiti that the complex belonged to a king called Zoser which means the sacred. King Zoser was the son of Queen Ny-mAat-HAb, the wife of King Khasekemwy, the last king of the 2nd dynasty.  His important works: King Zoser sent an expedition to Lower Nubia till the second cataract in a place called Dodekashen to make control over the Nubians and to use their quarries. He sent another expedition to the Bedouins of Sinai to control them. He erected several temples at Heliopolis and Horbeit in the Delta.  

Like his predecessors, he had two tombs; the first one is a memorial mastaba at Beit Kallaf , south of Gerga and the second one is the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.  His name was found inscribed on famous stela known as the " famine stela  " which dates back to the Ptolemaic Period. - The stela mention that there were a great famine during the reign of King Zoser because the River Nile failed to rise for seven years. So Zoser asked for the advice from Imhotep who said that King Zoser should gain the favor of Khnum god of the first cataract. Therefore, Zoser went to the first cataract and presented offerings and gifts to the temple of Khnum. As a result, the Nile raised and Egypt was saved.

Statue of King Zoser The statue of King Zoser is made out of painted limestone which was brought from Turra, Ma‛sara and Mukkatam hill. It was found in the funerary complex of King Zoser at Saqqara inside a room called serdab .

2)Sekhemkhet: - He was the son and successor of King Djoser. Some scholars considered him as Djoser II. It is by no means easy to prove the identification between Sekhemkhet and Djoserti (Djoser II), because the 3rd Dynasty was marked by a change in the royal titles whereby the king's first name, which was usually given to a prince at the time of his birth, became the 'Golden Horns' name. [In the Thinite Period, the king's first name had been the 'King of Upper and Lower Egypt' which was given at the time of his coronation. The nsw-bity name instead became more closely associated with the Horus name. - He attempted to build a pyramid at Saqqara imitating his father's pyramid but died before completing it, possibly due to the bad economic condition. - He ruled for a short time and left some inscriptions at Wadi-Magharah.

Also we know of Neb-kau or Neb-kau-Re Also we know of Neb-kau or Neb-kau-Re. who has to be accommodated in the list of the 3rd Dynasty rulers. He also built a pyramid at Zawiyet el-Aryan which was not completed. The architecture of this king's pyramid dates stylistically to the 3rd Dynasty, or at least represents a revival of the style of that time, but whether this is considered sufficient to identify him with the Saqqara's King-list Nebkare or with one of King Huni's predecessors.

Huni: A very important king of the 3rd dynasty, he was the last king of the 3rd dynasty. He is the first king to put his name in a cartouche, before that kings used to inscribed their names on the srh.it could be assumed he continued the policies of his predecessors with success but there is no actual evidence for him doing so. He was originally thought to have built the Meidum Pyramid but that has now been positively identified with the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Snefru. He has also been associated with Layer Pyramid by some scholars who equate Huni with Khaba, but this is contested. With Huni, the Third Dynasty ended and the Fourth began which initiated the period known in Egyptian history as the Old Kingdom.