At the root of the Nile Delta, some 30 kms south of Cairo, the "step pyramid", built for the pharaoh Netjerikhet (or Djoser) about 2650 B.C., marks the eldest part of the largest royal necropolis in the world. The place's Arabic name, Saqqara, recalls that of god Sokaris, whom ancient Egyptians venerated as the protector of the cemetery extending longitudinally alongside the eastern edge of Sahara. (more)

During the reign of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, ca. 305-30 B.C., large stone statues of the greatest Greek poets and philosophers were placed on that semicircular podium. Although they look like a show-case of Greek civilisation, they do not attract the attention of tourists, who rush among tombs of pharaohs and those of holy bulls, dating from earlier times. (more)