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AThe pyramids are the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt and still hold enormous interest for people in the present day. These grand, impressive tributes to the memory of the Egyptian kings have become linked with the country even though other cultures, such as the Chinese and Mayan, also built pyramids. The evolution of the pyramid form has been written and argued about for centuries. However, there is no question that, as far as Egypt is concerned, it began with one monument to one king designed by one brilliant architect: the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.

A 金字塔是古埃及最出名的建筑物，如今仍然能够引起人们巨大的兴趣。即使如中国和玛雅之类的其他文明也修建了金字塔，但这些用来纪念古埃及国王的宏伟建筑已经与古埃及联系在一起。关于金字塔形式演变的争论已经进行了几个世纪。然而，毫无疑问的是，只要与古埃及相关，所有的记录和争论都从某位杰出建筑师为国王设计的纪念建筑开始:位于塞加拉的左塞尔阶梯金字塔。

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BDjoser was the first king of the Third Dynasty of Egypt and the first to build in stone. Prior to Djoser's reign, tombs were rectangular monuments made of dried clay brick, which covered underground passages where the deceased person was buried. For reasons which remain unclear, Djoser's main official, whose name was Imhotep, conceived of building a taller, more impressive tomb for his king by stacking stone slabs on top of one another, progressively making them smaller, to form the shape now known as the Step Pyramid. Djoser is thought to have reigned for 19 years, but some historians and scholars attribute a much longer time for his rule, owing to the number and size of the monuments he built.

B 左塞尔是古埃及第三王朝的首位法老，也是第一个用石头修建金字塔的人。在左塞尔统治之前，法老陵墓都是由干燥陶土砖所修建的矩形建筑，其下是埋葬着尸体的通道。出于尚不清楚的原因，左塞尔的重要幕僚(lmhotep)提出为他的国王建造更高、令人印象更加深刻的坟墓，通过摞起逐渐变小的石板，之后形成了我们如今所知道的阶梯金字塔。左赛尔的统治持续了19年，但一些历史学家和学者考虑到他所修建的建筑物的数量和规模，认为他的统治时间还要更长一些。

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CThe Step Pyramid has been thoroughly examined and investigated over the last century, and it is now known that the building process went through many different stages. Historian Marc Van de Mieroop comments on this, writing 'Much experimentation was involved, which is especially clear in the construction of the pyramid in the center of the complex. It had several plans … before it became the first Step Pyramid in history, piling six levels on top of one another … The weight of the enormous mass was a challenge for the builders, who placed the stones at an inward incline in order to prevent the monument breaking up.'

C 阶梯金字塔在上个世纪已经经过彻底的检验和调查。我们如今知道其建造过程要经过许多不同的阶段。历史学家Marc Van de Mieroop对此评论道“涉及了大量的实验。这一点在作为建筑群核心的金字塔的建造过程中尤为明显。在它真正成为历史上的阶梯金字塔之前，存在好几种方案.堆叠起六层的高度…大型石块的重量给给建造者们制造了难题。他们将石块向内倾斜，以防止石碑分崩离析“。

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DWhen finally completed, the Step Pyramid rose 62 meters high and was the tallest structure of its time. The complex in which it was built was the size of a city in ancient Egypt and included a temple, courtyards, shrines, and living quarters for the priests. It covered a region of 16 hectares and was surrounded by a wall 10.5 meters high. The wall had 13 false doors cut into it with only one true entrance cut into the south-east corner; the entire wall was then ringed by a trench 750 meters long and 40 meters wide. The false doors and the trench were incorporated into the complex to discourage unwanted visitors. If someone wished to enter, he or she would have needed to know in advance how to find the location of the true opening in the wall. Djoser was so proud of his accomplishment that he broke the tradition of having only his own name on the monument and had Imhotep's name carved on it as well.

D 最终完成之后，阶梯金字塔高达到62米，是当时最高的建筑。其所在的建筑群的规模相当于古埃及一座城市的大小，包括一座寺庙、庭院、神庙、以及僧侣的居住区域。它占地面积16公顷，周围是高达10.5米的围墙。围墙有13座假门，只有一座真门位于东南角。围墙外还环绕着长750米，宽40米的壕沟。假门与壕沟被放入建筑群中以阻止不速之客，如果一个人想要进来的话，他或她必须提前知道如何在围墙上找到正确的开门地方。左塞尔为他的幕僚的成就感到非常骄傲，以至于他打破了纪念建筑上只能有他一人名字的传统，将Imhotep的名字也雕刻在上面。

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EThe burial chamber of the tomb, where the king's body was laid to rest, was dug beneath the base of the pyramid, surrounded by a vast maze of long tunnels that had rooms off them to discourage robbers. One of the most mysterious discoveries found inside the pyramid was a large number of stone vessels. Over 40,000 of these vessels, of various forms and shapes, were discovered in storerooms off the pyramid's underground passages. They are inscribed with the names of rulers from the First and Second Dynasties of Egypt and made from different kinds of stone. There is no agreement among scholars and archaeologists on why the vessels were placed in the tomb of Djoser or what they were supposed to represent. The archaeologist Jean-Philippe Lauer, who excavated most of the pyramid and complex, believes they were originally stored and then given a 'proper burial' by Djoser in his pyramid to honor his predecessors. There are other historians, however, who claim the vessels were dumped into the shafts as yet another attempt to prevent grave robbers from getting to the king's burial chamber.

E 坟墓中的墓室，也就是安放国王遗体的地方，位于金字塔地基之下，环绕着由漫长甬道所组成的迷宫，以阻止盗墓贼。金字塔内最让人不解的发现之一是大量的石制器皿。金字塔地下通道外的储藏室里发现了超过40000个各式各样的容器。它们上面刻着埃及第一王朝和第二王朝统治者的名字，并且用不同的石头制成。学者和考古学家针对为什么这些容器被放在左塞尔的坟墓里，以及它们究竟代表什么东西尚未达成共识。发掘了大部分金字塔与建筑群的考古学家Jean-Philippe Lauer认为，它们最早是被左塞尔储藏在自己的金字塔中，并给予厚葬来以显示对其前任的尊敬。然而，也有其他历史学家认为，把这些容器被丢到通道中，是另一种阻止盗墓贼接近国王墓室的方式。

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FUnfortunately, all of the precautions and intricate design of the underground network did not prevent ancient robbers from finding a way in. Djoser's grave goods, and even his body, were stolen at some point in the past and all archaeologists found were a small number of his valuables overlooked by the thieves. There was enough left throughout the pyramid and its complex, however, to astonish and amaze the archaeologists who excavated it.

F 不幸的是，所有这些地下网络的预防措施和精巧设计都没能阻止古代盗贼找到进入的路径。左塞尔的陪葬品，甚至他的身体都在过去不知何时被偷了因此所有的考古学家发现的仅仅是一小部分盗墓贼看不上的物品。然而，金字塔和建筑群中仍然留下了足够的东西，让发掘它的考古学家感到震惊和惊喜。

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GEgyptologist Miroslav Verner writes, 'Few monuments hold a place in human history as significant as that of the Step Pyramid in Saqqara … It can be said without exaggeration that this pyramid complex constitutes a milestone in the evolution of monumental stone architecture in Egypt and in the world as a whole.' The Step Pyramid was a revolutionary advance in architecture and became the archetype which all the other great pyramid builders of Egypt would follow.

G 古埃及研究者Miroslav Verner写到，“人类历史上很少有建筑物像塞加拉的阶梯金字塔那么重要。毫不夸张的说，金字塔建筑群是埃及、乃至整个世界重要石制建筑物进化史上的里程碑”。阶梯金字塔是建筑学革命性的突破，成为古埃及所有其他金字塔建造者仿效的典范。