At the end of the causeway, head 150m uphill and southward to the Monastery of St. Jeremiah. Built in the 5th century AD, the monastery has been repeatedly pillaged, starting in 950 when invading Arabs ransacked it. Recently, the Antiquities Service moved all decorative carvings and paintings to the Coptic Museum in Cairo, leaving the despoiled shell to be overrun by advancing sand dunes. What’s left of the monastery is best reached by car or horse; it’s usually much too hot to walk.

Head back up to the causeway and around the corner to the Great South Court of Zoser s mortuary complex. In the northern end, at the base of the Step Pyramid, lie the remains of the mastaba that was the seed of Zoser’s tomb. In the center of the pyramid’s south face is an entrance to the tomb’s interior. This long passageway, the Saite Gallery, affords stunning views of the interior frame. To the east, the Heb-Sed Court runs the length of one side of the courtyard. The building is a copy of the pavilion employed at the Heb-Sed Jubilee, a festival during which the king demonstrated his vigor by completing a ritual race around the courtyard. The Heb-Sed Court in the funerary complex and the panels inside the pyramid that depict Zoser running the race were meant to ensure his eternal rejuvenation.