form of this deity was a mummied hawk upon a coffin, and it is very
probable that he was imported from the South, like the second Phtah, at
the time of the conquest, when the great Northern necropolis began
to grow up as a duplicate of that at Abydos. Later on we find Seker
confused with the ancient dwarf-god, and it is the latter who was
afterwards chiefly revered as Phtah-Socharis-Osiris, the protector of
the necropolis, the mummied Phtah being the generally recognized ruler
of the City of the White Wall.

It is from the name of Seker that the modern Sak-kâra takes its title.
Sakkâra marks the central point of the great Memphite necropolis, as it
is the nearest point of the western desert to Memphis. Northwards the
necropolis extended to Griza and Abu Roâsh, southwards, to Daslmr;
even the nécropoles of Lisht and Mêdûm may be regarded as appanages of
Sakkâra. At Sakkâra itself Tjeser of the IIId Dynasty had a pyramid,
which, as we have seen, was probably not his real tomb (which was
the great mastaba at Bêt Khallâf), but a secondary or sham tomb
corresponding to the "tombs" of the earliest kings at Umm el-Ga'ab in
the necropolis of Abydos. Many later kings, however, especially of the
Vith Dynasty, were actually buried at Sakkâra. Their tombs have all been
thoroughly described by their discoverer, Prof. Maspero, in his history.
The last king of the Hid Dynasty, Snefru, was buried away down south at
Mêdûm, in splendid isolation, but he may also have had a second pyramid
at Sakkâra or Abu Roash.

The kings of the IVth Dynasty were the greatest of the pyramid builders,
and to them belong the huge edifices of Griza. The Vth Dynasty favoured
Abusîr, between Cîza and Sakkâra; the Vith, as we have said, preferred
Sakkâra itself. With them the end of the Old Kingdom and of Memphite
dominion was reached; the sceptre fell from the hands of the Memphite