The pyramids in Egypt developed in several stages. The first pyramid dates back to the third dynasty. King Djoser had a step pyramid constructed at Saqqara. Djoser's chief architect Imhotep is credited with developing the step pyramid from the older mastaba tomb. The mastaba is thought by some to represent a bed. Mastabas are large rectangular structures that form the monument for the deceased. The dead were buried in shafts that were sunk into the ground. Imhotep stacked successively smaller rectangular shaped structures to create what is now known as the step pyramid.
Miroslav Verner [1]. writes: "At the outset the structure had the form of a square mastaba (stage M1), which was gradually enlarged, first equally on all four sides (stage M2) and then only o the east side (stage M2). The mastaba <...> already had a step shape in the M3 stage. The step-shaped mastaba was finally built in two stages, first as a four step (P1) and then as a six-step (P2) pyramid, which no longer had - and this is a noteworthy point - a square base; it now had a rectangular base, oriented east-west."
