Third Egyptian Dynasty 2686 to 2613 BCE.

The archaeological evidence shows that Khasekhemwy, the last ruler of the 2nd dynasty, was succeeded by Djoser, who is usually attested by his Horus name Netjeriket. Djoser's successor was Sekhemkhet who had the nebty name Djeserty. The last king of the dynasty is Huni.

Djoser 

There are three remaining Horus names of known 3rd dynasty kings: Sanakht, Kaba and Qahedjet. One of these three went by the nebty name Nebka. Dating the 3rd dynasty is similarly challenging.

Shaw gives the dates as being approximately from 2686 to 2613 BC. The Turin King List suggests a total of 75 years for the third dynasty. Baines and Malek have placed the third dynasty as spanning the years 2650 - 2575 BC, while Dodson and Hilton date the dynasty to 2584 - 2520 BC. It is not uncommon for these estimates to be off by more than a century.

III Egyptian Dynasty 2686 - 2613 BCE.
Nebka/Sanakht 2686 - 2677 BCE.
Djoser/Netjerikhet 2677 - 2657 BCE.
Djoserty/Sekhemkhet 2657  -  2651  BCE.
Teti/Khaba 2651 - 2643 BCE.
Mesokhris? 2643 - 2632 BCE.
Huni/Qahedjet 2632 - 2613  BCE.

Netjerykhet-Djoser 3rd dynasty. Zoser, Abdul Quddws "Servant of the Holy" (Ashuric/Syraic), father Kha'sikhimuwiy, mother Nima'athafiy. Djoser, Hermes Trismegistus (Greek), Quetzalcoatl (Mexico), Thoth (Egypt), Mercury (Rome), Rapanui (Easter Island), Nabu (Assyrian) and Servant of the Holy (Arabic). Other spellings of his name include: Zoser, Dzoser, Zozer (or Zozzer), Dsr, Djeser, Zoser, Zosar, Djeser, Djeser, Horus-Netjerikhet, Horus-Netjerichet. Djoser is the best-known pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt, for commissioning his vizier Imhotep to build his Step Pyramid at Saqqara.

Uncertainty swirls around the placement, and also the events of the 3rd Dynasty king known as Sanakhte (Sanakht). He may have been Nebka, who was known to manetho, and listed on both the Turin Cannon and the Abydos king list as the first king of this dynasty. However, this is problematic to say the least, for we base our belief that he was Nebka on a source that lists his Horus name, Sanakhte, together with a second name that ends with the element "ka"

Sanakht 

  Most of the information we have on this king refers to him as Nebka. In fact, some sources list the two as separate kings, with Nebka founding the 3rd Dynasty and Sanakhte ruling later, perhaps after Khaba.

However, despite this, mud seal impressions bearing the name of Nethery-khet Djoser from the Abydos tomb of the last king of the 2nd Dynasty Khasekhemuy and connected with the burial seem to suggest that Khasekhemuy's widow and her already ruling son Djoser were in charge of the king's burial. On the basis of sealing from the tomb of Khasekhemwy, which name her as "Mother of the King's Children," the wife of the last ruler of the 2nd Dynasty seems to have been one Nimaethap. The latter name was also found, with the title of "King's Mother", upon seal impressions from Mastaba K1 at Beit Khallaf, a gigantic monument dated to the reign of Djoser.

Hence, on the basis that Djoser was succeeded by Sekhemkhet and of indications pointing to Khaba as the third in line, Nebka may have been the fourth king of the dynasty, to be equated with the Nebkara following Djoser-teti and preceding Huni in the Saqqara king list. Sekhemkhet was Pharaoh in Egypt during the Third dynasty. According to Manethonian tradition, a king known as "Djoserty" reigned a relatively brief seven years, and modern scholars believe Djoserty and Sekhemkhet to be the same person. His reign would thought to have been from about 2649 BC until 2643 BC.

While there was a known successor to Djoser, Sekhemkhet's name was unknown until 1951, when the levelled foundation and vestiges of an unfinished Step Pyramid were discovered at Saqqara by Zakaria Goneim. Only the lowest step of the pyramid had been constructed at the time of his death.
Jar seals found on the site were inscribed with this king's name. From its design and an inscription from his pyramid at Saqqara, it is thought that Djoser's famous architect Imhotep had a hand in the design of this pyramid. Archaeologists believe that Sekhemket's pyramid would have been larger than Djoser's had it been completed. Today, the site, which lies southwest of Djoser's complex, is mostly concealed beneath sand dunes and is known as the Buried Pyramid.

Huni's wife Queen Meresankh I was the mother of Snefru. Huni was probably the father of Hetepheres, queen of the next king, Snofru. While there is some confusion over kings and their order of rule near the end of the 3rd Dynasty, it is fairly clear who terminates the period and who also stood on the threshold between ancient Egypt's formative period and the grand courts of the Old Kingdom to follow. Huni paved the way for the great pyramid builders of the 4th Dynasty with his substantial construction projects and the possible restructuring of regional administration.

Yet, we really know very little about this king who ruled during a pivotal point in Egyptian history. The name Huni may be translated as "The Smiter".

Huni

 He is attested on monuments of his time by his nswt-bity name, written in a cartouche. Alternative readings have been suggested for his name, but none have been agreed upon, so he is typically called Huni even though it probably represents a corruption of his original name. He may also be one and the same as Horus Qahedjet, though this is uncertain. In the late 1960s, a limestone stela of unknown provenance was purchased by the Louvre museum. It was inscribed with the previously unknown Horus name, Qahedjet.

The stela was important to Egyptian art historians because it depicts the earliest representation of a god (Horus) embracing the king. Therefore, it received considerable attention. Though the stela is very similar in style to the relief panels of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the execution of the carving is superior, and the iconography is more developed. Hence, Egyptologists tend to favor a date for the stela at the end of the 3rd Dynasty. Furthermore, the Horus name for the kings who Huni succeeded have been tentatively identified. Therefore, though with no certainty, some scholars believe Qahedjet to be the Huni's Horus name. The Turin Canon provides a reign for Huni of twenty-four years, and a shorter reign than this would appear unlikely given the scale of his completed building projects. His position as the last king of the 3rd Dynasty and Sneferu's immediate predecessor is confirmed by both the Papyrus Prisse and by the autobiographical inscription in the tomb of Metjen at Saqqara.