UNDERSTANDING ARCHITECTURE 1
Ancient Egyptian Architecture
Dr. Yasser Ibrahim Rajjal
ANCIANT EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
Keywords:
Religion, Social Pyramid
Geographic Profile
Ancient Egypt was divided into two
kingdoms, known as Upper and
Lower Egypt. LOWER EGYPT
Memphis
While the labelling of "upper" and (Akhetaten) Amarna
"lower" might seem counterintuitive, UPPER EGYPT
with Upper Egypt in the south and Thebes
Lower Egypt in the north, the
terminology derives from the flow of
the Nile from the highlands of East
Africa (upstream) to the Mediterranean
Sea (downstream).
Political Profile
The Dynasties
The Pre-dynastic Period
The Old Kingdom
From the 1st dynasty 3I00 2890 BC to the 8th dynasty 2181- 2125 BC
The Middle Kingdom
From the 11th dynasty 2125-1991 BC to the 17th dynasty 1650-1550 BC
The New Kingdom
From the 18th dynasty 1550-1295 BC
The Ptolemaic Dynasty
Lower Egypt
Location: North at the Nile delta.
Capital city: Memphis
Main God: Ra’
National plant: papyrus.
Crown form: Red Crown.
Upper Egypt
Location: South of Egypt
Capital City: Thebes
Main God: Amun
National plant: Lotus flower.
Crown form: the White Crown
Unified Egypt
In 2920 BC, King MENES unified Upper and Lower Egypt
Capital city: Memphis
Main God: Amun – Ra’
Crown form: the Combined Double Crown (the Red and White) to display the power over Lower
and Upper Egypt.
Crown of Upper Egypt Crown of Lower Egypt Crown of Unified Egypt
Social Profile
The King
Social Pyramid
Egypt treated its women better
than any of the other major
civilizations of the ancient world.
Writing System
Jean Francois Champollion
Father of Egyptology
The Rosetta stone was discovered by
Champollion. This discovery helped in
deciphering the ancient Egyptian writings.
Three languages were carved on the stone:
These were Hieroglyphics, Greek, and
Demotic, a later Egyptian writing..
Religious Profile
Religion guided every aspect of Egyptian life.
Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, or the worship of many deities,
except for some periods including the reign of Akenaton, who changed the
Egyptian people to a concept of godhead which was both monotheistic and
abstract.
Amu-Ra’, was worshipped throughout the whole country, while others had only a
local following.
Often gods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal.
Amu-Ra’, was worshipped throughout the whole country, while
other Gods and Godesses had only a local following.
Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, or the
worship of many deities, except for some periods
Religious Profile
The ancient Egyptians believed that when
they died, they would go to another life in
a sort of heaven, and to make sure that
they would be comfortable there, their
tombs had to be filled with all the
comforts that they had enjoyed in their
life on Earth. In fact they were more
interested in their after-life than in their
living life.
Their belief in the rebirth after death
became their driving force behind their
practices.
Religious Profile
Why do so many ancient Egyptian
artifacts and statues have missing/broken
off noses? It goes beyond a "restless
soul" concept. Ancient Egyptians believed
that a soul "ka“ existed after death and
could lodge in a statue of the deceased,
rather than wandering aimlessly.
Egyptians particularly believed in breath
as the source of life and so the ka would
access the statue through the nose as a
"breath". By removing the statue's nose,
the ka wouldn't be able to move into the
statue.
Akhenaten
Akhenaten changed the Egyptian people to a
concept of godhead which was both
monotheistic and abstract.
Aten (represented by the Sun’s Rays) has
been used metaphorically as the one true
god
Akhenaten made himself unpopular by
closing the temples.
His successor and son-in-law, the famous
Tutankhamun, returned Egypt to its
traditional values.
Evolution of Pyramids
Mastaba Stepped Pyramid
Bent Pyramid True Pyramid
The Mastaba
Rectangular superstructure of ancient Egyptian
tombs, built of stone, with sloping walls and a flat
roof.
A deep shaft descended to the underground burial
chamber.
Storage chambers were stocked with food and
equipment.
Walls were often decorated with scenes showing the
deceased's expected daily activities.
A false door through which the spirit of the deceased
could leave and enter the burial chamber.
The Stepped Pyramid of Zoser
The stepped pyramid is a midway
between the earlier mastaba tombs and
the perfected forms at Giza.
Composed of a series of mastabas, each
smaller, and stacked on top of each other.
It was built of fairly limestone blocks, much
smaller than those used at Giza.
It was sheathed in fine limestone from the
same quarry used for the stones of the
Giza pyramids.
King Senfro
The Bent Pyramid
The Bent Pyramid is one of the
most unusual pyramids in Egypt, as
well as one of the best preserved
(much of its casing remains).
It was probably the first planned
from the outset to be a true
pyramid, with smooth sides. This
represents a glorious period in the
evolution of the pyramid.
The pyramid is also sometimes
known as the False, or Red
Pyramid.
Pyramids of Gizeh
Old Kingdom, Dynasty IV; 2551-2472 BC 2551-2472 BC
The three pyramids of Giza, built in about a 75
year period.
Huge limestone blocks were brought from
quarries on the east side of the Nile
Vast numbers of workers and numerous man
hours were required for their erection.
Not only had Egyptians mastered stone
masonry but they had astronomical knowledge
as well.
The pyramids are oriented to the cardinal
points of the compass.
The Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid of Khufu (Chepos),
2520-2494 BC
Khufu or Cheop's Great Pyramid is 241 meters square in
plan, and 153 meters high. The angle of inclination of
the triangular faces is about 51.5 degrees.
The square of its height equals the area of each
triangular face, as determined by Herodotus in 450 B. C.
The base of the pyramid covers about 13 acres.
The established theory holds that the pyramid was
constructed with stone blocks carved at various quarries
and transported to the site. It is estimated that it took
20 years to build the Great Pyramid and that each year
100,000 men were needed in the building process.
Menkaure Pyramid, the basalt temple
The Mastaba, once again
Rome’s only ancient
Egyptian-style pyramid.
36m high
First century BC
Tomb for the Roman
Emperor Caius Cestius
The Unknown Solder Mausoleum, Cairo Tel Al-Amarneh Museum: The museum is
dedicated to the monuments of Akhenaten,
his family and Queen Nefertiti.
Contemporary buildings allover the word inspired by the Egyptian Pyramids
The Sphinx
The Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as male.
It was thought of as a guardian often flanking
the entrances to temples.
The most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx at
Giza which is part of the funerary complex of
Chephren (Khafre).
It was sculpted from an outcropping of limestone
and represented the sun god; its features were
probably those of Chephren, the builder of the
second pyramid at Giza. While it has a god's face,
it has a lion's body.
Standing
The Sphinx refers to the deep roots of Egypt
The Women represents Egypt, as the mother
of the world
Egypt’s Renaissance, Cairo Sitting
By: Mahmoud Mukhtar The guardian of the tombs
Rock-Cut Tombs
The Valley of Kings, Thebes
The Valley of the Kings contains many of the tombs of pharaohs from the New
Kingdom, including Tutankhamun and Ramesses the Great.
Some images with their glittering eyes of quartz are so realistic that the people
who eventually unearth them - in 1871 - are reported to have fled in terror.
Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut
18th Dynasty, c. 1490-1460 BC Deir el-Bahri
Located on the western bank of the
Nile.
One of the most beautiful of the royal
funerary temples.
Built by Queen Hatshepsut, the first
known female monarch, who ruled for
about two decades.
The building has three colonnaded terraces, with two ramps. The horizontals and verticals echo
the cliffs behind the temple.
Cult (Devine) Temples
The Cult Temple and the Social Pyramid
Hypostyle Hall
Sanctuary
Shrine
Road to Temple Sphinx Avenue Small
Court
Hall
First priest
Merchants
The King
Nobles
Governmental
Slaves and servants and Priests
officials
soldiers
Axial Linear Organization
Egyptian cult temples are arranged
according to axial linear
organizational ordering systems.
A line can be thought of as a chain of
spots joined together. It indicates
position and direction and has
within itself a certain energy, the
energy to travel along its length and
to be intensified at either end, speed
is implied and the space around it is
activated.
The Axial Linear Organization
is emphasized by:
The symmetrical treatment
(sphinx avenue, pylons, court,
etc…)
The gradual difference in levels
(ground and ceiling levels)
The treatment of the central aisle
in the Hypostyle Hall (size and
height of columns, indirect
lighting via clear-storey windows)
Passing through spaces
Gateways into Cult Temples
Typical Gateway
The Sphinx Avenue
Great Temple of Amun-Ra’
Contemporary building in Egypt inspired by Egyptian cult temples
Temples at Abu Simbel
The Great Temple of Ramsis II
The Temple of
Hathor / Nefertari
Two rock-cut temples located
in the ancient Wawat (or the
legendary Absambul) in
Nubia, near the borders of
Sudan, about 300 kilometers
from Aswan.
The Great Temple of
Ramsis II
Egyptian Cities
Cities of the Dead (worker Camps):
Grid Layout
West Bank of River Nile
Normal Cities:
Organic Growth
East Bank of River Nile
Akhetaten (in Tel Al-Amarneh:
Iron-Grid Layout, political motives seem to have led Akhenaten
to found the city.
Deir el Medina was not an ordinary village
populated by farmers and their dependents, but
by workers and administrators who had been
gathered together in this remote place for the
purpose of building the royal tombs in the Valley
of the Kings. They were a community of
craftsmen, painters, masons, scribes, and
sculptors, together with their families. As such
they were probably better educated and more
affluent than most Egyptians.
The village was about 50 meters wide by 130
meters long, and completely enclosed by a wall .
Its main street was two to three meters wide.
Der el Medina
The people of Deir el Medina
lived under rather cramped
conditions, without the option of
adding further living space: the
walls surrounding the village
prevented its expansion, there
was no unused space inside the
settlement itself, and the
thinness of the walls precluding
the addition of a second storey
to its houses.
Houses, most of them roughly had
the same size.
Mud was available for the
production of bricks.
The thinness of the walls suggests
that there were no upper stories,
though the flat roofs were
accessible by stairs.
Obelisk
Monolithic square stone pillars
ending in a point, obelisks were
erected in honor of the sun god
Re, the oldest on a natural hill
north of Heliopolis. During the
5th Dynasty the obelisk became
the centre of the sun temple,
later they are to be found
standing in pairs by temple
entrances. Their tips had the
form of pyramidions and seem
to have been covered by gilded
copper sheets or the like.
The Elevated Obelisk of Ramssis II
Columns
Egyptian columns can be
divided into three basic types:
The first type are polygonal
columns.
The second type are stone
imitations of plants such as
the papyrus, palm and lotus.
The third type are the human
figure columns
Papyrus Columns (opened) Papyrus Columns (closed) Human Figure Columns
Columns
Sculptures
Symbolism also played an important role in establishing a sense of order. Symbolism,
ranging from the pharaoh's regalia (symbolizing his power to maintain order) to the
individual symbols of Egyptian gods and goddesses.
Sculptures
Many statues are
depicted standing in
a frontal pose with
their left leg moved
forward, their arms
close to their bodies
touching the side of
their thighs, and they
exhibit an almost
strict symmetry
Religious Effects
on Sculptures
Akhenaten introduced an entirely
new and more intimate form of
expression into Egyptian art.
Among the surviving works of this
period are the colossal statues of
Akhenaten, the paintings from his
private residence, the bust of his
wife, Nefertiti and his mother
Queen Tiyi.
Contemporary work reflecting the intimate form of expression
The Ptolemaic Dynasty
Queen Cleopatra
Painting, Relief, and Papyrus
Paintings were painted in a strange but remarkably
consistent convention, by which the feet, legs and
head of each human figure are shown in profile but
the torso, shoulders, arms and eye are depicted as if
from the front.
For example, the painting to the right shows the head
from a profile view and the body from a frontal view.
Their main colours were red, blue, green, gold, black
and yellow.
By this means, it has to be admitted, the artist is able
to tackle each separate feature from the easiest
angle. It is a convenient convention, and it is used
both in paintings and in low-relief sculptures.
Painting, Relief, and Papyrus
Colours were more expressive rather
than natural: red skin implied hard
working tanned youth, whereas yellow
skin was used for women or middle-
aged men who worked indoors; blue or
gold indicated divinity because of its
unnatural appearance and association
with precious materials; the use of black
for royal figures expressed the fertility of
the Nile from which Egypt was born.
Portraits were not always represented in profile, as is common, but it is clear
from this piece of the fresco that the portraits were depicted with a frontal face.
