Lecture 3

Historical Background:
 Location and period
 Social characteristics and beliefs
Architecture of the Civilization
 Tombs
 Pyramids
 Burial Chambers
 Temples
Architectural Elements,
 Columns,
 Relief carving,
 Obelisk, & Sphinxes
Architectural Characteristics :
 Buildings and other architectural elements
 Building materials, construction and technologies
 Architectural Organizing principles
Learn from the civilization:
 The influence of geographical location on social
life and architecture
 Architecture as a tool & archive of social history
 Architecture of pyramids, tombs and temples
 Evolution of architectural elements of column,
beam, obelisk, wall relief and clerestory lighting
 Architectural principles emphasizing mass rather
than space and linearity and axiality as organizing
principles
Location:
 Located in Africa on the northern
edge of the Sahara
 The key to Egypt’s history is the
Nile. The Nile bisects through
the land from the south to the
north
 The Nile is a seasonal river that
overflows its bank yearly to
create a fertile valley on which
ancient Egyptians lived and
grew their crops
 Itsclimate is dry and varied little (stable) –
contributed for the preservation of buildings
 Egyptian architecture changed very little in two
and half thousand years from the fourth dynasty
 They were content with the endless cycles of life
 Egypt was protected by mountains and cataracts
(small waterfalls) to the South
 By the desert to the east and west
 By the Mediterranean to the North
 The history of ancient Egypt
started with the land divided into
upper and lower Egypt. The two
regions were frequently at war
with each other
 Around 3000 BC, King Menes
united the two into a single
nation which led to the
development of ancient Egyptian
Civilization
The Importance of Nile:
 The floods coming from highlands of Ethiopia leave
a rich black silt that is fertile and is farmed by the
people
 During the floods, people were freed from farming
to engage in other activities including building
work
 The Nile was also the highway of Egypt connecting
upper and lower Egypt
 The Nile offered a symbolic sense of direction to
the people, forming the primary principle in
architectural organization
Religion:
 Egyptians believed in life after death
 They believed that when they die, their souls called
‘Ka’ would live in them for ever
 For the Ka to live, it needed either the body of the
dead person or a copy of it in the form a statue
 The Ka will return each night to the body or statue
 If both the body and statue are destroyed, then the
Ka would die
 Toensure the availability of a
body to the ka of a dead person,
the Egyptians developed a
process of preservation called
mummification
In Egyptian religion – most of the many gods
represented forces of nature
 Ra – Sun god
 Shu – Air
 Tefnut – Moisture
 Nut – Sky
 Geb – Earth
 Orisis – Fertility and resurrection
 Seth – Aridity and destruction
 Isis – Motherhood
 Nepthys - Sisterhood
 Ancient Egyptians viewed earthly dwellings as
temporary
 They paid little attention to house construction
 The tomb was seen as a permanent dwelling for
the afterlife. Tremendous effort was exerted in
tomb construction
 The mummified dead body was buried in a stone
box called sarcophagus in the tomb
 The tomb was usually packed with all the
treasures of a dead person
 If anything cannot be provided, it is painted on the
walls of the tomb
 They also left a legacy of tombs and temples
 The Egyptians develop a system of irrigation to
improve agriculture
 The ancient Egyptians invented the Hieroglyphics
systems of writing
 Historians were able to read hieroglyphics
following the discovery of the Rosetta stone
Architectural Structures:
 EARLY KINGDOM TOMBS
 MIDDLE AND NEW KINGDOM BURIAL CHAMBERS
 NEW KINGDOM CULT TEMPLES
 During the old Kingdom, the pharaoh and his court
lived in Memphis. When they died they were
buried at the Necropolis at Saqqara
 The earthly dwelling of the ancient Egyptians was
seen as temporary and the tomb as a permanent
dwelling
 Houses were built of temporary materials to last
for a life time
 Tombs were most outstanding architectural
element of the period
 Tombs also serve as the focus for the worship of
the dead
MASTABA
 The earliest method of burial in ancient Egypt was
in shallow pits in the desert
 The desert dried the bodies and preserved them
 When animals preyed on bodies, the people dug
deeper
 In the end they built a bench-like structure over
graves to create first burial structure called
Mastaba
 In the Old Kingdom, rich and noble person built
mastaba for their burial in the city of the dead
 Above ground the Mastaba is a large bench of sun-
baked bricks rising 9 meters high
 It had a flat top and slanting walls
 The earliest royal tombs were decorated with
painted patterns in brilliant colors
 Internally,a mastaba consist of three parts - A burial
chamber, serdab and a chapel
 The burial chamber was located 30 feet below the
ground
 It was connected to burial chamber above ground
through a shaft
 The burial chamber, in the sarcophagus, is the place
for the burial of the dead person
 The burial chamber is packed with all the necessary
things needed in the after life
 After burial, the shaft to the burial chamber is
sealed
 The Serdab and Chapel
are located above ground
 The Serdab is a room
where the statue of the
dead person is kept
 The statue acts as a
substitute for body in case
it is destroyed
 The chapel is a colorful room meant to deceive the
gods into letting the ka enter the next world
 Had a false door leading to the land of the dead
 Some mastabas had fence walls, and chambers for
burial of servants
 Mastaba served as an embryo for the evolution of
the pyramid
STEPPED PYRAMID
 It was built as a funeral complex in the necropolis
at Saqqara
 Imhotep, the architect or builder, initially
conceived of the tomb as a large Mastaba of stone
 Dissatisfaction with the result led to the stacking
of Mastaba one on top of another
 The result was the stepped pyramid with five
sloping setbacks
 The stepped pyramid is the intermediate step
between mastaba and geometric pyramid
 Stepped pyramid was 200 feet high with 6 giant
steps
 The burial chamber is entered from the north side
and is 92 feet down
 On either side of the chamber are store rooms for
the kings treasures
 The funeral complex consisted of palaces, temples
and the stepped pyramid(standing at the middle)
 The Serdab is located on the north side, along with
the funerary temple

N
 They were all surrounded by a fence wall 33 feet
high.
 The fence wall of the funeral complex has a
breaking pattern of about 200 projections and
recessions
 Fourteen of these were larger than the others and
13 out of the fourteen had false doors. The false
doors were for the use of the pharaoh’s ka
 The entrance door leads to a long hall having two rows
of columns
 This is one of the first uses of columns in history
 The columns were designed to look
like bundles of reeds and had flutes
 In the north palace is also found stone
columns with capitals
 They were designed to look like the
papyrus plant
 Zosers funeral complex was designed
as a model of his palace, city and kingdom
 The shape of the pyramid suggest a
stairway to the sky to join the
sun God Amon Ra
 After the stepped pyramids, there were several
attempt at building a pure geometric pyramid
 Among the prominent attempts were the pyramid at
Medun and two pyramids built by Snefru at Dashur
The First Pyramid:
 King Huni made the first attempt at building a pure
pyramid at Medun
 He constructed a seven stepped
pyramid with a square plan
and height of 90 meters and
an angle of incline of 51 degrees
Pyramids of pharaoh Snefru
 Pharaoh Snefru made two attempts at pyramid
construction
 His first pyramid, the Bent pyramid at Dashur had a
square plan with a height of 102 meters
 The pyramid had a change of angle midway, leading
to its being called the bent pyramid
 Snefru’s second pyramid, the north pyramid, is the
place he was buried
 It was a true pyramid having a low pitch of 43
degrees instead of 52 degrees making it look
stunted
 The construction of a true geometrical pyramid was
achieved during the reign of Cheops, son of Snefru,
located at Giza
 This pyramid is called THE GREAT PYRAMID because
of its size
 The pyramid is 482 ft
high on a plan
760 ft square
 Two additional pyramids were subsequently built
at Giza; one by Chefren, the son of Cheops and
one by Mykerinus, the son of Chefren
 The three together are
referred to as the pyramids
at Giza. Small pyramids close
to them were built for their Queens
Parts & Functions of Pyramids:
 The pyramids were designed as part of a funeral
complex for the burial of a pharaoh
 Had burial chambers known as King’s & Queen’s
chamber
 Had entrances to the interior usually on the north
side
 Had air shafts connecting the
King’s chamber to outside
for ventilation
 Located in Giza is the great Sphinx with the body
of a lion and head of King Chefren
 A theory hold that it was produced from leftover
material
 It may have been carved
to stand guard over the
temple and tomb of Chefren
o They are used to line
avenues leading to
temples
END OF PYRAMID CONSTRUCTION
 After the Mykerinus period, the era of pyramid
construction ended
 More pyramids were built later but they were
smaller and less complex
 Later pharaohs could not also afford the cost of
huge pyramid construction
 Grave robbers also learned how to break into and
steal the goods buried with pharaohs
 The end of the Old Kingdom therefore marked the
end of the great era of Egyptian pyramid
construction.
COLUMNS
 Egyptian column has its origin from plant materials
- the lotus flower, papyrus plant and
the palm tree
 Capitals were designed to resemble a
bud or bell form of a flower
 They were fertility emblems, symbols
of the land and sacred plants
 Mass, solidity and size are also considered
as an expression of durability.
RELIEF CARVING, PAINTING & OBELISKS
 Relief carving and painting was used to record
history or depict everyday social
 obelisks were carved as a monolithic
piece of stone and erected
in front of temples
 They were usually dedicated to a
particular God, pharaoh or
nobleman
BUILDINGS
 Two buildings types dominated ancient Egyptian
architecture; TOMBS and TEMPLES
 Minimal attention was paid to houses because of
beliefs. Houses were simply designed to last a life
time
 Effort was on buildings associated with the afterlife
 Tombs and temples were design to last forever
 Tomb construction varied with the various period of
Egyptian civilization
 Pyramid, Underground tomb & Mortuary temple
constructions have prevailed during different
periods as burial places
 Two types of Underground toms were examined -
ROCK CUT TOMB and SHAFT TOMB
 Rock cut tombs were carved out of existing
mountains
 Shaft tombs were dug in the underground of
mountains
 And two Mortuary temples were examined -
Mentuhotep and Hatshepsut
MATERIALS
 Three common materials of construction in Egypt:
Plant materials, clay and stone
 Plants consist of readily available material like
reeds, papyrus and palm ribs
 Timber was available in limited quantity; used for
roofing
 Clay was used for construction either as frame
structure or as sun dried brick
 Stone was not much used during the early period of
ancient Egyptian civilization
 It became popular after the 3rd dynasty of the Early
Kingdom and was used for tombs and temples
CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
 Construction in Egypt took place during the period
of floods
 Two construction systems were predominant:
Adobe construction and Post and beam
construction
 Adobe construction took the form of clay on
vegetable material or sun dried brick construction
 This construction was reserved for houses and
other buildings of daily life
 These buildings are supposed to last for only a
generation
 Egyptian monumental construction is mainly of a
post and beam style
 This is expressed mainly in pyramids, tombs and
temples •Columns are designed to look like plant
material
 Their shaft resemble bundles of plant stems tied
together
 Their capitals are derived from the lotus bud or
the papyrus flower or the palm leaf
 Great importance was attached to relief carving
and it was an integral part of the architecture
TECHNOLOGIES
 Ancient Egyptians contributed to technologies in
the aspect of lighting
 Egyptians used courtyards extensively for lighting
 The greatest contribution of the Ancient Egyptians
is in the aspect of Clerestory lighting
 Egyptians are also known for using ventilating
shafts to their tombs
 By making columns higher and creating two roof
levels, the ancient Egyptians were able to admit
light and air into halls
PRINCIPLES
 Principles of Architectural Organization
 Emphasis on Building Massing
 Linear and Geometrical Organization
 Application of harmony and Contrast
 Forces shaping Arch Organization
 Influence of the desert environment
 Influence of religion and social symbolism
End of Lecture 3