Ancient Egyptian Architecture
BACKGROUND
GEOGRAPHY RELIGION
● The Nile River defined the culture
of Egypt and influence the
people’s way of living and
development surrounding it
● Its fertile deltas yielded crops and
became home to different animals
● Flood control was done through
the construction of dams which ● People believed in immortality; Egyptians needed to ensure
led to the growth and sustenance safety and happiness for their souls after death
of Egyptian civilization ● Belief in the “ka”, a person’s “other self”, which upon death
● It became also a source of mud of the body can inhabit the corpse and live on
which were used to create ● Belief in the afterlife resulted in the construction of massive
sun-baked bricks for various pyramids and tombs
structures built during this era ● Tombs filled with items for the use of the dead in the afterlife
● Various deities influenced every aspect of nature and every
CLIMATE: Hot and dry desert climate human activity
● IMPORTANT DEITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT:
SOCIETY
Amon Re
● Farming in the fertile Nile Valley
● Developed irrigation system
Re sun god
(building canals channeling water
from the Nile to the farms) to
Isis represented the devoted mother and wife; their
nurture main crops
most important goddess
● The main mode of transport were
boats and barges on the Nile
Osiris husband and brother of Isis, ruled over
River but during the 1,600’s BC,
vegetation and the dead
Egyptians began to ride on
horse-drawn chariots
Horus god of the sky, son of Isis and Osiris
DISCOVERIES / INVENTIONS Ptah creator god of Memphis
Manufactured paper made of
Papyrus, a thick paper-like
material from the papyrus plant POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
● Kings or pharaohs (means ‘great
house’ in Egyptian) ruled most of its
history; people believed that their king
was the god Horus in human form
● Viziers were officials who helped the
Hieroglyphics was a formal
writing system developed by king govern Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptians containing ● Taxes were collected in the form of
logographic and alphabetic crops; the government also levied a
elements corvee (tax paid in the form of labor)
● The Cubit was the first
recorded unit of length and
one of the oldest standards
of measurements in history.
● The Egyptian cubit was
subdivided into palms and
digits –– 7 ‘palms’ of 4
‘digits’, making 28 parts in all
–– and was between 52.3
and 52.4cm in length
HISTORY
Old 3000 - ● Known for the construction of the great pyramids
Kingdom 2130 ● Dynasty I II began when Egypt had a strong central
BC government
Middle 2130 - ● Was a period in history when Dynasty XII, founded
Kingdom 1580 by Amenemhet (vizier in southern Egypt) began
BC ● Architecture, literature, and other arts flourished
under this dynasty
New 1580 - ● A period when Egypt became the world’s
Kingdom 322 strongest power
BC ● It developed a permanent army that used
horse-drawn chariots and other advanced military
techniques used in conquering portions of SW Asia
● Notable rulers of this era are Thutmose I and
daughter Hatshepsut, and Thutmose III
FAMOUS RULERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Khufu ● Pharaoh who built the Great Pyramids, which included
tombs for his sons King Khafre and King Menkaure
King Menes ● United the Upper and Lower Egypt and formed the
world’s first national government
● Founded Memphis as the capital, near the
present-day capital Cairo
Amenemhet ● Founded Dynasty XII of the Middle Kingdom
● His strong successors Senustret I, Senusret III, and
Amenemhet III helped restore Egypt’s wealth & power
The Hyksos ● Settlers and immigrants from Asia who overthrew
kings weak kings during 1670 BC by the use of war tools
unknown to native Egyptians
Thutmose I ● Ruler of Dynasty XVIII (New Kingdom) who led military
campaigns into Asia that brought Palestine and Syria
to the Egyptian Empire
Amenhotep IV ● Changed his name to Akhenaton; devoted himself to
sun god, Aton who was represented as disk of the sun
Tutankhaton ● Restored the old state religion allowing the worship of
(Tutankhamen) old deities as well as Aton
Ramses II ● Powerful and ambitious ruler of Dynasty XIX who
expanded a vast deal of the Egyptian Empire and
known for his construction of temples that
overshadow those built before him
Alexander the ● Macedonian conqueror who added Egypt to his
Great empire in 332 BC and founded the city of Alexandria in
the Nile river delta
Ptolemy ● The successor of Alexander the Great and ruled his
dynasty known as the Ptolemies
● They spread Greek Culture in Egypt and built temples
to Egyptian gods, developed its natural resources, and
increased foreign trade
Octavian ● Made Egypt a province of Rome after defeating the
military forces of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony
● Rome’s control of Egypt weakened in AD 395 when
the Roman Empire split into eastern and western parts
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
CLASSIFICATIONS:
1) Tomb Architecture
2) Temple Architecture
3) Obelisks
4) Dwellings
● Stone blocks are joined
through iron clamps after
3 TYPES OF TOMB ARCHITECTURE being levered into position
1) Mastaba ● Early graves were constructed
2) Royal Pyramid in a board pit below ground
3) Rock-hewn Tombs with a wooden roof supported
by wooden posts and crude
2 TYPES OF TEMPLES: brick pillars
1) Mortuary –– temples built for religious purposes
2) Cult –– temples built for popular worship of ancient gods
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTS
PRINCIPAL BUILDING MATERIALS IMHOTEP ● The architect of King Zoser
● Stone used mostly for monuments (Djoser) and is considered as the
and religious buildings world’s first master architect
● Built Egypt’s first pyramid
● Herbaceous materials (from plants
located at Saqqara, which is
like reeds) for dwellings recognized as the “firm
● Mud bricks monumental stone structure”
● Existed as a mythological figure
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION in the minds of most scholars
● Columnar and trabeated until the end of the 19th century
when he was established as a
● Use of flat roofs using palm logs
real historical person
● Use of massive battered walls for ● He was also a doctor, scribe,
stability; windowless wall surfaces poet, astrologer, chief minister
suitable for reliefs and
hieroglyphics SEMNUT ● Architect and a government
● Use of decorations like mouldings and column capitals official; chief architect of Queen
inspired by natural forms or vegetative origins Hatshepsut’s works in Deir El
Bahari
● Supervised the quarrying,
transport, and erection of twin
obelisks, at the time the tallest in
the world, at the entrance to the
Djeser-Djeseru or “the Sublime
Temple of Karnak
of the Sublimes”
● Designed and implemented the
Hatshepsut’s mortuary complex
in which the focal point was the
Djeser-Djeseru or “the Sublime
of the Sublimes” (‘Holy (of)
Holiests’), a colonnaded
structure of perfect harmony
built nearly 1000 years before the
Parthenon in Greece
● Wall thicknesses ranged from 9 meters to 24.5 meters in
great temple enclosures
● Natural light came through skylights and clerestories
● Temples are distinguished by massive pylons, avenue of
sphinxes, hypostyle halls, and great courts
TOMB ARCHITECTURE – MASTABA
MASTABA
● A rectangular, flat-topped funerary mound in Ancient Egypt
with battered sides, covering a burial chamber below
ground
● From the Arabic word meaning “bench”
● Dimensions:
○ Length: between 20-50 meters
○ Width: between 15-37 meters
○ Height: around 9-10 meters (30 ft)
● Built with a North and South orientation
● Deep tomb chamber was dug & lined with stones or bricks
PLAN & ELEVATION OF MASTABA OF KING AHA IN SAKKARA
● Above ground structure has a place for offerings to the “ka”,
(1ST DYNASTY)
the chapel with a f alse door
● The serdab (or “cellar”) houses the dead person’s statue
hidden within the masonry for protection; high up the walls
of serdab were small openings for allowing the fragrance of
burning incense and ritual spells to reach the statue
SERDAB FALSE DOOR
STAIRWAY MASTABA AT BEIT KHALLAF (3RD DYNASTY)
DWELLINGS
● Made of crude brick, one or two storeys high, with flat or
arched ceilings, and a parapet roof; it is occupied by a
loggia
● Rooms looked forward to a North-facing court
● For workers, barrack-like dwellings exist at pyramid sites
like those of Chepren in Gizeh; each worker’s establishment
constituted a considerable village laid out in rigidly formal
lines
● In better houses and mansions, columns and beams, doors
and windows were of precious timber; a central hall or living
OBELISKS room was a typical space and raised sufficiently high with
the help of columns to allow clerestory light on one or more
sides
● 3 fundamental parts of an Egyptian dwelling / mansion:
○ Reception suite
○ Service area
○ Private quarters
Diagram of spaces in a typical house found in Deir el Medina,
Gurob and Amarna in Egypt
Layout of spaces in a large house (mansion) for the elite families,
had small suites of rooms joined by interlinked corridors
The obelisk for Ramses II
● A tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in
a pyramid-like shape, called the pyramidion, at the top
● Often monolithic whereas most modern obelisks are made
of several stones and can have interior spaces
● Associated with timelessness and memorializing for the
dead
● Magical protection to monuments like tombs and temples of
Egypt
● Carved with hieroglyphics containing the titles of the
Pharaoh and praises to their god
● Symbolized the sun god, Ra, and during the brief religious
reformation of Akhenaton was said to be a petrified ray of
the Aten, the sundisk
TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE EXISTING CONDITIONS & INFLUENCE ON
● Thick temple walls were made of limestone, sandstone or ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
granite
● Steps on how wall decorations were made: EXISTING INFLUENCES
1) Chisel and smoothen the surface CONDITION
2) Drawing of hieroglyphs with a red
GEOGRAPHICAL ● Fertile river banks of the Nile served as efficient
line by an artist and corrected
sites for villages, cities and cemeteries (ex.
with black lies by a chief artist Mortuary complex)
3) Carving low reliefs
4) Applying a thin coat of stucco to GEOLOGICAL ● Abundance of stone, brick, clay and timber
receive the color from the painter determined Ancient Egypt’s architectural
● Colonnades and doorways spanned by massive lintels character as these were used as main building
● Used torus or roll mouldings materials
● Ornaments were often symbolic
CLIMATIC ● Sufficient sunlight almost all year round made
way for simplicity in design
TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE AT A GLANCE ● No real windows, drainage
● Egyptians were masters in the use of ● Used flat roofs
color and carried out their schemes
mainly blue, red, and yellow RELIGIOUS ● Monotheistic in theory but polytheistic in
● Roofs were of heavy stone slabs practice
● Column height seldom exceeded 6 ● High-regard for the dead led to the building of
lordly and massive tombs and temples
times their own diameter; along the
● Strong belief in the future state led to the
types of columns/pillars used were the: erection of monumental pyramids for the
○ Square pillar preservation of their dead
○ Polygonal columns
○ Palm columns SOCIAL ● Government ruled by pharaohs employed large
○ Bell columns states of trained craftsmen and armies of
○ Columns with foliated capitals laborers to build their structures
○ Columns with Hathor-headed capitals ● Prisoners of war also included
○ Osiris pillar
HISTORICAL ● Had military and commercial contacts with
other countries
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS AND DETAILS
PYLONS ● Monumental gateway leading to a temple
● Usually composed of 2 masses of masonry with
sloping sides
SPHINX ● A creature in Egyptian mythology that has a body of a
lion and head of a human
● Their representations are associated with royal tombs
or religious temples
● The first sphinx in Egypt depicted Queen Herepheres II
of the Fourth Dynasty
TRABEATED ● Having horizontal beams and lintels
● “Columnar and trabeated” constructions in mortuary
temples
HYPOSTYLE ● A hall whose roof is supported by columns all
HALL throughout
● Applied to colonnaded hall of Egyptian pylon temple
ALABASTER ● Calcite based material used on floor slabs of the
pyramids at Gizeh
RELIEF ● Carving on a surface so that figures are raised against
a background
BELL-SHAPED ● Based on the shapes of papyrus and lotus reeds
CAPITALS
OTHER PARTS OF ZOSER’S PYRAMID COMPLEX (IMAGE)
PYRAMIDS
STEPPED PYRAMID OF ZOSER (2,750 BC)
● The world’s first large-scale stone monument which began
as a complete mastaba
● Underwent 5 changes in plan to reach its final form of a total
of 6 stages with dimensions 411ft. (east-west side) x 358 ft.
wide x 200 ft. high
OTHER PARTS OF ZOSER’S PYRAMID COMPLEX
1) Colonnaded entrance –– passageway from door is lined with
6.6 meter high drummed columns
2) Great Court –– large court between South Tomb and the
stepped pyramid that contained curved columns thought to
be territorial markers associated with Heb-Sed Festival
3) South Tomb –– though to be “satellite pyramids” of later
Dynasties which housed the ka
4) North Temple & Serdab Court –– served as the cult center of
the king where offerings are made
5) Heb-Sed court –– meant to provide space for the king to
perform the Heb-Sed rituals even in the afterlife; surrounded
by chapels
EVOLUTION OF THE PYRAMID BENT (SOUTH) PYRAMID OF SNEFRU AT
DAHSHUR
PYRAMID AT MEYDUM
● The pyramid at Meidum is thought to be just the 2nd
pyramid built after Djoser’s and may have been originally
built for Huni, the last pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty, and was
continued by Sneferu.
● The architect was a successor to the famous Imhotep, the
inventor of the stone built pyramid
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA (2,700 BC) KHUFU’S PYRAMID
● Originally 146.4 meters high and 230.6 meter on one side
(square)
● Angle with respect to the ground is 51º52; 146m. High
● Entrance is 7.3 meters off center on the north side and17
meters above the ground
● Pyramid is cased in tura limestone blocks bedded with thin
lime mortar laid with fine joints
1) Underground chamber –– oldest chamber and never fully
completed due to little oxygen
2) Grand gallery –– rises gradually to the King’s Chamber with
a stepped hall (49m. long 11m. tall) ; has polished stones
and corbelled stone roofing
3) Queen’s chamber
4) King’s chamber –– contains 7.30 x 3.75 ft. Sarcophagus;
had smooth walls, polished ceilings, 60 sqm. pink granite
covered floors
King’s chamber
● 5.2m x 10.5m long and 5.8m high lined with
granite and chamber covered by 5 tiers of
great stone beams, 0 beams to a tier,
weighing 400 tons one above the other with
voids (relieving chambers) between layers
● Vault pairs of great stones inclined against
one another over the King and Queen’s
chambers
