HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1- CHAPTER 3-EGYPTIAN.pdf

History of architecture chapter 3 Egyptian

1. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture

2. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
GEOGRAPHICAL
❑Egypt consist of a narrow strip of fertile,
alluvial soil along both banks of the Nile.
❑Flanked by shelves of barren land and
rugged cliffs, beyond which lie arid,
desert plateau.
❑The Nile was a trade route to Eastern and
Western foreign trade and because of its
overflowing and fertilizing waters made
desert sands into fruitful fields.
❑On its banks therefore, the Egyptians
sited their villages and cemeteries.

3. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
GEOLOGICAL
❑STONE is abundant in Egypt in
quantity and variety.
❑The chief kinds of stone were
LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE and
ALABASTER and hardstone such as
GRANITE, QUARTZITE and BASALT.
Stone Limestone
Sandstone Alabaster

4. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
Granite Quartzite
Basalt
Unfinished Obelisk

5. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
CLIMATIC
❑Two Season: Spring and Summer
❑The climate is warm; rain is rare and thus contributed to the
preservation of buildings.
❑Roof was not an important consideration, and flat roofs of
stone slabs sufficed to cover the buildings and exclude the
heat.

6. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
HISTORICAL & SOCIAL
❑Craftsmanship was highly
developed, particularly in the royal
workshops, and the Egyptians
attained great skill in weaving, glass
blowing, pottery turning, metal
working and in making musical
instruments, jewellery and furniture.

7. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
HISTORICAL & SOCIAL
❑The Kings of Ancient Egypt are
known as Pharaohs, sometimes
they appear as gods and demi-
gods, often as mystery priest,
generally as builders but rarely
as fathers of their people.

8. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
HISTORICAL & SOCIAL
❑HIEROGYPHS or pictorial
representation of religious
ritual, historic events and daily
pursuits of Ancient Egyptians.

9. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
RELIGIOUS
❑The religious rite of the Egyptians
were traditional, virtually
unchangeable, and mysterious and
these traits are reproduced in the
architecture, both of tombs and
temples.
The Great Pyramids of Giza
Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak

10. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
RELIGIOUS
❑ The keynote of the Egyptian
religion was that of awe and
submission to the great power
represented by the sun, while
chief worship was for Osiris,
the man-God, who died and
rose again, the God of death,
and through death of
resurrection to eternal life.

11. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
GODS AND GODDESSES:
1.RA – God of the sun, a principal God, creator of the universe and the source of life. SYMBOL:
Scarab
2.BASTET – Goddess of cats, love, home, joy, motherhood, childbirth, women, secrets, and
pregnancy. SYMBOL: Cat
3.THOTH – God of wisdom, writing, hieroglyphs, science, magic, art, judgement, and the
dead. SYMBOL: Ibis
4.ISIS – Mother Goddess, Goddess of sky, magic and wisdom, Goddess of kingship and the
protection of the Kingdom. SYMBOL: Tyet
5.OSIRIS – God of fertility, alcohol, agriculture, afterlife, dead, resurrection, life and
vegetation. SYMBOL: Djed
6.HORUS – God of kingship and sky. SYMBOL: Wadjet
7.ANUBIS – God of death, mummification, embalming, afterlife, cemeteries, tombs and the
underworld. SYMBOL: Jackal

12. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
SYMBOL:
1.SCARAB (kheper) – in ancient Egyptian religion, the god Ra is
seen to roll the sun across the sky each day, transforming
bodies and souls. Beetles of the family Scarabaeidae (dung
beetle) roll dung into a ball. Because of its symbolically
similar action, the scarab was seen as a reflection of the
heavenly cycle, and as representing the idea of rebirth or
regeneration.
2.CAT – were very important to the ancient Egyptians and were
even considered to be demi-deities. Not only did they protect
the crops and slow the spread of disease by killing rodents,
they were also thought to be the physical form of the
goddess Bastet.
Scarab
Cat

13. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
SYMBOL:
3.IBIS – sacred Ibis was worshiped as the god Thoth
and was supposed to preserve the country from
plagues and serpents. The birds were often
mummified and then buried with pharaohs.
4.TYET – sometimes called the knot of Isis or girdle of
Isis, is an ancient Egyptian symbol that came to be
connected with the goddess Isis. Tyet amulets came
to be buried with the dead in the early New
Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1550–1070 BC).
Tyet
Ibis

14. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
SYMBOL:
5.DJED – The djed-pillar can perhaps be understood as the
backbone of Osiris, or that of the deceased associated
with him. The Egyptians recognized the importance of
the spine and saw it as a symbol that kept Osiris, the
resurrected god, intact and able to function.
6.WADJET – was associated with the Nile Delta region and
was more associated with the world of the living. She
was closely linked to pharaohs as a protective deity. She
was associated, along with other goddesses, as the "eye
of Ra".
Wadjet
Djed

15. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
SYMBOL:
7.JACKAL – they served essential functions in the
Egyptians’ understanding of what happened after death
and acted as guides and protectors in the complex
process of reaching the afterlife. They are among the
earliest funerary gods in Egypt and remained prominent
symbols in Egyptian religion for more than 3,000 years.
Jackal

16. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
RELIGIOUS
❑Elaborate preparations
were made for the care of
their bodies after death,
and the wealthy built
themselves lordly tomb-
houses.

17. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
INFLUENCES:
RELIGIOUS
❑The outstanding feature of the religion of the Egyptians was
their strong belief in a future state, hence the erection of such
everlasting monuments as pyramids for the preservation of
the dead.
❑The dwelling-house was regarded as a temporary lodging, and
the tomb as the permanent abode.

18. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
❑Made of Nile mud and mixed with chopped
straw or sand, and thoroughly matured by
exposure to sun the mud bricks were very
long lasting and large.
❑For stability, walls diminished course by
course towards the top, chiefly because of
the alternate shrinkage and expansion of the
soil caused by annual inundation or flood.

19. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
❑As the inner face of the walls had to be
vertical for ordinary convenience, it was the
outer face only which showed this inward
inclination of ‘BATTER’, which remained one
of the principal characteristics of Egyptian
architecture.
❑Walls such as those around the great temple
enclosures were very thick between 9
meters and 24.5 meters.
Philae Temple, Egypt
Ancient Egyptian pylons were
often battered.
❑PYLONS - is a monumental
gate of an Egyptian temple.

20. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
❑The surface decoration of the masonry walls is also held to have been
derived from the practice of scratching pictures on the early mud-plaster
walls, which manifestly did not lend themselves to modelled or
projecting ornament, though their flat and windowless surfaces were
eminently suitable for relief and explanatory hieroglyphs.

21. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
❑Egyptian columns have distinctive
character and a very large proportion
of them plainly advertise their
vegetable origin, their shafts
indicative of bundles of plant stems,
gathered in a little at the base, and
with capitals seemingly derived from
the lotus bud, the papyrus flower or
the Ubiquitous palm.

22. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
❑Egyptian monumental
architecture, which is
essentially a columnar and
trabeated style is expressed
mainly in pyramids and
other tombs and in
temples.

23. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
❑Egyptian temples approached by
impressive avenues of SPHINXES – or
mythical monsters each with the body
of a lion and a head of a man, hawk,
ram or a woman-possess in their
massive pylons, great courts,
hypostyle halls, inner sanctuaries and
dim secret rooms.

24. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Papyrus Capital Papyrus Capital

25. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Palm Capital Papyrus Capital

26. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Bell Capital Bud Capital

27. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Hathor Head Capital Pylon

28. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
Quadruple Spiral
Rope & Paterae
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: Ornaments
Lotus and Papyrus
Continuous Coil Spiral
Grape
Rope and Feather

29. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
TOMB ARCHITECTURE
MASTABA
❑An ancient Egyptian rectangular, flat-topped
funerary mound, with battered (sloping) sides,
covering a burial chamber below ground.
❑Ancient Egyptians believed so strongly in an
after-life, they did their utmost, each according
to their means, to build lasting tombs, to
preserve the body and to bury with finest
commodities that might be needed for the
sustenance and eternal enjoyment of the
deceased.

30. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
TOMB ARCHITECTURE
MASTABA
❑As early as the first Dynasty
bands of linen were used to
wrap round the limbs of the
body, to aid its preservation.

31. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
TOMB ARCHITECTURE
ROYAL PYRAMINDS
❑A massive funerary structure of stone or brick
with a square base and four sloping triangular
sides meeting at the apex.
❑The pyramids of Giza and others are thought
to have been constructed to house the
remains of the deceased pharaohs who ruled
over Ancient Egypt.
❑The embalmed body of the King was
entombed underneath or within the pyramid
to protect it and allow his transformation and
ascension to the afterlife.
Pyramid of Giza
"The people of Ancient Egypt
believed that death on Earth
was the start of a journey to
the next world."

32. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Giza Pyramid Complex

33. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Great Pyramid of Giza
❑The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest
Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth
Dynasty pharaoh Khufu.
❑Built in the early 26th century BC during a
period of around 27 years, the pyramid is
the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World, and the only one to remain
largely intact.
❑Initially standing at 146.6 metres (481 feet),
the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-
made structure in the world for more than
3,800 years.
Pyramid of Khufu

34. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Great Pyramid of Giza
❑The Great Pyramid was built by quarrying an estimated 2.3 million
large blocks weighing 6 million tonnes in total.
❑The majority of stones are not uniform in size or shape and are
only roughly dressed. The outside layers were bound together by
mortar.
❑Primarily local limestone from the Giza Plateau was used.
❑Other blocks were imported by boat down the Nile: White
limestone from Tura for the casing, and granite blocks from Aswan,
weighing up to 80 tonnes, for the King's Chamber structure.

35. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Great Pyramid of Giza
❑There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid.
❑The lowest was cut into the bedrock, upon which the pyramid was built, but
remained unfinished.
❑The so-called Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber, that contains a granite
sarcophagus, are higher up, within the pyramid structure. Khufu's vizier, Hemiunu
(also called Hemon), is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid.
❑The funerary complex around the pyramid consisted of two mortuary temples
connected by a causeway (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile),
tombs for the immediate family and court of Khufu, including three smaller
pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller "satellite pyramid" and five buried
solar barges.

36. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
SARCOPHAGUS
Used to bury leaders and wealthy residents
in ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece, a
sarcophagus is a coffin or a container to
hold a coffin. Most sarcophagi are made of
stone and displayed above ground.
King Tutankhamun Burial
Chamber

37. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
STELE
Or occasionally stela, when derived from
Latin, is a stone or wooden slab, generally
taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient
world as a monument. The surface of the
stele often has text, ornamentation, or both.
These may be inscribed, carved in relief, or
painted. Grave stelae were used for funerary
or commemorative purposes.

38. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Pyramid of Khafre
❑The pyramid of Khafre or of Chephren is
the second-tallest and second-largest of
the 3 Ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza
and the tomb of the Fourth-Dynasty
pharaoh Khafre (Chefren), who ruled
c. 2558−2532 BC.
❑The pyramid has a base length of 215.5
m (706 ft) and rises up to a height of
136.4 metres (448 ft). It is made of
limestone blocks weighing more than 2
tons each.

39. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Pyramid of Menkaure
❑The pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of
the three main Pyramids of Giza, located on
the Giza Plateau in the southwestern
outskirts of Cairo, Egypt.
❑It is thought to have been built to serve as
the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian
Pharaoh Menkaure.
❑Menkaure's pyramid had an original height
of 65.5 meters (215 ft), and was the
smallest of the three major pyramids at the
Giza Necropolis. It now stands at 61 m (200
ft) tall with a base of 108.5 m (356 ft).

40. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
TOMB ARCHITECTURE
STEP PYRAMID
❑A step pyramid or stepped pyramid is an
architectural structure that uses flat platforms,
or steps, receding from the ground up, to
achieve a completed shape similar to a
geometric pyramid.
❑Step pyramids are structures which
characterized several cultures throughout
history, in several locations throughout the
world. These pyramids typically are large and
made of several layers of stone.
Pyramid of Djoser
(Zoser), Saqqara, Egypt

41. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Pyramid of Djoser (Zoser)
❑The 6-tier, 4-sided structure is the earliest
colossal stone building in Egypt.
❑It was built in the 27th century BC during
the Third Dynasty for the burial of Pharaoh
Djoser.
❑The pyramid is the central feature of a vast
mortuary complex in an enormous
courtyard surrounded by ceremonial
structures and decoration.
❑Its architect was Imhotep, chancellor of
the pharaoh and high priest of the god Ra.

42. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Pyramid of Djoser (Zoser)
Complex layout: 1) step
pyramid, 2) south tomb
and chapel, 3) Sed
festival complex, 4) 'T'
temple, 5) south court,
6) south pavilion, 7)
north pavilion, 8)
mortuary temple, 9)
western mounds, 10)
colonnaded entrance,
11) north court, 12)
north galleries, 13) step
tombs, 14) serdab, and
15) north altar

43. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Pyramid of Djoser (Zoser)
❑The pyramid went
through several revisions
and redevelopments of
the original plan. The
pyramid originally stood
62.5 m (205 ft) tall, with
a base of 109 m × 121 m
(358 ft × 397 ft) and was
clad in polished white
limestone.

44. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
TOMB ARCHITECTURE
BENT PYRAMID
❑The Bent Pyramid is an ancient Egyptian pyramid
located at the royal necropolis of Dahshur,
approximately 40 kilometres south of Cairo, built
under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu (c. 2600
BC).
❑A unique example of early pyramid development in
Egypt, this was the second pyramid built by Sneferu.
❑The Bent Pyramid rises from the desert at a 54-
degree inclination, but the top section (above 47
metres) is built at the shallower angle of 43 degrees,
lending the pyramid a visibly 'bent' appearance.
Bent Pyramid, Dahshur

45. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
TOMB ARCHITECTURE
ROCK-CUT TOMBS
❑A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into
an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a
type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut
into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go
downward in fairly flat ground.
❑It was a common form of burial for the wealthy in
ancient times in several parts of the world.
❑Rock-cut tombs are either made directly from a cliff
face, by cutting a vertical shaft from the surface, or
by a sloping or stepped passage (dromos).
Abu Simbel, Nubia
DROMOS – an avenue or
walkway to a building.

46. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Valley of the Kings, Luxor
❑The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is a valley in
Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, rock-
cut tombs were excavated for the pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom
(the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt).

47. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Valley of the Kings, Luxor
❑The usual tomb plan consisted of
a long inclined rock-cut corridor,
descending through one or more
halls (possibly mirroring the
descending path of the sun god
into the underworld) to the burial
chamber.
❑In the earlier tombs, the
corridors turn 90 degrees at least
once (such as KV43, the tomb of
Thutmose IV), and the earliest
ones had cartouche-shaped
burial chambers (for example,
KV43, the tomb of Thutmose IV).

48. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Valley of the Kings, Luxor
❑The modern abbreviation "KV" stands for "Kings' Valley".
❑In 1827, Wilkinson painted KV numbers over the entrances to the 21
tombs that lay open in the East Valley at that time, beginning at the
valley entrance and moving southward, and labeled four tombs in the
West Valley as WV1 through WV4.
❑The tombs in the West Valley were later incorporated into the East Valley
numbering system as WV22 through WV25, and tombs that have been
opened since Wilkinson's time have been added to the list.
❑The numbers range from KV1 (Rameses VII) to KV64 (discovered in
2012).

49. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Valley of the Kings, Luxor
❑Since the early 19th century AD, antiquarians and archaeologists have
cleared and recorded tombs, with a total of 61 sepulchers being known
by the start of the 20th century.
❑KV5 was only rediscovered in the 1990s after being dismissed as
unimportant by previous investigators.
❑Some of the tombs are unoccupied, others remain unidentifiable as
regards to their owners, and still others are merely pits used for storage.

50. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Abu Simbel, Nubia
❑Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two
massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu
Simbel Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near
the border with Sudan.
❑The complex is part of the UNESCO World
Heritage Site known as the "Nubian
Monuments", which run from Abu Simbel
downriver to Philae (near Aswan), and include
Amada, Wadi es-Sebua, and other Nubian sites.
❑The twin temples were originally carved out of
the mountainside in the 13th century BC, during
the 19th Dynasty reign of the Pharaoh
Ramesses II.

51. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: Abu Simbel, Nubia
❑They serve as a lasting monument to the king
Ramesses II. His wife Nefertari and children can
be seen in smaller figures by his feet,
considered to be of lesser importance and were
not given the same position of scale.
❑This commemorates his victory at the Battle of
Kadesh. Their huge external rock relief figures
have become iconic.
❑During his reign, Ramesses II embarked on an
extensive building program throughout Egypt
and Nubia, which Egypt controlled. Nubia was
very important to the Egyptians because it was
a source of gold and many other precious trade
goods.

52. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: The Great Temple of Ammon, Karnak, Thebes
❑The massive temple complex of
Karnak was the principal religious
center of the God Ammon-Re in
Thebes during the New Kingdom
(which lasted from 1550 until
1070 B.C.E.).
❑The Temple of Ammon, covers
some 61 acres.
❑The complex remains one of the
largest religious complexes in the
world.

53. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: The Great Temple of Ammon, Karnak, Thebes
HYPOSTYLE HALL
❑One of the greatest architectural marvels
of Karnak is the hypostyle hall (a space
with a roof supported by columns) built
during the Ramesside period.
❑The hall has 134 massive sandstone
columns with the center twelve columns
standing at 69 feet.
❑With the center of the hall taller than the
spaces on either side, the Egyptians
allowed for clerestory lighting (a section of
wall that allowed light and air into the
otherwise dark space below).

54. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES: The Great Temple of Ammon, Karnak, Thebes
Reconstruction
drawing, Temple of
Ammon-Re and
Hypostyle Hall.
Karnak, near Luxor,
Egypt. New
Kingdom, 18th and
19th Dynasties.
Temple: c. 1550
B.C.E.; hall: c. 1250
B.C.E. Cut sandstone
and mud brick.

55. Chapter 3: Egyptian Architecture
EXAMPLES:
OBELISK
❑A stone pillar, typically having a square or rectangular
cross section and a pyramidal top, set up as a
monument or landmark.
❑Obelisks were prominent in the architecture of the
ancient Egyptians, and played a vital role in their
religion placing them in pairs at the entrance of the
temples.
❑These obelisks are now dispersed around the world,
and fewer than half of them remain in Egypt.
❑The earliest temple obelisk still in its original position
is the 68-foot (20.7 m) 120-metric-ton (130-short-ton)
red granite Obelisk of Senusret I of the Twelfth
Dynasty at Al-Matariyyah in modern Heliopolis.
Obelisk of Pharaoh Senusret I