Ancient Egyptian Architecture: Geographical Context

• Egyptian Architecture covers buildings constructed in Ancient Egypt over thousands of years.

Geographical Factors

• Ancient Egypt is located in the northeastern corner of Africa.
• The country covers an area of around 1,002,450 km2, which is approximately 387,050 mi2.
• Most structures were built along the Nile River banks.
• Egypt has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea, the River Nile, and the Red Sea.
• The Nile River is 4,160 miles long, flowing from east-central Africa to the Mediterranean.
• The Nile River provided agricultural benefits and served as a vital transportation route.

Geological Properties

• Natural materials like limestone, sandstone, and red granite were abundant.
• Limestone was found in the northern regions.
• Sandstone could be found in the central regions
• Red granite in the southern areas.
• Stone and granite significantly influenced Egyptian architecture, especially in terms of quarrying, transporting, and raising materials for pyramids, tombs, and temples.
• Bricks were used and faced with harder materials.
• Sun-dried bricks were made from Nile mud and used for palaces and houses.
• Stone was the chief building material.
• Copper and tin were imported to make bronze.
• Houses and palaces were constructed of large, sun-dried bricks.
• Timber was rarely used; indigenous date palm logs were used for roofing.
• Walls of domestic structures used palm leaves, reeds, and rushes as reinforcements for mud brick constructions.

Climatic Conditions

• The climate consisted of warm temperatures as well as distinct spring and summer seasons.
• Snow, fog, and rain were rare, leading to simple construction methods.
• There was no structural necessity to protect against the elements.
• Many ancient structures have endured because of this.

Social and Historical Aspects

• Pharaohs held absolute political and religious power and were considered gods.
• A centralized government facilitated the construction of monumental structures by providing organization and manpower.
• Pharaohs were kings that were regarded as gods, mystery priests, and great builders.
• The word "pharaoh" means "Great House". It is a reference to the palace where the pharaoh resides.

Religious Beliefs

• The Egyptian religion featured many gods representing the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Animals.
• Egyptians excelled in astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy, influencing the architecture of temples and tombs.
• Strong belief in life after death led to the construction of pyramids as expressions of immortality.
• Polytheism was the worship of more than one god.
• Ra was the sun god and creator, often depicted as a falcon head with the sun disk.
• Osiris was the god of the afterlife, resurrection, and fertility, presented as a mummy-king.
• Isis was the goddess of magic, motherhood, and healing, and is depicted as Osiris' wife.
• Horus was the god of the sky, displayed in the form of a falcon or man with a falcon head.
• Anubis was the god of mummification and afterlife, often depicted with a jackal head.
• Thoth was the god of wisdom, writing, and knowledge, usually with an ibis head.
• Hathor was the goddess of love, music, and joy.
• Sutekh was the storm, desert, and chaos deity.

Architectural Characteristics

• Primitive architecture in the Nile Valley used reeds, papyrus, and palm branches covered in clay.
• Flat-reed and mud roofs created the characteristic Egyptian "gorge cornice."
• Cornices might be a reminiscence of using bound bunches of reeds as building supports.
• Sun-dried bricks were mixed with chopped straw or sand.
• Bricks were typically 7 inches wide, 4 inches thick, and 14 inches long.
• Walls diminished course by course towards the top, forming a "batter" or sloping wall.
• Temples and palaces ranged from 9 to 24.5 meters in wall thickness.
• Interior walls were adorned with hieroglyphics.

Hieroglyphics

• Hieroglyphics are pictorial representations of religious rituals, historic events, and daily life.
• The writing system was composed entirely of pictures.
• There are over 700 hieroglyphs used for sounds, words, and ideas.

Egyptian Columns

• Distinctive in character with vegetable origins in their design.
• Shafts indicate bundles of plant stems
• Capitals were derived from the lotus bud, papyrus flower, or ubiquitous palm.
• Common types include Square, Polygonal, Bell, Bud Flower, Foliated. Hathor-Headed, Osiris
• The simplest form of support was the square pillars.
• This was in regular use until the later New Empire, were elaborated with painting and low-relief carving.
• Pillars/Columns were seldom more than six times their own diameter in height.
• Polygonal types were used only in the Middle Kingdom and New Empire, and they had eight or sixteen sides.
• There were also shallow-fluted columns, not used after the Eighteenth Dynasty.
• Bell columns invariably had a plain circular capital and shaft.
• Bell columns acquired a reeded neck-ing during the Ptolemaic period .
• Bud columns derive from papyrus reeds with lashings underneath the capitals.
• The shafts are gathered in a little above the base.
• The bud type, which was first used in the Fifth Dynasty, had eight reflected papyrus stems upwards into the capital.
• Foliated types were of various ornate types.
• They were typical of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
• Foliated types were used side by side, interspersed with the palm type.
• Hathor-Headed columns supported models of the birth house of Horus and are from a later date.
• Osiris columns are pillar forerunners of the caryatid of the Greeks.
• Osiris columns occurred principally in the New Empire period.

Architectural Character

• Egyptian monumental architecture is columnar and trabeated.
• These are mainly used in pyramids, tombs, and temples.
• Temples were approached by sphinxes on massive pylons, courts, halls, and sanctuaries.

Sphinxes

• Sphinxes are mythical monsters with a lion's body and a head of either a man, hawk, ram or a woman.
• The Androsphinx has a body of a lion, and the head of a man
• The Criosphinx has a body of a lion, and the head of a ram
• The Hieracosphinx has a body of a lion, and the head of a falcon

Historical Periods

• The Old Kingdom lasted from 3000–2130 BC, and encompassed Dynasties 1-10.
• Menes, the first Dynastic King, founded Memphis.
• Memphis became the chief city during the peak of pyramid building, III-VI.
• Thebes became the chief city in dark times.
• Hieroglyphic system being developed, and tombs were of the mastaba type
• Pyramid perfection was demonstrated in Giza. The Middle Kingdom lasted from 2130–1580 BC, and encompassed Dynasties 11-17.
• Mentuhotep II reunified the country and built the mortuary temple at Der el-Bahari.
• Amenemhat I consolidated the administrative system and founded the great temple at Karnak.
• The middle kingdom was regarded as The "recovery from upheavals” / “renaissance”.
• The New Kingdom lasted from 1580–332 BC, and encompassed Dynasties 18-30.
• Thotmes I started work on the Temples of Ammon, Karnak.
• Hatshepsut, "The Queen Elizabeth I" of Egypt, built the funerary temple at Der el-Bahari.
• Amenophis III erected the Colossi of Memnon.
• Rameses I was Seti I's father.
• Seti I, was Rameses I’s son, who began construction of the Great Hypostyle Hall in Karnak.
• Rameses II built the Rock Temples at Abu Simbel and finished the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak.

Classification of Ancient Egyptian Architecture

• Tombs
• Mastabas
• Royal Pyramids
• Rock- Hewn Tombs
• Temples
• Mortuary Temples
• Cult Temples Obelisks
• Dwellings

Egyptian Tombs:

• Mastabas were Ancient Egyptian rectangular flat-topped funerary mounds with battered (sloping) sides covering a chamber below.
• Considered a gateway to the after-life for kings and members of the royal court.
• Royal Pyramids are massive structures of stone or brick with a square base and four sloping triangular sides which symbolizes the unique role that the pharaoh played.
• The Cheops Pyramid had a height of 146.4 meters (481 ft) and a base of 230.6 x 230.6 m.
• All the sides faces cardinal angles of 51 degrees
• Constructed with 2 million limestone blocks each weighting 2.5 tonnes
• The fourth Dynasty tomb of Khafre , Chepren had a base of 216 x 216m and a height of 143m.
• Tombs, Beni Hassan is found in ancient Egyptian cemeteries, approximately housing 39 familial members of royalty.

Important Ceremonies

• Ritual of Purity, followed by preparation of the body for eternal repose including separation of Internal Organs . Molded perishable features on the body using linen. Mouth opening to allow the body to be laid on the hall with statues.

Examples of Pyramids

• Djoser’s first pyramid made of stone.
• The Bent of Dynasty IV had angle construction change mid way creating an asymmetrical shape.
• Red Pyramid highest of Dahshur pyramids at all blocks are reddish red in appearance.
• The Meidum, the collateral pyramid constructed by the 3rd Dynasty , Huni.

Egyptian Temples

• Temples came in two types, mortuary and cult structures. Amon, Mut and Khonsu , Karnak great temple dates from the periods 2055 to 100 BC. This involved a building where there were multiple temples at the entrance where the pylons, court and the sanctuary as part of the girder as well as wall.
• Temple of Isis, the last Egyptian style structure worshipped approximately around 690 BC.
• The Luxor temple consists of slant walls framing the temple. The Trajan kiosk is one of the hyperthermal types of the structure. It is found on the side of Agilkia island.

Ancient Obelisks

• Originated from the sun god of Heliopolis.
• They were usually stood in pairs.
• Huge solid square structure that capped the electro pyramid.
• Usually 9x10 times in diameter with sides cut in Hieroglyphs.
• Quarried using laborious methods to cut stone.
• At the Piazza of St. John and Karnac, the Obelisk was from the Temple of Ammon.
• They were large stones structures capped with stones with electro cut sides