EARLY ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

-Nile Valley , Egypt civilization

OBJECTIVE: To provide an introduction to culture and architecture of
early civilizations
The story of architecture begins with the story of civilization, when primitive men and
women gave up their nomadic ways and established settlements.
…………………………………………………………………………………… BARBARIC SPLENDOUR CONTEXT - CULTURE

Pharaohs and the Legacy of Ancient Egypt

Egypt - First great recorded civilization
- Monumental Style
- A wonder from antiquity to the present.

CLIMATE & LOCATION

• Nile river , its valley, and its Delta are the guiding force for the
civilization.
• Nile provided not only the transportation but the sustenance
and plenty of its fertile bottomland, enriched annually by the
flooding.
• The rocky highlands and the Red Sea to the east , and the
desert stretching to the west, served to protect the river valley
from invasion and disruption.
 Egyptians grew CROPS such as beans, wheat, and cotton.
Despite the lack of many natural resources, such as
forests or an abundance of land for farming, a great
society emerged.
The road to CIVILIZATION required more organization and
increased efficiency. Farmers began producing surplus
crops that allowed others not only to concentrate on
farming but also to pursue other trades, such as
mercantilism or skilled craftwork.

Egyptian ARTISANS created copper tools such as

chisels and needles — all new inventions — which
allowed them to fabricate ornamental jewelry.
Artisans also discovered how to make BRONZE by
mixing copper and tin, which marked the beginning
of the BRONZE AGE.

Evidence suggests that ancient Egyptians invented the

POTTER'S WHEEL. This tool made it easier to create pots
and jars for storage, cooking, religious needs, and
decoration.
 Pharaohs and the Legacy of Ancient Egypt

The pharaohs who ruled Egypt for about 3,000 years

were by and large capable administrators, strong
military leaders, sophisticated traders, and overseers
of great building projects.

Egyptians used HIEROGLYPHICS or pictures to Protected and secured,

represent words or sounds.
Egypt developed a
Many of its discoveries and practices have survived sophisticated culture and
an even greater test of time. an enduring art of great
In fact, one of the ancient Egyptians' inventions, the
CALENDAR, has helped define time itself. beauty and luxury.

One of the two lasting contributions of the Egyptians

The Book of the Dead was
to astronomy (in the large sense) is the 24-hour
written using special cursive division of the day.
pictograms that link
hieroglyphics to the hieratic
The second lasting contribution of the Egyptians is the
form used in later Egyptian fixed and constant Year of 365 Days.
religious writings
The Geometry of immortality; Ancient Egypt Mastabas
A free standing tomb used in ancient Egypt,
Tomb Architecture
consisting of a rectangular superstructure with
The tombs were of three main types: inclined sides, from which a shaft leads to
underground burial and offering chambers.
a) Mastabas
b) Royal Pyramids Royal Pyramids
c) Rock-hewn tombs/temples . A massive funerary structure of stone or
brick with a square base and four sloping
Temple Architecture triangular sides meeting at the apex: used
The tombs were of two main types: mainly in Egypt.
Step Pyramid
a) Mortuary temples An early type of Pyramid having
b) Cult temples. stepped super structure.
Great Pyramid
Dwellings
The largest of three Pyramids at El Gizah
near cairo, which were built as tombs of
Royalty. Believed to have been built for King
Khufu of the IV dynasty.
ROCK-CUT TOMB Middle & New Kingdom Burial Chambers

The building of exposed tombs above ground was abandoned & during
this period the Egyptian tomb returned to earth .

This development, which occurred in the cliffs of the Nile where

the architecture was mostly not “built” but hollowed out of the
living rock.

The best examples are found at Beni Hasan, 125 miles upstream
from Giza on the east bank of the Nile.

The Roc-cut tombs of the Middle Kingdoms proved no less inviolable to grave robbers than the Pyramids. Thus the builders
of the New Kingdom decided to sacrifice the monumentality of tombs in favor of increased security.
To this end they developed the so –called shaft tomb-a complex series of long underground corridors & chambers
hollowed out of the cliffs of the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the river Nile near Thebes.
 A valley temple near the river where the kings
MORTUARY TEMPLES body borne there on a special funerary bark, was
This normally embalmed,
Following the decline of the Pyramid and comprised of
the concealment of the burial chambers in three A mortuary temple at the temple at the foot of
the depths of the cliffs, that mortuary interconnected the pyramid for rituals devoted to the cult of
temples developed into Egyptian’s most units the Pharaoh & associated deities
important monumental form.

Most forward looking Prototypes-the Connecting these two temple structures a long
Funerary temple complexes set before the narrow causeway between thick high walls.
old Kingdom pyramids.

● Large & open courts

● Pillared & colonnaded halls

● Roofed passageways
● The axial alignment of spaces & statue
chambers

Plan, valley & Pyramid temples of Chefren-Giza

Principal forms of Egyptian columns
Architectural
Details

Papyrus-bundle column Lotus Column “Tent pole” column Papyrus column with
Palm column open bud.
Evolution of Principal
forms of Egyptian columns

Egyptian columns have a

distinctive character & 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.
OBELISKS

The obelisks, originating in the

sacred symbol of the sun god of
Heliopolis and which usually stood
in pairs astride temple entrances-
are huge monoliths, square on plan
and tapering to an electrum-capped
pyramidion at summit, which was
the sacred part.

They have a ht 9-10 times that of the

diameter of the base, & the four sides
are cut with the Hieroglyphs.

Mural reliefs show that obelisks were

transported on sledges & river-barges
& erected on their foundations by
hauling them up earthen ramps and
then tilting them into their positions.
 GREAT SPHINX
The most celebrated example of a Sphinx near
the great pyramid of El Gizeh, hewn from a
single Sand stone Knoll, with the recumbent
body of a lion and a man’s head.

244ft long, 66ft high and 13ft broad.

The head is 28 ½ ft high from chin to crown.
At one time a small temple stood between the
forepaws.

PROPYLON
In ancient Egyptian
architecture a monumental
PYLON gateway usually between
two towers in outline like
Monumental gateway to an truncated pyramids, of which
Egyptian temple, consisting of a one or a series stood before
plain of tower structures with the actual entrance or pylon
slanting walls flanking the of most temples or other
entrance portal . important buildings.
 DWELLINGS TELL-EL-AMARNA
Egyptian Architecture was not all the gigantic temples &
A new town built by Pharaoh Akhnaten-8th
tombs but to the contrary also an affirmation of life busy
dynasty-15years.
with trading, farming ,administration, crafts and
pleasure.
Clay models deposited in tombs indicate that
ordinary dwellings were of crude brick, one or two
storeys high with flat or arched ceilings & a
parapeted roof partly occupied by a loggia.
Remains of barrck-like dwellings for workers exist at
the pyramid sites of Chephren at Gizeh .
Each workers establishment constituted a
considerable village, laid out on rigidly formal lines.

Though in the towns even the better houses were on

constricted plots & therefore might be three or four
storeys high where on consricted plots & therefore
might be three or four storeys high, where space
allowed mansions stood in their own grounds, laid out
formally with groves , gardens, pools & minor
structures surrounding rectangular, crude –brick
dwelling, this having its door & window openings
dressed arround in stone.
Ground plan remarkably regular .
Arrangements of its interiors –a bilaterally symmetrical design set out on a
square plan
Forecasts the harmonious structures of the classical world.

Columns & beams

doors, & windows
frames were made
from precious timber.
Typically there was a
central hall or living
room raised sufficiently
high with the help of
columns to allow clear-
storey light on one or
more sides.
 The Great Pyramid at Giza, also
called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid
of Khufu, and Pyramid of Cheops, is the
oldest and largest of the three
pyramids in the Giza Necropolis
bordering what is now Cairo, Egypt,

Originally the Great Pyramid

was covered by casing stones
that formed a smooth outer
It is believed the pyramid was built as a surface, and what is seen
tomb for Fourth dynasty Egyptian King today is the underlying core
Khufu (Cheops in Greek) and constructed structure.
over a 20 year period concluding around
2560 BC. Great Pyramid at Giza
ENTRANCE OF GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU .
Great Pyramid of Cheops (KHUFU) NEAR CAIRO

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the main part of a

complex setting of buildings that included two
mortuary temples in honor of Khufu (one close to
the pyramid and one near the Nile), three smaller
pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller
"satellite" pyramid, a raised causeway connecting
the two temples, and small mastaba tombs
surrounding the pyramid for nobles. One of the
small pyramids contains the tomb of queen
Hetepheres (discovered in 1925), sister and wife of
Sneferu and the mother of Khufu.
A few hundred meters south-west of the Great
Pyramid lies the slightly smaller Pyramid of Khafre,
one of Khufu's successors who is also commonly
considered the builder of the Great Sphinx, and a
few hundred meters further south-west is the
Pyramid of Menkaure, Khafre's successor, which is
about half as tall.
A view of the pyramids at Giza from the plateau to the south of the
complex. From left to right, the three largest are: the PYRAMID OF
MENKAURE,the PYRAMID OF KHAFRE and the GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU.
The three smaller pyramids in the foreground are subsidiary structures
associated with Menkaure’s Pyramid.
The original entrance to the Great Pyramid is 17
metres (56 ft) vertically above ground level and
7.29 metres (23.9 ft) east of the centre line of the
pyramid. From this original entrance, there is a
Descending Passage 0.96 metres (3.1 ft) high and
1.04 metres (3.4 ft) wide, which goes down at an
angle of 26° 31'23" through the masonry of the
pyramid and then into the bedrock beneath it.

After 105.23 metres (345.2 ft), the passage

becomes level and continues for an additional 8.84
metres (29.0 ft) to the lower Chamber, which
appears not to have been finished.

There is a continuation of the horizontal

passage in the south wall of the lower chamber;
there is also a pit dug in the floor of the
chamber. Some Egyptologists suggest that this
Lower Chamber was intended to be the original
burial chamber, but Pharaoh Khufu later
changed his mind and wanted it to be higher up
in the pyramid.
At 28.2 metres (93 ft) from the entrance is a square hole in the
roof of the Descending Passage. Originally concealed with a
slab of stone, this is the beginning of the Ascending Passage.
The Ascending Passage is 39.3 metres (129 ft) long, as wide
and high as the Descending Passage and slopes up at almost
precisely the same angle.

The lower end of the Ascending Passage is

closed by three huge blocks of granite, each
about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long. At the start of
the Grand Gallery on the right-hand side there
is a hole cut in the wall. This is the start of a
vertical shaft which follows an irregular path
through the masonry of the pyramid to join the
Descending Passage.

Also at the start of the Grand Gallery there is

the Horizontal Passage leading to the "Queen's
Chamber". The passage is 1.1m (3'8") high for
most of its length, but near the chamber there
is a step in the floor, after which the passage is
1.73 metres (5.7 ft) high.
 KINGS CHAMBER

The "King's Chamber" is 10.47 metres

(34.4 ft) from east to west and 5.234
metres (17.17 ft) north to south. It has
a flat roof 5.82 metres (19 feet 1 inch)
above the floor. 0.91 m (3.0 ft) above
the floor there are two narrow shafts in
the north and south walls. The shafts
serving a ritualistic purpose associated
with the ascension of the king’s spirit
to the heavens.
The King's Chamber is entirely faced with granite. Above the roof, which
is formed of nine slabs are five compartments known as Relieving
Chambers.

The first four, like the King's Chamber, have flat roofs formed by the floor of
the chamber above, but the final chamber has a pointed roof.

It is believed that the compartments were intended to safeguard the King's

Chamber from the possibility of a roof collapsing under the weight of stone
above the Chamber.

The only object in the King's Chamber is a

rectangular granite sarcophagus, one corner of
which is broken. The sarcophagus is slightly
larger than the Ascending Passage, which
indicates that it must have been placed in the
Chamber before the roof was put in place.
Unlike the fine masonry of the walls of the
Chamber, the sarcophagus is roughly finished,
with saw marks visible in several places. This is
in contrast with the finely finished and
decorated sarcophagi found in other pyramids
of the same period.
The Queen's Chamber is the middle and the smallest, measuring
approximately 5.74 by 5.23 meters, and 4.57 meters in height. The
chamber is lined with fine limestone blocks and the pented roof is
made of large limestone slabs. Its eastern wall has a large angular
doorway or niche. Egyptologist Mark Lehner believes that the
Queen's chamber was intended as a serdab, a structure found in
several other Egyptian pyramids, and that the niche would have
contained a statue of the interred. The Ancient Egyptians believed
that the statue would serve as a "back up" vessel for the Ka of the
Pharaoh, should the original mummified body be destroyed. The
true purpose of the chamber, however, remains uncertain. The
Queens Chamber has a pair of shafts similar to those in the King's
Chamber.
A Serdab is an ancient Egyptian tomb structure that served as a chamber for
the Ka statue of a deceased individual.
 Grand Gallery
The Grand Gallery continues the slope of the Ascending Passage, but is 8.6
metres (28 ft) high and 46.68 metres (153.1 ft) long. At the base it is 2.06
metres (6.8 ft) wide, but after 2.29 metres (7.5 ft) the blocks of stone in the
walls are corbelled inwards by 7.6 centimetres (3.0 in) on each side.

It is roofed by slabs of stone laid at a slightly steeper angle than the floor of
the gallery, so that each stone fits into a slot cut in the top of the gallery like
the teeth of a ratchet.

At the upper end of the Gallery on the right-hand side there is a hole near
the roof that opens into a short tunnel by which access can be gained to
the lowest of the Relieving Chambers.

CONCLUSION
Arguably pyramids of Ancient Egypt can be attributed as the most famous
form of late Prehistoric art, and are the world's largest funerary edifices or
tombs. The architectural design of the pyramids was a reflection of both
politics and religious custom.
 ROYAL PYRAMIDS

EGYPTIAN TEMPLES
EGYPTIAN TEMPLES Mammisis
While the Mortuary temples were for The mammisi, which is often referred to as a birth house and
ministrations to deified Pharaohs: the considered by some to be a temple in its own rite, was
cult temples for the popular worship of certainly a structure with considerable religious significance,
the ancient and mysterious gods. especially for the king.
Cult temples began in the It a small chapel attached to a larger temple, and associated
worship of multifarious local with the nativity of a god.
deities.
A temple complex was virtually never Located within the temple precinct
constructed in isolation. In fact, the temple and often oriented at right angles to
itself was almost always surrounded by other the main temple axis, this type of
support facilities. Some of the structures were structure was associated with the
directly related to religious functions of the mysterious birth of the gods and the
temple, while others were more celebration of their births.
administrative in nature.
Mammisis were very common in
Unfortunately, many such structures, such as the Greek and Roman period, when
the Sanatoria, the House of Life, storage and they were present in all known,
support facilities, were built of mudbrick and major temples, but their origin was
are therefore significantly deteriorated. probably Egypt's Late Period.
 The best preserved of these is the frontal part of
the mammisi at Edfu and the rear section of
that at Dendera.

From these, we see a somewhat unique

architectural style. The mammisi represents a
modest brick building with a rectangular
sanctuary that is flanked by a long chapel on
each side.
The central shrine and facades of the lateral
rooms were cased with stone and decorated by
Nectanebo I. At this time, the building was just a
small shrine with courtyard and access path.

The edifice was enlarged in the reign of the

Ptolemies, the stone casing of the interior walls
was continued and a staircase to the roof was
added.
From the Greek and Roman Periods, where an
entrance vestibule opens into a relatively
The best known mammisi is associated with the Temple
shortened building. Surrounding this room, a
of Hathor at Dendera, which was dedicated to Ihy (the son of
peristyle structure with screen like walls between
Hathor and Horus).
the columns, might also be erected.
 It consisted of a core edifice with a corridor running around the
outside, its roof being supported by columns with floral capitals.
These columns imitate the papyrus swamps.

Above the capitals, a

protective figure -
face of Hathor, the
goddess of
motherhood and joy,
is found. Between
the columns of the
colonnade are
PLAN (decorated) screen
walls.
Inside, the mammisi comprises a sanctuary
and a hall of offerings plus additional rooms
such as side chapels. Frequently, there is a
staircase for accessing the roof. At this stage
of its development, the birth house may
stand somewhat elevated on a foundation
pedestal and also have a forecourt
surrounded by columns and screen walls; in
older mammisis, the court is attached as a
separate structure.
CULT TEMPLES The Tem[ple of Khons, Karnak
The ancient Egyptians believed that temples were the homes of
the gods and goddesses. Every temple was dedicated to a god or
goddess and he or she was worshipped there by the temple
priests and the pharaoh. The large temple buildings were made of
stone so that they would last forever.

Characterized by entrance pylons, court hypostyle hall,

sanctuary, and various chapels, all enclosed by a high
girdle wall.

The entrance pylons, fronted by obelisks, were

approached through an imposing avenue of sphinxes..
Cult temple
dedicated to
Amun, Mut and
Khonsu. The
largest religious
building ever
constructed.
The temple of
Karnak was known
as Ipet-isu—or
“most select of
places”—by the
ancient Egyptians.
It is a city of
temples built over
2,000 years and
dedicated to the
Theban triad of
Amun, Mut, and
Khonsu.
 The portal gave on to the open court,
surrounded on three sides by a double
colonnade and leading to the hypostyle
hall, to which light was admitted by a
clerestory, formed by the increased height
of the columns of the central aisle. Beyond
was the sanctuary, with openings front
and rear and a circulating passage around,
and beyond this again was a four
columned hall.

The smaller rooms flanking the sanctuary and at its

rear were mostly chapels or served for purposes of
the ritual.

The temple was protected by a great wall of the

same height as the halls themselves, and like them
the wall decreased in height towards the sanctuary
end.
DETAIL OF CARVINGS ON KHONS TEMPLE:ALL
PRIEST AND THE INSIGED TEXT