ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
ARCHITECTURE
5000 BC – 1ST CENTURY
GEOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCES
WHAT IS EGYPT KNOWN FOR?
GEOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCES
•EGYPT CAME FROM THE GREEK WORD AEGYPTUS WHICH IS THE
GREEK PRONUNCIATION OF THE EGYPTIAN NAME HWT-KA-PTAH
THAT MEANS HOUSE OF THE SPIRIT OF PTAH. WHO WAS BY THE
WAY A VERY EARLY GOD OF EGYPTIANS.
RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATION
•SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION- TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVERS (MESOPOTAMIA)
•EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION- NILE RIVER
•HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION- INDUS RIVER
•ANCIENT CHINA- HUANG HE (YELLOW) RIVER
EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION ON THE NILE
THE NILE RIVER
▪THE SETTLEMENT AROSE ALONG NARROW STRIP OF LAND MADE FERTILE BY THE
RIVER
▪ADAPTED TO THE YEARLY CYCLE OF FLOODING
▪ HAD INTRICATE NETWORK OF IRRIGATION DITCHES
▪WORSHIPED AS A GOD—GIVER OF LIFE AND BENEVOLENT
EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION
ENVIRONMENT
• UNLIKE MESOPOTAMIA, THE NILE IS PREDICTABLE
• DESERTS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER—PROVIDES NATURAL BARRIER AGAINST
INVADERS
AND ALSO REDUCED INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER CIVILIZATIONS
EGYPT WOULD DEVELOP IN ISOLATION, THEREFORE THEY HAD A CULTURE THAT WAS
QUITE UNIQUE…
GEOGRAPHY
UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT
•LOWER EGYPT—IS WHERE MEMPHIS IS (THE MOST IMPORTANT CITY
THEY HAD)
• UPPER EGYPT—IS THE HIGHER LAND
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RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES
THE RELIGIOUS RITES OF EGYPTIANS
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES
PHAROAH IS NOT ONLY A KING, BUT ALSO WAS SEEN AS A GOD BY THE CITIZENS,
WHERE THEY
ARE BOTH THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL RULERS OF EGYPT. AFTER THEIR DEATH
THEY BELIEVE
THAT THEY WOULD BE THE GOD OSIRIS.
HISTORICAL INFLUENCES
ANCIENT KINGDOM
(1st-10th DINASTY)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF TWO TYPES OF
TOMBS:
•MASTABA
•PYRAMID
MASTABA TOMBS:
•A mastaba is a large rectangular structure that was
used as a type of tomb, often for royalty, in Ancient
Egypt.
•Mastabas were relatively low (especially when
compared to pyramids), rectangular, flat-roofed,
roughly bench shaped burial structures that were
created and utilized for the preDynastic pharaohs or
nobility of Ancient Egypt.
PYRAMID:
•Pyramids are famous monuments of ancient Egypt, which still
fascinate people in the present day. These enormous structures
were built in the memory of Egyptian kings, which later became
the identity of the country, even though other cultures like
Mayan and Chinese built pyramids.
•Records about the evolution of these structures have been a
matter of debate for centuries; yet, as far as Egypt is
concerned, these structures serve as a major crowd-puller
every year.
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MIDDLE KINGDOM
(11th-17th DINASTY)
IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES TO REMEMBER:
•MENTUHETEP II
•DEVELOPED THE 3RD TYPE OF TOMB (ROCK-CUT TYPE OF TOMB)
•SENUSRETS
•ERECTED THE EARLIEST KNOWN OBELISK AT HELIOPOLIS
•AMENEMHAT I
•FOUNDED THE GREAT TEMPLE AT KHARNAK AND THE GREAT
TEMPLE OF AMMON/AMUN
NEW EMPIRE
(18th-30th DINASTY)
THUTMOSES I
BEGAN THE ADDITIONS TO THE TEMPLES OF AMMON AND KHARNAK; AND HE’S
THE FIRST PHARAOH TO BE BURRIED IN A ROCK-CUT TOMB OF KINGS OF
THEBES.
HATSHEPSUT
QUEEN OF EGYPT THAT WAS FAMOUS FOR HER FUNERARY TEMPLE LOCATED AT THE
MOUNTAIN OF DER-EL-BAHARI
THUTMOSIS IV
KNOWN FOR CLEANING AWAY THE SAND FROM THE FAMOUS SPHINX
AMENOPHIS III
ERRECTED THE FAMOUS “COLOSSI OF MEMNON”, ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD
RAMESES I
BEGAN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE GREAT HYPOSTYLE HALL AT KHARNAK
RAMESES II
FINISHED THE CONSTRUCTION OF HYPOSTYLE HALL AT KHARNAK, AND ALSO ERECTED
THE ROCK TEMPLE AT ABU SIMBEL AND RAMESSIUM, THEBES.
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD
PTOLEMY II
• BUILT THE PHAROAHS OR THE LIGHT HOUSE, ONE OF THE WONDERS
OF THE WORLD
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PTOLEMY III
FOUNDED THE GREAT SERAPEUM AT ALEXANDRIA
STRUCTURES OF EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE…
•THE PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE IN THE VALLEY OF THE NILE CONSISTED
OF THE READILY AVAILABLE MATERIALS LIKE REEDS, PAPYRUS, PALM
BRANCH RIBS PLASTERED OVER THE CLAY.
Kinds of Temple
Cult Temple
- Ancient Egyptian for the worship of deity
Mortuary Temple
- An Ancient Egyptian temple for offerings and worship of the deceased person, usually a deified
king
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COLUMNS
-Known at least since the 3rd dynasty (c. 2650–c. 2575 bce)
- True arches were rarely used in early ancient Egypt.
- Glorified with colorful portrayal in carved relief, painted and seem to be the
masterpiece of architectural elements in the egyptian culture
Can include everything from column in the ancient Egyptian era to the
modern one inspired by idea and innovations.
- During the era from 3050 B.C. till 900 B.C. the earliest builders produced
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columns from large blocks of sandstone, limestone and red granite.
-- Diverse and range from 16 sides polygon to circular columns.
-- Were placed closer to ensure they can carry the heavy weight of the
stone roof beams.- The columns rarely exceed on exceed six (6) times
the diameter in height.
-- Three types of columns:
o Circular shaft - a simple type of shaft that
looks like cylinder
Clustered shaft
Fluted (Proto-Doric) shaft- also known as reeding, a series of regular,
concave grooves or convex ridges running vertically or spirally along a
surface
- fluting refers to the grooves found on a column shaft
Imhotep- the ancient Egyptian architect was known to carve stone columns resembling bundled
reeds and other plants.
Three Major Parts of Column:
Capital- A part of column that have bud-shaped or bell-shaped, hathor head shaped, polygonal
shaped, volute shaped, osiris pillar, and square pillars.- Motifs on the capitals/ tops were lily, palm, lotus
(Eblem of Upper Egypt) or papyrus plant (Emblem of Lower Egypt)
Shaft- the structural member which serves as the main support of a column or pier.
Base- a bottom supports that connect the column into the floor of the structure.
Plant Type Columns
Fluted Columns
This early form of column resembled bundled reeds or plants stems but was sometimes made as
polygonal shafts as well. Referred to as most interesting fluted columns in Egypt, this where the first
stone columns on earth and lost their charm when the new styles emerged which depicted a more complex
structure.
Palm ColumnsThe columns depicted a palm tree motif Example:
The Column capital of Temple of Isis from Philae
Papyrus Columns- Also one of the earliest styles of columns in Egyptian temple architecture.- The
column was made in several variations some in a circular form representing the single plant, while others
ribbed with multiple stems. The capitals where closed buds or open bell-shaped form.
Example: Volute Papyrus Capital in the temple of Isis from Philae
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Lotiform columns- Used in non-secular buildings, but rarely in religious Architecture- resembles a simple
lotus bud form and finds ample use in old and middle kingdom temples.
Tent Pole Columns - These are a stone representation of wooden poles used for supporting tents, koinsks,
shrines or ship, cabins
- This is the earliest of Egypt’s structures, but there use is still mystical.
Hathor Headed Columns,- Columns with a face of Goddess Hathor as its capital
Example: Temple of Isis from Philae
Composite columns- type of column that is common during Greco-Roman Era- depicts an
evolutionary extension with capital decorations in floral patterns and even imagined plants.
Campaniform columns- The variois forms included floral columns or pillars, circular, square or
ribbed pillars and a flower-shaped capital seemed common.- rare but the stylized versions could be seen
during the Greco-Roman period.
MOULDINGS
•Egyptian Mouldings - they are derived from the
battered shapes of earthen and stone piles and the
curved shapes of grass and lotus flowers.
•a. Gorge and Hollow - This cavetto cornice is sometimes also known as an "Egyptian
cornice", "hollow and roll" or "gorge cornice", and has been suggested to be a
reminiscence in stone architecture of the primitive use of bound bunches of reeds as
supports for buildings, the weight of the roof bending their tops out.
•b. Torus - The lowest molding which projects at the base of a column and above the
plinth.
ORNAMENTS
• Lotus Papyrus & Palm - for "fertility“
• Solar Discs & Vulture w/wings - for "protection“
• Spiral & Feather ornament - for "eternity“
• Scarab or Sacred Beetle - for "resurrection"
3 Kinds of Egyptian Ornament
• Constructive Ornament - are the decorations of the means of support and the
crowning members of the walls.
• Conventional Ornament - representation of actual things on the walls of the
temples and tombs.
• Simply Decorative Ornament - this class of ornament, and are from paintings
on tombs, dresses, utensils, and sarcophagi.
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