Egyptian Architecture

Flashcards of key terms and concepts from lecture notes on Egyptian Architecture.

Egyptian Architecture keywords

Mortuary & Cult, Hieroglyphics, Bas Relief, Palm, Horus

Egyptian Architecture keywords

Pyramid, Mastaba, Nile, Memphis, Imhotep, King Djozer

The Land of Pharaoh

4500 BC to 2000 BC; Start of Egyptian Civilization (2686 BC)

Where did the earliest civilizations start?

Along the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia) and Nile (Egypt)

Nile River

Driving force for ancient Egypt, magnet for life leading to permanent villages

Nile River

4000 miles long, the longest river in the world and the heart of Egypt

Nile Delta

Where the river splits into several channels before reaching the Mediterranean

Lower Egypt

Land of Papyrus (Ta-Mehu)

Upper Egypt

Land of Reeds (Ta-Shemau), undeveloped scrubland filled with grasses and herbs

Main city of pre-dynastic upper Egypt

Nekhen

Upper Egypt crown

Red Crown

Lower Egypt Crown

White Crown

When were the two kingdoms united?

Around 3000 BC

Combined crown of the two kingdoms

Pscenth

Unique aspects of Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Beliefs/practices, power and dedication to high authority, and myths

Supreme ruler of Egypt

Pharaoh (descendant of their gods; the absolute hereditary king)

Gods of Egyptian Mythology

Amun-Ra, Arum, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Set, Thot, Anubis, Ptah, Serapis, Ra

Materials used for construction in Egypt

Stones, sun-dried/mud-bricks, fiber or reeds, palms, acacia and sycamore

Chronology of Egyptian Kingdoms

Old Kingdom (2850-2052 BC), Middle Kingdom (2052-1570 BC), New Kingdom (1570-715 BC), Late Period (715-332 BC)

Key features of The Old Kingdom

Beginning of hieroglyphic and calendar, sun worship, construction of the Step Pyramid/Great Pyramid of Giza

Key features of The Middle Kingdom

Construction of the Karnak Temple, innovative terraced at Deir-El Bahari, first pyramid using unfired mud-brick

Key features of The New Kingdom

Egypt becomes a leading power, greatest kingdom extension, expeditions to Asia and Nubia

Key features of The Late Period

Extensive religious construction sponsored by Macedonian Ptolemaic kings

United the two crowns

Menes

Menes (aka King Narmer)

Successor to the protodynastic King Ka, Founder of Memphis, First to wear Pschent crown

Menes

Invented massive wall fortification (Menes wall) to protect his kingdom

Menes

First human god who ruled Egypt

Reign of Menes

First monumental failure in History (Sadd-El-Kafra Dam)

Egyptians belief

Clear idea of the afterlife, took great care to bury their dead according to convention

Egyptians are into death

Tombs, final resting place and marked the beginning of Tomb Architecture

Three (3) Types of Tombs In Egypt

Pyramids, Temples, Mastaba

The Mastaba

The internal House of Life

Mastaba

Bench of mud

Mastaba

Rectangular mud-brick tomb with flat roof and battered walls

Quadratic Mastaba

House of eternity or eternal house

Quadratic Mastaba

Flat-roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides

False Door (Quadratic Mastaba)

Usually oriented to the eastern side of the tomb, facing to Nile, enabling the spirit to travel

Mastaba Necropolis Cemetery

4th Dynasty, beginning of non-royal mastaba cemeteries in association with royal tombs

Egyptians

Life after death is a very significant belief

The Pyramids

Royal Tomb of the Pharaohs

Two (2) types of Pyramid

Step Pyramid and True Pyramid

Pyramid

Massive masonry structure having rectangular base and four smooth, steeply sloping sides facing the cardinal points meeting at an apex

Pyramids

Tombs that serves as the final resting place of the Kings and Pharaohs

Pyramids

To protect the Pharaoh’s body and inside the pyramids were mazes and dead ends

Egyptian Pyramids

Handmade, product of pure slavery

Step Pyramid of King Djozer, Saqarra

First ever pyramid dedicated to King Djozer

Designed the Step Pyramid of King Djozer

Imhotep

Step Pyramid of King Dozer

Signals the beginning of Stone Architecture Wordwide

The Step Pyramid

World's first large-scale monument in stone

Mortuary Precinct of King Djozer

Underground burial apartment (covered with vibrant blue-green faience tiles)

Phases of Step Pyramid Construction at Saqarra

Initial mastaba platform used as base for later mastabas

Parts of the Step Pyramid Complex

Step Pyramid, South Tomb, Heb Seb Court, Temple, Great Court, South House, North House, Mortuary Temple, Western Terraces, Entrance, Altar, North Court, Serdab

Meydum Pyramid

Attributed to Huni (last king of the 3rd Dynasty) and completed by Sneferu (son of Huni)

Sneferu

Grew up in the shadow of the Step Pyramid. Ruled Egypt 35 years after the death of King Djozer.

Meydum Pyramid

Seven-stepped structure built with six thick layers of masonry

Phase of Meydum Pyramid

Perfecting engineering to pyramid

Sneferu’s Meydum Pyramid

First attempts to perfect smooth sided true pyramid

Bent Pyramid, Dashnur

Aka South Pyramid; angle of inclination of the sides changed halfway

Additional parts to the Bent Pyramid

King's chamber, queen's chamber, subterranean chamber, grand gallery, and stair shaft

Red Pyramid, Dashnur

Actual burial place of Sneferu, first true pyramid completed.

The Pyramid of Giza (Gizeh)

Necropolis of Giza

Composed of the 3 pyramids

Cheops (Khufu), Chefren (Khafre), Mykerinus (Menkaure)

Pyramid of Cheops

Khufu. The first successful steep pyramid

Pyramid of Cheops

The Great Pyramid of Giza

Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu)

The Only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still standing today, the largest pyramid ever built

Pyramid of Chefren (Khafre)

Followed the great pyramid in construction, built by Pharaoh Khafre

Pyramid of Chefren

The allocation and design of air shafts are oriented to the heavenly bodies

Valley Temple of Chefren’s Pyramid Complex

Passage leading from antechamber to T-Shaped hypostyle hall

Pyramid of Mykerinus (Menkaure)

The Smallest chamber, Built for Pharaoh Menkaure. Large vertical gash at northern face because of the attempt to demolish

Pyramid of Mykerinus (Menkaure)

Chamber with Niches, carved with decorative panels and another chamber with six large niches

Valley Building/ Temple

Mortuary temple where the process of mummification is being done

Causeway

Raised passageway ceremonially connecting the valley temple with the pyramid

Other Parts of the Pyramid Complex

Funerary Temple, Sphinx, Pyramid

The Temples

The Sanctuaries of the Kings and Priest

Types of temples

Cult Temple (Built for worship of the gods) and Mortuary Temple (Built in honor of Pharaohs)

3 Divisions of Temple

Offering area, house of the priest, holy of the holies

The Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir El-Bahari

The Queen

The Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir El-Bahari

Built by architect Senmut for Queen Hatshepsut (the first female king and widowed wife of Thotmos II)

Hatsheptsut Funerary Chapel

Processional way of Sphinxes

The Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir El-Bahari facts

Archaeologists estimate that it took 15 years to build the temple

The Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir El-Bahari facts

Decorated with statues of the Queen sculpted to appear as the god Osiris

The Temple of Amun Karnak

The Grandest of all Egyptian Temples commenced by Amenemhat I dedicated to the Theban Triad gods- Amun, Mut, Khonsu

The Temple of Amun Karnak

One of the largest religious sites in the world

Great Hypostyle Hall Columns

Columns supporting enormous roof slabs (134 columns in 16 rows

Facts about The Temple of Amun Karnak

Great Hypostyle Hall had thought but was built entirely by Seti I who engraved the northern wing of the hall with inscriptions while the southern wing was completed by Ramesses II

Facts about The Temple of Amun Karnak

Initially instituted by Hatshepsut at the Northwest Chapel to Amun

The Temple of Abu Simbel

Rock hewn tomb and Temple formed by a Pylon carved with 4 colossal seated statues of Ramesses I-IV

The Temple of Abu Simbel

Site of two temples built by Ramesses II Temples were salvaged from the rising waters of the Nile River caused by the erection of the Aswan

Temple Of Ramesses II

Main temple dedicated to sun gods

Temple Of Nefertari

Dedicated to Nefertari for the worship of the goddess Hathor

Three (3) major characteristics of Egyptian Architecture

Monumentality, Solidarity (or massiveness), Simplicity

Monumentality

Egyptian structures were built to depict and give importance to its ruler, kings, pharaohs.

Solidarity/Massiveness

The scale of the huge buildings and gigantic features.

Simplicity

Simple features (used of a typical forms, shapes) yet gives impact and grandeur

Methods of Construction

The use of columnar and trabeated system of construction (post and lintel) with precise stone works

Temples and monuments in ancient Egypt are mostly characterized by Post and Lintel features without using

Arches and vaults

Corbelled Vaulting

Technique on the ceiling of the Red Pyramid by Sneferu making it more stable and precise and rendering Egyptian as the first to use this type of Vault construction

The use of AXIS or AXIAL PLANNING

Massive masonry tombs and temples

Bass Relief

Walls with pictograph carving in relief with hieroglyphics also cavo-relievo

Hieroglyphic

System of the writing of the ancient Egypt using pictorial and phonetic symbols to record information