History Egypt Intro 6th Sept '12

7/27/2019 History Egypt Intro 6th Sept '12

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

1ST

SEMESTER

OMDAYAL INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND

ARCHITECTURE


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N.Africa was once a vast fertile area of forests and pasturelands

that was populated by humans . But in 6th millenium BCE,

warming that affected the globe changed that into a Sahara likedesert. People moved to Morrocco , Spain or bank ofNile.

and assertions of divinity in local elite assured protection and

isolation of power.


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One of the oldest Egyptian sites Merimda Beni Salama is a

major Predynastic settlement site on the western margin of the

Delta, about 60km north-west of Cairo.

The site has been found to consist offive levels, showing three

phases of occupation dating from 5000 BCE to 4100 BCE,

The later or Classic Merimda culture refers to the Level III

,

village of mud huts and work spaces in organised groups ofbuildings which were laid out in streets.

The high level of organisation in the villages is indicated bynumerous subterranean silos or granaries, lined with

basketware and used to store grain, probably associated with

individual dwellings.


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The suggestion is that by the later phases the population consisted

ofeconomically independent family groups in a formalisedvillage life.

Most of the burials found among the houses of the settlement

contained the bodies ofchildren or adolescents, while it isthought that the adult population must have been buried elsewhere

in yet undiscovered cemeteries.

matting and accompanied

by goods, - clay vessels,

shells, idols and wall

paintings all point to anaesthetic that would become

characteristically Egyptian

smooth surfaces ,abstract

forms and heroic actions.


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Considered one of the most important

archaeological sites of ancient Egypt ,100km from

Thebes,under the face of an imposing cliffthe sacred city of

Abydos was the site of many ancient temples,

including Umm el-Qa'ab, the royal necropolis,

where early pharaohs were entombed. A gorgeopens out dramatically through the cliff at the spot

and according to some this was regarded as the

entrance to the netherworld.

These tombs began to be seen as extremely

significant burials and in later times it became

desirable to be buried in the area, leading to the

growth of the town's importance as a cult site.

Like no other group of monuments, the graves of the

early rulers and kings reflect in their architecture and

funerary equipment the particular developmentalstage of society and the religious beliefs


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Abydos Umm el-Qaab


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Hor-Aha's tomb comprises

three chambers B10, B15

and B19, shown in insetwith over 1.50 m thick

brick walls.

B14 could be the tomb of

Hor-Aha's wife. The

chambers are rectangular,

directly dug in the desert

floor, their walls linedwith mud bricks.

The tomb of Narmer a had

only two adjacent

chambers, while the tombof Hor-Aha comprises

three substantially larger

yet separated chambers.


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The tomb of HorAha was stockplied

with provisions-

large cuts of ox

meat, freshly killed

water birds, loaves

of dried bread, figs

The reason for this architecture is

that it was difficult at that time to

build large ceiling above thechambers. Moreoever timber for

these structures often had to be

imported from Palestine.

and jars of beer andwine, each bearing

Ahas official seal.

There were also

morethan__________

ancillary graves for

servants and animals


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The tomb complex of Aha, which was built in three stages, for the first time

includes subsidiary burials for servants and takes a qualitative step towards

monumental architecture.Thus the new position of the king ruling over a unified Egypt becomes

apparent.

From Djer (Djet) onwards, the tomb complexes of the kings of the 1st Dynasty,

which are set into the desert floor and lined with mud-brick, comprise a largecentral chamber for the burial of the king and up to 200 subsidiary burials

lined in rows containing offerings, the remains of servants and also animals

(hunting dogs, lions) .


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The chambers were

covered with wooden

beams and layers ofmats and bricks. The

kings chamber was

superimposed by a

sand tumulus, a

symbolic primeval

mound, which emerged

from the primevalwaters during the

creation of the world.

From this building

element, whichguaranteed the

continuation of life,

the pyramid

developed later on.

In the graves there were also false exits,

orientated towards the opening of a wadi (valley

or riverbed) in the mountains west of the tombs:

the entrance to the netherworld, which theresurrected king was supposed to enter


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Merneith is believed

to have become ruler

upon the death of herhusband, Djet. The

title she held,

however, is debated.

It is possible that her

son Den was too

young to rule when

Djet ie , so she mayhave ruled as regent

until Den was old

enough to be the king

in his own right.

The strongest evidence that

Merneith was a ruler of Egypt is

her tomb. This tomb in Abydos

(Tomb Y) is unique among the

otherwise exclusively male tombs.

Merneith was buried close to Djetand Den.


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Her tomb is of the same scale as the tombs of the kings of that

period. Inside her tomb archaeologists discovered a solar boat, that

would allow her to travel with the sun deity in the afterlife.

The framing around the tomb is open on the SW side presumably

that the spirit can escape through the gorge through the cliff.

In Dens tomb this was more explicit a special chamber next to

.

Merneiths name appears on a seal found in the tomb of her son,

Den.

The seal includes Merneith on a list of the first dynasty kings.Merneith's name was the only name of a woman included on the

list.

However, Merneith's name is accompanied by the title "King's

Mother".


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An important innovationduring Dens reign was the

introduction ofnumbering

using hieroglyphs.

Den is said to have brought

prosperity to his realm and

numerous innovations are

attributed to his reign.He was the first to use the title

King of Lower- and Upper

Egypt, and the first depicted as

wearing the double crown (redand white).


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Tomb T is among the

largest and mostfinely-built of the

tombs in this area,

and is the first to

feature a staircase

and floor of his tomb

at Umm el-Qa'ab

near Abydos is madeofred and black

granite, the first

time in Egypt this

hard stone was usedas a building

material.


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In the original layout for the tomb, a

wooden door was located about

half-way up

the staircase, and a portcullis placed in

front of the burial chamber, designed to

keep out tomb robbers

Semerkhet's burial site was excavated and is

known as "Tomb U". While excavating, nostairways like at the necropolis of Den .He

found a ramp, four metres wide and leading

straight into the main chamber.

The burial chamber measures 29.2 20.8 metresand is of simple construction.


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Qa'a had a fairly large tomb

in Abydos which measures 30

X 23 meters.A long reign issupported by the large size of

this ruler's burial site at Abydos.

A seal impression was found ofQa'a (Tomb Q)

The discovery near the entrance

of the tom of the sealimpression bearing

Hotepsekhemwy's name, has

been interpreted as evidence

that Qa'a was buried, andtherefore succeeded, by

Hotepsekhemwy, the founder of

the second dynasty of Egypt


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The beautiful tomb stela of Qa'a

is now on display at the

University of Pennsylvania

Museum of Archaeology andAnthropology. The tradition of

burying the family and court of

the kin when he died was

abandoned at the time of kingQaa, one of the last rulers of the

1st dynasty.


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In this early stage of Egyptian

culture, there was no temple

architecture as in China wherereligion unified society. Architecture

was meant as interface between life

and death for members of the

elite.It has much less social

proliferation but wonderfully

Dramatic. Death for the Chinese was

handing down of family memoirsarticulated spatially within house

shrines and fragile wooden temples.

In Egypt death was majestic

making the way for a simulatedhouse with all arrangements for a

comfortable afterlife. How the spirit

moved about was to determine the

flow of history while entombing thehouse


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Archaeological evidence suggests that unification of Egypt

was a slow process that took several centuries. Thisunification as Old Kingdom combined with rapid

development of hieroglyphic script and powerful

bureaucracy was the final transformation of this complex

and vertically structured society of several million.

This organisation of efficient work force that little

..

Mesopotamia and China. Thus large numbers of labourers,slaves and then cooks, technicians, bureaucrats were all

employed solely for royal projects.


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No shortage ofbuilding material red

granite of Aswan, white marble of GebelRokham and black basalt of Faiyum and

various types of sandstone from Nubia.

By 3rd dynasty of Old Kingdom politicalstability of Egypt was secure with Zoser

creating building projects against which

accomplishments.

The Mortuary Complex of Zoser just

north of Saqqara was enclosed by 277m

x 544m x 10.5m wall laid out in preciseorientation to 4 cardinal points.


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The Saqqara royal tombs were cut from the

bedrock and incorporated a new design, unlike theearlier tombs at Abydos that were basically pits

lined with mudbricks.

The practice of building subsidiary graves for

family and servants surrounding the royal tomb

was discontinued.

Hetepsekhemwys immense tomb, very close to

the Pyramid of Unas with extensive galleries

partly underlying the pyramid, was identified by

numerous seal impressions bearing the KingsHorus names and those of his successor Nebre,

but his tomb was otherwise empty.

History Egypt Intro 6th Sept '12

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Transcript of History Egypt Intro 6th Sept '12