ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION. ( 3200 BC-2000 B.C.

) Introduction :- Egypt enjoyed geographically commanding position in the sea of Mediterranean and a constancy of contact with both Eastern and Western centres of the then civilised world. Nile, not only furnished Egypt with unfailing means of water supply for transport and irrigation but also made large seasonal labour available through floods for imperial building undertakings. Geologically no metals were available in Egypt but, a variety of stones, both sandstone and limestone category were available in abundance. It caused the development of the concerned technology. Brick and Timber were also used as building materials but, only for residential and secular buildings. The hot and dry climate enforced a sort of insular architecture with massive load bearing walls and flat or low pitched roof, closely placed columnar architecture flourished in the later phases. The unbroken walls necessiated the progress in the art of wall decoration. The historic period for Egyptian civilization is generally classified into following phases, a. Ancient Architecture - Subdivided into Old Kingdom, New Kingdom and GrekoRoman Phase. b. Christian Influence. c. Mislim Influence. d. Colonial British Influence. e. Contemporary Architecture. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER:Architecture of the ancient World was mainly massive or close set Trabeate/ columnar supporting flat roofs as requisite for the climate and cultural requirements. It mirrored the mysterious religious outlook and practices of the people of the period. However it required the a sustained support of an imperialistic political form of the government. The religious outlook was mainly characterised by strong belief in the eternity of human life, supremacy of God and king and priestly class. Brick and mud plastered Bamboo hut as well as open fronted pavellion like Kiosk or open enclosure only with floor and roofs. Festive Pavellions served as basic model to the buildings of the later days particularly copied in the form of the temples. Of the three local building materials i.e. timber, brick and stone, timber was the first to get exausted of the supply, while the other two continued to be the chief materials of building construction and as such caused the development of the concerned technology. Their utilization was however, governed by the varied consideration like durability and the prestige of the building concerned. Thus the cut stone work was mostly spared for religious work, religious buildings or buildings legaly commissioned. Bricks on the contrary was employed for works of ordinary purposes. Brick masonry was further characterised by the flatness of form, resulting from manufacturing technology of sun-dried bricks.Brick masonry was also reinforced by expedients like fibre material inforce for additional strength. The unbroken wall surfaces resulting both from the nature of the material and climatic requirements, duely caused development of technology of surface decoration. It could also be utilized by for needs like records and mass education. Thus the walls were utilized for official records of events and therefore technique of surface decoration made use of linguistic symbols generally known as ,Hieroglyphs. BUILDING TYPES :Two major classes have been identified as follows, A. RELIGIOU BUILDINGS 1.BURRIAL PLACES:These were the buildings erected to mark the places where the dead bodies of Pharaohs were burried. Different types were,

a. Mastaba Tombs:These were the form of burrial monuments that were generally reserved for the upper class or ruling class. Later they inspired more impacting form like pyramid to replace them. They resembled in appearance , the sitting benches that were usually placed in front of dwelling. The Mastabas were often duplicated for the convenience of worship and the dummies were called,Cenotaph. Progressively accessaries came to attach to the Mastabas like Offering Chapel,Serdab. The evolution of mastabas was mainly focussed on the improvement of access ways to burrial chamber.Initially they were like house with a number of rooms constructed in a broad shallow pit with timber roof supported on brick pillar or timber post and the whole area including pit was covered by flat top of excavation retained with brick retaining walls.Later this concept changed to shaft concept, where well like shafts were left while constructing the rectangular mastabas. Such shafts were later filled up with soil after the burrial.This was later changed to the stairway concept where a long stairway descended to tomb chamber, sunk deep either cut in rock or lined with stone. After the burrial, stone portcullises were dropped across the approach stairs to block the access and the pits were then filled with soil,to remove the trace of access way. Accordingly the mastabas are classified as shaft mastabas and stairway mastabas. Important Examples:1. Mastaba of Aha at Sakkara. (Shaft Mastaba) 2. Mastaba at Beit Khallaf. (Stairway Mastaba) In the small chamber of Serdab, the duplica of mastaba was placed so that the visitors could offer offerings to the departed soul. The cenotaphs were later replaced by the statues of the dead persons. Whenever a king and a pharaoh used to die, it was an occasion for the beginning of the new religious scud because religion depended on King and people had absolute belief on Life after Death. b. Pyramids:Pyramids are seen as logical improvement towards more imposing form from the mastabas and were mostly built as burrial complexes which contained mainly, i.Valley Building. ii. Mortuary temple. iii. Causeway or canal across the river. iv.Offering Chapel. v. Pyramid. vi. Hebsed Court. The pyramids were strictly oriented as per the cardinal points with respect to their sites. They were constructed on square plan with concentric stepped platform. Then lined with stone. In the most matured stage core material used was sandstone and lining material was limestone. Harder stones like granite was used for lining and construction of main burrial chamber. Transport and positioning of the mass of stones formed an important feature of the required technology. Simultaneously position of accessways to the main chamber itself formed feature of equal importance in the evolution of pyramids. The measures used for sealing of numerous accessways were called portcullises which were stone blocks slided vertically across the accessways. Important Examples:1. Pyramid Complex of Zoser at Sakkara. 2. Pyramid of Khufu or Cheops at Gizeh. PYRAMID COMPLEX OF ZOSER :Started as a square mastaba, the design was changed atleast six times by its architect Imhoteph. Thrice the size of the mastaba was extended, then it was changed to a four stepped pyramid and finally to six stepped pyramid. This pyramid is regarded as the worlds first large

scaled Complex. During the construction, the tomb chamber generally constructed beforehand was modified and made deeper and more secure. More chambers were also added to accomodate tombs of other members of royal family. All these chambers were sealed after 3rd expansion. Pyramid Complex also contained subsidary buildings like mortuary temple, offering chapel, valley building, large hebsed court, two palacial residences and number of small chapels. Whole complex was enclosed by tall wall with bastions and entered through a single door. Overall masonry technique and the absence of free standing columns together with small spans of stone built roofs indicate the infancy of the stone technology of the time. Architectural and structural forms are clearly derived from earlier structures in reed, timber and in crude sundried bricks. PYRAMID OF KHUFU AT GIZEH :This is the largest of all pyramids having base on 230 metres square and 146 metres height. The entrance to the pyramid is located at 17 metres above the ground from where a long stair-way descends to the underground chamber. Second chamber, now called Queens Chamber, because of form of its roof ( then feature of womans tomb ) is located almost at the same level as entrance. The Kings chamber is located at the approximate centre of the height and approached by a grand gallery 2.25 metres wide and 8.5 metres high. The chamber itself admeasures 10.5 metres x 5.2 metres and 6.0 metres tall, lined in pink granite. Roof of the chamber is made of the five tiers of large stones seperated by void between them and topped by a pair of huge stones resting against each other. The arrangement was apperantly deviced to relieve the massive weight of stones above. Chamber was sealed by three portcullises in the vestibule between gallery and chamber and two portcullises in the gallery itself. Pyramid Complex also contained offering chapel, detached mortuary temple along its east-west and a valley building further east connected by a covered passage or the causeway. c. Rock-hewn Chamber:This variety was coined during the decline of civilization, particularly the middle and new kingdom eras, mainly for nobility and royal families replacing the pyramids. Rockhewn chambers were accessed by long stepped corridors leading to the main chamber. Main chambers were burried deep in the mountains. Later few columnar halls were added to the main chamber.

2. TEMPLES :There are two main classes of temples, identified in ancient Egyptian Architecture, 1. Mortuary Temple. 2. Cult Temple. Mortuary temples were developed from the model of Kiosk. They first assumed form of offering Chapel, initially attached and later detached to Mastabas and Pyramids. During the evolution, characters of both mortuary and cult temples almost merged and the distinction was eventually lost. Typical Cult temple derived from temple of Horus, at Edfu, which was first one to get built, comprised of open to sky court entered through Pylons and impressed gateway with hypostyle hall and sanctuary beyond. The sanctuary was surrounded by the rooms needed by the priesthood. Construction of the Temples was in stone masonry with solid, tall, thick enclosure walls without any opening. Then the light was only entered through doors and clerestorey windows provided in the roof of hypostyle hall. This basic model was elaborated and extended by providing series of halls and courts as per the situation. Later on

avenue of Sphinxes half human and half lion figure was added to the entrance to make it more celebrative. Important Examples :1. Temple of Khoans at Karnak. 2. Temple of Aman at Karnak and Huxor. 3. Temple of Abu Simbel. In the last phase of New Kingdom, peristylar temples were built. These temples were much smaller in size as compared to earlier temples and demonstrate definite Greek influence in its concept. Example :Mamisi Temple. Dwellings :Dwellings acquired differences of sizes, treatment and construction, according to circumstantial necessity. The main classes of houses result from these differences were, 1. Village House. 2.Workers House. 3. Urban House. $. House of a Noble. Dwellings in general employed bricks for unbroken insular walls with few openings. Timber work used for doors and windows as well as for columns and beams which bore the weight of flat roof. Roofs were flat or stepped, occasionally with clerestorey also containing covered loggias (terraces). Individually, the houses were planned into reception, service and private quarters and open court-yard. The grouping of these quarters usually followed a rigid pattern but due relaxation was made for topographical purposes. Palaces were the best of the dwellings and were externally lined with vertical timber both for insular and decorative purposes. These linings furnished in due course as inspiration for external treatment for early burrial spaces like Mastabas. Settlements were generally planned with grid iron pattern I. e. parallel street running perpendicular to each other. Most of the trading activies were generally confined to one wider street along which houses of noblemen were placed. Houses of the working population were generally located in the inner sectors. settlements in few cases were protected by tall enclosure wall with gates at cardinal points and by royal guards. Example : The city of Kahun