NAME

DYNASTY

YEARS

Archaic Period

1-2

3100-2700 B.C.

Old Kingdom

3-6

2700-2200 B.C.

Intermediate Period

7-10

2200-2050 B.C.

Middle Kingdom

11-12

2050-1800 B.C.

Intermediate Period

13-17

1800-1570 B.C.

New Kingdom

18-20

1570-1085 B.C.

Post-Empire

21-31

1085-332 B.C.

The Nile River rises from

the lakes of central Africa as
the White Nile and from the
mountains of Ethiopia as the
Blue Nile.
The White and Blue Nile
meet at Khartoum and flow
together northward to the
Nile delta, where the 4000
mile course of this river ends
at the Mediterranean Sea.

1998 Oriental Institute,

University of Chicago

Massive structures came to be

favoured from the Old Kingdom on.

Mud brick was the principal building

material for domestic building.

Stone was favoured for temples and

tombs.

Features of mud
construction were
often echoed in
stone.
For example,

columns were built

to resemble plants
or bunches of
plants.

 Corner detailing

often resembled
bunches of reeds
used as a binding
material in mud
construction.

Egyptian aristocratic culture focussed

on preparation for life after death.

Preservation of bodies through

mummification and providing goods
for the afterlife were considered
essential.

Early Old Kingdom aristocratic and royal

burials were in mastabas - square or
rectangular buildings connected by
shafts to tomb chambers deep beneath
the earth.
The mastaba also housed a chapel and
a statue of the dead.

Chapel

Shaft

Tomb

Built during the

3rd dynasty,
Zosers architect,
Imhotep, added
steps above
Zosers mastaba
to create a step
pyramid -- a
stairway to the
heavens.

These were built during the 4th dynasty.

What remains is but a fraction of the
great funerary districts of each of the
pyramids.
Construction was hugely labour intensive
-- but this was paid labour during slow
agricultural seasons, not slave labour as is
commonly supposed.

Relieving
Blocks
Grand Gallery
Kings Chamber

Queens Chamber
Thieves Tunnel
False Tomb Chamber

Entrance

Height 280 ft(146.64m) , now

approximately 262ft (137.2m)
Lengths
of sides North 439.67(230.25m) ,

These were buildings that housed

chambers and passages, including small
air shafts that may have been used for
ventilation -- or were, perhaps, passages
for the spirit of the pharaohs to pass
through.
Pyramid building was abandoned during
the Old Kingdom. They provided tomb
robbers with easily identifiable targets.

Pyramidal structures were abandoned in

the Old Kingdom.
Later Pharaohs were buried in Upper
Egypt across the Nile from Karnak.
Large concentrations of tombs were cut
into cliffsides at what are now known as
the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of
the Queens.

Interiors were richly decorated with

paintings and low-relief carvings.

Entrances were
hidden to protect
tomb treasures
from grave-robbers.
Over the millennia
this has proven
largely
unsuccessful. Only
Tutenkhamens
tomb eluded them.

Though mummies and treasures might be

concealed, more conspicuous temple structures
were still required -- like Hatshepsuts temple near
the Theban Necropolis.

These were built in the same forms as

palaces, with three increasingly
restricted areas.
Hypostile Hall

Entrance

Second Pylon
First Pylon

Sacred Area
including Chapels

The entire temple was surrounded by

a windowless wall.
Within the temple, light and shadow
were important features.
Walls might be blank or incised with
low relief carvings.

Lighting through wall openings,

columns, and clerestory windows in
the colonnade, were intended to
feature particular locations. In the
case of Abu Simbel, the statures on
the wall deepest in the temple,
emerged from shadow on two days
during the year.

Great Pylons marked entrances.

The most public area was a large

courtyard, surrounded by a post and
lintel colonnade.

The Second Area was the great

hypostyle hall, with its dense forest of
columns.

Columns & Capitals in Hypostyle Hall

Light & shadow

were important
features.
Light came
through:

Wall openings
gaps between

columns
clerestory windows

Egyptian Architecture showed both

variety and continuity over ca. 3,000
years.
While domestic structures of mud brick
have been obliterated by time,
monumental structures in stone still
astound visitors to Egypt today.

Slides from Corel Gallery Magic Photo

Library.
Amiet, Pierre et.al. Forms and Styles;
Antiquity. Cologne, Evergreen, 1981.
Janson, H.W. (and Anthony), History of
Art. Abrams, New York, 1995.
Ruffle, John. Heritage of the Pharaohs.
Oxford, Phaidon, 1977.
Stierlin, Henri. Encyclopedia of World
Architecture. Cologne, Evergreen, 1977.