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 CHAPTER THREE

Egyptian Civilization

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 Contents of the Lecture
Egyptian Civilization
 Blue Nile and Egypt
 Egyptian Town Design and Planning
 Egyptian Civilization and Their Cities
 Cities in Egypt Vs. Mesopotamia
 General Remarks on Egyptian Urban
Planning
 Egyptian Civilization
 Herodotus said that Egypt is the gift of Nile
 This is because of the geography of the area, without the

Nile River, there would be no life.

 Ancient Egypt- centered along the Nile and its tributaries

 Flood cycle of the Nile helped shape ancient Egyptian life

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning
1. Geographical Description
• The water of the Nile is:
 A gift to the people of Egypt?, the
longest river in the world.
• Its flood plain was an extensive oasis,
a magnet for life- human, animal and
plant.
• Humans were drawn there because they
could grow crops and settle into
permanent villages.
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 “Egypt is the gift of
the Nile” -Herodotus

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The Nile

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

2. Political, Social ,Economic Aspects and

Urbanization
 Egypt was originally divided into two kingdoms

 Upper Egypt –River Valley

 Lower Egypt- River Delta
 Menes unified upper and Lower Egypt in apprx.
3000BC.
 Its capital was located at Memphis

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

 In Egypt the lives of the people were

dedicated to the Pharaoh.
 The towns they built in the 3rd
millennium B.C. were erected upon his
will.
 The main considerations where to
build was generally Proximity to a
waterway and at height above the
floodplains.
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 Egyptian Town Design and planning
 The old kingdom (2575-2134 BC.) spanned nearly five
centuries.
 The capital was in the North, at Memphis, and the ruling
monarchs held absolute power over a strongly unified
government.
 Religion played a very important role- in fact the
government had evolved into a theocracy (Government by
God), in which the pharaohs, as the rulers were called,
both absolute monarchs and possibly gods on earth for Egyptians.

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

• There were many specialized cities such as those based on

trade. Others, for example, were made up of artisans,
craftsmen and workers related to various royal projects.
• Some of the best preserved workers villages include

• The village at Deir el-Medina is perhaps one of the best

known, Workers' village

Deir el-Medina

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

 Many cities, such as Thebes and Memphis have been

built over by modern settlements.
 Memphis was founded as a royal, administrative and
military residence. It was not located directly on the
Nile.
 According to the tradition, Memphis was founded by
Menes, the first pharaoh who united the two
prehistoric kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt
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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

 The city was located at the junction of the two formerly

separated kingdoms.
 Thebes became the capital of Egypt in 2040 BC, when
the governors of Thebes united Egypt under their rule,
and founded the eleventh dynasty.

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

 Thanks to its status as capital, Thebes emerged as a great

political, administrative, and religious city.
 Its priests played a major role, and its diplomatic activity was
considerable.
 The city had also a commercial and international vocation. It
is at Thebes that the Phoenicians created the first deposit
banks.
 Ships were sailing to Thebes from Lower Egypt, the
Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, as well as from Sudan.

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

The Ramessuem on the West Bank at

Luxor (Ancient Thebes)
Thebes: The civil and
Administrative royal city was
on the coast bank of the Nile
Memphis: Located
at about 21 km of
the Medieval
Islamic Nucleus of
Modern Cairo

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

3. Egyptian Civilization and their cities

Cities of Thebes and Memphis

 Characterized by monumental architecture
 Cities had monumental avenues, colossal temple plazas
and tombs
 Worker’s communities were built in cells along narrow
roads
 Social classes determined housing sites
 Workers’ camps

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 Egyptian Town Design and planning

 Characteristics
 The climate can be characterized as hot
 Construction material commonly used for building
houses was mud bricks
 Axial design was the common language for town designs.
 The cities were mostly along the Nile river for obvious reasons.
 The better houses had courtyards
 There was no system for garbage and sewage disposal
 The will of the pharaoh dictated everything
 Examples: Kahun, Akhenaten

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 Cities in Egypt Vs Mesopotamia
 Urban cities appeared in Egypt at practically the same time
as in Mesopotamia. However, some people contested that
the first Egyptian cities were really cities.
 For instance John Wilson in 1958; “Egypt through the New
Kingdom: civilization without cities" argued that Egypt had
no cities until the year 1090 BC.
 The debate is based on the fact that the first Egyptian cities
were profoundly agricultural and contrary to their
Mesopotamian cities.

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 Cities in Egypt Vs Mesopotamia
 It is true that Egyptian cities do not respond to all the criteria
some have proposed to define a city of the era.
 According to those criteria, a concentration of population can be
defined as a city only if
 It is surrounded with walls,

 It includes full-time craftsmen,

 Its density is sufficient,

 Its houses are made of lasting materials,

 It has streets, and

 It has a long-lasting character.

 In truth, the first Egyptian cities meet most of those conditions.

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 Cities in Egypt Vs Mesopotamia

 Pre-urban cities appeared in Egypt long after they had

emerged in Mesopotamia.
 If Jarmo was founded around 6750 BC, in Egypt, Fayun is

thought to have been founded in 4400 BC and Meride, in

4300 BC.
 However, urban cities appear in Egypt and in

Mesopotamia almost at the same time.

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 Cities in Egypt Vs Mesopotamia
 In Mesopotamia, the first “urban” city, Eridu, was born
between 3500 BC and 3200 BC, while, in Egypt, Memphis
is considered to have been a real “urban” city by 3100 BC.
 Agriculture started later in Egypt while it had started
around 8500 BC in Mesopotamia.
 But agriculture developed much faster in Egypt thanks
to the arrival of the Mesopotamian domesticated
vegetal species, which provoked an acceleration of
the development of agriculture

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 Cities in Egypt Vs Mesopotamia
 The first Egyptian cities differed from the first
Mesopotamian cities because of
 Their more agricultural character, and
 Their absence of fortifications,
 Memphis is better known as a necropolis than a metropolis. It is
the city of the famous Pyramids of Giza (and of the Great Sphinx.
 The old Egyptian cities were royal cities very occupied with death
and the beyond
 Mesopotamian cities were trade-oriented city states more
inclined to allow the living to pray gods than to bury the
dead.
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 Cities in Egypt Vs Mesopotamia
 The first Egyptian urban system also profoundly differed from
the first Mesopotamian urban system.
 Very early, the Mesopotamian city-states were involved in

trade, and the development of their urban system was

determined by commercial imperatives,
 While, in Egypt, the existence of a strong central authority, the

relative withdrawal of the economy into itself, and the

predominance of agriculture over trade favored the
development of a centralized and very hierarchical urban
system.
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 Writing- Hieroglyphics

 The EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE was one of the earliest languages to be

written down, perhaps only the Sumerian language is older.

 Adopted the pictograph from the Mesopotamia

 Write on papyrus
 Mummification

 Have magnificent burial practices to evidence the

power of pharaoh.
 They constructed Temples, Pyramids etc

 Pyramids were tombs for the kings.

 Giza pyramids are the most famous

 Mummies- those who can afford would mummified

themselves. They believed that it is better afterlife if
there body were preserved.
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 The Mummification Process

• The entire process took 70 days to complete. Several

embalmers conducted the task in the special embalming
shop.
• The chief embalmer was known as the hery sheshta. He wore
a jackal mask to represent Anubis, the god of mummification.
 The Mummification Process

 They put the removed organs in canopied jars that were

put in the tomb.
 They thought that the brain had no significant value,
they took it through the nose.
 The body was packed and covered with natron (a salty
drying agent)

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 Purpose of Egyptian Mummification

The ancient Egyptians

believed that after death
their bodies would travel
to another world during
the day, and at night
they would return to
their bodies.

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 Mummification
 They took all the internal organs except heart. They didn't take
the heart because it was believed to be the intelligence and
emotion of the person.
 The embalmers remove the brain through the nose using a long

hook.
 The Egyptians were so rough on the brain because they didn’t

realize its importance.

 They thought its sole purpose was to produce snot (offensive

word to mean mucus)!

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General remarks on Egyptian Urban Planning
Grid iron layout-
 Most of the plans were grid iron.

 Most of the streets intersect at right angles and at equal

interval.

 The houses were grouped –housing typologies

 Set backs- aligned along the main streets

 For instance the kahun city – this is the witness for ancient

Egyptians were the first to develop the grid iron principle in city
planning.
 [But remember Harappa civilization ]

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 Remarks …Cont’d
 Zoning
 Akhnetaton and Kahun- were towns where larger

buildings are built for

 Higher officials,
 Storehouses and shops and
 Small houses for workmen.

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 Remarks …Cont’d
Site Planning
 In general ancient Egyptians located (sited) their

cities, villages and great temples on the banks of the

River Nile.

 The pyramids are among the oldest monuments in

stone, were the outcome of the persistent belief in

future life and the belief that preservation on the
body was essential to secure the immortality of soul.

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 Remarks …Cont’d
 Civic Design
 The temple of luxor and the great temple of karnak were

connected by a paved way about 2 km length.

 The approaches to the temples were arranged on a

magnificent scale.

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Early Pyramids

Zozer’s stepped pyramid - similar to

Babylonian ziggurats
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The Great Sphinx is located on the Giza plateau,
about six miles west of Cairo.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is about 4,500 years old, and is

the only ancient wonder still standing.
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 The Great Pyramid at Giza

 Until the early 1800's, the Great Pyramid at Giza

was the tallest building in the world!

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 The Great Pyramid at Giza

 The Great pyramid was made by hand! It is nearly 800

feet long, 450 feet high. It was built with over two
million of blocks of stone.

 The average weight of each stone is about 2,500

pounds - around the same weight as a car!

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Ramp on pyramid 39
Stone block on sled
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Pouring water to lubricate the ramp
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Rocking a block into position
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 The road leading to those temples was lined about
on thousand sphinx on the both sides.

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