MODULE 2.

SESSIONAL 2
1. Egyptian architecture was a columnar and trabeated style, mainly
building tombs and temples.
2. Their design consisted of massive walls made of sun-dried mud bricks.
3. Houses were mainly one or two storey high, with a living hall in the
centre to protect it from the heat of the sun.
4. The massive walls were crowned with the infamous ‘gorge cornice’ or
hollow & roll moldings.
5. Egyptian temples were based on rectangular plans, and comprised of – a
pillared court, hypostyle hall and the chapel, their roofs decreasing in
heights behind imposing pylons.
6. The temples were fronted by obelisks or monolithic pillars and
approached by a row of sphinxes.
7. Temples were usually oriented facing the Nile.

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8. Egyptian columns had a distinctive
character and they exhibit their (a) (b) (c) (d)

vegetable origin, like the lotus stalk.

9. The capital appears like an inverted
bell or like a lotus bud.
10. Columns were usually 6 times the
height and were decorated with
painting in low relief carving.
11. They also used colors, mainly blue, red
and yellow.
(a)Column with Bud Capital
(b)Papyrus Capital
(c)Palm Capital
(d)Column with Bell Capital

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1. MASTABAS
 Mastaba is an Arabic word meaning ‘Bench’.
 It is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-
roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides, was
about four times as long as it was wide, and rose to at least 30 feet
in height
 It marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians.
 Mastabas were constructed out of mud-bricks (from the Nile
River) or stone.
 The Mastaba was built with a north-south orientation which was
essential for Egyptians so that they may be able to access the
afterlife.

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1. MASTABAS
 This above ground structure had space for a small offering
chapel equipped with a false door to which priests and family
members brought food and other offerings for the soul of the
deceased.
 Inside the Mastaba, a deep chamber was dug into the ground and
lined with stone or bricks.
 The burial chambers were cut deeper until they passed the bed
rock and were lined with wood.
 The Mastaba housed a statue of the deceased that was hidden
within the masonry in a small room called the ‘serdab’.
 The images of the dead were carved on a upright stone slab
called the ‘stele’.

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1. Outer Layer
2. Rubble Filling
3. Chapel
4. Stone Slab (stele)
5. Vertical Shaft
6. Closing Stone
7. Vault
8. Sarcophagus

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A. FIRST DYNASTY MASTABAS
 By the first Dynasty, the rulers and the rich built elaborate
graves.
 Their plans comprised of several small rooms, with a central
room containing the sarcophagus (stone coffin)
 The other rooms surrounding it were meant to receive funerary
offerings.
 The whole structure was constructed in a broad pit below the
ground.
 The wooden roof was supported by wooden posts or crude brick
pillars, and the entire area was covered by a rectangular , flat
topped mound.
 Brick walls painted with bright colors.
 The walls sloped backwards at an angle of about 75 degrees.
 An enclosure wall surrounded the structure.
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B. SECOND & THIRD DYNASTY MASTABAS
 This was called as the stairway Mastaba.
 Tomb chamber with its linked rooms was sunk further and cut
below into the rock.
 North-South axis maintained.
 Steps and Ramps led from the north end of mastaba connecting
to the shaft leading to level of tomb chamber.
 After the burial, heavy portcullies (portals/gateways) were
dropped across the approach.

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C. FOURTH DYNASTY MASTABAS
 Tomb chamber sunk even deeper below into the
rock.
 Approach through a short horizontal passage
connected to vertical shaft sunk room.
 Small offering chapel stuck on to the exterior of
mastaba or constructed within the mastaba
itself.
 By this time most of the construction was done
with limestone.

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D. FIFTH & SIXTH DYNASTY MASTABAS
 Offering chapel at ground level becomes more elaborate.
 Group of rooms adjacent to mastaba mound included a
columned hall.
 Walls were lined with vividly colored reliefs depicting scenes from
the daily life of the deceased.
 ‘Serdab’, was completely enclosed with single slot opposite the
head of the statue of the deceased.
 Limestone used majorly
 Approach through a short horizontal passage connected to
vertical shaft leading to tomb
 Small offering chapel stuck on to the exterior of mastaba or
constructed within the mastaba itself.

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2. PYRAMIDS
 Early royal tombs are of the mastaba type from which the true
pyramids evolved. The finest true pyramids are the famous 3 at
Giza.
 Pyramids did not stand in solitary isolation but were the primary
part of a building complex.
 The complex usually had a walled enclosure and had an offering
chapel with a stele, usually on the East side but sometimes on
the North Side as well. Sometimes a mortuary temple for the
Worship of the dead was also present.
 Chief material used was limestone, and granite was used for the
King’s chamber and passages leading to it.
 Entrance was usually from north-south sides.

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2. PYRAMIDS
 Evolution of True Pyramid happened in 3 stages: Stepped,
Bent, Flat, True Pyramid
 Monumental scale of the pyramids went up to 400-500ft
high
 They had a square base with inclined sides consisting of
equilateral triangles with 52° inclination.
 Tomb chamber was present within the mass of the
structure, not underground.
 Evolution of corbelling of roof of the tomb chamber to
take load above.
 Narrow airshafts (8” X 6”) connect to sides of pyramid

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A. STEPPED PYRAMID (SAQQARA, 2750 B.C.)
 It was known to be the world’s 1st large-scale monument in
stone.
 It began as a complete mastaba, 7.9m high, but was then
extended, 1st by addition of 4.3m to each of its sloping sides and
then by an extension eastwards of 8.5m
 Its final base dimensions turned out to be 125m x 109m.
 It was 60m tall after adding 2 more steps to the height, making it
six steps in total.
 Tomb chamber remains underground as in mastaba : at the
bottom of a 28 m deep shaft.
 Surrounding the pyramid was a vast rectangular enclosure,
547m long (north-south) and 278m wide.
 An offering chapel and well developed mortuary temple attached
to the northern side of pyramid.
 Buildings were done in Limestone.
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MODULE 2.3
B. BENT PYRAMID of SENEFERU, AT DAHSUR- 2723 B.C.
 Change in angle of inclination of the slopes from 54° in the lower
half to 43° in upper half.
 Two independent tomb chambers reached from north and west
sides separately.
 Square base of 187 m and ht. 102m. approx
 Around the pyramid was a double-walled rectangular enclosure,
an offering table and a mortuary temple on the east side, and a
causeway leading to the Valley Building.
 Corbelled roofs of tomb chambers and limestone facing

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MODULE 2.3
C. NORTH PYRAMID of SENEFERU, AT DAHSUR
 Built after abandonment of bent pyramid
 Earliest known completed true pyramid.
 Inclination of sides however very low- at to 43° instead of the
usual to 52°

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D. THE PYRAMIDS of GIZA

 These Pyramids are built outside the Memphis’s city

limit near Cairo for Cheops (Second king of the 4th
Dynasty).
 They were a total of 3 present on the site.
Pyramid of Cheops [2570 B.C.] – Great Pyramid
Pyramid of Chephren [2530 B.C.]
Pyramid of Mykerinos [2500 B.C.]
 Diagonal layout of 3 pyramids along NE-SW axis of
the great pyramid to give an illusion of reducing scale
with distance.

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i. THE GREAT PYRAMID of CHEOPS, GIZA (2723-
2563BC)
 It was originally 146mt high and 230mts square at the plan
base.
 The four faces form roughly equilateral triangles and their
sides make an angle of 52° with the ground.
 The pyramid is built in stones with a casing of finally
dressed lime stones and the apex was apparently once
coated with gold.
 3 separate internal chambers : Subterranean chamber,
intermediate level chamber (Queen’s chamber) and actual
tomb chamber (King’s chamber) within the pyramid.
 Entry from north through a passage which changes course,
connecting all three chambers.
 Grand gallery connects to the King’s chamber

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i. THE GREAT PYRAMID of CHEOPS, GIZA (2723-
2563BC)
 Two air shafts lead from king’s chamber to outer surfaces of
pyramid – purpose unknown- for ventilation or structural
purposes- to release air pressure
 King’s chamber, a space roughly at the centre of the
pyramid.
 Kings chamber is approx. 10m long and 5m wide and goes
up to a height of 5.8m, lined with granite and covered with
5 tiers of stone beams, rising up to a height of 21m total.
 Roofing of the chamber carried immense load of upper
part of pyramid.
 The Grand Gallery was a passage 2.1m wide and 2.3m high,
covered by a ramped and corbelled vault.

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MODULE 2.3
3. TEMPLES
 The temples were of two main types, the mortuary temples and the cult temples.
 Major features of all temples were :
A rectangular palisade court, entered from a narrow end flanked by posts which
had an emblem of the deity in the centre.
Inside the further end was a pavilion comprising a vestibule and sanctuary
Along the main axis, there was a walled open court- with a colonnade around,
leading to a covered structure called the hypostyle hall and a sanctuary beyond it
for the deity.
An impressive gateway with towering sloping-sided pair of pylons with a tall portal
in between worked as the entrance
Processions were a feature, particularly during the festivals.
The whole temple itself stood within a great enclosure and about it were houses of
the priests, official buildings, stores, granaries and sacred pool or lake.

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A. THE TEMPLE OF KHONS, KARNAK (1198BC)
 It is a typical example of a cult temple.
 It is characterised by entrance pylons, court hypostyle hall,
sanctuary and various chapels, all enclosed by a high wall.
 The entrance pylons were fronted by obelisks, were approached
by an imposing avenue of sphinxes.
 The portal gave way to an open court, surrounded on three sides
by a double colonnade and leading to a dark hypostyle hall.
 Beyond this was the sanctuary with openings on the front and
the rear and a circulating passage around, and beyond this again
was a four-columned hall.
 The smaller rooms flanking the sanctuary and its rear were
mostly chapels or served for purposes of the ritual.
 The temple was protected by a great wall of the same height as
the halls themselves

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