Ancient Africa - Nile River Culture and the Pyramids

I. Cultural and environmental determinants of Egyptian architecture A. Characteristics of Egyptian politics, climate, religion, and landscape (compared to

Mesopotamia)

The Middle East with Egypt and the Red Sea1.

I. A. . . . religion

Mudbrick royal tomb at Ur

Great Pyramids at Giza

King’s burial in Mesopotamia King’s burial in ancient Egypt

I. A. 1. Landscape+Architecture Pay special attention to Egypt’s innovations in landscape/architecture relationship

Egypt – Nile River Valley

Nile River, Egypt

2.

I. B. The world’s earliest stone architecture

Nile River in Upper Egypt

I. B. 2. What was the cultural significance of stone in Egyptian architecture?I. B. 1. Which buildings were constructed in stone?

The “Bent” Pyrmaid, Dahshur, Egypt, ca. 2600 BC

Temple of Re at Heliopolis

Town of El-Kahun

Royal palace at Tell Amarna

mudbrick stone

I. C. Vernacular building traditions and the look of Egyptian stone architecture.

1. battered walls

¾ round molding

gorge cornice

mudbrick housein Yemen today

ancient Egyptian model of a tall house

I. C.1. Does Egyptian architectural form derive from symbolism or techtonics?

model of an Egyptian hut shrine

form material≠

Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New Kingdom

King Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

Great Pyramids, Giza(mortuary complex)

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut

Temple of Amon, Luxor

2600 BC

2500 BC

2030 BC

1550 BC

1400 BC

II. Egyptian funerary architecture: transforming the space of fear and death

II.

Zoser’s Pyramid & Mortuary Complex, Saqqara, Egypt, c. 2680 B.C.4.

King Zoser (r. 2687-2668 BC)

Ka – a vital force emanating from the god to his son the king

Statue of Zoser in the serdabZoser’s Mortuary Complex

II. A. Religious context: What is the king’s relationship with the sun god (Re) in life and death?

II. A. 1. What was orientation of Zoser’s Mortuary Complex?

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

II. B. Landscape: King Zoser’s Mortuary Complex as funerary architecture

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

3.

II. B. 1. Why were geographical and architectural realities represented symbolically in the complex as an eternal landscape of Egypt?

II. A.

Zoser’s Step Pyramid mastaba

Mastaba of Queen Herneith, Saqqara, 1st Dynasty (3100-2890 BC)

II. C. Major parts of the complex and the vernacular origins of their architecture: 1. What vernacular materials were transformed into stone?

Step Pyramid of Zoser Giza (Chephren’s Pyramid)

II. C. 1.

Walls of Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

II. C. 2. colonnaded entrance hall

Step Pyramid of Zoserbundled reed column

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

clerestorey illuminates the interior

II. C. 2.

II. C. 3. Heb-Sed Court with sham temples

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex – Heb-Sed Court

reconstructed sham temples on Heb-Sed Court

II. C. 3. Heb-Sed Court with sham temples

curved hoops of mattingbundled reed columnsimitation wood fence

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

II. C. 3. a. Heb-Sed Court with sham temples

reed columns w/ saddle capitals

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

II. C. 4. North and South sham palaces – symbolic, not practical, use of plant forms

chapel next to north sham palace

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

II. C. 4. North and South sham palaces - symbolic, not practical, use of plant forms in building

north sham palace - papyrus columns

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

south sham palace - lotus columns

II. D. Theory: Who or what is the source of the architectural ideas that brought Zoser’s Mortuary Complex to fruition?

Imhotep’s list of titles: Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor and Maker of Vases in Chief.

hieroglyphic signature of Imhotep in Zoser’s pyramid

II. D. 1. What does the hieroglyphic signature of architect Imhotep tell us about the status of architects ?

III. Great Pyramids at Giza: An Abrupt Change in Site Design

Great Pyramids at Giza, Egypt, 2570-2500 B.C.6.

III. A. Site Design: What is unprecedented in Egyptian culture in the relationship between architecture and landscape at Giza?

Great Pyramids at Giza

III. A. 1. What is an explanation for the bond to landscape in terms of ritual?

Great Pyramids at Giza

III. A. 2. The tripartite sequence of elements in the landscape-embracing design

valley templecauseway

mortuary temple

Great Pyramids at Giza

III. A. 2. a. valley temple (and sphinx)

Great Pyramids at Giza (Chephren’s Valley Temple)

III. A. 2. b. mortuary temple

Great Pyramids at Giza (Chephren’s Mortuary Temple)

III. A. 2. c. pyramid (tomb)

Great Pyramids at Giza (Chephren’s Pyramid in foreground)

III. A. 2. c. pyramid (tomb)

Giza (Cheops’s Pyramid)Saqqara (Zoser’s step pyramid)

abstract, pure geometrical forms

Giza (Chephren’s Valley Temple)

1. What forms replaced references to natural forms and vernacular architecture at Giza?

Zoser’s Mortuary Complex

representational forms

III. C. Aesthetic revolution: a new architectural language at Giza

non-referential

III. C. 1.

GizaZoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara

non-referential forms = timeless = radical break with past

7. or 3.

III. C. 1.

Great Pyramids at Giza

III. C. 2. not included in 2011

III. D. Political context: Why do we see these architectural changes at Giza now at this particular moment in Egyptian history?

Great Pyramids at Giza

Temple of Amon-Re at Heliopolis