Through the Eras

Architecture and Designchange was solely due to an altered ideology. These questionsawait further evidence before real answers can beoffered.SOURCESDieter Arnold, “Royal Cult Complexes of the Old and MiddleKingdoms,” Temples of Ancient Egypt, edited by ByronE. Shafer (Ithica, N.Y.: Cornell University Press,1997): 31–85.Mark Lehner, The Complete Pyramids (London: Thames andHudson, 1997).Rainer Stadelmann, Die Ägyptischen Pyramiden: vom Ziegelbauzum Weltwunder (Mainz am Rhein, Germany: P.von Zabern, 1985).Miroslav Verner, Die Pyramiden (Reinbek bei Hamburg,Germany: Rowohlt Verlag, 1998).MASTABA TOMBS OF THEOLD KINGDOMHOUSE FOR ETERNITY. The mastaba tomb’s namecomes from the Arabic word meaning “bench,” for itsresemblance to a mud brick bench sitting on the desertsand. Such benches are often located in front of houses.One name that the ancient Egyptians gave to tombs wasper djet, “house of eternity.” The Egyptians thought ofthe tomb as one of the places in which their souls wouldlive after they died. The soul divisions included the bathat could travel between the mummy and the nextworld, the ka that could inhabit a statue of a deceasedperson, and the akh that was transformed in the tombinto a spirit that could live in the next world. Not onlydid the ba and the ka spend time with the mummy andthe statue of the deceased in the tomb, but also suppliesthat a person would need in the next life were stored inthe tomb, just as there were storage facilities in a house.A deceased person could even receive mail at the tombjust as mail could be delivered to a person in this life.In fact all the functions that a person performed in life—sleeping, eating, dressing, receiving friends—were performedin the tomb by the deceased.EARLIEST EGYPTIAN TOMBS. In the very earliest periods,Egyptians buried their dead in oval-shaped pits inthe desert. From the Nagada I Period (3800–3500B.C.E.), grave goods such as pots, tools, and weapons wereincluded in the grave along with the body. These graveswere unmarked, but the grave goods show that from theearliest period the Egyptians believed that people neededsupplies to take with them to the next world. In theNagada II Period (3500–3300 B.C.E.), the Egyptians dugmore rectangular pits for graves and sometimes linedthem with basket-work, reed matting, or wood. Thesesimple linings were the precursors of coffins. It was onlyduring the first two dynasties (3100–2675 B.C.E.) thatthe Egyptians began to build superstructures over pitgraves called mastabas. At first they built them of mudbrick, but later switched to stone. The type remained thebasic burial architecture for the region around Memphisused by the wealthy into 3100 B.C.E. and later.MASTABAS OF DYNASTIES ONE, TWO, ANDTHREE. The mastabas built during the First and SecondDynasties were decorated with the palace façade motifderived from the enclosure wall of the contemporaryroyal palace as well as the funerary enclosures of kingsin this period. First-dynasty mastabas had plastered andpainted exteriors, though this feature apparently did notcontinue into the Second Dynasty. Though the firstmastabas had storage chambers, storage moved to thesubstructure during the course of the First Dynasty. Astaircase led to these storage chambers and the burialchamber. The mastaba became a solid brick block withretaining walls and a rubble core. On the east side of themastaba, architects placed two offering niches where theliving could make offerings. Later, architects built exteriorchapels on the east side of the tomb, in addition tointerior chapels shaped like a corridor, and cruciformchapels on the interior. The living used all of these placesto make offerings to the dead. Yet, no definite progressionof these types can currently be deduced. They continuedinto the Third Dynasty as the typical burial forthe wealthy, even as kings began to build step pyramids.FOURTH-DYNASTY MASTABAS. At the beginning ofthe Fourth Dynasty (2625–2500 B.C.E.), mud brick continuedto be the main construction material of mastabaswith some elements such as lintels—the top element ofa doorway that rests on the sides of the doorway calledjambs—made of stone. By the time Khufu built theGreat Pyramid, however, all of the surrounding mastabatombs were limestone. Probably this change is due to thefact that these mastabas belonged to the very richest nonroyalpeople. Most of them were at least relatives of theroyal family and held high office in the bureaucracy. Themastaba itself was mostly solid with a corridor that ledto two chapels on the east side, built over shafts excavatedinto the bedrock. The shaft extended to the roofof the mastaba that gave the only access to it and to theburial chamber. At the bottom of the shaft a tunnel extendingto the west led to the burial chamber. A stonesarcophagus, decorated with the palace façade motif similarto the older superstructures, rested in a niche in thewest wall. A canopic chest—the name given to the con-34 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)