Through the Eras

OVERVIEWof Architecture and DesignEGYPTIAN BUILDING TYPES. Ancient Egyptian architecturefalls into three categories: buildings for theliving, buildings for the dead, and buildings for religiousrites, i.e. temples, chapels, and shrines. The survivingarchitectural examples of Egypt’s ancient past are fromthe latter two categories and are some of the most recognizablestructures in the world. The Great Pyramidof Giza, for example, is one of the seven wonders of theancient world, and one of the premier tourist attractionsin Egypt today. The pyramids were tombs specificallycreated to be the homes of deceased kings in the afterlife,and were part of larger complexes that functionedto serve the dead king in the afterlife. These tombs includethe vast pyramid complexes built for kings fromthe Third Dynasty until the end of the Middle Kingdomwhen the Egyptians abandoned pyramid building(2675–1630 B.C.E.). Kings were not the only ones tohave homes in the afterlife; Egypt’s elite class of individualsalso built tombs called mastabas as permanenthomes for themselves after death. The Egyptians firstbuilt mastabas for the earliest king in the First and SecondDynasties and continued to build them in LowerEgypt (northern Egypt) until the end of ancient Egyptianhistory (3500–30 B.C.E.) for the elite class. By theSixth Dynasty and throughout the remainder of ancientEgyptian history, Egyptian nobles in Middle (central)Egypt and Upper (southern) Egypt carved tombs directlyinto the mountains that border the Nile river valley.During the New Kingdom (1539–1075 B.C.E.) theEgyptians buried kings in rock-cut tombs in the Valleyof the Kings near modern Luxor and worshipped thedeceased kings as gods in temples built just for that purpose.EGYPTIAN BELIEFS. Egyptians believed their kingwas the incarnation of the god Horus on earth. Accordingto the myth, Horus was a falcon, born to the godOsiris and his wife, Isis. When Osiris died he becamethe king of the dead. In the same way, the Egyptians believedthat when the king died he became Osiris andruled in the next world. The king’s son on earth wasthen the new Horus. These beliefs help explain the natureof Egyptian tombs for kings. Tombs were the placewhere Horus became Osiris and people on earth had accessto the deceased king. Egyptian belief in the afterlifewas so powerful that they only used permanent buildingmaterials, such as stone, for buildings that needed tolast eternally. Buildings for the living, then, made use ofthe relatively impermanent material of mud brick; eventhe king’s palace was made of mud brick. The Egyptiansalso developed stone architecture for gods’ houses whichEgyptologists call temples.ARCHITECTURE AND SOCIETY. Architecture playsa pivotal role in understanding ancient Egyptian society.In the earliest periods and as late as the end of the OldKingdom (3500–2170 B.C.E.), architecture providesscholars with the majority of the evidence for such ananalysis because so little else from the culture survived.Relying on architecture for our understanding of a culturemeans that only a limited range of questions can bereliably answered. Architecture can, for example, be agood indicator of where a society allocates resources.In addition, the enormous effort required to build theGreat Pyramid reveals something about the government’sability to direct and organize society’s energies. Changesand continuity in architectural plans also suggestdevelopments in religion and perhaps politics. Scholars,however, have often challenged the reliability of interpretationsof religion based solely on architecturalchanges. When texts survive to supplement the knowledgederived from architecture, a much fuller picture canemerge. This is the case for the rock-cut tombs and thetemples built for kings and gods in the New Kingdom(1539–1075 B.C.E.). In this time period the texts andsculptural reliefs on the interior walls of these structuressupplement our understanding of the function that therooms served and better define when important religiouschanges occurred. Finally, architecture provides one ofthe best categories of evidence for examining a society’sapproach to technology. Although technologically simplewhen compared to modern cultures, Egypt’s structuralaccomplishments with such simple tools onceinspired theories that Egyptian monuments were actuallythe work of aliens. Scholars have proven, however,that such supernatural or extraterrestrial explanations areunnecessary.RESOURCE ALLOCATION. For nearly 3,000 yearsthe Egyptians devoted an enormous percentage of theirsociety’s efforts and energy to monumental stone architecture.Only agriculture exceeded architecture forsheer manpower and time needed. At the start of the4 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)