The Similarities and Changes that have Occurred through Ancient Egyptian Architecture - Essay Example

Compare and Contrast the Similarities and Changes that have Occurred through Ancient Egyptian Architecture (from the Early Dynastic Period to the Old King and lastly to the New Kingdom) Introduction Ancient Egyptian architecture was responsible for the development of a wide array of structures and formidable architectural structures along River Nile. Among the most expansive and famous of the architectural monuments is the Great Pyramid of Giza. Owing to the short supply of wood, the construction materials that the ancient Egyptians employed were mud bricks and stone, the main stone being limestone, even though sandstone and granite were also used in significant quantities(Emery 1). While mud bricks were used significantly in ancient Egypt, stone was the predominant building material used on the monumental structures such as the pyramids, the temples and the tombs of kings cut out of stones. Early Dynastic Period(c. 3000 – 2575 BC) The Early Dynastic Period is a period of approximately five hundred years that mark the beginning of what historians conventionally consider the history of Ancient Egypt. It was the climax of the Ancient Egyptian culture that had started during the Prehistory(Kinnaer 1). It was during this period that that the divine kingship took root as Egypts form of government. Divine kingship brought with it a culture that would remain intact for next three millennia or so. Besides architecture, several other aspects dominated the culture of the Egyptians during this period. For instance, during this period, writing developed from a couple of simple signs that were mainly used to represent the quantities of substances to a complex system that comprised hundreds of signs, each with phonetic and ideographic significance. Another significant change that came with the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period was the emergence and growth of urbanism(Kinnaer 3). Inhabitants of small villages left homes and settled in larger communities and cities. Several factors were responsible for the rising wave of urbanization. These included the need for protection against external enemies. With urbanization came a new dawn for ancient Egyptian architecture. Most books on the history of Ancient Egypt present the Early Dynastic Period as spanning the first two dynasties(Keita 220). This dichotomy is based on the understanding that the Egyptians built their first pyramids during the Third Dynasty, which most texts regard a part of the Old Kingdom. However, Egyptians still knew their 3rd Dynasty kings by their Horus-title. Then, from the Fourth Dynasty on, the Prenomen and Nomen titles became more important. These changes may be indicative of changes in the way Egyptians viewed their kings; in the first three dynasties, the king embodied the god Horus, while beginning the Fourth Dynasty, they were viewed as the son of Re, the god of the sun. Consequently, this paper considers the Third Dynasty a part of the Early Dynasty Period. One of the leading architectural feats of the Third Dynasty were the Stepped Pyramids of Saqqara. These are treated below in some detail. The Stepped Pyramids of Saqqara The Step Pyramid of Djoser Source: Adapted from Giulio, 2010 The Stepped Pyramids of Saqqara are a complex of pyramids, the main ones including the pyramids of Djoser, Userkaf, Teti, Merikare and Unas. These pyramids were considered of a lesser grade relative to the “true” pyramids of the Old Kingdom. They were built of dressed stone. Of all these pyramids, Djoser is probably the most important one(Giulio 633). It was the first to be built by pharaoh Djoser, the first of Third Dynasty kings, around 2630 BC. The pyramid comprises a lofty-walled rectangular enclosure. The enclosure, as well as the pyramid itself are roughly oriented to the four cardinal points. Originally, the pyramid had only one entrance, which was situated near the southeast corner. The pyramid was surrounded by a huge dry moat. The Old Kingdom Historians coined the term the “Old Kingdom” in the mid-nineteenth century(Kittler and Darula 407). Then, the term referred to the period spanning the First Dynasty through the Sixteenth Dynasty. Later, the term came to mean the period relating to the First through the Tenth Dynasties. Today, the term connotes the Fourth (or Third, in some texts) through the Eighth Dynasties. However, some scholars place the end of the Old Kingdom at the dusk of the 6th Dynasty. During the Old Kingdom,stone became particularly common for major structures such as temples and pyramids. The Old Kingdom ended around 2250 BC. The main reasons for the fall of the kingdom were internal strife and climatic factors(Muller-Wollerman 1). One of the architectural marvels of this period is the Great Pyramids of Giza, treated in some detail in the paragraphs that follow. The Great Pyramids of Giza Source: Adapted from Vaz et al., 2011 These are a complex of pyramids situated approximately eight kilometers inland from Giza along the Nile and about 20 kilometers southwest of Cairo, Egypts capital(Vaz, Caetano and Nijkamp 101). The complex comprises the pyramids of Khufu (the largest of them all and, therefore, called the Great Pyramid), Khafre, Menkaure and the Great Sphinx. The pyramids were constructed during the Fourth Dynasty. They symbolized the power of the religion and state of the pharaohs. In addition, they were built to serve as sites for the tombs of the kings of the dynasty as well as to perpetuate the names of those kings. The so-called Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and biggest of them all, was completed in about 2580 BC.Historians believe that the Pyramid of Khafre was completed c. 2532 BC, towards the end of the reign of Khafre. The Great Sphinx and the pyramids in the complex were largely carved out of sandstone available at the site(Vaz, Caetano and Nijkamp 105). Limestone, much of which has since been eroded away, was used to face the monuments. The limestone was sourced across the Nile and had to be ferried across the river. . Historians widely believe that the pharaohs used slave labor to build the pyramids. Still, some scholars believe that farmers provided the labor when farming was off season. Nonetheless, the pyramids depict a lifestyle of the nobility w that was probably supported by forced labor, as was the case in several other civilizations. The New Kingdom Historians consider the period of the New Kingdom the golden age of ancient Egypt(Eyre 705). This was a time when the empire was most prosperous and at the peak of its power. Thebes was established as the new capital of the empire. Thebes was a luxurious metropolis punctuated lavish palaces, temples and tombs. At the time, the borders of the kingdom stretched from present day Syria to Northern Sudan, which at the time was divided into Nubia and the Kush Kingdom. This period also hosted some of the country’s most famous pharaohs that include Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamen and Ramesses II, also called Ramesses the Great. One of the architectural wonders of this period is the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, named after pharaohsHatshepsut(Magli 55). The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut Source: Adapted from Magli, 2012 Reliefs from the structure depict Hatshepsut as the daughter of Amun-Ra, the sun god. They are the first woman to engraved on a temple or any other monumental public structure(Magli 60). There are at least two hundred stand-alone images that depict Hatshepsut undertaking various activities. One of the images shows the pharaohs on their knees holding offering jars. However, when Hatshepsut’s stepson, Thutmose III, came to power in 1458 BC, they either shattered or removed most of the images. Thutmose accused their deceased stepmother of usurping twenty years of their reign. The adjacent older mortuary temple of Mentuhotep was employed as a model for the new temple. However, the two temples differ in many significant ways. Unlike the centralized structure of the older temple, Hatshepsut temple uses a long colonnaded terrace. This latter design is an error that may have been brought about by the central location of the pharaohs’ tomb. There are three layers of terraces, each ninety-seven feet tall. Besides the tomb of the pharaoh, the temple building houses a sanctuary, a chapel, a sun court, a hypostyle hall, several courts and pylons. The sculpture work inside the temple retells the story of the divine birth of a female pharaoh, the first of its type. The temple was built of stone, most of which was quarried from the site of the old temple that had initially served as a model(Magli 63). Conclusion Throughout the three periods of Ancient Egypt covered in this paper, the majority of monumental structures of public significance were built of stone. Stone offered many advantages over mud-bricks. The main advantage of stones over mud bricks was their ability to withstand adverse weather conditions and, therefore, last long. As most pharaohs sought to erect structures that would long outlive them, stone came in handy(Colla 280). Besides caressing the egos of the pharaohs many of the structures also had religious significance. The preferred use of stone over bricks was also enhanced by the availability of free forced labor. Because stone was used, today we can still marvel over the Great Pyramid of Giza. Works cited Colla, Elliot. "The Measure of Egypt." Postcolonial Studies7.3 (2004): 271-293. Print. Emery, Virginia. "Mud-Brick Architecture." UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles: University of California, 19 February 2011. Print. Eyre, Christopher. "Patronage, Power, and Corruption in Pharaonic Egypt." International Journal of Public Administration.34.11(2011): 701-711. Print. Giulio, Magli. "Geometry and Perspective." 9th International Conference, APLIMAT 2010. Bratislava: Slovak University of Technology, 2010. 633-644. Print. Keita, S. "A study of vault porosities in early Upper Egypt from the Badarian through Dynasty I." World Archaeology35.2 (2003): 210-222. Print. Kinnaer, Jacques. The Early Dynastic Period. Thesis. Oakland: University of California, 2009. Print. Kittler, Richard, and Stanislav Darula. "Applying Solar Geometry to Understand the Foundation Rituals of ‘Old Kingdom Egyptian Pyramids." Architectural Science Review51.4 (2008): 407-412. Print. Magli, Giulio. "The Senfu Projects and the Topography of Funerary Landscapes During the Twelfth Egyptian Dynasties." Time and Mind, 5.1(2012): 53-73. Print. Muller-Wollerman, Renate. "End of the Old Kingdom." UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles: University of California, August 2014. Print. Vaz, Eric de Noronha, Mario Caetano and Peter Nijkamp. "A multi-level spatial urban pressure analysis of the Giza pyramid plateau in Egypt." Journal of Heritage Tourism6.2 (2011): 99-108. Print. Read More