Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt by Gaston Maspero (popular books of all time txt) 📖

is but the frame which surrounds the owner's dwelling. The two frontages are each adorned with a pillared portico and a pylon. Passing the outer door, we enter a sort of long central passage, divided by two walls pierced with doorways, so as to form three successive courts. The inside court is bordered by chambers; the two others open to right and left upon two smaller courts, whence flights of steps lead up to the terraced roof. This central building is called the Akhonûti, or private dwelling of kings or nobles, to which only the family and intimate friends had access. The number of storeys and the arrangement of the façade varied according to the taste of the owner. The frontage was generally a straight wall. Sometimes it was divided into three parts, with the middle division projecting, in which case the two wings were ornamented with a colonnade to each storey (fig. 18), or surmounted by an open gallery (fig. 19).
Fig 17.--Perspective view of the Palace of AT, Eighteenth Dynasty, El Amarna. Fig 17.--Perspective view of the Palace of AT, Eighteenth Dynasty, El Amarna.
The central pavilion sometimes presents the appearance of a tower, which dominates the rest of the building (fig. 20). The façade is often decorated with slender colonnettes of painted wood, which bear no weight, and merely serve to lighten the somewhat severe aspect of the exterior. Of the internal arrangements, we know but little. As in the middle-class houses, the sleeping rooms were probably small and dark; but, on the other hand, the reception rooms must have been nearly as large as those still in use in the Arab houses of modern Egypt. The decoration of walls and ceilings in no wise resembled such scenes or designs as we find in the tombs.
Fig 18.--Frontage of house, second Theban period. Fig 18.--Frontage of house, second Theban period.
The panels were whitewashed or colour-washed, and bordered with a polychrome band.
Fig 19.--Frontage of house, second Theban period. Fig 19.--Frontage of house, second Theban period.
Fig 20.--Central pavilion of house, in form of tower, second Theban period. Fig 20.--Central pavilion of house, in form of tower, second Theban period.
The ceilings were usually left white; sometimes, however they were decorated with geometrical patterns, which repeated the leading motives employed in the sepulchral wall-paintings. Thus we find examples of meanders interspersed with rosettes (fig. 21), parti-coloured squares (fig. 22), ox- heads seen frontwise, scrolls, and flights of geese (fig. 23).

I have touched chiefly upon houses of the second Theban period,[2] this being in fact the time of which we have most examples. Fig 21.--Ceiling pattern from behind, Medinet Habû, Twentieth Dynasty. Fig 21.--Ceiling pattern from behind, Medinet Habû, Twentieth Dynasty.
The house-shaped lamps which are found in such large numbers in the Fayûm date only from Roman times; but the Egyptians of that period continued to build according to the rules which were in force under the Pharaohs of the Twelfth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties. Fig 22.--Ceiling pattern similar to one at El Bersheh, Twelfth Dynasty. Fig 22.--Ceiling pattern similar to one at El Bersheh, Twelfth Dynasty.
As regards the domestic architecture of the ancient kingdom, the evidences are few and obscure. Nevertheless, the stelae, tombs, and coffins of that period often furnish designs which show us the style of the doorways (fig. 24), and one Fourth Dynasty sarcophagus, that of Khûfû Poskhû, is carved in the likeness of a house (fig. 25).

2.--FORTRESSES.

Most of the towns, and even most of the larger villages, of ancient Egypt were walled. Fig 23.--Ceiling pattern from tomb of Aimadûa, Twentieth Dynasty. Fig 23.--Ceiling pattern from tomb of Aimadûa, Twentieth Dynasty.
This was an almost necessary consequence of the geographical characteristics and the political constitution of the country. The mouths of the defiles which led into the desert needed to be closed against the Bedawîn; while the great feudal nobles fortified their houses, their towns, and the villages upon their domains which commanded either the mountain passes or the narrow parts of the river, against their king or their neighbours.

The oldest fortresses are those of Abydos, El Kab, and Semneh. Abydos contained a sanctuary dedicated to Osiris, and was situate at the entrance to one of the roads leading to the Oasis. As the renown of the temple attracted pilgrims, so the position of the city caused it to be frequented by merchants; hence the prosperity which it derived from the influx of both classes of strangers exposed the city to incursions of the Libyan tribes. Fig 24.--Door of a house of the Ancient Empire, from the wall of a tomb of the Sixth Dynasty. Fig 24.--Door of a house of the Ancient Empire, from the wall of a tomb of the Sixth Dynasty.
At Abydos there yet remain two almost perfect strongholds. The older forms, as it were, the core of that tumulus called by the Arabs "Kom es Sultan," or "the Mound of the King." The interior of this building has been excavated to a point some ten or twelve feet above the ground level, but the walls outside have not yet been cleared from the surrounding sand and rubbish. In its present condition, it forms a parallelogram of crude brickwork measuring 410 feet from north to south, and 223 feet from east to west. The main axis of the structure extends, therefore, from north to south. The principal gateway opens in the western wall, not far from the northwest corner: but there would appear to have been two smaller gates, one in the south front, and one in the east. The walls, which now stand from twenty-four to thirty-six feet high, have lost somewhat of their original height. They are about six feet thick at the top. They were not built all together in uniform layers, but in huge vertical panels, easily distinguished by the arrangement of the brickwork. In one division the bedding of the bricks is strictly horizontal; in the next it is slightly concave, and forms a very flat reversed arch, of which the extrados rests upon the ground.
Fig 25.--Façade of a Fourth Dynasty house, from the sarcophagus of Khûfû Poskhû. Fig 25.--Façade of a Fourth Dynasty house, from the sarcophagus of Khûfû Poskhû.
The alternation of these two methods is regularly repeated. The object of this arrangement is obscure; but it is said that buildings thus constructed are especially fitted to resist earthquake shocks. However this may be, the fortress is extremely ancient, for in the Fifth Dynasty, the nobles of Abydos took possession of the interior, and, ultimately, so piled it up with their graves as to deprive it of all strategic value. A second stronghold, erected a few hundred yards further to the south-east, replaced that of Kom es Sultan about the time of the Twelfth Dynasty, and narrowly escaped the fate of the first, under the rule of the Ramessides. Nothing, in fact, but the sudden decline of the city, saved the second from being similarly choked and buried.

The early Egyptians possessed no engines calculated to make an impression on very massive walls. Fig 26.--Plan of second fortress at Abydos, Eleventh or Twelfth Dynasty. Fig 26.--Plan of second fortress at Abydos, Eleventh or Twelfth Dynasty.
They knew of but three ways of forcing a stronghold; namely, scaling the walls, sapping them, or bursting open the gates. The plan adopted by their engineers in building the second fort is admirably well calculated to resist each of these modes of attack (fig. 26). The outer walls are long and straight, without towers or projections of any kind; they measure 430 feet in length from north to south, by 255 feet in width. The foundations rest on the sand, and do not go down more than a foot. The wall (fig. 27) is of crude brick, in horizontal courses. It has a slight batter; is solid, without slits or loopholes; and is decorated outside with long vertical grooves or panels, like those depicted on the stelae of the ancient empire. Fig 27.--Walls of second fort at Abydos, restored. Fig 27.--Walls of second fort at Abydos, restored.
In its present state, it rises to a height of some thirty-six feet above the plain; when perfect, it would scarcely have exceeded forty feet, which height would amply suffice to protect the garrison from all danger of scaling by portable ladders. The thickness of the wall is about twenty feet at the base, and sixteen feet above. The top is destroyed, but the bas- reliefs and mural paintings (fig. 28) show that it must have been crowned with a continuous cornice, boldly projecting, furnished with a slight low parapet, and surmounted by battlements, which were generally rounded, but sometimes, though rarely, squared. Fig 28.--Façade of fort, from wall-scene, Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty. Fig 28.--Façade of fort, from wall-scene, Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty.
The walk round the top of the ramparts, though diminished by the parapet, was still twelve or fifteen feet wide. It ran uninterruptedly along the four sides, and was reached by narrow staircases formed in the thickness of the walls, but now destroyed. There was no ditch, but in order to protect the base of the main wall from sappers, they erected, about ten feet in advance of it, a battlemented covering wall, some sixteen feet in height. Fig 29.--Plan of main gate, second fortress of Abydos. Fig 29.--Plan of main gate, second fortress of Abydos.
These precautions sufficed against sap and scaling; but the gates remained as open gaps in the circuit. It was upon these weak points that besiegers and besieged alike concentrated their efforts. The fortress of Abydos had two gates, the main one being situate at the east end of the north front (fig. 29). Fig 30.--Plan of south-east gate, second fortress of Abydos. Fig 30.--Plan of south-east gate, second fortress of Abydos.
A narrow cutting (A), closed by a massive wooden door, marked the place in the covering wall. Behind it was a small place d'armes (B), cut partly in the thickness of the wall, and leading to a second gate (C) as narrow as the first. When, notwithstanding the showers of missiles poured upon them from the top of the walls, not only in front, but also from both sides, the attacking party had succeeded in carrying this second door, they were not yet in the heart of the place. Fig 31.--Plan of gate, fortress of Kom el Ahmar. Fig 31.--Plan of gate, fortress of Kom el Ahmar.
They would still have to traverse an oblong court (D), closely hemmed in between the outer walls and the cross walls, which last stood at right angles to the first. Finally, they must force a last postern (E), which was purposely placed in the most awkward corner. The leading principle in the construction of fortress-gates was always the same, but the details varied according to the taste of the engineer. At the south-east gate of the fort of Abydos (fig. 30) the place d'armes between the two walls is abolished, and the court is constructed entirely in the thickness of the main wall; while at Kom el Ahmar, opposite El Kab (fig. 31), the block of brickwork in the midst of which the gate is cut projects boldly in front. Fig