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The Evolutions of Tombs

• The evolution of the building of pyramids is a significant discussion

in terms of Egyptian art. They are the most obvious artifacts and the
most visible.
• As the gateway to the after-life for Egyptian kings and members of
the royal court, the Egyptian burial structure began as a low
rectangular mastaba.
• Later, mastaba forms of decreasing size were stacked over an
underground burial chamber to form the stepped pyramid.
• From stepped pyramid, slowly it developed into pyramid which the
actual burial site may be within the pyramid – not below ground –
with false chambers, false doors, and confusing passageways.

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• Egyptian tombs and pyramids began as short bench like structures
that are called the mastabas, which is Arabic for bench.
• These tombs were used to contain effigies of the dead person and
usually had a small temple associated with it in which people can
leave offerings for the dead.
• The main reason for making a small temple or tomb like this with
stone shafts is because Egypt is almost all sand.

STEPPED
MASTABA PYRAMID
PYRAMID
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Mastaba

• Means "house for eternity" or "eternal house“.

• It is in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with outward
sloping sides, constructed out of mud-bricks (from the Nile River) or
stone.
• Before 3000 BCE, members of the Egyptian aristocracy were buried
in mounds of sand known as mastabas, rectangular tombs that were
believed to symbolize the ancient mass of earth on which the sun
god was born.
• Mastabas marked the burial sites of many eminent Egyptians during
Egypt's Early Dynastic period and Old Kingdom.

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Structure
• The above-ground structure of a mastaba is rectangular in shape
with inward-sloping sides and a flat roof.
• The exterior building materials were initially bricks made of sun
dried mud, which was readily available from the Nile River or
stone.
• Mastabas were often about four times as long as they were
wide, and many rose to at least 30 feet in height.
• The mastaba was built with a north-south orientation, which the
Ancient Egyptians believed was essential for access to the
afterlife.
• This above-ground structure had space for a small offering chapel
equipped with a false door. Priests and family members brought
food and other offerings for the soul, or ba, of the deceased
because Egyptians believed that the soul had to be maintained in 9
order to continue to exist in the afterlife.
• Inside the mastaba, a deep chamber was dug into the ground and
lined with stone and bricks.
• The burial chambers were cut deep, until they passed the
bedrock, and were lined with wood.
• A second hidden chamber called a "serdab" ( ,)‫سرداب‬from the
Persian word for "cellar", was used to store anything that may
have been considered essential for the comfort of the deceased
in the afterlife, such as beer, cereal, grain, clothes, and precious
items.
• The mastaba housed a statue of the deceased that was hidden
within the masonry for its protection.
• High up the walls of the serdab were small openings that would
allow the ba to leave and return to the body (represented by the
statue); Ancient Egyptians believed the ba had to return to its
body or it would die. These openings "were not meant for viewing
the statue but rather for allowing the fragrance of burning
incense, and possibly the spells spoken in rituals, to reach the 10
statue".
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Mastaba of Thi, Sakkâra

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• The mastaba-tomb of Ty , in Saqqara, is one of the most famous
of the Old Kingdom.
• The dimension of the tomb (more than 34m east to west, and more
than 42m north to south), and also the quality of the decoration,
shows the importance of the character, his functions and his
material resources.

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• The body of the building is constructed from pieces of stone and
clay, and is partitioned by mud bricks. In the best cases, it is
enhanced by a cladding of limestone slabs.
• The plan of the tomb of Ty is simple: a portico entrance opens onto
an open courtyard with pillars, hence, two successive corridors lead
to the first room (a storeroom), then another leads to the main
chapel for receiving the offerings and worship.
• The mastaba of Ty was one of the first private tombs to consist of a
great pillared courtyard. This courtyard is external to the main
structure, to the east of the main oblong massif, and not inside,
which signifies that it had been maybe added in a second phase.
• The orientation of the monument is nearly perfectly north-south;
the chapel, serdabs and storeroom are therefore oriented east-
west. 15
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• The pillars measured about 3.9m in height.
• The decoration is on the front faces and starts at 0.9m from the
ground and should have extended up to the lintel.

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• The courtyard measures about 14.10m in length (north-south) and
11.65m in width (east-west).
• Twelve pillars, spaced 1.50m apart, stand around the edge,
positioned on average at 1.66m from the east and west walls, and
nearly 2m from those of the north and south.
• All four faces of each are decorated, but each time with the same
theme: a standing figure of Ty, with a long staff and a sceptre.

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Stepped Pyramid

• The earliest Egyptian pyramids were step pyramids after the

mastaba tombs.
• During the 3rd dynasty of Egypt, the architect Imhotep designed
Egypt's first step pyramid as a tomb for the pharaoh, Djoser.
• A stepped pyramid is an architectural structure that uses flat
platforms, or steps, receding from the ground up, to achieve a
completed shape similar to a geometric pyramid.
• These pyramids typically are large and made of several layers of
stone.
• the earliest large-scale cut stone construction

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The Stepped Pyramid Zoser from the Great South Court
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Pyramid of Djoser

• The Pyramid of Djoser (or Zoser) is an

archeological remain in the Sakkara
necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the city
of Memphis.
• It was built during the 27th century
BC for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by
Imhotep.
• This first Egyptian pyramid consisted of
six mastabas (of decreasing size) built
atop one another in what were clearly
revisions and developments of the
original plan.
• The pyramid originally stood 62 metres
(203 ft) tall, with a base of 109 m
× 125 m (358 ft × 410 ft) and was clad 22
in polished white limestone.
Top View of a Djoser Step Pyramid 23
• It started off as a mastaba tomb — a flat-roofed structure with
sloping sides.
• The pyramid is at the center of a complex 37 acres (15 hectares) in
size. This complex is surrounded by a recessed limestone wall that
contains 13 fake doorways as well as the real colonnade entrance on
the southeast side.
• A number of facade “dummy” buildings were constructed in the
complex, including a series of chapels in the southeast as well as
north and south pavilions on the east side of the pyramid. These
structures would have served ritual purposes and, curiously, they
appear to have been partly buried by their builders, notes
Egyptologist Mark Lehner in his book "The Complete Pyramids."

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• A temple lies on the north side of the
pyramid along with a statue of the king
painted with limestone.
• The statue is surrounded by a small stone
structure known as a “serdab,” his eyes
peeking out through a hole.

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King’s burial chamber
• Beneath the step pyramid is a bewildering array of tunnels and
chambers, the center of which is a 90-foot-deep (28 meters) shaft
that, at its bottom, contains the burial chamber of king Djoser.
• The burial chamber was a vault constructed of four courses of well-
dressed granite.
• The vault would have initially been decorated with limestone blocks
containing five pointed stars, creating a star-filled ceiling.

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Tunnels and underground 'palace'
• Two passages lead underground and branch off in three directions.
They contain three magazine galleries, a special tunnel for food
offerings, and an uncompleted chamber that may have acted as an
underground “palace” of sorts, albeit one for the afterlife.
• Three false doors contain stele showing the king engaged in rituals.
• The chamber is decorated with thousands of blue faience tiles
imitating the reed matting found in the king’s real life palace in
Memphis. This chamber beneath the pyramid was hastily
completed.
• Yet another tunnel, starting on the east side of the pyramid, contains
40,000 stone vessels, many of them belonging to the king’s
ancestors. Sarcophagi and human remains were also found.
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Pyramid

• Pyramids were built as royal burials until 1640 B.C.

• To prevent robbery, the kings, queens and nobles of the New
Kingdom built their tombs in a remote valley west of the Theban
capital known as the Valley of the Kings.
• The tombs of Egypt are one of the greatest tourist attractions in the
world.
• The most famous pyramids are found at Giza. They were built by
three pharaohs - Cheops (or Khufu*), Chephren (Khafre*) and
Mycerinus (Menkaure*)

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Types of Pyramid

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Bent Pyramid

• Anterchamber – room between the upper burial and lower burial

chambers.
• Upper burial chamber – most likely added to store objects meant to
go with the dead into the afterlife, such as prayers, miniatures
models of boats, and food.
• Lower burial chamber – the actual burial room for the body.
• Satellite pyramid – smaller replica for offering.

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Seneferu's Bent pyramid at Dahshur

• Seneferu's Bent pyramid at Dahshur was originally planned as a true

pyramid, but its geometry was altered at a point just above half its
height. The angle of incline was decreased from 54º 31' 13'' to 43º
21'.
• A unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt.

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• Seneferu's Bent pyramid at Dahshur was originally planned as a true
pyramid, but its geometry was altered at a point just above half its
height. The angle of incline was decreased from 54º 31' 13'' to 43º
21'.
• A unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt.
• The Bent Pyramid valley temple is rectangular and north-south
oriented.
• It was built of fine white limestone, with an entrance in the middle
of the south facade.
• The entrance was framed with wooden pillars with pennants.

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True Pyramid

• The true pyramid is a natural development and improvement on the

step pyramid.
• The first true pyramids were introduced in at the beginning of the
4th Dynasty.
• The structure of a True Pyramid is virtually the same as a step
pyramid. Packing blocks are stacked until the dimensions were right,
and then finishing blocks (usually limestone) were the last touch.
• The aesthetics are much more pleasing than the step pyramid, but
the construction isn't really that different.

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The Great Pyramid of Giza

• Also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops.

• The Great Pyramid was built by the pharaoh Khufu (2551-2528 BC),
known to the Greeks as Cheops.
• He decided on a new site for his pyramid at Giza, some 20 miles to
the north of Memphis and indeed the most northerly of the
pyramids so far constructed.
• The site was an outcrop, a plateau of extremely solid rock, and it
was perhaps because of this that he chose the site for what was to
be the greatest pyramid of all.

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• Surrounding the pyramid what became the standard arrangement of
ancillary buildings was also established.
• There was a mortuary temple at the eastern (that is Nile side)
entrance to the pyramid enclosure, then a causeway leading down
to a valley temple by the side of the Nile itself, so that the pharaoh
could arrive by barge and make a grand procession up to the
pyramid.
• This is also presumably the way by which the stones were dragged
up to the pyramid when it was being built.

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Material Used
• The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks which
most believe to have been transported from nearby quarries.
• The Tura limestone used for the casing was quarried across the river.
• The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the "King's"
chamber, weigh 25 to 80 tonnes and were transported from Aswan,
more than 800 km (500 mi) away.
• Traditionally, ancient Egyptians cut stone blocks by hammering into
them some wooden wedges, which were then soaked with water. As
the water was absorbed, the wedges expanded, causing the rock to
crack. Once they were cut, they were carried by boat either up or
down the Nile River to the pyramid.
• It is estimated that 5.5 million tonnes of limestone, 8,000 tonnes of
granite (imported from Aswan), and 500,000 tonnes of mortar were
used in the construction of the Great Pyramid. 46
• At completion, the Great Pyramid was surfaced by white "casing
stones" – slant-faced, but flat-topped, blocks of highly polished
white limestones.

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Construction Theories
• A modern construction management study, in association with Mark
Lehner and other Egyptologists, estimated that the total project
required an average workforce of 14,567 people and a peak
workforce of 40,000.
• Without the use of pulleys, wheels, or iron tools, they used critical
path analysis to suggest that the Great Pyramid was completed from
start to finish in approximately 10 years.

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• The original entrance to the Great Pyramid is 17 metres (56 ft)
vertically above ground level and 7.29 metres (23.9 ft) east of the
center line of the pyramid.
• From this original entrance, there is a Descending Passage 0.96
metres (3.1 ft) high and 1.04 metres (3.4 ft) wide, which goes down
at an angle of 26° 31'23" through the masonry of the pyramid and
then into the bedrock beneath it.
• After 105.23 metres (345.2 ft), the passage becomes level and
continues for an additional 8.84 metres (29.0 ft) to the lower
Chamber, which appears not to have been finished.
• There is a continuation of the horizontal passage in the south wall of
the lower chamber; there is also a pit dug in the floor of the
chamber.
• Some Egyptologists suggest that this Lower Chamber was intended
to be the original burial chamber, but Pharaoh Khufu later changed 49
his mind and wanted it to be higher up in the pyramid.[29]
• At the start of the Grand Gallery on the right-hand side there is a
hole cut in the wall.
• This is the start of a vertical shaft which follows an irregular path
through the masonry of the pyramid to join the Descending Passage.
Also at the start of the Grand Gallery there is the Horizontal Passage
leading to the "Queen's Chamber".

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The Grand Gallery, Great Pyramid of Giza. Egypt.

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Pyramid of Khafre

• The Pyramid of Khafre or of Chephren is the second-tallest and

second-largest of the Ancient Egypt Pyramids of Giza and the tomb
of the Forth-Dynasty pharaouh Khafre (Chefren), who ruled from
2558 to 2532 BC.
• The pyramid has a base length of 215.5 m (706 ft) and rises to a
height of 136.4 metres (448 ft).
• The pyramid is made of limestone blocks weighing more than 2 tons
each.
• The slope of the pyramid rises at a 53° 10' angle, steeper than its
neighbor, the Pyramid of Khufu, which has an angle of 51°50'40".
• The pyramid sits on bedrock 10 m (33 ft) higher than Khufu’s
pyramid, which makes it appear to be taller.
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• The pyramid is built of horizontal courses.
• The stones used at the bottom are very large, but as the pyramid
rises, the stones become smaller, becoming only 50 cm (20 in) thick
at the apex.
• The courses are rough and irregular for the first half of its height but
a narrow band of regular masonry is clear in the midsection of the
pyramid.
• At the northwest corner of the pyramid, the bedrock was fashioned
into steps.

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Egypt Pyramid Construction Techniques

• There have been many hypotheses about the Egyptian pyramid

construction techniques.
• These techniques seem to have developed over time; later pyramids
were not built the same way as earlier ones.
• Most of the construction hypotheses are based on the idea that
huge stones were carved with copper chisels from stone quarries,
and these blocks were then dragged and lifted into position.

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• A major problem facing the builders of the Ancient Egyptian
Pyramids, was that of getting the Large stone blocks to the height
they required.
• The ramps were built on inclined planes of mud brick and rubble.
They then dragged the blocks on sledges to the needed height.
• As the pyramid grew taller, the ramp had to be extended in length,
and its base was widened, else it would collapse. It is likely that for
the construction of each pyramid, several ramps were probably
used.

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Types of Ramp

• Ramps are generally considered to have been the main lifting

devices for heavy material.
• While lifting devices such as pseudo pulleys and wooden levers were
likely known in ancient Egypt, it has not been demonstrated that
these tools could lift the massive stones of the great pyramids,
which sometimes weighed as much as fifty or more tons.
• Yet there are many different theories regarding what shape ramps
may have taken, and there sometimes appears to be flaws in most
any such design.

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1. A Straight-on Ramp

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2. Holscher Style Ramp 3. Stadelmann Style Ramps

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4. Arnold Style Ramp 5. Isler Style Lifts

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• The arrangement of the ramps used for building is in much dispute.
• Assuming that the step pyramid was built before the outer structure,
and then the packing blocks were laid on top, the ramps could have
run from one step to another rather than approaching the pyramid
face at right angles.

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• The internal construction of most true pyramids consists of a series
of buttress walls surrounding a central core.
• The walls decrease in height from the center outwards.
• In other words, the core of the true pyramid is essentially a step
pyramid.
• The internal arrangement added stability to the structure.
• Packing blocks filled the "steps" formed by the faces of the
outermost buttress walls and casting blocks (often Limestone)
completed the structure of the true pyramid.

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• One theory suggests that causeways were used to haul the stone
blocks on wooden sleds up the side of the pyramids.
• The average weight of the stone blocks used to build the Great
Pyramid at Giza has been estimated at 2.5 tonnes (2.5 tons).

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• Long distance transport was made possible by use of boats and/or
floating rafts.

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The Great Sphinx of Giza

• In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a sphinx is a usually depicted as a

recumbent lioness or lion with a human head, but occasionally as a
lion with the head of a falcon, hawk, or ram.
• Generally the role of sphinxes was as temple guardians; they were
connected with architectural structures such as royal tombs or
religious temples.

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• The body of a lion with the
head of a king or god, the
sphinx has come to symbolize
strength and wisdom.
• The paws themselves are 50
feet long (15m) while the
entire length is 150 feet (45m).
The head is 30 (10m) feet long
and 14 feet (4m) wide.
• Because certain layers of the
stone are softer than others,
there is a high degree of
erosion that has claimed the
original detail of the carved 74
figure.
• The rectangular structure known as the Sphinx Temple lies directly
east of the statue. Adjacent and south of the Sphinx Temple lies a
structure known as the Khafre Valley Temple.
• This is linked to a causeway that goes west-northwest to the second
or Khafre Pyramid.
• The causeway runs above and along the south wall of the Sphinx
enclosure.
• A Khafre Mortuary Temple stands east of the Khafre Pyramid on the
upper plateau behind the Sphinx.

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Panoramic view of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Giza, 2010

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The Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Sphinx of Giza

Abu Simbel: Rock Hewn/ Temple

• The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock temples at Abu
Simbel ( ‫أبو سمبل‬in Arabic), a village in Nubia, southern Egypt.
• Construction of the temple complex started in approximately 1244
BC and lasted for about 20 years, until 1224 BC.
• Known as the "Temple of Ramesses, beloved by Amun", it was one
of six rock temples erected in Nubia during the long reign of
Ramesses II.
• Their purpose was to impress Egypt's southern neighbors, and also
to reinforce the status of Egyptian religion in the region.

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• The temple was cut into rock in the 13th century B.C. by the famous
pharaoh Ramses II in honour of himself & 3 gods.
• Together with a smaller temple dedicated to Ramses' wife Nefertari
and the goddess Hathor, it lay strategically in a bend of the river Nile
overlooking the plains to the south as an impressive monument

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Great Temple of Ramesses II (left) and

Small Temple of Nefertari (right)
Great Temple of Ramesses II

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The Temple of Nefertari 82
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Cut-away view of Pharaoh Rameses II's Temple, Abu Simbel

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The Great Temple of Ramesses II Architectural layout
1. The forecourt or terrace which fronted the temple contained two
tanks for the ablutions of the priests.
2. The temple’s facade is dominated by four enormous seated
statues of the Pharaoh (each over 20 meters or 67 feet high),
although one has been damaged since ancient times. Beneath the
legs of Ramses II, his family members dwarfed by him, are presented
in dramatically smaller statues of his mother Muttuy, Queen
Nefertari and Prince Amonherkhepshef. The facade is topped by a
row of 22 baboons, their arms raised in the air, supposedly
worshipping the rising sun.
3. On the southern side of this terrace, stood a chapel of Thoth.
4. On the north stood a small sun-chapel.
5. The entrance - above it a figure of the falcon headed god Ra is
shown worshipped by flanking images of Ramses II.
6. A Grand Hall which is 57 feet high and 52 feet wide and was cut
from the rock. It is supported with eight pillars with statuesof
Ramses II with the shape of Osiris. The statues on the north side of
the hall wear the Double Crown, while those on the south the White
Crown of upper Egypt. The walls are decorated in relief with scenes
showing the Pharaoh in battle, including the great battle of Kadesh.
7. To either side of the Grand Hall are smaller rooms, three to the
South and three to the North, these rooms were used for
festivals related to the Pharaohs Jubilee.
8. Beyond the Grand Hall is the second hypostyle hall supported by
four flowered pillars. Scenes in this hall show the Pharaoh and his
wife, Nefertari making offerings to Amun and Ra.
9. Three doors lead from the second hall into a vestibule,
10. Finally within the innermost part of the rock-cut temple the 85
sanctuary has three chapels, the central one containing the cult
images of Ramses II himself, Horakhty of Heliopolis, Ptah of
Memphis and Amun and Thebes.
The Temple of Nefertari Architectural layout
1. The facade of the temple is a receding Pylon, with six 10-
meter-high (33 feet) rock-cut statues - two of Ramses II and
one of Nefertari on either side of the doorway. The
statues of Nefertari are the same height as those of Ramses
II, which is unusual. There are cobras protecting the temple
door.
2. Hypostyle hall - It is cut from the rock, and supported by six
pillars bearing the head of the goddess Hathor. The eastern
wall bears images of Ramses II in battle. Other wall scenes
show Ramese II and Nefertari offering sacrifices to the
gods.
3. Three doors lead from the hall into a vestibule, with images
of Hathor ccow framed in reeds
4. The sanctuary has the divine cow Harthor emerging from
the rear rock wall protecting Ramses II,

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