Egyptian Civilization INTRODUCTION
Egyptian Civilization INTRODUCTION
Egyptian Civilization INTRODUCTION
CLIMATE:
-2 Seasons spring & summer.
-No winter season.
-Light from door and roof slits.
-Massive unknown walls-sacred carving.
HISTORICAL CONDITIONS:
EGYPTIAN KINGDOMS
Around the year 3100 BC, King Menes united both kingdoms, called Lower and Upper
Egypt, and this way he became the first Egyptian pharaoh.
During this period, the pharaohs Khufu, Khafra and Menkaura ordered the
construction of great pyramids.
Class society
Lower: Peasants and Farmers
Upper: Pharaoh, the Royal Family, Priests, Scribes,
and Government Officials
At end of dynasty the pharaohs became weaker and
the nobles grew stronger
Revolutions began probably because of lack of food.
Menes
HATSHEPSUT
THUTMOSE I
Stepson of Hatshepsut
Continued trend of mother
During this period, the pharaohs Thutmose I and Rameses I were important because they
conquered Palestine and Syria, extending their territories through the East.
In the last years of its history, the Persians and the Greek dominated Egypt. Finally they
were conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC.
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE
&
PALACES
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
TOMBS
ROYAL PYRAMIDS
MASTABAS
TEMPLES
Roofs, invariably flat, suited to the lack of rain, were of huge stone blocks
supported by the external walls and the closely spaced columns.
Egyptian sculptors possessed the highest capacity for integrating
ornamentation and the essential forms of their buildings.
From natural objects, such as palm leaves, the papyrus plant, and the buds
and flowers of the lotus, they developed conventionalized motifs.
All dwelling houses, built of timber or of sun-baked bricks, have disappeared;
only temples and tombs, constructed in durable materials, have survived.