Ancient Egypt
Elements of its Cultural History

  by Sjef Willockx

 
 


Temples, Tombs, and Building Techniques
 

The mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II, at Deir el Bahri
This magnificent
building once inspired Queen Hatshepsut in constructing her own glorious mortuary monument, now right next to it. Includes a detailed comparison of "model" (Mentuhotep II) and "copy" (Hatshepsut), and a walk-around (and above) of 19 pictures.

A visit to the Amun Temple of Karnak
The intricate details of highly refined reliefs, combined with the romance of palm trees under a blue sky, make a visit to this temple
un unforgettable experience - even for those who lack any knowledge of the history of ancient Egypt. Although the text of this work is basically of an introductory nature, it does give some interesting details on every page, bringing the subject to life. The translation of several of the texts on the ancient walls provides touching details. But the 90 high-quality pictures are the main dish (In PDF format, 53 pages).

Three Tombs, attributed to Amenhotep I: K93.11, AN B and KV39 (NEW)
Amenhotep I was the second king of the 18th dynasty, and the first to inherit his kingdom intact, after the struggles of the Second Intermediate Period. With Amenhotep, the New Kingdom really gets underway. But although there has been much speculation about where his tomb might be, it has not yet been identified to everyone's satisfaction. This study examines the claims of three tombs that have been proposed as candidates. All important studies of these tombs are discussed, in chronological order, starting with those of the original excavators. Works cited are from (among others): Howard Carter, Arthur Weigall, Elizabeth Thomas, John Romer, C.C. Van Siclen, John Rose, Nicholas Reeves, Richard H. Wilkinson, Ian Buckley, the Theban Mapping Project and Daniel Polz.
Two of these tombs will be found not to stand a chance, while the third... Well, see for yourself!
(In PDF format: 83 pages, illustrated with drawings and photographs, 9 plans and 4 maps. Rather large file: 2.2 MB. A smaller file, 1.3 MB, is available on request. It is more compressed, but with loss of quality in the photographs as a result.)

Building in stone in Ancient Egypt, part 1: Columns & pillars
Columns and pillars determine to a large extent the flavor of ancient Egyptian architecture. Sometimes slender and elegant, sometimes massive and imposing, they immediately attract our attention. But what exactly is the difference between a column and a pillar? How does one recognize which ones represent lotuses, and which ones papyrus? And what is the significance of these forms?... This article in PDF format has 31 pages, and 34 pictures.
(In the section of An introduction to Ancient Egypt, there is also a Visual Story in HTML ("normal" web pages) about the same subject. The Visual Story focuses more on the photographs, with less text.)

Building in stone in Ancient Egypt, part 2: Bark stations
These small, chapel-like buildings are a regular feature of many Egyptian temples. Because of their often outstanding degree of preservation, they provide us with excellent material for study.
Bark stations were a specialized element of procession ways. The other elements of the procession way will
also be discussed. And we will take a closer look at the phenomenon that prompted the building of the bark stations in the first place: the religious procession. This article in PDF format has 17 pages, and 22 pictures.
(In the section of An introduction to Ancient Egypt, there is also a Visual Story in HTML ("normal" web pages) about the same subject. The Visual Story focuses more on the photographs, with less text.)

The pyramid complex of king Userkaf
The pyramid complex of this 5th dynasty king
at Saqqara is rarely visited today. It does however have several unique features. Tracing the meaning of these "anomalies" will help a lot in achieving an overall understanding of Old Kingdom funerary architecture in general. This article in PDF-format includes 14 photographs - which is 12 or 13 more than any general work will have. (24 pages).

Some remarks on King Tut's burial
"Tutankhamun was just an ephemeral king, as we can clearly see from the size of his tomb."
"This being the burial of just an ephemeral king, you can imagine what fabulous riches truly great kings had in their tombs!..."
Really...?
(9 pages, in PDF).

A map of the Theban Necropolis   (NEW)
There is no shortage of plans of western Thebes, but few cover the area from the West Valley until the Amun temple of Karnak. This map shows the most important areas in the necropolis, such as the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the area with the Tombs of the Nobles, and the location of the string of royal mortuary temples along the edge of the cultivation. Other places indicated are El-Tarif (11th dynasty tombs), Dra Abu en-Naga (17th dynasty royal tombs, New Kingdom tombs of middle class officials), Deir el-Medineh (the village of the workers who built the tombs and temples), and the "Village de repos" or way station (a small group of houses, probably serving as a convenient resting place for those actually working in the Valley of the Kings). The green areas indicate the floodplain, while the yellow-orange depict the desert.(1 page, in PDF).

The Amun temple of Karnak: Plans of the main axis
Today, the great Amun temple of Karnak (former Thebes) is by far the most important and instructive surviving temple of ancient Egypt. Most books about ancient Egyptian religion will have a plan of it, but these are mostly copies-from-copies, and way too small. These plans have been freshly drawn using vector techniques, which allow limitless scaling. The plans in the PDF-files are in various scales, up to 1:265. There is also a composite plan in 6 sheets that can be stitched together to form one large plan. With a 13 page introduction.

The Temple of Luxor: Plans 
If Karnak was Amun's castle, Luxor was his "house in the country". Remarkably well preserved, it presents us with an array of styles: the slender lines of Hatshepsut's bark station, the elegant grace of Amenhotep III's large court, and the massive glory of Ramesses II's colossal statues. The plans in this section are again in PDF-format, in scales up to 1:340. With two composite plans: one of 3 pages, and 1 of 6.

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All materials on this site are protected by copyright. All copyrights by Sjef Willockx, unless otherwise indicated. Unauthorized use will be prosecuted with all available means. (See also the section on copyright policy).