College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Fall 1995 James Study Aid 3
I. Emergence c 3000 BCE of a united kingdom along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. Burial customs of Egyptains, including most famously the kings (pharaohs). Mummification and representations of daily life intended to serve the dead in the afterlife.
II. From mastaba tombs to a new architecture in cut stone: from Tomb complex of Zoser ( Image 1) or ( Image 2 ) (Djoser), Saqqara, c 2680 BCE. Zoser's tomb complex a monumental recreation in stone of mudbrick ceremonial spaces including palace, court of appearance, Sed-festival court, and shrines of provincial images. Pioneering engaged columns recreating reed bundles. Papyrus capitals. Two stages of development of step pyramid built above multiple burial chambers (final height 204 feet). Designed by Imhotep, first architect whose name survives.
III. Transitional stage: Pyramids at Giza c 2570-2500. brief flowering of pyramids erected at an unprecedented scale. oriented towards points of the compass. Great Pyramid of Sphinx (Chefren's head upon a lion's body) as well as more typical mortuary or valley temple connected to the pyramid itself by a causeway.
V. Pyramid construction: system of proportion based upon the human body. technology limited to stone and bronze tools. ample labor available during Nile's annual flood. leveling of site using techniques probably learned from creation of irrigation systems. good supplies of local stone (as opposed to their absence in Mesopotamia, where the development of stone architecture lagged behind Egyptian achievements). individual blocks weighed up to 200 tons apiece. dragged into position along
Casto Edward Vocal Jr.
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Department of Architecture, Slide Library
University of California, Berkeley
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This site last revised on Feburary 5, 1996
