Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt | Page 7

the pyramid temple, and in
front of it the porter's lodge. Reproduced from Plate XIV. of _Illahûn,
Kahun, and Gurob_, W.M.F. Petrie.]
But where I have excavated, especially at Thebes, I have never found
anything answering to this conception. The intersecting walls which
one finds beneath the later houses are nothing but the ruins of older
dwellings, which in turn rest on others still older. The slightness of the
foundations did not prevent the builders from boldly running up quite
lofty structures. In the ruins of Memphis, I have observed walls still
standing from thirty to forty feet in height. The builders took no
precaution beyond enlarging the base of the wall, and vaulting the
floors (fig. 2).[1] The thickness of an ordinary wall was about sixteen
inches for a low house; but for one of several storeys, it was increased
to three or four feet. Large beams, embedded here and there in the
brickwork or masonry, bound the whole together, and strengthened the
structure. The ground floor was also frequently built with dressed
stones, while the upper parts were of brick. The limestone of the
neighbouring hills was the stone commonly used for such purposes.
The fragments of sandstone, granite, and alabaster, which are often
found mixed in with it, are generally from some ruined temple; the
ancient Egyptians having pulled their neglected monuments to pieces
quite as unscrupulously as do their modern successors. The houses of
an ancient Egyptian town were clustered round its temple, and the
temple stood in a rectangular enclosure to which access was obtained
through monumental gateways in the surrounding brick wall. The gods
dwelt in fortified mansions, or at any rate in redoubts to which the

people of the place might fly for safety in the event of any sudden
attack upon their town. Such towns as were built all at once by prince
or king were fairly regular in plan, having wide paved streets at right
angles to each other, and the buildings in line. The older cities, whose
growth had been determined by the chances and changes of centuries,
were characterised by no such regularity. Their houses stood in a maze
of blind alleys, and narrow, dark, and straggling streets, with here and
there the branch of a canal, almost dried up during the greater part of
the year, and a muddy pond where the cattle drank and women came
for water. Somewhere in each town was an open space shaded by
sycamores or acacias, and hither on market days came the peas-ants of
the district two or three times in the month. There were also waste
places where rubbish and refuse was thrown, to be quarrelled over by
vultures, hawks, and dogs.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Plan of house, Medinet Habû]
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Plan of house, Medinet Habû.]
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Façade of a house toward the street, second
Theban period.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Plan of central court of house, second Theban
period.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Restoration of the hall in a Twelfth Dynasty house.
In the middle of the floor is a tank surrounded by a covered colonnade.
Reproduced from Plate XVI. of _Illahûn, Kahun, and Gurob_, W.M.F.
Petrie.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Box representing a house (British Museum).]
The lower classes lived in mere huts which, though built of bricks,
were no better than those of the present fellahin. At Karnak, in the
Pharaonic town; at Kom Ombo, in the Roman town; and at Medinet
Habû, in the Coptic town, the houses in the poorer quarters have
seldom more than twelve or sixteen feet of frontage. They consist of a
ground floor, with sometimes one or two living-rooms above. The
middle-class folk, as shopkeepers, sub- officials, and foremen, were
better housed. Their houses were brick-built and rather small, yet
contained some half-dozen rooms communicating by means of
doorways, which were usually arched over, and having vaulted roofs in
some cases, and in others flat ones. Some few of the houses were two
or three storeys high, and many were separated from the street by a

narrow court, beyond which the rooms were ranged on either side of a
long passage (fig. 4). More frequently, the court was surrounded on
three sides by chambers (fig. 5); and yet oftener the house fronted close
upon the street. In the latter case the façade consisted of a high wall,
whitewashed or painted, and surmounted by a cornice. Even in better
houses the only ornamentation of their outer walls consisted in angular
grooving, the grooves being surmounted by representations of two lotus
flowers, each pair with the upper parts of the stalks in contact (see figs.
24, 25). The door was the only opening, save perhaps a few small
windows pierced at irregular intervals (fig. 6). Even in unpretentious
houses, the door was often made of stone. The doorposts projected
slightly