Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt | Page 9

upon a road bordered with trees, which runs
beside a canal, or perhaps an arm of the Nile. Low stone walls divide
the garden into symmetrical compartments, like those which are seen to
this day in the great gardens of Ekhmîm or Girgeh.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Plan of a Theban house with garden, from
Eighteenth Dynasty tomb-painting.]
In the centre is a large trellis supported on four rows of slender pillars.
Four small ponds, two to the right and two to the left, are stocked with
ducks and geese. Two nurseries, two summer-houses, and various
avenues of sycamores, date-palms, and dôm-palms fill up the
intermediate space; while at the end, facing the entrance, stands a small
three-storied house surmounted by a painted cornice.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Perspective view of the Theban house, from
Eighteenth Dynasty tomb-painting.]
[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Part of the palace of Aï, from tomb-painting,
Eighteenth Dynasty, El Amarna.]
The second plan is copied from one of the rock-cut tombs of Tell el
Amarna (figs. 16, 17). Here we see a house situate at the end of the
gardens of the great lord Aï, son-in-law of the Pharaoh Khûenaten, and
himself afterwards king of Egypt. An oblong stone tank with sloping
sides, and two descending flights of steps, faces the entrance. The
building is rectangular, the width being somewhat greater than the
depth. A large doorway opens in the middle of the front, and gives
access to a court planted with trees and flanked by store-houses fully
stocked with provisions. Two small courts, placed symmetrically in the
two farthest corners, contain the staircases which lead up to the roof
terrace. This first building, however, is but the frame which surrounds

the owner's dwelling. The two frontages are each adorned with a
pillared portico and a pylon. Passing the outer door, we enter a sort of
long central passage, divided by two walls pierced with doorways, so
as to form three successive courts. The inside court is bordered by
chambers; the two others open to right and left upon two smaller courts,
whence flights of steps lead up to the terraced roof. This central
building is called the _Akhonûti_, or private dwelling of kings or
nobles, to which only the family and intimate friends had access. The
number of storeys and the arrangement of the façade varied according
to the taste of the owner. The frontage was generally a straight wall.
Sometimes it was divided into three parts, with the middle division
projecting, in which case the two wings were ornamented with a
colonnade to each storey (fig. 18), or surmounted by an open gallery
(fig. 19). The central pavilion sometimes presents the appearance of a
tower, which dominates the rest of the building (fig. 20). The façade is
often decorated with slender colonnettes of painted wood, which bear
no weight, and merely serve to lighten the somewhat severe aspect of
the exterior. Of the internal arrangements, we know but little. As in the
middle-class houses, the sleeping rooms were probably small and dark;
but, on the other hand, the reception rooms must have been nearly as
large as those still in use in the Arab houses of modern Egypt.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Perspective view of the Palace of AT, Eighteenth
Dynasty, El Amarna.]
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Frontage of house, second Theban period.]
[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Frontage of house, second Theban period.]
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Central pavilion of house, in form of tower,
second Theban period.]
The decoration of walls and ceilings in no wise resembled such scenes
or designs as we find in the tombs. The panels were whitewashed or
colour- washed, and bordered with a polychrome band. The ceilings
were usually left white; sometimes, however they were decorated with
geometrical patterns, which repeated the leading motives employed in
the sepulchral wall- paintings. Thus we find examples of meanders
interspersed with rosettes (fig. 21), parti-coloured squares (fig. 22),
ox-heads seen frontwise, scrolls, and flights of geese (fig. 23).
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Ceiling pattern from behind, Medinet Habû,
Twentieth Dynasty.]

[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Ceiling pattern similar to one at El Bersheh,
Twelfth Dynasty.]
I have touched chiefly upon houses of the second Theban period,[2]
this being in fact the time of which we have most examples. The
house-shaped lamps which are found in such large numbers in the
Fayûm date only from Roman times; but the Egyptians of that period
continued to build according to the rules which were in force under the
Pharaohs of the Twelfth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth
Dynasties. As regards the domestic architecture of the ancient kingdom,
the evidences are few and obscure. Nevertheless, the stelae, tombs, and
coffins of that period often furnish designs which show us the style of
the doorways (fig. 24), and one Fourth Dynasty sarcophagus, that of
Khûfû Poskhû, is carved in the likeness of a house (fig. 25).
[1] Many