Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture

The ancient Egyptian construction and architecture (dates back to five thousand years Before Christ), is considered as one of the most important civilizations that was influential throughout the history. The Arabic Republic of Egypt is a country that includes many interesting ancient architectural temples, pyramids, tombs, buildings and monuments that are aligned along the Egyptian Nile. The literature review will mainly focus on the most famous architectural buildings and its construction details of the Arabic Republic of Ancient Egypt. The famous architectural buildings are the famous three Pyramids of Giza, the Temples of Luxor and Karnak, and the materials used for building.

Materials:

The Egyptian country before faced a problem with building due to the lack of building materials, but the builders for sure managed to build the significant buildings with fewer materials. The materials they used were Mud, Stone, Mortar and Wood, due to the scarcity of wood, two materials were used as the principles in any buildings, they are the Sunbaked Brick and the Stones ( limestone, sandstone and granite ). The mud is a very strong element used to make the brick. When Loamy Nile mud is mixed with a straw it results in strong brick. The limestone is relatively soft and can be easily shaped, as for the granite it is relatively harder than limestone and the granite was in-fact used to cover the great pyramids of Giza. The old kingdom of Egypt used bricks and stones. The stones were used for the temples and the tombs, as for the bricks, they were used for royal palaces, the wall of the temples, fortresses and temple complexes. The mortar is a mixture of gypsum and a small amount of the limestone. As for the wood it was used for doors, shutters, pillars and beams.

Pyramids in Giza:

Egypt became famous because of the greatest architectural pyramid ever built, there are three famous pyramids located in Cairo, Giza. The tallest, oldest pyramid is Khufu and it belonged to the fourth dynasty of the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu. The second highest is Khafre, which belongs to the fourth dynasty of the Egyptian pharaoh Khafre. And the smallest is Menkaura, which belongs to the fourth dynasty of the Egyptian pharaoh Menkaura. The greatest pyramid Khufu has a height of 65.5 meters and it is the tallest structure ever made around the world for more than three thousand eight hundred years. The pyramid is covered with stone and can be shown around the base of the pyramid. The Khafra pyramid has a base of 214 meters and a height of 136.4 meters. The slope rises 53 degrees and 13’ angle. The pyramid is sat on a 10-meter base and the pyramid is made of limestone. The smallest Menkaura pyramid has a height of 65.5 meters and stands on a base of 108.5 meters. As for the slope is 51 degrees 20’ 25” and is made of granite and limestone.

The Karnak Temple:

Karnak Temple is one of the most two famous temples found in Egypt. The temple is located at the end of the town of Luxor and is aligned along the Egyptian Nile. The temple of Karnak includes three main areas that respects three different gods: the first is a local warrior and is named Montu, the second is the chief god of Thebes and named Amun, as for the third is Amun’s wife and is named Mut and their son Khonsu. During the middle kingdom, the Karnak temple began construction and was finished during the new kingdom. After one thousand years, any new king of this era must add construct something new in the temple. The temple covers five acres of the land and includes 10 pylons, lake, four courtyard and buildings. Sphinxes are found aligned in a way that leads to the entrance of the very first pylon. The sphinxes have curly-horned ram’s head and a small figure of Ramses II is found between their paws.

The Luxor Temple:

Luxor temple is the second famous temple in Egypt and it is located a mile south of Karnak temple. The Karnak temple is joined with the Luxor temple by two aligned rows of human-headed sphinxes that are made from stone. These two rows can be seen today from the main entrance of the Luxor temple. The temple began construction during 1380 Before Christ during the new kingdom. Tutankhamun and Horemheb added construction details in the temple, they added statues, columns and a shrine were installed by Akhenaten. After one hundred years, Ramses II added a courtyard and a gateway, which makes it unique since it was not added to the Karnak temple.