بحث يصف تطور عمارة المقابر الملكية في مصر القديمة من بداية استخدام المصاطب و حتي مقابر وادي الملوك Research describes the evolution of tombs from Mastaba to Pyramids in ancient Egypt

1. The Evolution Of Architecture Of Royal Tombs In
Ancient Egypt
Presented to: Dr/ Yasmeen Sabry Hegazi
Presented from: Maha Mokhtar Elawady

2. 1
List of contents
1. Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------2
2. Ancient Egyptian Architecture --------------------------------------------------2-3
3. Tombs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-4
4. Tombs in Old Kingdome --------------------------------------------------------4-7
4-1 Pyramids at Giza -------------------------------------------------------------5-6
4-2 Valley Temple of Khafre ----------------------------------------------------6
4-3 Why pyramidal shape ------------------------------------------------------6
4-4 False doors ---------------------------------------------------------------------6-7
5. Tombs in Middle Kingdome -----------------------------------------------------8-9
6. Tombs in New Kingdome -------------------------------------------------------10-11
7. Conclusion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------12
8. Comparison between Tombs through periods ----------------------------------13
9. List of reference --------------------------------------------------------------------14
10. Sketches -------------------------------------------------------------------------15-16

3. 2
Abstract- Ancient Egyptians gave due
care to Architecture in their life because
they believed in the afterlife and that they
will reborn after death so they cared about
temples and tombs more than their houses
that’s why in this research we will discuss
ancient Egyptians’ royal tombs and its
development through ancient, middle and
new kingdoms in ancient Egypt.
Keywords: tombs, ancient Egypt,
middle kingdom, new kingdom,
pyramids.
I. Introduction
Egyptians believed in resurrection so,
they were interested in architecture and
the art of mummification which was
necessary to preserve the body of the
deceased and to place the mummy in a
tomb until it would resurrect in the next
world. Sometimes the tomb was called
the "MANSION OF THE KA" or the
"eternal house," the tomb was also home
to the Ka, or double of the deceased. It
was believed that as long as the mummy
remained in the tomb the ka would
remain there too, although it was free to
move in and out of the tomb.
II. Ancient Egyptian
Architecture
the architectural monuments produced
mainly during the dynastic periods of the
first three millennia BCE in the Nile
valley regions of Egypt and Nubia. The
architecture, similar to representational
art, aimed to preserve forms and
conventions that were held to reflect the
perfection of the world at the primordial
moment of creation and to embody the
correct relationship between humankind,
the king, and the pantheon of the gods.
For this reason, both Egyptian art and
architecture appear outwardly resistant to
development and the exercise of
individual artistic judgment, but Egyptian
artisans of every historical period found
different solutions for the conceptual
challenges posed to them.
The two principal building materials
used in ancient Egypt were unbaked mud
brick and stone. From the Old Kingdom
onward stone was generally used for
tombs—the eternal dwellings of the
dead—and for temples—the eternal
houses of the gods. Mud brick remained
the domestic material, used even for royal
palaces; it was also used for fortresses,
the great walls of temple precincts and
towns, and for subsidiary buildings in
temple complexes.
The Evolution of Architecture Of royal Tombs in Ancient Egypt
Presented from: Maha Mokhtar Elawady
Presented by: Yasmin Sabry Hegazi
Zigzag University
Department Of Architecture
HSITORY OF ART AND ARCHIETCTUE

4. 3
Most ancient Egyptian towns have been
lost because they were situated in the
cultivated and flooded area of the Nile
Valley; many temples and tombs have
survived because they were built on
ground unaffected by the Nile flood. Any
survey of Egyptian architecture will in
consequence be weighted in favor of
funerary and religious buildings. Yet the
dry, hot climate of Egypt has allowed
some mud brick structures to survive
where they have escaped the destructive
effects of water or man.
III. Tombs1
Many years could be spent on building
and preparing tombs, which were known
to the ancient Egyptians as ‘houses of
eternity’. tombs which the ancient
Egyptians built, decorated and equipped
for themselves are one of the largest,
richest and most informative classes of
archaeological material anywhere in the
world and from any period of human
history (figure1). All tombs had two
essential architectural components that
reflected their religious function – a
burial chamber and a nearby mortuary
chapel. The burial chamber was below
ground and housed and protected the
body and spirit. The mortuary chapel was
above ground and was accessible to
visitors who would perform rites and
make offerings of food and drink for the
dead person. False doors were also placed
in these chapels to establish a connection
between the worlds of the living and the
dead. The design on the door allowed the
spirit of the person to move freely
between the chapel and the tomb to
receive offerings.
1
- Strudwick, H. (2021). The Encyclopedia of
Ancient Egypt by Strudwick, Helen (2006)
Paperback. Amber Books, London.
Egyptian burial chambers were like secret
galleries that were never meant to be
viewed. They were packed with an
astounding array of artwork which spoke
only to an elite group of visitors – the
gods. As the point of contact between the
mortal and the immortal, art had the
power to transport a person, to free them
from the silent immobility of death.
The King with Anubis, Tomb of Horemhab,
tempera on paper by Lancelot Crane, c. 1910–
11, copied from a wall in Horemheb's tomb; in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
City.
Most ancient Egyptian towns have been
lost because they were situated in the
cultivated and flooded area of the Nile
Valley; many temples and tombs have
survived because they were built on
ground unaffected by the Nile flood. Any
survey of Egyptian architecture will in
Figure 1

5. 4
consequence be weighted in favor of
funerary and religious buildings
1.Tombs in Old Kingdom2
Tombs were most outstanding
architectural element of this period.
It evolved from the Mastaba, through the
stepped pyramid to the renown ancient
Egyptian pyramid
The earliest method of burial in ancient3
Egypt was in shallow pits in the desert
The desert (figure 2) dried the bodies and
preserved them When animals preyed on
bodies, the people dug deeper. In the end,
they built a bench-like structure over
graves to create first burial structure
called Mastaba.
The Mastaba was rectangular Flat (figure
3) or curved roofed structures with
Sloping sides
It consists of three parts:
1. The outer chamber (A chapel)
2. 2. The Serdab.
3. A burial chamber containing
the sarcophagus
The Serdab and Chapel are located above
ground. The serdab is a room where the
2
-Jarzombek, M. M., Prakash, V., & Ching, F. D. K.
(2010). A Global History of Architecture (2nd ed.).
Wiley.
statue of the dead person is kept and the
statue acts as a substitute for body in case
it is destroyed.
A group of stone mastabas at Giza (ca. 2430
BCE)
In the 3rd
dynasty a powerful king
appeared he ordered his engineer,
Imhotep to build a great tomb for him
which was The Step Pyramid of Djoser
(figure 4)
it was built within a vast enclosure on a
commanding site at Saqqara, overlooking
the city of Memphis.
There the Egyptian stonemasons made
their earliest architectural innovations,
3
Remler, P. (2010). Egyptian Mythology A to Z
(3rd ed.). Chelsea House Publications.
Figure 4
Figure 2
figure 3

6. 5
using stone to reproduce the forms of
early wood and brick buildings. Fine
reliefs of the king and elaborate wall
panels in glazed tiles in parts of the
subterranean complexes are among the
innovations found in this remarkable
monument.
With Snefru (2613–2589 BCE) it took
him many tries but finally, He constructed
a third pyramid two miles north of the
Bent Pyramid which wasn’t what he
wants. it is called the Red Pyramid. This
is where Snefru is actually buried. It is the
first true pyramid. The harmonious
proportions of the form and the perfection
of the system of tomb chambers made it
the model for subsequent tombs.
1.2 Pyramids at Giza
Though the pyramids today are seen as
The finest examples of the true pyramid lie at
Giza, belonging (left to right) to Kings
Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu (ca. 2550–2475
BCE)
freestanding, they were actually
surrounded by a wall that defined the
sacred precinct. On the eastern side stood
an altar on the base of the pyramid, and
on the western side, a mortuary temple.
At the ceremonial center of the temple
complex was the Ka statue that embodied
the still-living spirit of the king. The
statue had to be tended to and provided
with food and drink. Though a Ka statue
might have been placed near the altar,
others were placed in the mortuary
temple. If anything were to happen to the
Ka statue, the spirit of the deceased
would never gain entrance to the
heavenly realm.
For the Old Kingdom the most
characteristic form of tomb building was
the true pyramid, the finest example of
which is the Great Pyramid of King
Khufu (figure 6) of the 4th dynasty.
Francis D.K. Ching, Mark M. Jarzombek,
Vikramaditya Praka (1995)
The form itself reached its maturity in the
reign of Snefru, father of Khufu.
Subsequently only the pyramid of Khafre,
Khufu’s successor, approached the size
and perfection of the Great Pyramid. The
Figure 5
Figure 6

7. 6
simple measurements of the Great
Pyramid indicate very adequately its
scale, monumentality, and precision other
features in its construction contribute
substantially to its remarkable character:
the lofty, corbeled Grand Gallery and the
granite-built King’s Chamber with five
relieving compartments (empty rooms for
reducing pressure) above.
The pyramid formed the focal point of a
group of buildings that constituted the
funerary complex of a king. Two temples
linked by a causeway were essential
components. The valley temple, built on
the edge of the desert escarpment, was the
place of reception for the royal body.
1.3 Valley Temple of Khafre
The only preserved and most striking
valley temple at Giza is the one
associated with the Pyramid of Khafre,
the second pyramid complex to get built
after that of Khufu. The plain square piers
support red granite lintels that, in their
stark simplicity, show the supreme
confidence of the architect.
After Khafre came King Mankaura with
his death the era of the construction of the
huge pyramids ends, and the kings tend to
pay attention to the construction of
funeral buildings.
4
- Dhillon, N. C. (2015). The History of Western
Architecture- Chapter one: History of Ancient
Egypt
1.4 Why the Pyramidal form?4
We notice that most kings in the old
kingdom built their tombs as pyramids
that’s why they believed it was symbols
of the sun and its rays reaching down to
earth. When the pharaoh dies, he was said
to ascend the sun’s rays to join his father,
the sun-God. Thus, the pyramid would
also seem to have been the symbolic
staircase up with its component which the
pharaoh would climb to reach the heaven
1.5 False Doors 5
“False doors”, also known as “Ka doors”,
as they allowed the Ka (an element of the
“soul”) to pass through them, were
common in the mortuary temples and
tombs of ancient Egypt from around the
Third Dynasty and temples of the New
Kingdom. The false door was thought to
be a threshold between the world of
mortals and the world of deities and
spirits. The deity or the deceased could
interact with the world of the living either
by passing through the door or receiving
offerings though it. As a result, it was not
uncommon to find false doors depicted on
the sides of coffins as well as on the
cabinets of “shawabti” (magical servants).
5
- Brovarski, E. (2004). False doors & history: the
Sixth Dynasty.
Figure 7
Figure 8

8. 7
During the New Kingdom false doors in
temples were often associated with a
The false door of Ptahhotep at Saqqara (ca.
2350 BCE) lies within a highly decorated
chapel
chapel known as “the hearing ear” which
was generally located in the outer wall
near the back of the temple close to the
sanctuary. These chapels allowed those
outside the temple to communicate
directly with the god who could hear
them through the false door. However,
the majority of false doors are to be found
in tombs and mortuary temples to allow
the deceased to access the living world
and receive offerings. In fact, the false
door can be seen as the combination of an
offering niche and a stele with the
offering formula inscribed on it.
The false door was placed on the west
wall of the offering chamber (as the west
was associated with death and the
afterlife) at the back of the tomb or
mortuary temple. It was not unusual for a
tomb to contain two false doors. One for
the owner of the tomb and the other for
his wife. There are also a few examples
within mastabas where each member of
an extended family was given their own
false door. Along with the name and titles
of the deceased, and the offering formula,
the decoration on the false door often
included a curse to those who would harm
the deceased and a blessing to those who
made offerings.
For example, the false door in the tomb of
Redi-ness at Giza (G 5032) has the
following text inscribed on it; “Never did
(I) do any evil thing against people. (As
for) those who will do something against
this, it shall be protected from them.”
Figure 9
False door of Idu, Giza, Egypt Archive
figure 8

9. 8
2.The Middle Kingdom6
At the close of the Old Kingdom, the
authority of Egypt’s rulers had eroded,
bringing about severe civil unrest. One of
the consequences was a decline in both
art and architecture.
The pyramids built for most of the kings
of the Middle Kingdom were
comparatively smaller in size and not as
well constructed. The tomb of King
Mentuhotep II of the 11th dynasty is,
however, of exceptional interest. Its
essential components were a rectangular
structure, terraced porticos, a series of
pillared ambulatories, an open court, and
a hypostyle hall tucked into the cliffs.
The kings of Thebes were buried in the
early Middle Kingdom in various places.
The tomb of King Amenhotep II in the
Bahari next to his funerary temple. As for
the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, they
built their tombs in Al-Lasht, Hawara,
Dahshur and Lahun. Mentuhotep chose
the bosom of one of the western
mountains of Thebes to build himself a
tomb of a completely new style. Only its
ruins remain from this tomb. However, it
is considered an important stage in the
development of the royal cemetery.
The elite of that era worked in this
cemetery of artists (architects, sculptors,
and photographers) as from an
architectural point of view, we cannot
separate the cemetery from the temple, as
the architect’s genius was manifested in
finding a state of homogeneity and
integration in their formation. With good
limestone for easy carving and drawing
Thus, we can say that this cemetery
combined the style of rock tombs, and the
6
‫في‬ ‫الملكية‬ ‫المقبرة‬ ‫شكل‬ ‫تطور‬ ‫مراحل‬ .)2018( .‫جارحي‬ -
‫األول‬ ‫تحتمس‬ ‫الملك‬ ‫عصر‬ ‫إلى‬ ‫القديمة‬ ‫الدولة‬ ‫من‬ ‫القديمة‬ ‫مصر‬
‫الحديثة‬ ‫بالدولة‬
pyramidal style that has existed since the
ancient state. In the same style as the rock
cemetery attached to the funerary temple
of Mentuhotep, the rulers Nd the nobles
of the Middle Kingdom - who were
strong at that time - tended to carve the
tombs in the slopes of the rocks near their
provinces.
Eric Horning considers this stage to be
the third stage of the development of the
royal cemetery (about 1500 - 1100 BC),
After that, the kings of the Middle
Kingdom also tended to build small
pyramids, and the Middle Kingdom
followed in building the pyramids the
way of the late Old Kingdom,
who replaced the mud stones covered
with a layer of limestone for the purpose
of costing.
Among the most famous of these
Figure 10
Plan and section of the tomb of king
Mentuhotep

10. 9
pyramids in the Twelfth Dynasty are the
Pyramids of Lisht, in which King
Amenemhat I established his hierarchical
group which has been greatly damaged,
and his son Senusret I (figure 11), who
took power after him, established his
hierarchical group to the south of the
pyramid His father and his group
consisted of the valley temple, the
ascending road, and a funerary temple in
addition to his
pyramid, and in the twelfth dynasty also,
King Senusret II built his pyramid in
Lahun. Two funerary complexes were
built, one in Dahshur and the other in
Abydos, the first was built on a pyramidal
shape and used bricks in its construction
and then the spaces were filled with sand,
and built the Hawara pyramid which
contains many corridors and rooms,
ending with the burial chamber. A single
piece of quartzite stone, and sometimes
the pyramidal tomb was surrounded by a
fence to give something of privacy and
respect to the tomb even when there was
no funeral temple.
It is noticeable that after Amenemhat I
restored the royal residence to the north,
the artists at that time deliberately
adhered to the artistic traditions of the
Sixth Dynasty as it looks in the group of
the pyramid of Pipi II (figure 12), the
most important thing to note here is the
absence of inscriptions in the inner
rooms, the texts of the pyramids have
been abandoned so that they can be used
by the general public.
The pyramid and tomb of Senusret I at
Hawara in Egypt
Figure 12-This shows the layout of the whole
complex of Pipi II (ca. 2290–2180 BCE); the
small pyramids belonged to his wives
Figure 11

11. 10
3.The New Kingdom
The monumentality of the pyramid made
it not only a potent symbol of royal power
but also an obvious target for tomb
robbers. During the New Kingdom the
wish to halt the robbing and desecration
of royal tombs led to their being sited
together in a remote valley at Thebes,
dominated by a peak that itself resembled
a pyramid. There, in the Valley of the
Kings, tombs were carved deep into the
limestone with no outward structure.
The earliest tombs were entirely hidden
from view; those of the Ramesside period
(19th and 20th dynasties) are marked only
by a doorway carved in the rock face.
They had no identical plan, but most
consisted of a series of corridors opening
out at intervals to form rooms and ending
in a large burial chamber deep in the
mountain.
Thutmose, I took a bold step by erecting
his tomb in the deepest recesses in the
Valley of the Kings behind a series of
mountainous hills, and this was done in
complete secrecy. We understand this
from the text engraved on the panel of the
engineer (Anini) which is preserved in his
tomb in
the area of Sheikh Abdul Qurna on the
western bank of Thebes. The text says
“I have supervised the excavation of the
rocky tomb of His Majesty on my own, no
one saw and no one heard.”
The tomb of Thutmose I (figure 13)
begins with a small entrance that leads to
a staircase that goes down to a corridor
that leads to an approximately square
room, and from the middle of it descends
a ladder to the burial room, and the
ceiling of this room is supported by one
column, and there is a small side room to
the south of the burial room. Burial
Chamber A sarcophagus made of
quartzite (a crystallized sandstone). After
the abandonment of the valley at the end
of the 20th dynasty, kings of the
subsequent two dynasties were buried in
very simple tombs within the temple
enclosure of the delta city of Tanis. No
later royal tombs have ever been
identified in Egypt proper. As we notice,
Architecture at the start of the New
Kingdom reflected the new vitality of a
unified land. Its focus shifted from the
tomb to the temple, especially those
honoring the god AMUN and those
designed as mortuary shrines.
Figure 13
Tomb of thutmose I, valley of kings and queens

12. 11
Thebes7
had been used as a burial site
since around 2000 BCE, but with its new
prestige as imperial capital, it became
also the royal site. The main components
of this political/ religious landscape were
the temple complex of Karnak, the
Temple of Luxor, and, on the western
side of the Nile, the Mortuary Temple of
Queen Hatshepsut (figure 14) and the
Temple at Madinat Habu.
Figure 14
Mortuary-temple-Hatshepsut-Valley-of-the-
kings
7
-Jarzombek, M. M., Prakash, V., & Ching, F. D. K.
(2010). A Global History of Architecture (2nd ed.).
Wiley.
Figure 15
Figure 15
The places of tombs in valley of kings (kv: king valley), numbers
are according to the order of discovering

13. 12
Conclusions
In conclusion, we noticed the great
evolution tombs had in every period
because of the ancient Egyptian and
kings’ religious beliefs.
And we noticed that it evolved from a
simple shape (MASTABA) to many
MASTBAS above each other called step
pyramids
Until the pyramids reached it know shape
at the end of the old kingdom
But in middle kingdom due to the
hardships, they didn’t care about
architecture a lot pyramids were small
and not comparable to old kingdom.
At the end of the middle kingdom, they
went to the valley to build their tombs
away from robbers.
Most of the kings of the new kingdom
followed the last kings of the middle and
built their kings and temples in the valley
to achieve security and privacy to the
dead.
In the end, we would like to refer to the
marvelous our grandparents, the ancient
Egyptians, were in every aspect and how
they build tombs and temples that make
the world surprise until our day after
many years, so for every Egyptian, you
should be proud of your country’s history.

14. 13
Era THE OLD KINGDOM THE MIDDLE KINGDOM THE NEW KINGDOM
Period 2686 BC:2181 BC 2055 BC:1650 BC 1550 BC:1069 BC
Famous
rulers
Zoser
Khufu
Mentuhotep IV
Amenemhat III
Hatshepsut
Thutmose III
Tomb
characterizes
They depended on the
MASTABAS at first
-It evolved to step pyramid
-at the end, it reached the
most evolution which is the
pyramids with its known
figures
They continued to build their
tombs in the shape of pyramids
but smaller and better material
-at the end, because of robbers
they moved their tombs
faraway in the valley
Tombs were built in the
valley in the mountains to
secure it from robbers
Its famous
Tomb
figures

15. 14
List of References
- Brovarski, E. (2004). False doors & history: the Sixth Dynasty. In THE OLD KINGDOM ART
AND ARCHAEOLOGY (pp. 71–118). Czech Institute of Egyptology.
- Dhillon, N. C. (2015). The History of Western Architecture- Chapter one: History of Ancient
Egypt (Britannica Guide to the Visual and Performing A. "
- James, T. Garnet Henry and Dorman,. Peter F. (2020, October 30). Egyptian art and
architecture. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/Egyptian-art
-Jarzombek, M. M., Prakash, V., & Ching, F. D. K. (2010). A Global History of
Architecture (2nd ed.). Wiley.
-Remler, P. (2010). Egyptian Mythology A to Z (3rd ed.). Chelsea House Publications.
- Strudwick, H. (2021). The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt by Strudwick, Helen (2006)
Paperback. Amber Books, London.
- Snape, S. (2011). Ancient Egyptian Tombs: The Culture of Life and Death (Blackwell
Ancient Religions Book 14) (1st ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
- The Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser. (2019). Discover Egypt’s Monuments - Ministry of
Tourism and Antiquities. https://egymonuments.gov.eg/en/monuments/step-pyramid-of-
djoser
‫بالدولة‬ ‫األول‬ ‫تحتمس‬ ‫الملك‬ ‫عصر‬ ‫إلى‬ ‫القديمة‬ ‫الدولة‬ ‫من‬ ‫القديمة‬ ‫مصر‬ ‫في‬ ‫الملكية‬ ‫المقبرة‬ ‫شكل‬ ‫تطور‬ ‫مراحل‬ .)2018( .‫جارحي‬ -
‫الحديثة‬ = The Development Stages of Royal Tomb Structure in Ancient Egypt from the Old Kingdom
to the Era of Tuthmosis I in the New Kingdom. ،‫اإلنسانية‬ ‫والعلوم‬ ‫والفنون‬ ‫العمارة‬ ‫مجلة‬ N.A. (10 P 1) , 532–
555. https://doi.org/10.12816/0044814

16. 15
Sketches Of the Evolution Of The Royal Tombs

17. 16