Mud-brick houses made from sun-baked clay. Women scrubbing clothes in the Nile. Large terra cotta water jugs leaning against walls. Children running along with their fathers in the fields.
This isn’t ancient Egypt we’re talking about; this is what you’ll see if you’re fortunate enough to travel along the Nile along some of the smaller villages of modern-day Egypt. Nevertheless, this will give you a glimpse into what the ancient Egyptian home looked like from the outside and the daily activities that took place around it.
Ancient construction
You might wonder why so many ancient monuments are left standing while we don’t have any ancient Egyptian homes still around. The answer: Mud versus stone. Stone was built to last, and the ancient monuments are, for the most part, built from stone. Homes, however, were built out of a much less expensive material—mudbrick. This basic building material consisted of chopped straw mixed with mud from the Nile. Ancient homeowners then shaped the bricks in a wooden mold and left them to dry in the sun. After time, the elements would lead to crumbling and some bricks in the walls would have to be replaced. To protect them from e heat of the beating sun, the ancient Egyptians placed narrow windows high on the walls. As in Egypt today, many of the mudbrick walls were whitewashed to deflect the sun’s heat.
Depending on how wealthy and elaborate the dwellers were, the walls inside would be painted with colorful scenes of everyday life. Beneath your feet would be an earthen floor covered with reed mats. Above you, you’d see a ceiling of sticks and palm rafters woven together.
In the towns, houses could be multi-storied to make most of limited land. The typical house, such as the ones excavated at the workman’s village at Deir el-Medina (Tell Amarna in Upper Egypt), were squarish in shape and consisted of three main rooms—a sleeping area, living area and a yard which acted as an outside kitchen with a cylindrical, baked clay oven; sometimes there was also a grinding floor for grain to make bread or beer. There were often two cellars for storage under the home. Various types of wheel-thrown pottery were used for eating and storage of food.
Farming in Ancient Egypt
In the front of the home, space was often allotted to a craftsman’s work, such as carpentry or pottery making. And sometimes the ancient Egyptian farmers lived with their pets—in this case, livestock, such as goats and cattle.
The interior walls of the living quarters often contained niches where various statues of protective gods and goddesses were kept. A woman hoping to become pregnant, bear healthy Children or be a good mother might have the statue of Bes (a rather unattractive but lovable dwarf-like protective household god), the cat goddess Bastet (protector of fertility) or Taweret (a protective deity of pregnant women. Taweret took the form of a hippopotamus with the limbs of a lion, the tail of a crocodile and a human breast.)
Many homes had stairways leading to a flat roof that contained a vent for catching cool breezes and storage bins or small grain silo. The roof was actually a great place. Often during the hot months, the ancient Egyptians cooked, ate and slept on their roofs. In fact, most of their lives—even during other times of the year—were spent outside.
The wealthy noblemen and their families, of course, lived in more extravagant homes on spacious estates in the countryside or on the outskirts of a town. Their houses had high ceilings with pillars and were lavishly decorated with brilliantly painted scenery. There were secluded gardens, courtyards with palm trees to provide shade and privacy and pools with sweet-smelling lotus blossoms. The pool might also be stocked with exotic fish from the Nile. These wealthy citizens had servants’ quarters for their help, plus granaries, stables and a small shrine for worship. How do we know what the homes of the wealthy looked like? Archaeologists have actually found scaled models of homes buried in the tombs of their owners.
Furnishings
Interestingly, the homes of the wealthy and not so wealthy were sparsely furnished. The most common piece of furniture in all ancient Egyptian homes was a low, square wooden stool. The corners flared up and on top, the Egyptians placed a leather seat or cushion. Actual chairs with backs were rare and these belonged to only the wealthy. Most homes did have small tables made of wood or wicker and had three to four legs.
Ancient Egyptian beds
Beds for the wealthy were made of a woven mat placed on a wooden framework, standing on animal-shaped legs. At one end was a headrest (that we Westerners marvel at) made of a carved neckpiece set on top of a short pillar attached to an oblong base. Sometimes the headrests were wrapped in layers of cloth to make them more comfortable. Peasants and farmers woke up on reed mats covered in coarse linen, while noblemen and their wives awakened to the feel of fine linen sheets. Clothes, jewelry, linens, cosmetics and other domestic goods were kept in cabinets, chests or baskets under the beds or on shelves on the walls.
And what about the plumbing? There was no running water. But the homes of the wealthy often included "bathrooms" which were actually recessed rooms with a square slab of limestone on the corner. The master or lady of the house would stand on the slab while servants (or slaves) would douse him or her with water. The used water would then run into a large bowl in the floor below or through an earthenware channel in the wall where it emptied into a bowl outside. Then that bowl was emptied by hand. Using the toilet was based on the same principle. Some limestone seats have been discovered in which it appears that waste was emptied directly into the sand.
If you were a common person, you ate your meals on a bench with reed mats. If you were from a wealthy family, you sat on cushions and ate from a low table. And in the evening, you would light a lamp—a simple bowl of pottery or stone containing oil and a wick. Sometimes pottery torches were placed into brackets on the wall. In wealthier homes, there were lamp stands in the form of papyrus plants. Whether they were rich or not so rich, the ancient Egyptians continue to amaze us with how much they did with their homes using only the simplest materials available to them. And if you do get the chance to go by those villages, realize that you’re witnessing a scene that hasn’t changed much in over four thousand years.
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
| IP: Logged |
The Word Adobe comes from EGYPTIAN!! WHAT(GASP) So Primitive.. dobe (Arabic: الطوبى) is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material (sticks, straw, and/or manure), which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. It is similar to cob and mudbrick. Adobe structures are extremely durable and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. In hot climates, compared to wooden buildings, adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater thermal mass, but they are known to be particularly susceptible to earthquake damage.[1]
Buildings made of sun-dried earth are common in the West Asia, North Africa, West Africa[2], South America, southwestern North America, and in Spain (usually in the Mudéjar style). Adobe had been in use by indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Southwestern United States, Mesoamerica, and the Andean region of South America for several thousand years, although often substantial amounts of stone are used in the walls of Pueblo buildings.[3] (Also, the Pueblo people built their adobe structures with handfuls or basketfuls of adobe, until the Spanish introduced them to the making of bricks.) Adobe brickmaking was used in Spain already in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, from the eighth century B.C. on.[4] Its wide use can be attributed to its simplicity of design and make, and the cheapness thereby in creating it.[5]
The word adobe (pronounced /əˈdoʊbiː/) has come to us over some 4000 years with little change in either pronunciation or meaning: the word can be traced from the Middle Egyptian (c. 2000 BC) word dj-b-t "mud [i.e., sun-dried] brick." As Middle Egyptian evolved into Late Egyptian, Demotic, and finally Coptic (c. 600 BC), dj-b-t became tobe "[mud] brick." This evolved into Arabic al-tub (الطّوب al "the" + tub "brick") "[mud] brick," which was assimilated into Old Spanish as adobe [aˈdobe], still with the meaning "mud brick." English borrowed the word from Spanish in the early 18th century.
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Egypt is poor as ****. A third world developing country just like most of Africa. Dont let the history fool you. I would even bet when it comes down to It they are much poorer than some sub Saharan countries because they produce little, get a TON of aid, and have a high population.
Posts: 2463 | From: New Jersey USA | Registered: Dec 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Exacly funny how they are "Mediteranian" yet I don't see any Greeks or Romans living in Mud Brick housing swallowed by Poverty..LMAO
Egypt is nothing but a Dirt Poor Poverty stricken country with nothing but some Dusty Temples.
Greece
Spain
Egypt
LMAO...
Also you forget Astenb that Egypt's Tourism is its bloodline, if not for the disrespect and degredation of their ancestors Egypt would look like Somalia..
LMAO...SO MUCH FOR BEING SUCH A GREAT NATION...I MEAN WHAT HAPPENED??
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
| IP: Logged |
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
I'm willing to bet that there were lots of cities spread throughout Ancient Egypt and North Africa, but there are still under the sands or under the ocean. Hence why it seems that AE was "without cities".
And the European photos are pointless and idiotic, for one these European churches were BUILT RECENTLY AND AFTER MANY AE SITES! And they were built right EXACTLY WHEN EURO'S STARTED TAKING OVER AND LOOTING AND STEALING FORMER NON-WHITE CIVILIZATIONS AND PLACES WORLDWIDE!
You cannot compare currently known AE sites, w/ potential undiscovered sites, with modern European buildings and countries. The climate back then, may have been different then TODAY, and most of these modern day European churches and building styles, are basically a bunched together amalgated styles and looks of Ancient Egyptian, Carthaginian, Nubian, Ethiopian, Persian, Assyrian/Babylonian, Bactrian, Kushanian, Sumerian, Ancient Indian, Ancient Chinese, Greco-Roman. Axumite architectures/building styles and building techniques rolled and amalgated into one:
quote: Now underwater, this ancient Egyptian trading city was once the “Hong Kong of its era”
What lies beneath the Nile River? Entire cities.
If you were an ancient Egyptian looking for a gift for a loved one, you wouldn’t go to Target. But you might have stopped in Naukratis.
Once thought to have been a small town on the Nile Delta in Egypt, an excavation by the British Museum has revealed that the ancient city of Naukratis was actually a major Greek trading hub. Indeed, Naukratis could potentially be considered the “Hong Kong of its era,” according to Dr. Ross Thomas, the museum’s curator and the project leader, as reported by the Guardian.
First located in 1884 by British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie, the site “occupied a special place in the minds of scholars and a general public alike, speaking particularly to romantic minds,” according to the British Museum. Situated on the Canopic (western) branch of the Nile, Naukratis has been excavated multiple times since its 19th century reveal.
This latest excavation discovered evidence of a 1,000-year trading network, beginning in the seventh century BC, according to the Guardian. More than 10,000 artifacts were found at the site—previously thought to have been fully harvested of its archaeological prizes—including the wood from Greek ships and relics of the “festival of drunkenness.” (The name of the city means “mistress of ships.”) The findings are significant because until now, experts believed Naukratis to be about 30 hectares (or about 0.12 square miles).
But, the British Museum’s Thomas explains, he now believes the city was at least twice that size. In addition to being a trading center, Thomas says there is also evidence of “tower houses,” apartment-like structures ranging from three to six stories tall. “We should imagine a mud-brick Manhattan, populated with tall houses and large sanctuaries, befitting a large cosmopolitan city.”
The British Museum plans to feature pieces unearthed at Naukratis in its Sunken Cities exhibition next year. Opening in May of 2016, the exhibit will include approximately 200 artifacts retrieved from the Nile, including some on loan from Egyptian museums—the first such loans since the Arab Spring revolution, according to the BBC.
The ‘Hong Kong’ of ancient Egypt has been discovered on the Nile Delta by Chuck Bednar
Once believed to be a small town on the Nile Delta, the now-sunken city of Naukratis actually was once a major Greek trading center in ancient Egypt, an expedition led by researchers from the British Museum has revealed.
Let by curator Dr. Ross Thomas, the excavation efforts resulted in the discovery of well over 10,000 ancient artifacts, including wood from Greek sailing vessels and Egyptian figurines that were crafted to honor a “festival of drunkenness,” The Guardian reported on Saturday.
According to the museum’s website, at least 17,000 objects have been discovered at Naukratis since the late 19th century and are currently on display at museums worldwide. Objects from the 7th century BC to the 7th century AD, and including Roman and Cypriot items as well as Greek and Egyptian ones, have reportedly been discovered there.
Based on the “wide variety” of artifacts recovered at the site, Dr. Thomas told The Guardian that the city was likely home to a vast network of commerce. Once believed to be a fairly small town, it now appears as though Naukratis was actually “the Hong Kong of its era,” he added.
Naukratis was actually twice as big as previously believed
While its existence was known through ancient sources, the actual location of Naukratis was first discovered in 1884 by British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie, according to Quartz. The city has been visited by expeditions many times over the years, and for a while, it seemed as though there were no more secrets to be discovered at the site.
However, the latest excavation by Dr. Thomas and his colleagues found that the city was actually twice as big as previously thought, and that only a fraction of it had been explored. Once thought to be just 30 hectares in size and completely destroyed, the British Museum-led expedition found that it is actually 60 hectares big and home to yet undiscovered artifacts.
The discovery of wood from Greek ships confirms that the vessels were able to travel well into Egypt, and did not have to stop along the Mediterranean coast to transfer their cargo onto barges as previously believed, the researchers told The Guardian. Their expedition also opened up the location of the city’s harbor and the sites of a pair of Greek temples.
According to Dr. Thomas, the newly recovered evidence also revealed that Naukratis “was populated with tall tower houses that commonly had three to six stories. These are similar in construction to those found to this day in Yemen. We should imagine a mud-brick Manhattan, populated with tall houses and large sanctuaries, befitting a large cosmopolitan city.”
Now underwater, this ancient Egyptian trading city was once the “Hong Kong of its era”
f you were an ancient Egyptian looking for a gift for a loved one, you wouldn’t go to Target. But you might have stopped in Naukratis. Once thought to have been a small town on the Nile Delta in Egypt, an excavation by the British Museum has revealed that the ancient city of Naukratis was actually a major Greek trading hub. Indeed, Naukratis could potentially be considered the “Hong Kong of its era,” according to Dr. Ross Thomas, the museum’s curator and the project leader, as reported by the Guardian.
First located in 1884 by British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie, the site “occupied a special place in the minds of scholars and a general public alike, speaking particularly to romantic minds,” according to the British Museum. Situated on the Canopic (western) branch of the Nile, Naukratis has been excavated multiple times since its 19th century reveal.
This latest excavation discovered evidence of a 1,000-year trading network, beginning in the seventh century BC, according to the Guardian. More than 10,000 artifacts were found at the site—previously thought to have been fully harvested of its archaeological prizes—including the wood from Greek ships and relics of the “festival of drunkenness.” (The name of the city means “mistress of ships.”) The findings are significant because until now, experts believed Naukratis to be about 30 hectares (or about 0.12 square miles).
But, the British Museum’s Thomas explains, he now believes the city was at least twice that size. In addition to being a trading center, Thomas says there is also evidence of “tower houses,” apartment-like structures ranging from three to six stories tall. “We should imagine a mud-brick Manhattan, populated with tall houses and large sanctuaries, befitting a large cosmopolitan city.”
The British Museum plans to feature pieces unearthed at Naukratis in its Sunken Cities exhibition next year. Opening in May of 2016, the exhibit will include approximately 200 artifacts retrieved from the Nile, including some on loan from Egyptian museums—the first such loans since the Arab Spring revolution, according to the BBC.
The point of this thread is extremely stupid, because there is a lot still that is not known, has to be uncovered from the AE area, and because the posters here are making apples to oranges comparisons between Modern Egypt and countries in Europe without taking into account the right circumstances and context.
The vast majority of Europe was in the Neolithic and probably in a stone age/backwards existence when the AE civilization existed, except for perhaps the Greco-Roman regions and areas.
And the people running the modern country of Egypt are white Arabic/Slavic/Turkic/Eurasian/European mutts and impostors, who don't have a connection to AE or the indigenous black African population of the AE areas, and who don't care about the area, and are pretty much razing and bringing the entire country to the ground.
Oh yeah and Islam has pretty much neutered, divided, and cognitively hampered the mainstream current Egyptian population, which plays a huge role, besides former inefficient and regressive Ottoman Turkic/Mamluk Turkish rule/European colonial rule remains and influences, and the heavy mulatto-ization of modern Egyptian populations; in creating the modern mess and disorganized chaotic backwards **** hole of a country today supposedly known as "The republic of Egypt".
So yes the comparisons and point of this thread is based on logically fallacious comparisons with missing contexts, and because modern Egypt is the way it is TODAY BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE AFOREMENTIONED FACTORS!
quote:Originally posted by Mindovermatter: I'm willing to bet that there were lots of cities spread throughout Ancient Egypt and North Africa, but there are still under the sands or under the ocean. Hence why it seems that AE was "without cities".
And the European photos are pointless and idiotic, for one these European churches were BUILT RECENTLY AND AFTER MANY AE SITES! And they were built right EXACTLY WHEN EURO'S STARTED TAKING OVER AND LOOTING AND STEALING FORMER NON-WHITE CIVILIZATIONS AND PLACES WORLDWIDE!
Quite true MOM:
Even at this late date, there seems to be some who "ASSUME" that the great buildings in Europe were built by Albinos......
Karlštejn Castle is a large Gothic castle founded in 1348 A.D. by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor-elect and King of Bohemia.
The Marienburg Castle in Malbork is by area the largest castle in the world. It was built in Prussia by the Teutonic Knights, in a form of an Ordensburg fortress. The Order named it Marienburg (Mary's Castle). The town which grew around it was also named Marienburg. The castle is a classic example of a medieval fortress, and on its completion in 1406 was the world's largest brick castle. After WW II, it was ceded to Poland.
Amazing who was Black, isn't it?
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
The point of Jari's thread is banco as a building material. Of course White worshipping Oedipus Complex wannabe pseudoblack fake Europeans will never get to that and so they want to bury banco with pic spam of the accompliments of white euros.
We get it and reject you as do the Euros who will not accept you because of the African ancestor that coloured one of your white ancestress' womb generations ago.
Posts: 8179 | From: the Tekrur straddling Senegal & Mauritania | Registered: Dec 2011
| IP: Logged |
posted
Anyways, back on topic. I feel the common Ancient Egyptian mud building could be apart of the WIDER Saharan culture that existed when the Sahara was wet. I believe this is why we find a "continuum" of mud building tradition around Africa.
@Tukuler your thoughts on this?
Posts: 1891 | From: NY | Registered: Sep 2014
| IP: Logged |
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
Can anyone document SudanoSaharan neolithic or chalcolithic architecture?
Also, aren't adobe building materials part of a worldwide phenomena, no?
I don't mean to sound negative but I mean its no leap of ingenuity to use whatever's at hand to build things and if rain is mostly out of the equation then sun dried mud is in -- like it was in Shinar (Mesopotamia).
But then what of southern Nigeria's spectacular mud works in a forest environment? Man, that's something else.
Posts: 8179 | From: the Tekrur straddling Senegal & Mauritania | Registered: Dec 2011
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Tukuler: The point of Jari's thread is banco as a building material. Of course White worshipping Oedipus Complex wannabe pseudoblack fake Europeans will never get to that and so they want to bury banco with pic spam of the accompliments of white euros.
We get it and reject you as do the Euros who will not accept you because of the African ancestor that coloured one of your white ancestress' womb generations ago.
My,my - what a huffy looser you have become.
Weren't you the drunk with power buffoon trying to talk "Manners"????
Now the world has passed you by, you know nothing of any interest to anybody.
quote:Originally posted by Tukuler: Can anyone document SudanoSaharan neolithic or chalcolithic architecture?
Also, aren't adobe building materials part of a worldwide phenomena, no?
I don't mean to sound negative but I mean its no leap of ingenuity to use whatever's at hand to build things and if rain is mostly out of the equation then sun dried mud is in -- like it was in Shinar (Mesopotamia).
But then what of southern Nigeria's spectacular mud works in a forest environment? Man, that's something else.
True I forgot mud building is also found in other parts of the world.
Posts: 1891 | From: NY | Registered: Sep 2014
| IP: Logged |
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
OK, but SudanoSaharan architecture is still a good topic and it's a fresh one too!
quote:Originally posted by Tukuler: Can anyone document SudanoSaharan neolithic or chalcolithic architecture?
Also, aren't adobe building materials part of a worldwide phenomena, no?
I don't mean to sound negative but I mean its no leap of ingenuity to use whatever's at hand to build things and if rain is mostly out of the equation then sun dried mud is in -- like it was in Shinar (Mesopotamia).
But then what of southern Nigeria's spectacular mud works in a forest environment? Man, that's something else.
True I forgot mud building is also found in other parts of the world.
Since I'm not really interested into a mud slinging match in this thread and I don't have much interest in it; I thought that I would mention this:
These are MODERN MUD HUTS IN AFGHANISTAN! Many "Aryan Indo-European" Afghans also live in these mud huts!
Here are some of the "lost Aryan/Indo-Europeans" that live in these sort of mud huts:
Yeah White Europe really has stolen and looted and taken a lot to get where they are today! Most of those theft victims were mostly Black/colored peoples!
And we must not forget that Northern and Eastern Africa has been affected by drastic climate change, in the past thousand years, such that perhaps mud houses became more cost-efficient and adaptable then other types of structures; that mud huts became a common site!
We can't ignore that and then make sweeping generalizations of people just like that!
Posts: 1558 | From: US | Registered: Sep 2015
| IP: Logged |
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
One on topic pic of mud architecture Three off topic pics of white faces. What a love-hate psychosis that keeps one obsessed with always looking at photos of white folk.
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic