In 100 words or fewer, answer the following prompts:
- Compare and contrast buildings designed for burial in the Old and New Kingdoms. To what extent are they alike or different? What accounts for the similarities?
In 100 words or fewer, answer the following prompts:
In the Old Kingdom, Egyptians would bury the dead in mastabas. Mastabas were made out of mudbrick and were shaped like a giant rectangular box with a shaft leading deep underground to a room where the body would lay. For the New Kingdom, Egyptians would cut room complexes into cliff sides to bury the dead. Thus, the styles and locations changed. However, in both Kingdoms the structures would be filled with food, tools, carved figures and relief sculptures on the walls to help the deceased person in the afterlife.
Belief is the same; don’t forget the important innovation of the pyramid in the OK.
In the old kingdom, buildings were largely designed after mastabas. Mastabas were buildings mainly created for the burial of the dead. Underneath was a large tunnel, similar to that of a chimney leading up to the surface. Mastabas were the inspiration for the first pyramids, eventually leading up to the great pyramids in Giza. The purpose of these great pyramids was to be the burial monument for Pharaohs, and other important figures. In the new kingdom, important buildings constructed were also burial sites and monuments. The structures differed because they were moved geographically to upper Egypt (Thebes). These great structures were also strategically placed near mountain ranges with hidden entrances. This feature of new kingdom construction was supposed to keep tomb robbers out. Unlike new kingdom structures that were hidden, old world structures were left out in plain sight, easily accessible to tomb-raiders.
Basic beliefs in the function of the afterlife persist, so the requirement to serve bodily needs persists, although the architectural form changes.
In the Old kingdom the buildings were located near the Nile and where quite large. They were also freestanding. The issue with this was that it was very easy for a tomb raider to get in and rob the tomb/ destroy parts of the pyramid. In the new kingdom the tombs where put inside the sides of mountains. This hid the tomb a bit better preventing them from being destroyed as easily. Both worshiped the Pharaohs and the gods, however it was much harder to find the new kingdom buildings since they were further off the Nile and better hidden.
Both OK & NK: burials on west side & near the Nile.
The similarities in building design of both Old and New Kingdom encapsulated the idea that preservation of earthly possessions would translate to the afterlife, thus leading to a structure that not only concealed the individual, but their possessions and wall paintings that aided afterlife conditions. Their differences lay in the burial being moved above ground, pyramids shifted to temples with complex to incorporate a more religious presence, and use of columns to expand and open interior spaces.
well said
Old Kingdom and New Kingdom designs kept lasting, visual representations to ephemeral builds and concepts such as the fluting of columns to represent reeds (reed houses) and designs reflecting the lotus flower. They both were devoted to the afterlife and both had the early version of “architects” design them. Where it differs, Old Kingdom structures were very visible and monumental which brought about grave robbers to disrupt the tombs. New Kingdom structures learned from this and were moved to Upper Egypt at the Dier-el-Bahari where they became rock cut tombs with little suggestion of monumentality.
First sentence is confusing; make sure you’re considering general patterns represented by many monuments.
The similarities in the design of the burial chambers for the Old and New Kingdom was that they both wanted to keep thieves from penetrating the tombs. And because making the Pyramids or mastabas have deep tombs inside of them was not enough to keep intruders out the New Kingdom buried the dead in the area known as the Valley of Kings where their chamber would have been cut out of the mountain sides. another difference between the two times was in the New Kingdom, instead of putting all the possessions in the chamber with the person, they would erect a separate funerary Temple to house all of this stuff.
Why keep the thieves out?
In the old kingdom, dead people were buried into the ground and then they developed it to be a chamber inside the ground with access from above and finally the Mastaba. The Mastaba took a shape of a cuboid while from the inside, they had the same chamber-like structure that was built beneath the ground level. It was more developed in the era of King Djoser who constructed different types of Mastaba and it kept developed even after him from stepped pyramids through the bent pyramid and to the regular pyramids. On the other hand, the New Kingdom was different because they have separated temples into Mortuary temples and worship temples. The Mortuary temples existed on the west bank of the Nile. Like the temples in the valley of kings and queens, they had a different approach from Mastaba. It was all designed as a palace for the entombed in the afterlife.
Why does the basic burial practice persist?
During the Old Kingdom, Egyptians would build structures like mastabas( rectangular structures made out of mud brick that look like benches) in order to mark the burial site of many important Egyptians. Mastabas would evolve with underground tomb chambers sank deeper within the ground with an above ground structure for a small chapel dedicated to priests and family members of the deceased in order to perform rituals and bring offerings for the desceased. Always in the Old Kingdom, mastabas would eventually be developed into rock-cut pyramids and then into true pyramids that would also serve as tombs.Unlike the Old Kingdom, the burial buildings in the new kingdom would take the form of complex temples, but like the mastabas of the Old Kingdom, temples ( sometimes cut into the rock) would have underground burial chambers and chapels for the cult of the dead, and would also use mud-brick as material.
What did the Kingdoms have in common?
The buildings of the Old and New Kingdoms of Egypt are quite similar in their building type and context. As far as context, the most significant burial structures of both kingdoms were close to the Nile River for technological, economical, and spiritual reasons. The materials and scale have changed however. In the Old Kingdom, the dead were buried in mastabas, which closely resembled miniature ziggurats made with mudbrick with an underground burial chamber. In the New Kingdom, the burial chambers consisted of either rock-cut cliff side burial sites or pyramids made of sandstone and granite.
What are those technological, economical, and spiritual reasons?
In the Old Kingdom the Egyptians built Mastabas and Pyramids which were both out in the open and fairly easy for robbers to get into.Their solution to that problem came in the New Kingdom because they changed their burial sites from being free standing structures to being hidden in the sides of mountains. However, they still kept the same general purpose of holding the dead and the various goods to take with them to the afterlife.
why keep that purpose?
During the time of the Old Kingdom, large mastaba (rectangular shaped area where the dead were) structures were built to signify the burial place of someone important. In the time of the New Kingdom, large structures were built around and in the mountains to help keep grave robbers out. In both, the usage of very large stone and the deep embedment of the riches were meant to keep the robbers out.
Basic beliefs in the function of the afterlife persist, so the requirement to serve bodily needs persists, although the architectural form changes.
Tombs and other structures were improved in form and style according to what the culture needed from the old kingdom into the new kingdom. In the old kingdom, mastabas were the tombs used for burial and that same style was carried into other structures. In the new kingdom, architects were more of a thing in designing structures. Some structures however, were shifted out of the open completely and became temples and tombs carved out of solid stone cliffs. This is an entirely new concept because prior to this, while structures were often made of stone, they were pre-carved bricks or stone slabs.
“Improved” how?
Burial buildings built in the Old and New Kingdom housed monuments that helped their occupants in the afterlife. In the old kingdom, mastabas made of mudbrick were used. The New Kingdom had rock-cut tombs. The Old Kingdom burial sites were very visible and grave thieves would steal from it so, in the New Kingdom burial complexes/sites moved beyond Deir-el-Bahari farther away & at the beginning, builders eliminated anything that suggested the burial site was a monument to prevent stealing and hid entrances but as time went on the complexes and hypostyle halls began to be embellished but were still hidden.
The belief persists, tho the form changes.
During the Old Kingdom, Egyptians had constructed a design for burials called the Mastaba. A Mastaba is a rectangular structure of Ancient Egyptian tombs constructed of mud-bricks. It lead to a burial chamber beneath the surface of the desert. It would place the dead to rest. Also in the Old Kingdom, pharaohs were buried in pyramids. Where as in the New Kingdom, pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings. Both Kingdoms emphasized the afterlife. They are both located along the Nile which was important for transportation, and irrigation.
Emphasized it how?
The Old Kingdom had Matabas as their main burial structures for the deceased. Normally, you would find a Mastaba in the surface of the eart. It was not hidden at all, except for the corpse that was buried in a subterraneal chamber connected through tunnels. In the New Kingdom, the burial structures were meant to be hidden from normal citizens and enemies. That’s why a complete structure, even bigger than mastabas and much more secure were used to protect the tomb. Like the Mastaba, they did have hidden chambers connected through tunnels. In terms of design, I think they’re pretty similar (the old vs the new kingdom) and the functions stayed pretty much the same. But the level of security and hierarchy the New Kingdom used to symbolize something untouchable, like the burials of Pharaohs, is far greater than the mastabas the Old Kingdom used to offer a proper burial to a deceased person.
And why does the function remain the same?
The Old Kingdom first designed Mastabas, burial tombs, that were built to last by using brick in construction just as the New Kingdom tomb’s used brick and stone to create a lasting structure. Mastabas is a simple structure that was built above ground as the dead was buried at the base and below ground with a small room for offerings above ground and above the deceased. The New Kingdom tomb’s where more vast and larger to scale but kept the function of the Mastabas by carving the structure into the ground or cliff face. The tomb itself is beneath the ground and the offerings that went with the deceased was placed within the tomb.