Houses for the Living

The ruins of the vast majority of Egyptian towns having disappeared, it is very
difficult to form any idea of the exterior of an ancient Egyptian dwelling-house
especially during the Old Kingdom, and we should be quite powerless to do
so, were it not for some coffins in the form of houses belonging to the time of
the Old Kingdom !f we loo" at the picture of the coffin of King #en"ere which
once stood in his pyramid at $i%eh and now lies at the bottom of the &driatic,
we see at the first glance that it represents a house This house had three
doors on the long side and one on the short side ' above each was a latticed
window $raceful little pillars, projecting slightly from the wall, support the
beams, on which rests the concave portion of the flat roof
Sarcophgus of Menkere
The accompanying illustration represents a coffin of an un"nown man, and
gives us an example of a model of a house of much simpler construction The
smooth undivided walls are evidently of bric", the recess containing the door
alone shows distinct wooden construction The disposition of the rooms in this
house must also have been very different from the above-mentioned luxurious
wooden building ' this one has only two doors altogether, the walls of the bac"
of the house and of the two short sides being pierced alone by windows
An Old Kingdom coffin
(oubtless the houses were also adorned in this brilliant manner ' each lath,
each board, was either painted or gaily figured The broader piers were,
however, hung with carpets, each with its own pattern and its own colour)
*uch a building would appear most strange under our grey s"y, but in the
Egyptian sunlight the pretty systematic arrangement of the woodwor" and the
richness of the colour must have been most effective &ll the houses of the
rich however were not so highly decorated
The dimensions of some of these old palaces were very considerable, thus
&mten, the great man of the south, with whom we have had so much to do,
built a house for himself )two hundred ells long and two hundred broad,) a
square building therefore, with each side measuring over a hundred
yardsThe Egyptians preferred to have the doors and windows small and
high ' there was a wooden roller at the top of each which served to roll up
the mat which hung over the opening
a New Kingdom house
+et us now pass over the long period of centuries dividing the Old from the
,ew Kingdom, and we shall find that though for this later period we have at
our disposal more material than before, yet we are still unable to give a wholly
satisfactory picture The pictures in the Theban tombs, representing the small
country houses of Egyptians of ran", instruct us as to the outside of private
houses of the time of the ,ew Kingdom
One of these is a low two-storied building, and li"e all the houses of this time
very bare on the outside !t has smooth white-washed bric" walls, and the
plain white surface is only varied by the projecting frames of the door and
windows
The ground floor seems to have no windows, but the first story has, in addition
to its two windows, a "ind of balcony The roof, above which we can see the
trees of the garden behind, is very strange,-it is flat, but has a curious top,
which perhaps
a New Kingdom country house
answers to the Mulkuf of the modern Egyptian house ' an
oblique construction of boards which catches the cool north wind and
conducts it into the upper story of the house
.e see in the Theban wall-picture on the right a country house of the time of
the /0th (ynasty' it was not represented on account of its special grandeur,
but as being the scene of a home-festival !n the open porch before the house
are the vessels of wine, while the food is on tables adorned with garlands '
numerous jars, loaves, and bowls stand close by, hidden by a curtain from the
guests who are entering .hilst the latter greet their host a jar of wine with its
embroidered cover is carried past, and two servants in the bac"ground, who
seem to be of a very thirsty nature, have already sei%ed some drin"ing bowls
The house itself lies in a corner of the garden, which is planted with dar"
green foliage trees, figs, and pomegranates, and in which there is also an
arbour covered with vines The garden is surrounded by a wall of brownish
bric" pierced by two granite doors Though the house has two stories it stri"es
us as very small ' it has only one door which, as was customary at that time,
is placed at one side of the principal wall and not in the middle The ground
floor seems to be built of bric" and to be whitewashed ' it is lighted by
three small windows with wooden latticewor" ' the door has a framewor" of
red granite The first story is in quite a different style, the walls are made of
thin boards, the two windows are large, their frames project a little from the
wall and arc closed by brightly coloured mats This story contains probably the
principal room of the house, the room for family life & curious fact confirms
this supposition1 the window-hangings have a small square piece cut out at
the bottom allowing the women to see out of the windows without themselves
being seen & similar arrangement exists now in modern Egyptian houses
The roof of the second story rests on little pillars and is open on all sides to
the air 2entilation is much thought of also in the other parts of the house, for
the whole of the narrow front is left open and can only be closed by a large
curtain of matting !n our picture this is only half drawn up, so as to conceal
the interior of the ground floor from the guests !n order to protect this part of
the house from the great heat of the Theban sun, a wonderful canopy, borne
by six thin blue wooden pillars, is carried over the whole building, and brought
forward li"e a porch in the front of the house Our picture shows us how this
porch was used ' it was the place in which the Egyptians enjoyed the
pleasures of life ' here they could breathe the sweet breath of the north wind
and enjoy the flowers and trees of the garden
The above details show plainly that the gentlefol" of Egypt preferred to live
far from the bustle of the world ' this is still more apparent in the case of
another house of the same epoch The gentleman to whom the garden
described here belonged had his house hidden in the farthest corner of his
garden, behind high leafy trees screening it from inquisitive eyes 3eople
passing on the canal would only see the tops of the trees over the white wall 1
the simplicity of the house corresponds with its hidden situation !t is a one-
storied building with a higher wing something li"e a tower on the left ' it has
plain wooden walls, the only decoration of which consists in the hollow below
the roof and the projecting frames and pillars of the windows 4nfortunately
the details of the plan are very obscure
& country house, such as we have described above, cannot be considered as
a complete example of the house of an Egyptian gentleman !t is so small that
it would be impossible to find room for a large household
There are no servants5 rooms, no storerooms, no "itchens &ll these offices,
which might be dispensed with in the country, are absolutely necessary in a
town house 1 the number of servants employed in the household of arich
man will alone give us an idea of the si%e required for his residence