EGYPTIAN TOWN PLANNING

REASONS FOR THE FOUNDATION OF A NEW SETTLEMENT:SECURITY

ECONOMICS
CULTIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE NEEDS.
POLITICAL MOTIVES SEEM TO HAVE LED AKHENATEN TO FOUND
AKHETATEN

THE MAIN CONSIDERATION WHERE TO BUILD WAS

GENERALLYPROXIMITY TO A WATERWAY HEIGHT ABOVE THE
FLOODPLAINS.
ADOBE BUILDINGS ARE VERY VULNERABLE WHEN BROUGHT IN
PROLONGED CONTACT WITH WATER, BE IT SEEPING
GROUNDWATER OR THE RISING NILE

EGYPTIAN TOWN PLANNING

ELEVATIONS, KEPT ABOVE THE SLOWLY RISING PLAINS.

WHEN OLD HOUSES CRUMBLED, NEW ONES WERE BUILT ON TOP OF

THE DEBRIS.

THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON UNTIL RECENT TIMES, WHEN THE YEARLY
INUNDATIONS WERE STOPPED BY THE ASWAN DAM.

PLANNED CITY :- HOTEPSENUSRET

FOUNDED BY SENUSRET II IN THE FAYUM
INHABITED FOR ABOUT A CENTURY. THE OUTLAY OF THE
CITY WAS RECTANGULAR
AREA 350 X 400 sq m.
.
SURROUNDED BY BRICK WALL
DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS BY ANOTHER WALL.
DIFFERENT SOCIAL CLASSES DID NOT LIVE IN SEPARATE
CITY QUARTERS.
RICH RESIDENTIAL AREA, WHERE PALATIAL 60 ROOM
RESIDENCES WERE FIFTY TIMES AS BIG AS THE
DWELLINGS IN THE POORER HALF OF THE CITY.

PLANNED CITY :- HOTEPSENUSRET

PLANNED CITY :- HOTEPSENUSRET

THIS PART HAD ALSO A WIDE STREET
LEADING TO THE PALACE.
THE STREETS ALL OVER THE CITY WERE
STRAIGHT LINES.
THE MAIN STREET WAS NINE METRES .
STREETS IN RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS AS
NARROW AS 1 METRES.
STREETS HAD SHALLOW STONE
CHANNELS RUNNING DOWN THE MIDDLE
FOR DRAINAGE .

PLANNED CITY :- HOTEPSENUSRET

DESPITE THE LOVE EGYPTIANS HAD, THERE WAS NO SPACE LEFT

FOR FOR GARDENS.

THE WHOLE AREA WAS COVERED WITH STREETS AND ONESTOREYED MUD-BRICK BUILDINGS.

HOTEPSENUSRET WAS VERY DIFFERENT FROM AKHENATEN'S

PLANNED CITY :- AKHETATEN

PUBLIC OPEN SPACES HAD TREES
INHABITANTS OFTEN HAD THEIR OWN
PRIVATE GARDEN PLOTS.
BOUNDARIES HAD EMPTY SPACE.
WAS ABANDONED AFTER GOVERNMENT
EDIFICES HAD BEEN ERECTED.
THESE FORMED THE TOWN CENTRE
THE RESIDENTIAL AREAS WERE NORTHEAST AND SOUTH-WEST OF THEM.
WORKMEN HAD TO LIVE IN CROWDED
FLATS OF 60 M, OR 100 M

PLANNED CITY :- AKHETATEN

WHOLE SPACE INSIDE THE WALLS WAS
OCCUPIED BY HOUSES.
THE PARALLEL STREETS WERE ABOUT
TWO METRES WIDE
WHOLE SPACE INSIDE THE WALLS WAS
OCCUPIED BY HOUSES.
WORKERS' SETTLEMENT WAS WALLED
IN.
THE TEMPLES, THE PALACE AND THE
ROYAL RESIDENCES, THE BARRACKS, THE
OFFICES OF THE ADMINISTRATION, ETC
WERE NOT SURROUNDED BY ANY WALL

PLANNED CITY :- AKHETATEN

THE EGYPTIANS RARELY PLANNED
FEW SPACES FREE FOR THE IMPORTANT
ROADS OF ACCESS,
SETTING TEMPLE DISTRICTS APART AND
ERECTING AN ADOBE WALL AROUND IT
ALL.
AKHETATEN WERE AT TIMES A JUMBLE OF
HOUSES,
PLOT OWNERS WERE NOT FREE TO DO
AS THEY LIKED.
THEY HAD TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THEIR
NEIGHBOURS' RIGHTS AND WISHES

CITY QUARTERS
EGYPTIAN CITY DWELLERS HAD LITTLE CHOICE ABOUT ADDING FURTHER
STOREYS.
LAND SUITABLE FOR BUILDING
HAD TO BE ABOVE THE FLOODLEVEL OF THE NILE
REASONABLY CLOSE TO THE RIVER

MANY EGYPTIANS WERE FORCED TO LIVE IN THESE CROWDED

CONDITIONS.
AT AKHETATEN WHERE THERE WAS NO LACK OF SUITABLE LAND, SOME
PRIVATE HOMES WERE STILL BUILT IN THE SAME WARREN-LIKE FASHION.

TEMPLE DISTRICTS
TEMPLE DISTRICTS WERE BETTER
PLANNED.
THE OUTLAY OF INDIVIDUAL TEMPLES
WAS BASICALLY SYMMETRICAL.
WALLS SURROUNDED THEM.
AT HOTEP-SENUSRET :A) THE BRICK WALL WAS ON THREE
SIDES OF THE TEMPLE
WAS 12 METRES THICK AND LINED WITH
LIMESTONE.
AVENUES LEADING THROUGH THE CITY
TO THE TEMPLE DISTRICT WERE WIDE,
SUITABLE FOR PROCESSIONS.

TEMPLE DISTRICTS
THE TEMPLE COMPLEXES HAD
EXTENSIVE STORAGE SPACE
THE THICKNESS OF THE BRICK
WALL LINED WITH LIMESTONE
HOTEP SENUSRET (KAHUN) WAS
ABOUT 12 METRES .
ITS HEIGHT MUST HAVE BEEN
CORRESPONDINGLY GREAT.
WHEN WALLS WERE BUILT
COMPLETELY OF STONE, THEIR
THICKNESS COULD BE REDUCED,
BUT THEY WERE STILL QUITE
MASSIVE.

TEMPLE DISTRICTS
TEMPLE DISTRICTS WERE BETTER PLANNED.
THE OUTLAY OF INDIVIDUAL TEMPLES WAS SYMMETRICAL.
WALLS SURROUNDED THEM.
AT HOTEP-SENUSRET THE BRICK WALL ON THREE SIDES OF THE
TEMPLE WAS 12 METRES THICK AND LINED WITH LIMESTONE.
AVENUES LEADING TO THE TEMPLE DISTRICT WERE WIDE.

 PAVED STREET FIVE METRES

WIDE
WAS DISCOVERED.
TEMPLE
DISTRICTS
PAVEMENT OF STREETS WAS RESTRICTED TO THE TEMPLE
COMPLEXES
TEMPLES WERE SURROUNDED BY AN EMPTY SPACE,
OVER TIME HOUSES WERE BUILT RIGHT UP TO THE OUTER TEMPLE
WALLS.
HOUSES DECAYED AND WERE REBUILT MANY TIMES , RESULT THAT
THE GROUND LEVEL OF THE RESIDENTIAL AREA ROSE
THE TEMPLES WHICH, BEING BUILT OF STONE, WERE NOT
PERIODICALLY REBUILT, SEEMINGLY SANK INTO THE GROUND.

Palaces
THE WHOLE COMPOUND WAS ENCLOSED AND SEPARATE FROM
THE REST OF THE CAPITAL,
ALBEIT CLOSE TO SUPPLIERS OF SERVICES, TEMPLES AND THE
SEAT OF THE ADMINISTRATION

Workers' dwellings
THE HOUSES OF THE WORKMEN HAD TWO TO FOUR ROOMS
ON THE GROUND FLOOR (44 AND 60 M)
ACCESS TO THE FLAT ROOF, WHICH WAS USED AS LIVING
AND STORING SPACE.
THE HOUSES ABUTTING THE INNER WALL ON THE EASTERN
SIDE WERE BIGGER, HAVING UP TO SEVEN ROOMS.
SOME OF THE DWELLINGS HAD CONICAL GRANARIES ON
THE GROUND FLOOR. THE DOORWAYS WERE ARCHED
TRACES OF BRICK BARREL-VAULTING HAVE BEEN FOUND ON
SUPPORTING WALLS.
ROOFS WERE MADE OF WOODEN PLANKS SUPPORTED BY
BEAMS AND PLASTERED OVER WITH MUD.

Workers' dwellings

The Great Houses

THE GREAT HOUSES COVERED ABOUT 2700 M EACH AND SERVED

AS OFFICES AND LIVING QUARTERS FOR THE HIGH OFFICIALS IN
CHARGE OF THE CONSTRUCTION WORK AND THEIR FAMILIES. THERE
WERE FOUR ALMOST IDENTICAL HOUSES AND ONE DIFFERENTLY
BUILT ONE NORTH OF THE STREET AND ANOTHER THREE WITH A
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GROUND PLAN SOUTH OF IT.

AFTER THE PYRAMID HAD BEEN BUILT AND THE OFFICIALS HAD LEFT,
PEOPLE BEGAN TO TAKE OVER THEIR HOUSES, ADAPTING THEM TO
THEIR OWN NEEDS BY WALLING UP ENTRANCES AND CREATING NEW
WALLS AND PASSAGES.

The Great Houses

The layout of one of the northern
Great Houses
1.Main entrance
2. Doorkeeper's lodge
3. Offices, guest rooms
4. Pillared hall
5. Private quarters
6. The mandara, i.e. reception room for
strangers
7. Open courtyard
8. Best hall, with columns and tank
9. Private rooms
10. Visitors' passage to the mandara
11. Women's hall
12. Women's quarters
13. Store rooms

EGYPTIAN TOWN PLANNING

SUBMITTED BYAnitesh Agarwal, Saurabh Joshi, Shiv Prasad