GROUP MEMBERS:

ASEMBA, ROXANNIE
CASTILLO, ABEGAIL
DIONESIO, JEZREEL
GUILANDA, PRECIOUS
 HISTORY

• The Egyptian or the Nile Valley civilization was

developed, as the name suggests, along the
banks of the river Nile in Egypt.

• Its long, narrow flood plain was a magnet for

life, attracting people, animals and plants to
its banks, and providing ideal conditions for
the development of stable communities.
 HISTORY

• Evidence suggests that the region was inhabited

as far as 700,000 years ago by Neolithic and
Paleolithic Man.

• It is believed that nomadic hunters settled in the

valley and over the course of time, began to grow
crops to supplement their food supply.
 HISTORY

Early 5500BC
• The transition from primitive nomadic tribes to
traditional civilization was nearly complete. The first
communal project of this fledgling society was the
building of irrigation canals for agricultural purposes.

Predynastic Amratian Period (3600 BC)

• agriculture appears to have begun in the valley
alluviums of the Nile.
 HISTORY

Late Pre-dynastic Period (3100 BC)

• there is evidence of a considerable growth in wealth
consequent upon the earlier agricultural development and
accompanied by a more integrated social system and the
rise of the pharaoh dynasties.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

Important Cities along Nile Valley:

1. Memphis ( White Walls)

• Memphis is the ancient Egyptian city that served not just as
an important city but also as the administrative capital of
ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom.

Location
• Located to the South of the Nile River delta on the West
bank. It sits about 15 miles south of modern Cairo, and lays
on the border that divides Upper and Lower Egypt.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

It is home to the pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx. It is

also home to the great necropolis, Saqqara, which was a
popular burial place for Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom as well as
other noblemen.
CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

Pyramid layout near

Memphis
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Settlements based on Historical Classification:

a. Fundamental Principles Applied

 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

Settlements based on Historical Classification:

b. Common Elements
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

2. Thebes (Waset/Luxor)
• As the capital city of ancient Egypt during parts of the Middle
Kingdom and New Kingdom, Thebes is home to many of the
most magnificent monuments from the age of antiquity.

From 2,100 to 750 B.C.

• Thebes was the religious capital of Pharonic Egypt and the
center of Egyptian power
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
Location
• Thebes sat about 500 miles south of the Mediterranean
Sea, and about 450 miles south of Cairo on the Nile River
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

2 Parts to Thebes existed:

a. Eastern bank of the Nile River
• home to the main city
• Houses the Temple of Luxor, Temple complex
at Karnak with the great temple of Amun
(c. 1991- 785 BC)

b. Western bank
• held the Necropolis, or City of the
Dead
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

a. Eastern bank of the Nile River

 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

b.Western bank (Necropolis)

 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
a. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF PLANNING
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
b. COMMON ELEMENTS
 Tombs
 Temples
 Mortuary
 Mastabas and evolution of pyramids
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
c. FOCUS OF SETTLEMENTS
 TOMBS during the middle empire – mastaba and rock –cut tombs
In the middle empire tombs were either of the pyramidal form as at abydos, or
were rock-cut, as in the vertical cliffs bounding the nile valley
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

3. Amarna (Akhetaten, Tell el-Amarna)

• Located on the eastern side of the Nile River

• Founded by the “monotheistic” king Akhenaten in around

1347 BCE as the cult center for the solar god, the Aten, the
city was home to the royal court and a population of some
20,000-50,000 people.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
A. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF PLANNING

 LINEAR DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE EAST BANK OF NILE.

 Three main routes parallel to river, connecting various parts

 Unfortified city, just symbolic walls enclosing the central temple and palace.

 Since buildings were largely rectangular, there was regularity in layout

without planning.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
A. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF PLANNING

 Palaces and temples built to a common frontage

 Residences of all types are found in one quarter

 Wealthiest people selected own house sites along main

streets, less wealthier ones took plots behind these, poor ones
squeezed in.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
A. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF PLANNING
• The city was dissected by
two east-west streets that
met the West road.
• The southern one stretches
between the king's house
and the small temple and
then the records office and
the clerks' houses to the
south and reaches the army
headquarters.
• The second street passes to
the north of the royal estate
along the southern side of
the magazines. This entire
district was deserted in the
third year of Tutankhamun's
reign.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
B. COMMON ELEMENTS
Tell- el Amarna was made up of:
• temples
• government establishments
• utilitarian facilities such as grain silos and bakeries
• palaces and common mudbrick homes
• several necropolises, as well as a number of zoos
• gardens and other public buildings.
CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY

The plan of the area of el-Amarna

 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS
• The area is divided into suburbs, with the so-called "central
city" housing the Royal Palace and The Great Temple (The
Per-Aten),

• The other residential areas consist of:

o the North City or Suburb,
o the Main or South City,
o and the worker's village.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS
• The central City was apparently carefully planned, while the
other residential zones where not. In these other areas, the
spaces between the earliest large houses was gradually
filled up with smaller clusters of homes.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

1. The Temples
-Location of the Great Aten Temple as well the Small Aten
Temple.

-Temples at Amarna are considerably different then most cult

temples of ancient Egypt. They were, of course, solar temples,
with the essential elements consisting of a small obelisk on a
high base and an altar
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

1. The Temples
-The most basic element of an Aten temple is the altar, to
which a ramp or stairway ascends from the west in the middle
of the court, surrounded by a temenos wall.

-The altar platform could occasionally be surrounded by a wall

and fronted with a porch.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

1. The Temples

The Great Temple of the Aten

-The Great Aten Temple is on the
northern edge of the Central City.
It is partly covered over by the
modern cemetery of el-Till.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

2. Bakeries
- There is a long, low mound to the south of the temple
running east-west with visible broken pottery.
-This pottery is actually broken bread moulds, and the line
marks the site of the central bakeries.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

3. Bridge
- At the end of this ridge is the massive foundations for
a bridge that crossed the so called Royal Road in front of the
King's House by means of brick piers.
-There remains some ancient timbers that once bound the
brickwork together.
-On the far side of the road was the Great Palace, consisting
of a complex of courts and halls of which only foundations
remain.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

4. The Small Temple of the Aten

- this temple had a foundation layer of gypsum that is now
covered over by sand. However, modern stone blocks have been
laid atop the sand in order to provide the basic outlines of this
temple.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

5. North Suburb
-The North Suburb is separated from the Central City by a
depression.
-It was apparently dominantly inhabited by essentially a
middle-class including a strong mercantile component.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

6. The North Palace (Palace of Nefertiti)

-This was a self contained residence built along three sides of
a long open space, which itself was divided by a wall and pylon.
-The residential part had gardens and reception rooms with
columns along its rear.
- In the northeast corner is the most famous part of this
residence, consisting of a garden court.
-A central chamber on the north side, known as the "Green
Room", was painted with a continuous frieze representing the
natural life of the marshes.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

7. The Desert Altars

- On the road to the North Tombs, one passes a watchmen's
house, and a short distance to the west and north of this lie the
remains of three large mud-brick solar altars in the form of
square platforms with ramps that are known as the Desert
Altars.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
B. COMMON ELEMENTS

7. Necropolis
- The necropolis consists of more than twenty-five tombs
facing the base of the cliff front that is located on the east side
of the desert plain, which reaches a height of about eighty-five
meters and south of the Royal Wadi Six tombs are located at
the north side near Darb El-Malik and known as the North
Tombs.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION

C. FOCUS OF SETTLEMENT
The importance ascribed to Amarna originates largely from
modern scholarship, for two main reasons.

1. the desire of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten to create a suitable

arena for the worship of ‘his’ god, the solar deity Aten.

2. contribution to the study of urbanism in the ancient world.

 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION

C. FOCUS OF SETTLEMENT
In addition to its historical significance, Amarna is most complete
example of an ancient Egyptian city. Allowing for its unusually
short period of occupation, and the particulars of Akhenaten's
reign, it serves as a fundamental case site for the study of
settlement planning, the shape of society, and the manner in
which ancient Egyptian cities functioned and were experienced.

Overall, the city has a fairly organic layout, albeit with hints of
planning: the line of the Royal Road seems to have formed an axis
along which key buildings such as the North Palace, the temples
and palaces of the Central City, and the Kom el-Nana complex
were laid out, and it is probably not a coincidence that the axis of
the Small Aten Temple lines up with the mouth of the Royal Wadi.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION

C. FOCUS OF SETTLEMENT

Overall, the city has a fairly organic layout, albeit with hints of
planning:
• the line of the Royal Road seems to have formed an axis along
which key buildings such as the North Palace
• the temples and palaces of the Central City
• the Kom el-Nana complex were laid out
• the axis of the Small Aten Temple lines up with the mouth of
the Royal Wadi.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
C. FOCUS OF SETTLEMENT
 The Egyptians rarely planned
few spaces free for the important
roads of access.
 Plot owners were not free to do
as they liked for they had to take
into the account their neighbor’s
rights and wishes.
 Use of iron-grid only for a small
and relatively insignificant part of
the city.
 CITIES ALONG THE NILE VALLEY
SETTLEMENT CLASSIFICATION
C. FOCUS OF SETTLEMENTS

 The implementation of any town

plan implies political control to
ensure that the inhabitants
conforms to its requirements.

 Amarna could impose on the

workmen, but not on his wealthy
powerful relatives and officials.