An Ancient Egyptian Country House
A reconstruction of a small Ancient Egyptian country house, meant as a sort of vacation home.
From Life in Ancient Egypt by Adolf Erman, 1894.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Unfortunately it is now almost impossible to form an exact picture of the appearance of an ancient Egyptian town, for nothing remains of the famous great cities of ancient Egypt except mounds of rubbish; not even in Memphis nor in Thebes is there even the ruin of a house to be found, for later generations have ploughed up every foot of arable land for corn. The only ruins that remain are those of the town "Horizon of the Sun," built for himself by the reformer Chu-en-'eten, and destroyed by violence after his death; this city lay outside the arable country, and therefore it was not worth while to till the ground on which it had stood. We can still trace the broad street that ran the whole length of the town which was about three miles long and half a mile broad, and see that on either side of the street were large public buildings with courts and enclosures. It is impossible to trace how that part of the town occupied by the numerous small private buildings was laid out….
The pictures in the Theban tomb representing the small country houses of Egyptians of rank, instruct us as to the outside of private houses of the time of the New Empire.
One of these is a low two-storied building, and like all the houses of this time very bare on the outside. It has smooth white-washed brick 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 kind 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 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.
We see in the Theban wall-picture a country house of the time of the 18th dynasty; it was not represented on account of its special grandeur, but as being the scene of a home-festival. In 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. Whilst the latter greet their host a jar of wine with its embroidered cover is carried past, and two servants in the background, who seem to be of a very thirsty nature, have already seized some drinking bowls.
The house itself lies in a corner of the garden, which is planted with dark 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 brick pierced by two granite doors. Though the house has two stories it strikes 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 brick and to be whitewashed; it is lighted by three small windows with wooden lattice-work the door has a framework 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 are closed by brightly coloured mats. This story contains probably the principal room of the house, the room for family life. A curious fact confirms this supposition: 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. A 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. Ventilation 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. In our picture this is only half drawn up, so as to conceal the interior of the ground floor from the guests. In 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 like 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. An excellent restoration of this house forms the frontispiece to this chapter.
The above details show plainly that the gentlefolk 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 belonged had his house hidden in the farthest corner of his garden, behind high leafy trees screening it from inquisitive eyes. People passing on the canal would only see the tops of the trees over the white wall: the simplicity of the house corresponds with its hidden situation. It is a one-storied building with a higher wing something like 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. Unfortunately the details of the plan are very obscure.
A country house, such as we have described above, cannot be considered as a complete example of the house of an Egyptian gentleman. It is so small that it would be impossible to find room for a large household. There are no servants' rooms, no storerooms, no kitchens. All these offices, which might be dispensed with in the country, are absolutely necessary in a town house: the number of servants employed in the household of a rich man will alone give us an idea of the size required for his residence.
Erman, Adolf. Life in Ancient Egypt. Macmillan, 1894.
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