DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11365#0030
20
the houses.
plan would be unsuited for a temple. There may have
been a building within the great gate of the temple,
but if this had been there we should see more chips
and mortar and concrete lying about. It cannot be
referred to the smaller temple, by its length. And
on looking at the palace plan (Pl. XXXVI) we see
only one place where the foundations could corre-
spond to such a building ; that is in the space marked
Q, with the front towards the river westwards ; but, if
so, half of the area is now under cultivation. This
seems hardly a probable site, as I did not find any
pieces of columns in all this region. So it may belong
to a building entirely under the cultivated land, or it
may be a sketch that was never carried out.
CHAPTER III.
the houses.
37. So little is yet known about the system of
Egyptian houses, that a series of house plans—such
as we now have from Tell el Amarna—deserves
careful study. There are particular advantages in
working on these houses, rather than on those of
ordinary Egyptian towns. They were all built in
one generation^ and can therefore be properly com-
pared together, and only shew contemporary variations
of design, and not changes of fashion. They were
never rebuilt, and but little altered, owing to the brief
occupation of the site. They were laid out on open
desert, free from obstructions, and with ample space,
as most of them are in enclosures ; much like the
little villas which are dotted about the edge of the
desert near Matarieh at present. There are the same
advantages that we had in the study of Kahun, which
was all laid out at once, and which shews by the
exact resemblance between houses of the same size
that the architect gave certains designs to be repeated
as often as required (see " Illahun," Pl. XIV). Here
at Tell el Amarna the conditions were rather
different ; the quality of the houses is intermediate
between the mansions of the nobles, and the streets
of the workmen which constituted the town of Kahun
A large middle-class bureaucracy demanded villas of
a moderate size, and different modifications of the
same general elements were made in various instances.
In each period different requirements must have
led to varying types of house, as is the case in every
other country. The distribution of wealth in different
classes is reflected in the differences between Kahun
and Tell el Amarna ; the absence of middle-class
houses in the former, the prevalence of them in the
latter place. The position of women mainly controls
the arrangement of a house ; the separation of men
and women servants, needed where there were no
private sleeping rooms for inferiors, is the main con-
dition in ancient Egypt; while the strict harem
system of modern Islam was quite unknown, and the
elements and terms of a modern Arab house cannot
be applied to denote the divisions of the ancient
houses.
The houses now excavated were selected for their
good .condition, and their isolation from the inter-
ference of other buildings. They proved remarkably
bare of antiquities ; not a single piece of papyrus, and
scarcely even a potsherd was found in any of them,
nor were any buried deposits found, although the
floors were all searched for soft or broken places. It
is evident that the town had been gradually deserted ;
and the remaining inhabitants had cleared out from
each house, when it was abandoned, every object that
could be of any possible use. Hence there is nothing
left in place, except some stone tanks, and bases of
columns, to throw light on the purposes of the rooms.
38. We will begin by dividing the houses into
their various elements. Each house on the plans
(PLS. XXXVIII-XXXIX) is numbered separately
1 to 11, and each room of the same nature is marked
with the same letter; thus analogous parts can always
be seen at a glance by the recurrence of the letters.
The most regular house for study is No. 6, which we
may consider as the typical example, from which the
others are variations. All plans are with the approxi-
mate north upwards on the page ; this is really
between 150 and 300 E. of N. in most of the town.
The approach to the house, A, was often up a flight
of shallow steps (as in 4, 5, 6), when the house stood
on a raised platform a foot or two above the plain.
This approach led along one side of the house^ most
usually the north, sometimes east or west, but never
south. It led up to a room which always looks down
the steps, or way, and is extraneous to the house
proper. This room, marked P, is doubtless the place
of the porter or door-keeper ; and it was very likely
open at the sides, with a roof supported on posts or
small pillars.
Entering the actual house, there is always a lobby,
marked y, at the end of the summer room, or Loggia,
L, into which it leads. This, y, was probably a place
for leaving superfluous dress, and outdoor objects ;
where also the door-keeper would sleep. The loggia,
the houses.
plan would be unsuited for a temple. There may have
been a building within the great gate of the temple,
but if this had been there we should see more chips
and mortar and concrete lying about. It cannot be
referred to the smaller temple, by its length. And
on looking at the palace plan (Pl. XXXVI) we see
only one place where the foundations could corre-
spond to such a building ; that is in the space marked
Q, with the front towards the river westwards ; but, if
so, half of the area is now under cultivation. This
seems hardly a probable site, as I did not find any
pieces of columns in all this region. So it may belong
to a building entirely under the cultivated land, or it
may be a sketch that was never carried out.
CHAPTER III.
the houses.
37. So little is yet known about the system of
Egyptian houses, that a series of house plans—such
as we now have from Tell el Amarna—deserves
careful study. There are particular advantages in
working on these houses, rather than on those of
ordinary Egyptian towns. They were all built in
one generation^ and can therefore be properly com-
pared together, and only shew contemporary variations
of design, and not changes of fashion. They were
never rebuilt, and but little altered, owing to the brief
occupation of the site. They were laid out on open
desert, free from obstructions, and with ample space,
as most of them are in enclosures ; much like the
little villas which are dotted about the edge of the
desert near Matarieh at present. There are the same
advantages that we had in the study of Kahun, which
was all laid out at once, and which shews by the
exact resemblance between houses of the same size
that the architect gave certains designs to be repeated
as often as required (see " Illahun," Pl. XIV). Here
at Tell el Amarna the conditions were rather
different ; the quality of the houses is intermediate
between the mansions of the nobles, and the streets
of the workmen which constituted the town of Kahun
A large middle-class bureaucracy demanded villas of
a moderate size, and different modifications of the
same general elements were made in various instances.
In each period different requirements must have
led to varying types of house, as is the case in every
other country. The distribution of wealth in different
classes is reflected in the differences between Kahun
and Tell el Amarna ; the absence of middle-class
houses in the former, the prevalence of them in the
latter place. The position of women mainly controls
the arrangement of a house ; the separation of men
and women servants, needed where there were no
private sleeping rooms for inferiors, is the main con-
dition in ancient Egypt; while the strict harem
system of modern Islam was quite unknown, and the
elements and terms of a modern Arab house cannot
be applied to denote the divisions of the ancient
houses.
The houses now excavated were selected for their
good .condition, and their isolation from the inter-
ference of other buildings. They proved remarkably
bare of antiquities ; not a single piece of papyrus, and
scarcely even a potsherd was found in any of them,
nor were any buried deposits found, although the
floors were all searched for soft or broken places. It
is evident that the town had been gradually deserted ;
and the remaining inhabitants had cleared out from
each house, when it was abandoned, every object that
could be of any possible use. Hence there is nothing
left in place, except some stone tanks, and bases of
columns, to throw light on the purposes of the rooms.
38. We will begin by dividing the houses into
their various elements. Each house on the plans
(PLS. XXXVIII-XXXIX) is numbered separately
1 to 11, and each room of the same nature is marked
with the same letter; thus analogous parts can always
be seen at a glance by the recurrence of the letters.
The most regular house for study is No. 6, which we
may consider as the typical example, from which the
others are variations. All plans are with the approxi-
mate north upwards on the page ; this is really
between 150 and 300 E. of N. in most of the town.
The approach to the house, A, was often up a flight
of shallow steps (as in 4, 5, 6), when the house stood
on a raised platform a foot or two above the plain.
This approach led along one side of the house^ most
usually the north, sometimes east or west, but never
south. It led up to a room which always looks down
the steps, or way, and is extraneous to the house
proper. This room, marked P, is doubtless the place
of the porter or door-keeper ; and it was very likely
open at the sides, with a roof supported on posts or
small pillars.
Entering the actual house, there is always a lobby,
marked y, at the end of the summer room, or Loggia,
L, into which it leads. This, y, was probably a place
for leaving superfluous dress, and outdoor objects ;
where also the door-keeper would sleep. The loggia,