DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11365#0032
22
THE HOUSES.
recess, which opened beneath it ; and T appears to be
a separate room. In No. 6 the stair ran over a dumb
hollow, and over the small room U branching from
T. In 9 the stair is reached by a branch from the
loggia, and went in one flight on to the top of the
hall, judging by the height to which it attains as it
now stands. In No. io the stair winds around a
square pillar, and had a winding cupboard, T, beneath
it. In No. 7 there was probably a wooden stair, of
which nothing now remains, fitted in the long narrow
passages. Thus in four houses the stair is on the
east, and in two on the west, but never north or south.
Amid all the variety of these houses, of which no
two are alike, and which appears quite irregular at
first sight, we nevertheless see that six entirely sepa-
rate classes of rooms may be observed ; the characters
of these rooms, and their relation to, or isolation from,
the others is constant; and from their peculiarities
we may trace their uses with scarcely a possibility of
a different conclusion.
43. We will now observe the peculiarities of some
houses which depart from the normal type.
No. 1 has been greatly denuded around, and pro-
bably an outer wall has been removed for the sake of
the bricks. At first sight it seems as if it might be
open chambers with merely a verandah or long eaves
around ; and this may possibly be the case, as it is
only half brick thick, as slight as possible, and was
perhaps run up for a temporary house while building
a more regular mansion. Only the hall and loggia
are regular, and the rest of it seems to be merely for
men and stores, without a master's room or other
usual features.
No. 2 is much simplified from the full type; but
yet nearly all the regulation divisions can be seen.
No. 3 is irregular in having no separate master's
room and harem, nor men's rooms. It may be there-
fore a secondary house for receiving guests, and not
for a household.
Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 all have the usual divisions ; but
6 has a long out-house added on the south wall.
Nos. 8 and 9 are adjacent, with the property divided
by a very irregular wall between. 9 has the unusual
addition of a large courtyard on a lower level, con-
taining three conical granaries. In this court were
found the two fragments of a red jasper foot of a
statue.
No. 10 has no regular approach, nor back premises.
A large divided court occupies the north front ; and
at the back is a very peculiar washing place, E, of
which a sketch is given below the plan. It is a small
recess, paved with a slope to the front. Two steps
lead up into it. The front is half enclosed with a
dwarf wall of stone on edge, so as to give privacy for
minor ablutions, and a hole below this wall allowed
the waste water to run off into a small tank in front.
Such an arrangement is wholly unknown elsewhere ;
the dwarf wall shews that it was not for mere dish or
clothes washing, but for private ablutions such as
Muhamedans now make ; in short, it is exactly the
sort of place that Islam requires, and the adjoining
recess, D, which could be reached from the stone steps
of E without touching ordinary ground, would be just
what is needed for a praying place. Is it possible
that this—which is in a very abnormal type of house
—belonged to a Semitic resident at Akhenaten's
court, and that the practices of Islam have been taken
over entire from pre-Muhamedan times ? The addi-
tion to the house on the east is also abnormal. The
hall was probably open in the middle, as the space
between the pillars is much longer than usual ; it has
three outer doors without any cover. Three long
chambers lie south of it ; one reached from the house
and two from the hall, one with a raised bench six
inches high all around it. The house wall on the
north adjoins at the west to a very thick enclosure
wall of the whole property.
No. 11 is of the normal type, but has been altered,
blocking up the proper entrance to the loggia, and
destroying one of the occasional rooms to make a new
door.
44. The surroundings of these houses are much alike.
An outer wall encloses the property, in the middle of
which the house stands. And on the north of each
house is a pit in the ground. These pits we frequently
dug into, to try to discover their purpose, but no clear
result could be obtained. That which I examined
most thoroughly was one of the largest, on the north
of No. 10. It was cut in clean sand, 12 feet deep,
and 12 feet wide. The bottom was flat ; the side had
a ledge around it about two feet up, and thence rose
steeply to the surface. It was filled with sand, dust,
and potsherds thrown in from the house-side of it,
and lying in steep strata. There was no sign of other
refuse, although bones or skin would have been pre-
served. It cannot therefore have been for house
refuse. Nor from the filling and the size of it could
it be for sewage. The only supposition seems to be
that they dug the hole for sand, to mix with the Nile
mud, in making the mortar for building ; and that
then it was filled up with sweepings and broken food-
vessels of the workmen. From the hollow now visible
THE HOUSES.
recess, which opened beneath it ; and T appears to be
a separate room. In No. 6 the stair ran over a dumb
hollow, and over the small room U branching from
T. In 9 the stair is reached by a branch from the
loggia, and went in one flight on to the top of the
hall, judging by the height to which it attains as it
now stands. In No. io the stair winds around a
square pillar, and had a winding cupboard, T, beneath
it. In No. 7 there was probably a wooden stair, of
which nothing now remains, fitted in the long narrow
passages. Thus in four houses the stair is on the
east, and in two on the west, but never north or south.
Amid all the variety of these houses, of which no
two are alike, and which appears quite irregular at
first sight, we nevertheless see that six entirely sepa-
rate classes of rooms may be observed ; the characters
of these rooms, and their relation to, or isolation from,
the others is constant; and from their peculiarities
we may trace their uses with scarcely a possibility of
a different conclusion.
43. We will now observe the peculiarities of some
houses which depart from the normal type.
No. 1 has been greatly denuded around, and pro-
bably an outer wall has been removed for the sake of
the bricks. At first sight it seems as if it might be
open chambers with merely a verandah or long eaves
around ; and this may possibly be the case, as it is
only half brick thick, as slight as possible, and was
perhaps run up for a temporary house while building
a more regular mansion. Only the hall and loggia
are regular, and the rest of it seems to be merely for
men and stores, without a master's room or other
usual features.
No. 2 is much simplified from the full type; but
yet nearly all the regulation divisions can be seen.
No. 3 is irregular in having no separate master's
room and harem, nor men's rooms. It may be there-
fore a secondary house for receiving guests, and not
for a household.
Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 all have the usual divisions ; but
6 has a long out-house added on the south wall.
Nos. 8 and 9 are adjacent, with the property divided
by a very irregular wall between. 9 has the unusual
addition of a large courtyard on a lower level, con-
taining three conical granaries. In this court were
found the two fragments of a red jasper foot of a
statue.
No. 10 has no regular approach, nor back premises.
A large divided court occupies the north front ; and
at the back is a very peculiar washing place, E, of
which a sketch is given below the plan. It is a small
recess, paved with a slope to the front. Two steps
lead up into it. The front is half enclosed with a
dwarf wall of stone on edge, so as to give privacy for
minor ablutions, and a hole below this wall allowed
the waste water to run off into a small tank in front.
Such an arrangement is wholly unknown elsewhere ;
the dwarf wall shews that it was not for mere dish or
clothes washing, but for private ablutions such as
Muhamedans now make ; in short, it is exactly the
sort of place that Islam requires, and the adjoining
recess, D, which could be reached from the stone steps
of E without touching ordinary ground, would be just
what is needed for a praying place. Is it possible
that this—which is in a very abnormal type of house
—belonged to a Semitic resident at Akhenaten's
court, and that the practices of Islam have been taken
over entire from pre-Muhamedan times ? The addi-
tion to the house on the east is also abnormal. The
hall was probably open in the middle, as the space
between the pillars is much longer than usual ; it has
three outer doors without any cover. Three long
chambers lie south of it ; one reached from the house
and two from the hall, one with a raised bench six
inches high all around it. The house wall on the
north adjoins at the west to a very thick enclosure
wall of the whole property.
No. 11 is of the normal type, but has been altered,
blocking up the proper entrance to the loggia, and
destroying one of the occasional rooms to make a new
door.
44. The surroundings of these houses are much alike.
An outer wall encloses the property, in the middle of
which the house stands. And on the north of each
house is a pit in the ground. These pits we frequently
dug into, to try to discover their purpose, but no clear
result could be obtained. That which I examined
most thoroughly was one of the largest, on the north
of No. 10. It was cut in clean sand, 12 feet deep,
and 12 feet wide. The bottom was flat ; the side had
a ledge around it about two feet up, and thence rose
steeply to the surface. It was filled with sand, dust,
and potsherds thrown in from the house-side of it,
and lying in steep strata. There was no sign of other
refuse, although bones or skin would have been pre-
served. It cannot therefore have been for house
refuse. Nor from the filling and the size of it could
it be for sewage. The only supposition seems to be
that they dug the hole for sand, to mix with the Nile
mud, in making the mortar for building ; and that
then it was filled up with sweepings and broken food-
vessels of the workmen. From the hollow now visible