Deir El Medina
Describe the village of Deir El Medina. The village of Deir El Medina grew from the time of the 18th Dynasty to the 20th. By its final stage approximately 70 houses stood within the village walls and 50 outside. Perhaps 600 people lived here by then. A wall surrounded the village approximately six meters high built of mud-brick. Gates were located at each end.
The villages of Deir El Medina made up a special government department under the vizier of Upper Egypt, and were a select largely hereditary group of scribes, quarrymen, stonemasons, artisans, and labourers, who created the final resting place for their divine rulers.
Describe in detail a typical workers house at Deir El Medina. Most of the houses in Deir El Medina were built in a standard elongated design, 15 by 5 meters. They had rubble bases and mud brick superstructures, and shared walls like today’s terrace housing. Each of these houses would have the following features. Down several steps from the street was an entrance room, with niches for offerings, stalae and busts. Often there were painted images, sometimes of the god Bes. A low bed-like structure has suggested to some archaeologists that the entrance room was also used as a birthing room.
A doorway led into the main room of the house, with raised dais by one wall, plastered and whitewashed. Against another wall may have been a small altar and offering table and niches for household gods. A small cellar was often located under this room, approached by a small flight of steps and covered by a wooden trapdoor.
Several small rooms may have led off the main room, possibly for sleeping, work or storage. At the rear was a small walled court, which served as the kitchen. It contained an oven for baking bread, a small grain storage silo, a container for water and grinding equipment. Another family shrine and another small cellar may also have been here.
A staircase led to the roof where the family might sleep or store goods. Windows were normally set high in the walls with a grill. Though the outside of the houses was whitewashed, traces of paintings have been found in the interior walls.
Refer to diagram 1.1
What type of furniture existed in such a household? The furniture was generally well made and often beautifully crafted. Nobles’ furniture was often inlaid with semi-precious stones and ivory and the villages often copied ...
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... and grape juice were commonly consumed by workers- wines were more expensive. Spices and herbs were used such as cinnamon, cumin and thyme.
ENTERTAINMENT- There is abundant information about leisure pursuits of Egyptian nobility. They hunted wild game such as the ibex, ostriches, gazelles, hares and wildfowl, and fished in the Nile. It is not certain if the villagers shared these pursuits. Villagers enjoyed music from instruments such as the harp, lyre, lute, flute and drum. Board games such as senet were also popular.
What was Egyptian Family life like? Houses held five to six people yet burials often included at least three generations. Marriages were generally arranged. There was no ceremony but complex legal arrangements were made. Divorce was simple; reasons given range from adultery to infertility or simple apathy. Women had considerable legal, economic and social status. Some even appeared to be literate. Children played like they do in every culture yet are often shown performing light work. Boys were educated in a nearby temple where they were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. Squabbles between families, and even within families appear to have been quite common.
family was they had three-rooms which were placed on a hill facing the "Big House". The
And with good reason! The sheer luxury of the property is overwhelming. The mansion has 34 beautifully decorated rooms that boast 15th through 19th century art and furnishings. While blending together harmoniously, there is nothing subtle about the elaborately carved furniture, voluminous drapes, ornate carvings, and the richly colored tiles. The intent is to convey the excesses of wealth, which it does, albeit with grace and elegance.
... in that barren hall with its naked stair... rising into the dim upper hallway where an echo spoke which was not mine ut rather that of the lost irrevocable might-have-been which haunts all houses, all enclosed walls erected by human hands, not for shelter, not for warmth, but to hide from the world's curious looking and seeing the dark turnings which the ancient young delusions of pride and hope and ambition (ay, and love too) take.
Bihzad has placed strong emphasis on the complexity of the palace’s architecture which he has adorned with colorful ornaments and emblazoned with gold. Each room is decorated with rugs and tiles featuring complex floral and asymmetrical patterns that cover each chamber from floor to ceiling. The palace appears to be three stories tall and features a balcony on the left and a zigzagging staircase on the right. The asymmetrical style of these two architectural features gives the impression of the work being 3-dimensional ...
The wooden lintels, writing, and the unique calendar reveal clues about life in a society that thrived for over 1000 years. Many massive building are visible today, those built to pay tribute to kings and to please the deities. The M...
A monumental staircase is the centerpiece of entrance hall and creates a barrier to a direct view of the courtyard. The stairway, although grandiose, is modeled after oversized wooden stairs with a “wealth of spindles and paneling from his earlier Shingle style houses.” The oversized arched windows on the wall facing Exeter Street, bring sunlight into this space, and have a radiant effect on the walls covered with variegated Sienna marble (especially quarried for the library). At the intermediate landing, there are two hand carved couchant lions, which are the work of Louis Saint-Gaudens. Above this stairway a spherical chandelier of bronze and cut glass hangs from the richly coffered ceiling. As you climb up the stairs towards the main landing, the paintings of Puvis De Chavannes representing poetry, philosophy, and science adorn the wall. These murals are painted
down behind many layers of glass in a sort of leather conservatory we started towards town?
Spain, during the 8th century, under the rule of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I, fell into the hands of the Muslims. Coming up from the Maghrib, the Muslims attacked and successfully claimed the Iberian Peninsular. Later, after the fall of the Umayyads to the Abbasids, this Iberian outpost simply became an attempt to continue that, which once was a great empire. Visigothic Spain, therefore, came under significant Islamic influence. This research essay intends to highlight how the Grand Mosque of Córdoba; the Mosque intended on being that of the Caliphate in Spain, illustrates these influences. To understand this better, herein will be discussed, quite simply, aspects of the mosque, which demonstrate that the building, although currently in the form of a cathedral, displays aspects of Moorish Architecture and Art. Whereby, the influence of Islam on Spain will be noticed. In addition to this it will be discussed whether the original design of the Mosque...
Scott, N. The Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 31, No. 3, The Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians (Spring, 1973), pp. 123-170
The actual building itself appears similar to a castle. The architecture had royal features due to the triangular points on the top of the building. There were three open doors; one big main entrance in front, two small side doors, and all the guests entered through the main entrance. Once I walked in, a big gold Buddha was centered in the back surrounding multiple iconic religious statues. There seemed to be about a hundred religious statues highly dazzled in silver or good.
were 10 doors and at end there was a statue of Osiris, the god of the
He passed the house with its huge open hearth which, in the days of ...
Egyptians cherished family life the way we cherish food or money. Children were considered a blessing. They prayed for them and used magic to have children, but if a couple could not conceive they adopted. Men were the head of the household and the oldest son inherited everything of the father’s. Egyptian women were to obey their fathers and husbands, but were equal in many other ways. For example, women could have jobs, some rights in court cases, and they were able to own land. Women were also allowed to own businesses. Only noble women, however, could be priestesses. The women raised the children and took care of the house. Wealthy families would hire maids and nannies to do such things. Divorce was not common in Ancient Egypt, though it was an option. Problems were talked about between families, and if they could not be settled a divorce would take place. Some women became rulers but only in secret. The only woman who ruled as a pharaoh in the open was Queen Hatsheput. Ordinary men normally had one wife, while pharaohs and kings had several. Most marriages were arranged by parents. Most girls married at age twelve while boys were usually a little older.
To of the most striking descriptions used to portray the house are those of the windows and the fissure. He describes the windows as “vacant [and] eye-like.” With this description the narrator effectively anthropomorphizes the house. Thus he almost gives the status of character to the house. The other outstanding description is that of the fissure. It is described as “a barely perceptible fissure, which [extends] from the roof of the building in front, [making] its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it [becomes] lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.” It is interesting to note that the narrator spends so much time describing a feature that he describes as barely perceptible.
regular home would contain. Some of the rooms in Bilbo's home include, " . . . bedrooms,