Mastaba
A mastaba (
The word mastaba comes from the Arabic word مصطبة (maṣṭaba) "stone bench".", or "eternal house".
History
The afterlife was centralized in the religion of ancient Egyptians. Their architecture reflects this, most prominently by the enormous amounts of time and labor involved in building tombs.[3] Ancient Egyptians believed that the needs from the world of the living would be continued in the afterlife; it was therefore necessary to build tombs that would fulfill them, and be sturdy enough to last for an eternity. These needs would also have to be attended to by the living.[4]
Starting in the Predynastic era (before 3100 BCE) and continuing into later dynasties, the ancient Egyptians developed increasingly complex and effective methods for preserving and protecting the bodies of the dead. They first buried their dead in pit graves dug from the sand with the body placed on a mat, usually along with some items believed to help them in the afterlife. The first tomb structure the Egyptians developed was the mastaba, composed of earthen bricks made from soil along the Nile. It provided better protection from scavenging animals and grave robbers. The origins of the mastaba can be seen in Tarkhan, where tombs would be split into two distinct portions. One side would contain a body, oriented in a north-south position, and the other would be open for the living to deliver offerings.[5] As the remains were not in contact with the dry desert sand, natural mummification could not take place; therefore the Egyptians devised a system of artificial mummification.[6] Until at least the Old Period or First Intermediate Period, only high officials and royalty were buried in these mastabas.[7]
Structure
The term mastaba comes from the Arabic word for "a bench of mud".[8] When seen from a distance, a flat-topped mastaba does resemble a bench. Historians speculate that the Egyptians may have borrowed architectural ideas from Mesopotamia, since at the time they were both building similar structures.[9]
The above-ground structure of a mastaba is rectangular in shape with inward-sloping sides and a flat roof. The exterior building materials were initially bricks made of the sun-dried mud readily available from the Nile River. Even after more durable materials such as stone came into use, the majority were built from
Mastabas were highly decorated, both with paintings on the walls and ceilings, and carvings of organic elements such as palm trees out of limestone. Due to the spiritual significance of the color, it was preferable to construct mastabas from white limestone. If this was not available, the yellow limestone or mudbrick of the tomb would be whitewashed and plastered.[11] Mastabas for royalty were especially extravagant on the exterior, meant to resemble a palace.[5]
Interior
A mastaba was essentially meant to provide the ba with a house in the afterlife, and they were laid out accordingly. Some would be used to house families, rather than individuals, with several burial shafts acting as "rooms".[5] The burial chambers were cut deep, into the bedrock, and were lined with wood.[12] A second hidden chamber called a serdab (سرداب), from the Persian word for "cellar",[13] was used to store anything that may have been considered essential for the comfort of the deceased in the afterlife, such as beer, grain, clothes and precious items.[14] The mastaba housed a statue of the deceased that was hidden within the masonry for its protection. High up the walls of the serdab were small openings that would allow the ba to leave and return to the body (represented by the statue); Ancient Egyptians believed the ba had to return to its body or it would die. These openings "were not meant for viewing the statue but rather for allowing the fragrance of burning incense, and possibly the spells spoken in rituals, to reach the statue".[15] The statues were nearly always oriented in one direction, facing the opening. The serdab could also feature inscriptions, such as the testament and mortuary cult of the owner.[16] More elaborate mastabas would feature open courtyards, which would be used to house more statues and allow the dead to perform rites. Over time, the courtyards grew into magnificent columned halls, which served the same purposes. These halls would typically be the largest room in the mastaba, and they could be used for sacrifices of livestock. Larger mastabas also included a network of storerooms, which the presiding phyle would use to maintain the mortuary cult of the mastaba's owner. Generally, there would be five of these storerooms, used by the living to store equipment needed for performing rites; unlike the serdab, they were not meant to be used by the deceased. These lacked any form of decoration, again distinguishing their function from that of the rest of the tomb. Due to the great expense of adding a complex of storerooms, these were only constructed in the largest of mastabas, for the royal family and viziers.[11]
Architectural evolution
The mastaba was the standard type of tomb in pre-dynastic and early dynastic Egypt for both the pharaoh and the social elite. The ancient city of Abydos was the location chosen for many of the cenotaphs. The royal cemetery was at Saqqara, overlooking the capital of early times, Memphis.[17]
Mastabas evolved over the early dynastic period (c. 3100-2686 BCE). During the
Even after pyramids became more prevalent for pharaohs in the 3rd and 4th Dynasties, members of the nobility continued to be buried in mastaba tombs. This is especially evident on the Giza Plateau, where at least 150 mastaba tombs have been constructed alongside the pyramids.[18]
In the
Mastabas are still well attested in the Middle Kingdom, where they had a revival. They were often solid structures with the decoration only on the outside.[20]
By the time of the
Examples
Non-royal
Royal
- Buried Mastaba (Sekhemkhet)
- Mastabat al-Fir'aun (Shepseskaf)
- Mastaba of Neferefre (Neferefre)
See also
- Cemetery GIS
- Meidum
- Architecture of Palestine: mastabeh or mastaba as raised, indoor or outdoor "unsoiled" area in traditional Palestinian architecture[22]
References
- ^ "Mastaba: definition". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
- ^ "Mastaba Tomb of Perneb". Met Museum. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ Hamlin, Talbot (1954). Architecture through the Ages. New York: Putnam. p. 30.
- ISBN 9781139230483.
- ^ ISBN 9781444393729.
- ^ Ancient Egypt and the Near East. Cambridge: MIT Press. 1966. p. 7.
- ^ BBC. "mastabas". BBC. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ Gardiner, A. (1964). Egypt of the Pharahos. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 57 n7.
- ^ Gascone, Bamber. "History of architecture". History of the world. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- JSTOR 3252928.
- ^ ISBN 9789088908965.
- ^ BBC. "Mastabas". bbc. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-0415185899.
- ^ Lewis, Ralph. "Burial practices, and Mummies". Rosicrucian Museum. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-0870999086.
- JSTOR 25735445– via JSTOR.
- ^ ISBN 978-0750622677.
- JSTOR 24995879.
- JSTOR 4423469.
- ISBN 9781588391940, S. 26-30
- ^ Badawy, Alexander (1966). Architecture in Ancient Egypt and the Near East. Cambridge: MIT Press. p. 51.
- ^ Awad, Shaden, The Peasant House: Contemporary Meanings, Syntactic Qualities and Rehabilitation Challenges., Graz University of Technology 2010. Accesses 24 Feb 2021.