Egypt Houses

Houses during the New Kingdom, as well as both in earlier and later periods, was built of mud bricks. These houses were not very long-lasting. Often poor houses were built close to the edge of the river and when it flooded, people had to move out and further inland. When they returned after the Inundation period, their mud brick houses were often washed away, leaving little or no remains. A new building was then constructed on top of the old site. The easiest way to do this was to water the clay rubble well and let it to set and harden. Then new mudbricks could be applied.Wood beams were tied together with papyrus rope to make a frame. Then the frame was covered with white limestone plaster to deflect the hot rays of the sun - another factor of the short life of these buildings.

Foundations were mostly not used. Soil above ground water level was baked to become rock-hard in the sun and could be used directly after some levelling. Building material for both wealthy and poor pepole were the same: mudbrick made of mud from the Nile and mixed with chaff were let to dry in wooden forms in the sun. If there were stone to be found close by, like a quarry or a derelict temple, lintels and doorways could be made with this. Regardless of size or the owner´s social status, houses in general had flat roofs and were designed to either keep the heat of summer out, and protect from the cold winter nights.

Egypt House
Egypt House
Egypt House
Egypt HousePeople like farmers, tomb builders and soldiers, lived in cramped villages in the vicinty of the tomb area or the fields. In front of the houses there was a walled-in courtyard where often the animals like goats and cattle, were kept. The peasant’s house was a sun-dried brick or clay-daubed reed shelter, one room, one door and no windows. More often than not, everyone in the family slept in that one room together with any cattle and other animals they might possess. The image to the left shows that there is no big difference between poor houses in the countryside today and those 3000 years ago.
Egypt House
Egypt House
Egypt HouseWell-to-do Egyptians
had spacious estates on the outskirts of cities, with comfortable houses or a townhouse. The houses had high ceilings with pillars, barred windows, tiled floors, decoratively painted walls, and stair cases leading up to the flat roofs where one could overlook the estate. There would be pools with lotuses and fish, gardens with flowers and palm groves, servant's quarters, wells, granaries, stables, and a small shrine for private worship.

In the rich houses the rooms would be arranged around an inner courtyard or on one side of a corridor. There would be reception rooms and private quarters. The entrance was set in the wall facing the street and the windows were set high up in the walls of the upper storey. They would be covered with shutters or mats to keep out heat, dust and insects.

The substantial Egyptian home often had a bathroom and even a toilet. A room set aside for bath had a slab of stone in a corner for standing on or lieing on while a servant doused you with water. Often the walls here were covered with stone too, as the packed earth which often was used for floors, would be unsuitable in a bathroom. The used water ran off into a bowl which was either emptied by hand, or there were holes at its bottom, though which the water drained slowly into the ground. Toilets could be either a toilet stool with a hole in it, or a seat made of limestone.