العمارة الجنائزية
العمارة الجنائزية
العمارة الجنائزية
1- Dodson, A. and Ikram, S. (2008). The Tomb in Ancient Egypt. London and New
York 156 (7)
758
In all cases, however, the purpose of the tomb remained constant: to act as a
magical machine to translate the dead person from this world to the next – and
maintain them there, free from hunger, for eternity.
2- Funeral Houses and Architectural Patterns in Greco-Roman Egypt:
Funerary art and architecture in Greco-Roman Egypt were creations of the cultural
syncretism experienced by the Egyptian and non-Egyptian peoples through religion,
myth, and beliefs in the afterlife. Although differences in socio-economic status and
traditions existed in this period due to the division of the different ethnic groups,
funerary motifs show all groups shared with each other the belief that the dead were
sacred.(2)
Society in Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Early Roman Periods was made up of
many different ethnic groups who each had their own traditions, institutions, and
customs. However, because of administrative and political agendas, the people of
Egypt were not looked upon as a truly unified society, but one that was plagued by
barriers related to the many distinct peoples that lived there. Cultural integration
between Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians has been at the forefront of new studies
pertaining to this ancient time. Yet some scholars believe that even if such evidence
were found to suggest cultural integration it would not accurately reflect the realities
of a divided population. Through the archaeological evidence found within the
funerary sphere such doubts can be put to rest, for artistic and religious motifs found
in Greek, Roman, and Egyptian burial contexts clearly showcase that cultural
interaction did indeed take place between these cultures living in Ancient Egypt.
The first indication of funerary cultural integration between Greek,
Roman and Egyptian peoples come to us through the wide variety of artifacts that
are directly connected to the burials of deceased persons who lived in Greco-Roman
times. It should be noted that many of these artifacts come from the burial places of
specifically Greek individuals, who lived in predominantly Greek populated cities in
Egypt, such as Naucratis, Memphis, and Alexandria. (3)
The tombs of both Egyptian natives and Greeks living in Greco-Roman Egypt also
shares features that tie them to a growing cultural interaction between the two
cultures. (4)
Distinguishing between Thirtieth Dynasty and early Ptolemaic tombs is
problematic, in the absence of direct dating material, while charting developments
2- Bierbrier, M.L. (1997) Portraits and Masks: Burial Customs in Roman Egypt.
London:
British Museum Press.
3- Riggs, Christina. (2002) ''Facing the Dead: Recent Research on the Funerary Art
of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt." American Journal of Archaeology 106 (1), 85-
101.
4- Lefebvre, Gustave. (1923) Le Tombeau de Petosiris. Cairo: Institute Francais
d'Archeologie Orientale.
5- Venit, M. S. (2002). Monumental Tombs of Ancient Alexandria: The Theater of
the Dead.
Cambridge.
759
during Ptolemaic times is difficult owing to the lack of dated data. However, it is
clear that there are two basic approaches to be seen, the Egyptian and the
Hellenistic, the latter particularly in evidence at Alexandria, where catacombs of an
initially wholly Greek type were inaugurated. (5)
Two tombs from Alexandria also showcase a fusion of Greek and Egyptian deities
said to be the protectors of the dead; the Stagnai Painted Tomb and the Tomb of
Tigrane Pasha Street. In the Stagnai Painted Tomb two exterior piers which flank a
sarcophagus niche show a small, naked, petal-winged boy who is assumed to
represent the god Greek god Eros. Eros accompanies the Greek goddess Aphrodite,
as well as the Egyptian god Anubis who, “stands garbed as a Roman soldier”. (6)
By using these two motifs the owner of the tomb harkened back to his Greek and
Roman heritage as well as displaying his respect for Egyptian gods and funerary
beliefs. The Tigrane Pasha Street Tomb similarly depicts Greco-Roman and
Egyptian visual techniques in the form of a funeral procession.
Its central sarcophagi niche shows, “…a mummy wrapped in the Greco-Roman style
with its head to the left, supine on a bier, attended by two female figures”, who are
again assumed to represent Isis and her sister Nephthys who commonly decorate
Egyptian sarcophagi and tombs. (7)
The oases of the Western Desert went through a period of particular prosperity in the
Middle to Late Roman Period. Probably they underwent intensive agricultural
exploitation as the result of efficient organization and advanced hydraulic
technology that made possible year-round irrigation, not dependent on the seasonal
Nile flood, and, probably, two annual harvests. The oases were divided into three
administrative regions: Ammoniake, with the Siwa Oasis; Oasis Minor, consisting of
Bahria Oasis; and Oasis Maior, made up of Dakhla and Kharga. Caravan routes
connected the oases with the Nile Valley and Siwa with the Mediterranean. At
Hibis, the capital of Kharga, little remains besides the temple of Nadura and that
dedicated to Amun Re. A series of solid mud-brick structures, perhaps late Roman,
6- Venit, Marjorie Susan. (1999) "The Stagnai Painted Tomb: Cultural Interchange
and Gender Differentiation in Roman Alexandria." American Journal of
Archaeology 103 (4), 641-669.
7- Venit, Marjorie Susan. (1997) "The Tomb from Tigrane Pasha Street and the
Iconography of Death in Roman Alexandria." American Journal of Archaeology
102 (4), 701-729.
760
is located north of Hibis, but the exact date and function remain unknown for the
present. (8)
The Dakhla Oasis Project has identified about 250 sites datable to the first five
centuries AD, among them large ones (such as Mothis/Mut, the capital; Trimithis/
Amheida, which became a polis in the fourth century AD; and the large town Kellis/
Ismant el-Kharab), along with small villages, individual farms, and industrial
areas.(9)
Through each of the funeral homes discussed within this point, interpretations and
conclusions can be made about how the funerary art produced in this period reflects
upon this past multiethnic society.
• As a result, we can distinguish funerary architecture in the Greco-Roman
period to following:
When it comes to the architecture of Greco-Roman Egypt, just as with artistic and
artisan production, we encounter a cohabitation of different styles, ‘‘classical’’
and Egyptian. The former tends to be typical of building types that did not exist in
the Pharaonic period, such as piazzas, porticoes streets, public baths, fountains,
hippodromes, perhaps gymnasia, and temples dedicated to non-Egyptian deities
and to the imperial cult. Egyptian style dominates temple architecture. From the
second century BC there developed a third architectural style that one might
characterize as ‘‘Greco-Alexandrian,’’ in which certain aspects of the Egyptian
tradition were fused with aspects of the classical tradition(10)
This third style was employed particularly in funerary contexts and in
sanctuaries dedicated to Serapis. Surviving buildings of ‘‘classical’’ style are few
in number, although their former presence throughout all Egypt is shown by
surviving stone architectural fragments and columns, largely re-used in buildings
of the Byzantine and Islamic Periods.
Our reconstruction of Alexandria reveals a city built according to criteria, and in
architectural styles, that were ‘‘classical.’’ To a great extent this image is the result
of descriptions passed down by ancient authors and of discoveries that have been
made at various times and in different parts of the modern city. However, the idea
that, because Alexandria was inhabited by non-Egyptians, it reflected only
Hellenistic culture in its styles and symbols of royal power and religion is one that
must be reconsidered in the light of the recent underwater investigations in the
Grand Harbor.
3- The Polychrome of Greek and Roman Art:
Arts was in debt service and human life in the afterlife this for ancient Egyptian, in
the Greeks thought was a cause to humans Highness degrees to the ideal of beauty,
while it was the way to the beauty of life and extravagance in the physical
heirlooms at the Romans. As for the style of paining in the Greco-Roman period it
8- Redde ´, M. 1999. Sites militaires romains de l’oasis de Kharga. BIFAO 99: 377–
96.
9- Mills, A. 1999. Dakhleh Oasis, Dynastic and Roman sites. In K. A. Bard (ed.),
Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. London and New York: 220–2.
10- Bailey, D. M. 1990. Classical architecture in Roman Egypt. In M. Henig (ed.),
Architecture and Architectural Sculpture in the Roman Empire. Oxford: 121–37.
761
has been there at the beginning of the rule of the Ptolemies kind of exaggerated
human emotions and to express them. (Ex: funeral houses in Tuna Al-Gebel which
look like small temple) in this tomb appeared different arts one of them express
Greek arts, but others were a mixture of Greek and Egyptian arts. (11)
For millennia, ancient Egyptian artists used pigment on their walls and statues to
create lifelike portraits. Influenced by this custom, the Greeks utilized the same life-
giving pigments and techniques, such as highlighting and under painting, to produce
realistic yet idealized sculptures. Like the Egyptians, they knew that the addition of
color to shallowly carved aspects of the statues made them more distinguishable and
authentic. As the Greek historian Plutarch (46-120 C.E.) wrote in his text Moralia
from the first century C.E., color was more visually stimulating than simple line
because it created a lifelike illusion. It also set the statues themselves apart from
each other, creating a group of distinct individuals rather than a homogenized
assembly of white figures, thus adding a narrative element as the different sculptural
characters interacted with one another.
Ancient Greek texts help reveal the colors and processes used by artists of that time.
The earliest documents date back to the fifth century B.C.E. and describe the
characteristics and theories of color. For example, the poetry of Alcmaeonid of
Croton, a natural philosopher and medical theorist born around the year 510 B.C.E.,
describes the contrasting natures of black and white. In the later part of the century,
Empedocles (490-430 B.C.E.), a pre-Socratic philosopher from Sicily, discusses
color theory at greater length in his works. He followed a mathematical scheme of
primary colors that consisted of black, white, and red and added an important hue
called ōchron, which referred to a range of new colors from red, to yellow and
green. As combining the four elements of nature (fire, water, air, and earth) creates
differentiated experiences, so does the blending of these four primary colors,
according to Empedocles. Democritus (460-370 B.C.E.), a philosopher from the
same period, had his own theories on color. In his texts he mentions the same four
hues as Empedocles, white, black, red, and ōchron, but relates them directly to
natural forms. White referred to smoothness, black to roughness, red to heat, and
ōchron to both solidity and emptiness. He believed that by mixing these pigments
one could obtain an entire range of colors.
The color theories implemented by Empedocles and Democritus were further
developed by the Classical philosopher Plato (424-348 B.C.E.) and his apprentice
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) in the fourth century B.C.E. Their approach became the
initial point of all subsequent color systems until Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in the
seventeenth century. Plato's poem on the creation of the earth, called Timaeus,
offers the most extensive description of a coherent theory of colors. It describes the
effects of light rays on the eye, stating that discerning the color white was the
dilation of a ray propelled by the eye, whereas the color black was the ray's
contraction. In other words, as light rays left one’s eye after looking upon the color
white, they expanded; after taking in the color black, they shrank. Plato passed on
his theories to Aristotle who, because of his intense interest in development and
، رسالة دكتوراه، دراسة عالج الصور الجداريه وصيانتها بمنطقة اثار المنيا: ) حسين محمد علي (د-11
181 ص، 1993 ، جامعة اسيوط، )كلية االداب (سوهاج
762
experimentation, produced a more complete account of color theory spread
throughout several documents. In his treatise called On Sense and Sensible Objects
he discusses the importance of intermediary colors, created by adding white and
black to pigment mixtures. He identifies five of these transitional colors: crimson,
violet, leek-green, deep blue, and grey and yellow. Aristotle’s documents reveal that
he was partial to a seven-color scale ranging between black and white because of its
ties to musical theory.
763
cemetery of the modern village Tuna el-Gebel, and the northern Nazlet Tuna site
which is the subject of the present survey. Tuna el-Gebel is best known as the
necropolis of the important ancient Egyptian city of Hermopolis Magna
(Ashmunein). The most obvious indication of this role is the series of tombs of
high-ranking Hermopolite officials. Concentrated archaeological attention in this
region was initiated by Lefebvre's excavation and publication of the super-and sub-
structure of the most important, and probably the first, tomb in the group, that of
the High-Priest of the god Thoth at Hermopolis(12 )
This was inferred from the archaeological excavations in Tuna el-Gebel it has
developed a type of houses in which merges the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman style
has popularized the use of brick in the construction of these houses next to the
stones.
The architectural style is different among the three major regions:
The first region: called tombs in the form of temples because the general planning
similar to the layout of temples such as Petosiris cemetery,
It is from the inside, contain a courtyard leads to a room with a well buried and
from the outside architecture is a mixture of Greek and Egyptian, while decorations
have Egyptian pattern, This type of tombs built of limestone polished well.(13)
The second region: is tombs which containing mummies of ibis and it was
excavated four catacombs dating ranges between the end Sawy age and Roman
times, and found beside the coffins and mummies royal funerary temples which held
on it the burial rituals ,and mummification chamber.
The third region: includes Roman tombs in the form of the houses were built of
brick and covered with a layer of mortar, and it's refer to homes of the middle class,
decorations of this funeral homes match with decorations of daily life homes.
Funeral homes built beside each other these houses separated by streets, similar
cities neighborhoods.(14)
Examples of these funeral houses:
The 'Egyptian House' (el Beit el-Masry) is one of 24 tombs (no. 21) discovered by
Sami Gabra of Cairo University between 1931 and 1952 on the Greco-Roman
necropolis in Tuna el-Gebel, situated about 14 km east of the ancient city of
Hermopolis (modern Ashmunein) in Middle Egypt. The tomb lies in the
southeastern part of the necropolis. It consists of four vaulted rooms above ground,
three of them deployed in a row behind the facade with the entrance in the central
one, and a fourth hall located in the back, standing above the burial chamber. The
walls of the entrance hall and the back room were decorated with murals. (15)
The tomb was built of mud brick and only the doorjambs were of nummulithic
limestone; the window lintels were reinforced with wooden beams. The walls were
plastered with mud mortar tempered with chaff, and given a coat of lime-and-sand
2006، جامعة المنيا، كلية االداب، قسم االثار، تونا الجبل دره في صحراء دروه: )إبراهيم سعد (د -12
16 ص
ص، 2005 ، مركز البحوث والدراسات االثريه، آثار المنيا عبر العصور: )محمود احمد درويش (د -13
81
167 مرجع سابق ص: )حسين محمد علي (د -14
89 محمود احمد درويش(د) مرجع سابق ص -15
764
plaster which acted as ground for the painted decoration. The outer coat of plaster
was rusticated, imitating stone blocks. The inner coats were smoothed. The walls of
the anteroom and sanctuary were painted. Paint was also observed on the outside
plaster. The paints were based on an organic binder and traditional pigments
(azurite, hematite, ochre, vegetable black). Neither preliminary sketches nor the
drawing grid have been observed. The paintings inside the tomb comprise funeral
scenes with ancient Egyptian gods, cartouches with hieroglyphic inscriptions and
imitation of marble revetment. The figures painted in the anteroom are turned
towards the sanctuary, emphasizing the importance of that room. The painting are
executed in traditional Egyptian manner. Only the two long-haired figures in the
anteroom are rendered in the convention and attire characteristic of Greco-Roman
painting. While these paintings have not been specifically studied, the tombs from
the Tuna el-Gebel necropolis are generally dated to the first half of the 2nd century
AD.When the tomb was discovered in 1935, its vaults were destroyed. To
reconstruct them, the inside of the tomb was filled with sand, the vaults were
bricked-up and then the sand was removed. Some bricks with traces of color,
coming presumably from the original vault, are still in store in one of the rooms of
the tomb. Gabra's photographs of the conditions inside the tomb upon discovery
reveal the murals inside and the facade plaster to be in very good condition.(16)
رسالة، ترميم الصور الجداريه بالعماره الجنائزيه بمنطقة تونا الجبل بالمنيا: ) ريهام عدلي سالم (د-16
34 ص،2010 ، جامعة المنيا، كلية الفنون الجميله، دكتوراه
765
lower part of the walls is decorated with rectangular panels after being
painted black and the frame is painted in various colors, including yellow,
red, white and green.(17)
House No GB24:
The house consists of a room that is boarded in by five steps,
Its main entrance consists of a door with a crown, there are some remains
colors on the right and left walls beside the door, there is a back door to that
room leading to another room, pic (a), which was completely lost.
House made of mud brick covered by white wash layer.
The inside room there is remains of polychrome on walls was damaged by
different damage factors.pic (b)
766
Pic (a): the back door Pic (b): polychrome inside the
room
767
components, which over time lose absorbed water and adsorbed water.
Temperature and evaporation rates also control the amount of water evaporated.
In such circumstances, brick blocks are subjected to a difference in dimensions due
to evaporation of water and shrinking of the size of the metal particles. This brick is
also exposed to the most serious manifestations of damage of cracks and eventually
turns into a material lack of cohesion as a result of crystallization of salts that were
dissolved in water crystallization different sizes depends on the nature of salt and
evaporation time and the amount of water containing these salts.
Due to the special nature of the physical composition of the mud brick, when
exposed to any source of moisture, it absorbs some of this moisture or absorbs
water. As a result, there is serious physiochemical damage inside the bricks where
the bricks lose their mechanical strength due to the impact of some components
with water. This moisture causes the decomposition of the organic materials
bonded inside the bricks and turns them into materials suitable for the growth of
microorganisms. This moisture also plays an effective role in dissolving crystalline
salts and transporting them within different places, which leads to more
manifestations of damage.(18)
Manifestations of polychrome damage:
1. Surface fragmentation of the color layer
2. Hardening and separation of the color layer as a result of transformations of
some components of the mural image such as gypsum in the form of peel
3. The presence of gaps, drilling and holes as a result of wind slaughter
4. The occurrence of large cracks vary in length, width and depth due to different
weathering factors(19)
جامعة، كلية االثار، دراسات علميه في ترميم وصيانة االثار غير العضويه: ) محمد عبد الهادي محمد (د-18
172 ص، 1997، القاهره
، 2004 ، االسكندريه، دار المعرفه الجامعيه، علم المتاحف وفن الحفائر: ) عزت زكي حامد قادوس (د-19
250 ص
768
Map of the facade of the funeral house
E-mail: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Hussein Mohamed Ali: Vice Dean for Student Affairs, faculty of fine
arts, Minia University.
769
Dr. Reham Adly Salem: Assistant Professor, Department of Restoration, Faculty
of Fine Arts, Minia University.
المراجع
جامعة المنيا، كلية االداب، قسم االثار، تونا الجبل دره في صحراء دروه: ) إبراهيم سعد (د-1
16 ص2006،
رسالة دكتوراه، دراسة عالج الصور الجداريه وصيانتها بمنطقة اثار المنيا: ) حسين محمد علي (د-2
181 ص، 1993 ، جامعة اسيوط، ) كلية االداب (سوهاج،
رسالة، ترميم الصور الجداريه بالعماره الجنائزيه بمنطقة تونا الجبل بالمنيا: ) ريهام عدلي سالم (د-3
34 ص،2010 ، جامعة المنيا، كلية الفنون الجميله، دكتوراه
، االسكندريه، دار المعرفه الجامعيه، علم المتاحف وفن الحفائر: ) عزت زكي حامد قادوس (د-4
250 ص، 2004
، 2005 ، مركز البحوث والدراسات االثريه، آثار المنيا عبر العصور: ) محمود احمد درويش (د-5
81 ص
، كلية االثار، دراسات علميه في ترميم وصيانة االثار غير العضويه: ) محمد عبد الهادي محمد (د-6
172 ص، 1997، جامعة القاهره
References
1- Bierbrier, M.L. (1997) Portraits and Masks: Burial Customs in Roman
Egypt. London:
British Museum Press
2- Bailey, D. M. 1990. Classical architecture in Roman Egypt. In M. Henig
(ed.), Architecture and Architectural Sculpture in the Roman Empire.
Oxford: 121–37.
3- Dodson, A. and Ikram, S. (2008). The Tomb in Ancient Egypt. London and
New York 156 (7)
4- Lefebvre, Gustave. (1923) Le Tombeau de Petosiris. Cairo: Institute
Francais d'Archeologie Orientale.
5- Mills, A. 1999. Dakhleh Oasis, Dynastic and Roman sites. In K. A. Bard
(ed.), Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. London and New
York: 220–2.
6- Redde ´, M. 1999. Sites militaires romains de l’oasis de Kharga. BIFAO 99:
377–96.
7- Riggs, Christina. (2002) ''Facing the Dead: Recent Research on the Funerary
Art of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt." American Journal of Archaeology 106
(1), 85-101.
8- Venit, Marjorie Susan. (1999) "The Stagnai Painted Tomb: Cultural
Interchange and Gender Differentiation in Roman Alexandria." American
Journal of Archaeology 103 (4), 641-669.
9- Venit, Marjorie Susan. (1997) "The Tomb from Tigrane Pasha Street and
the Iconography of Death in Roman Alexandria." American Journal of
Archaeology 102 (4), 701-729.
10- Venit, M. S. (2002). Monumental Tombs of Ancient Alexandria: The
Theater of the Dead.Cambridge.
770