Mastaba

Mastaba (Arabic مصطبة, DMG Mastaba, stone bench ') is a after the Egyptian- Arabic word for bench named type tombs of ancient Egyptian culture. Geometrically, the structure of a flat rectangular truncated pyramid. Art History can be mastabas assign a line of development that begins with elite tombs of Thinitenzeit, in the royal area leads to the building of the pyramid tombs and ends in the private sector at the end of the 12th Dynasty. Stages of this development can be, among other examples from Abydos, Saqqara and Giza, but also point to other locations.

Architectural History

Mastabas were built from unification to the end of the Middle Kingdom. The pyramids solved the mastaba in the 3rd dynasty with a few exceptions as a royal grave system, while the Mastaba as a private grave form persisted.

Mastabas of the early dynastic period

The mastabas unification time is with a niche assembly illustrating a kind of royal palace and fortress of the gods, decorated. Monumental examples of this type found primarily in Saqqara. The funeral took place this underneath the actual building, in a pit instead. The pits are accessible from the middle of the 1st dynasty via a closable stairs. The mastabas lower Höflingsschichten are usually designed in comparison, rather simple and do not have a niche facade.

With the 2nd Dynasty (probably statistical purposes serving ) niche facade disappears. The building now has mostly a smooth outside and two located in the east of the building open cult places. The underground grave spaces are often carved into the rock and form something like a house grave.

Mastabas of the Old Kingdom

In the 3rd and especially 4th dynasty the cult places are becoming more complex decorated with reliefs or paintings, while the underground grave spaces that are now usually reached through a shaft, are kept very simple.

At the end of the Old Kingdom, the classic Mastabaform dissolves. The decoration is now mostly reduced to a false door, while the grave chamber is decorated more often. Most mastabas of the 1st meantime follow this type.

Mastabas of the Middle Kingdom

In the 12th Dynasty mastaba experienced in the royal cemeteries (el - Lisht Dahshur ), when the court moved back to the north in the vicinity of the old residence cemeteries, a rebirth, which can now distinguish two types. There are mastabas with decorated interiors and those who have no interiors and are decorated on the outside and labeled. The grave shaft leads the Middle Kingdom in addition to the Mastababau in depth, while it has generally been driven into the ground in the Old Kingdom from the build out. After the 12th Dynasty mastabas be superseded by other grave types.

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