Presentation on

mastaba and step

pyramid
By, supriya kumar
Roll no- barc/15020/12
MASTABAS AND STEPPED
PYRAMID
 MASTABA
 A MASTABA (MEANING “house for eternity”).
 It is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat –
roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides that
marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypts
ancient period.
 Above ground, mastaba is a large bench of sunbaked bricks or
stone rising 9m high.
HISTORY
 The greatest stimulus for the egyptians was their belief in an
afterlife.
 This was reflected in their architecture and most prominently
by the enormous amounts of time, money and manpower
involved in the building of their tombs.
 They believed that the soul could live only if the body was
preserved from corruption and depredation.
 Egyptian s strove to develop methods for preserving the bodies
of the dead and later architectural tombs were devised to
preserve the corpse.
 The body would be placed in a deep, sealed chamber such as a
mastaba. The remains were not in contact with the dry desert
sand.
Structure
 The word mastaba comes from Arabic word for a bench of
mud because from a distance it resembles a bench.
 Inside the mastaba ,a deep chamber was dug into the ground
and lined with stone or bricks.
 The above ground structure was rectangular in shape,had
sloping sides, a flat roof, was about four times as long as it was
 Internally, consists of three parts- a burial chamber, aserdab
and a chapel.
The mastaba was built with a north
south orientation. This had a small offering chapel equipped
with a false door for offering for the soul of the deceased.
 A second hidden chamber called “serdab” meaning “cellar”,
housed a statue of the deceased that was hidden within the
masonary for its protection.
 In the chamber sarcophagus was found.
 Stepped pyramid
 The pyramid of Zoser or step pyramid is an archeological
remain in the Saqqara Necropolis Egypt. It was built for
the burial of pharaoh Djoser by Imphotep.
 It is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an
enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures
and decorations.
 Its purpose was to facilitate a successful afterlife for the
king so that he could be eternally reborn.
 The superstructure of step pyramid is six steps and was
built in six stages, as might be expected with an
experimental structure.
 The pyramid began as a square mastaba which was
gradually enlarged.
 Burial chamber was entered from the north side and is 92ft
down.
 On either side of chamber are stone rooms for kings tresure.
 Entrance door leads to a long hall with two rows of
columns. First here only columns were used.
 Columns looked like bunddels of reeds and had flutes .
 Shape of pyramid suggest stairway to sky to join sun god
AMON RA.
thankyou