Scholarly record

ENVIRONMENTAL REASONS FOR CHANGING THE SHAPE OF PHARAOHSВ’ NECROPOLISES IN THE OLD EGYPTIAN KINGDOM

Volodymyr Durmanov

Abstract

In the end of the 31 century BC, the Egyptian rulers at the south part of the Upper Nile began build small tombs in the desert to preserve the ownership of the gold rich territory for their heirs. A significant change in the spatial pattern of those buildings took place during the construction of the huge necropolis of the King Djoser, dedicated to an anniversary of the his reign. Using of small stone blocks instead of mud-bricks allowed the transformation of the traditional barrow in the huge six-level pyramidal building. The spatial image of that building was transformed soon into a classical pyramid. The architects of the Old Kingdom continued constructing pyramidal necropolises during the next five centuries. However that building policy in the end contributed to the disintegration of the state. New type of the kingВ’s tombs formed when the fresh generation of Theban kings returned to the traditional burial in the mines. The analysis of the thousand-year development of the spatial image of Egyptian necropolises testifies to the close connection of the political changes in the state with the architectural shape of sacred buildings.

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