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Ideal Homes in Ancient Egypt: the Archaeology of Social Aspiration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Ian Shaw
Ian Shaw
Affiliation:
Department of ArchaeologyDowning Street Cambridge CB2 3DZ
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Extract

El-Amarna is the site of the largest surviving ancient Egyptian city, dating to the middle of the fourteenth century BC and occupied by a population of over 20,000. This article takes as its starting point the question ‘What would have constituted a desirable residence or neighbourhood?’ and attempts to reach an understanding of the social aspirations of the Egyptians of the pharaonic period by analyzing the residential areas of el-Amarna in the context of contemporary texts and ethnographic parallels. The results of this analysis suggest that Egyptian attitudes to material success and the ‘country estate’ are eloquently expressed in the variability of their mud-brick housing at different levels of society.

Type
Articles
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 1992 , pp. 147 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1992

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