# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ancient Egyptian Houses - interesting facts about the homes of this ancient civilization. Including information on the houses of the wealthy as well as the peasants.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The ancient Egyptians lived in houses were made of mud brick as hardly any wood was available to construct houses. Papyrus reeds were also used to build houses. The homes were made using those materials which were easily accessible.

Early houses were constructed by mixing mud and straw which was later on molded into bricks and was then kept under the sun for drying. The structure of the house depended upon the capacity of its maker. Some people used stone as the building material to construct their homes. Houses made from stone proved to be long-lasting as compared to the mud-bricks.

The basic purpose of the house was common to all. Every house had a minimum of three to four rooms. The ancient Egyptian houses had flat roofs. However, the houses during this period showcased the capacity of its owner to spend money.

The rich or the nobles lived in villas. The villas were big houses consisting of at least 25-30 rooms and were generally two-story high. These villas were even used for carrying out business activities. The rooms in the houses had a definite usage like there was a family room, guest room, store room, bathrooms, gardens, public room, kitchen bedrooms, servant quarters, etc in each of the villas.

The rooms that visited by the guests were more elaborately decorated than the other rooms. The houses had a front and a back door about four feet off the ground. The homes of the wealthy had tiled floors and the walls were painted. The villas of the ancient Egyptians also had a courtyard.

The house of the peasants and poor people was smaller than the villas of the wealthy persons. However, even the poor people had at least three to four rooms. The interior of the house was very simple and whitewash was applied on the walls. The poor people had to share a room with their entire family. These houses lacked the indoor bathroom or toilet facilities which were the wealthy people could afford.

All the ancient Egyptian houses had windows which were constructed at a height so that sunlight does not enter through them. The windows were normally small and were rectangular in shape. Windows did not have glass panels but were covered with linen.

Windows were usually built at a height to prevent the sun rays from entering the house. The houses were coated with a whitewash. This helped reduce the temperature of the house. The houses of both rich and the poorly had hearth in which food was prepared.

The ancient Egyptians lived a simple life and as such, did not have objects to decorate their homes. Lamps were used as a source of lighting. These lamps were made from pottery or stone bowls consisting of palm-nut oil were normally used. The wick was made of flax or even papyrus.

The length of the wick was regarded as an important element in determining the time. The Egyptians used highly decorated lampstands. These stands were shaped like columns and were available in different lengths.

The wealthy houses had a bathroom. The bathroom comprises of a stone slab, which was used by a person to stand. Then, water was poured upon the person by his domestic help. During the ancient Egyptian period, the toilets consisted of a wooden seat which was placed over bricks. Under these bricks, a pot filled with sand was kept.

Furniture did not form a part of the house as it does today. The common furniture is seen in the houses where the three-legged stools and the chest. The rich people had beds and mattresses, while the poor used straw mattresses or rug to sleep on. The Egyptian people used reed baskets to store their things.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Egyptian Shelters home construction decoration houses

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The ancient Egyptians lived in houses were made of mud brick as hardly any wood was available to construct houses. Papyrus reeds were also used to build houses. The homes were made using those materials which were easily accessible.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
History and Description of Ancient Egyptian Houses

What were the ancient Egyptian houses made of?

Egypt's intense sun and heat shaped how ancient Egyptians built their houses. The oldest houses were built of mud and papyrus. After a while, however, people realized that this combination wouldn't work. The Nile River flooded for three months every year and literally washed these houses away.

This is when the ancient Egyptians discovered that they could create bricks out of clay and mud from the Nile's riverbank. Mixing the clay/mud with water, they poured this mixture into wooden molds in the shape of bricks. Allowed to dry in the sun, mud-bricks lasted much longer than houses made of mud and papyrus, but rain still eventually eroded them. Wood wasn't used to build the actual houses because of its scarcity. It was used to support doorways, ceilings and steps.

Slaves and children as young as four were left to the menial job of making mud-bricks. They would transport the clay and mud, make the bricks and also transport the dried bricks to the building site.

Almost all ancient Egypt houses were constructed with a flat roof. Not only did this most likely make the construction process simpler, but the flat roofs also offered a welcome respite from the burning Egyptian sun. Families often lounged, ate and slept on the roofs of ancient Egypt houses.

Photo by Iris Fernandez (2009). © 2009 Iris Fernandez (used with permission) photographed place: (El-Qasr) Reused in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license - Recreation of a mud-brick house

Layout of ancient Egyptian houses

The layout of an ancient Egyptian house was largely determined by whether the family was rich or poor, and if they lived in the city or the country.

Houses for the Poor

Those without much money often had only a one room house. This room was used for storage and napping during the day to escape the excessive heat. Inside the room were woven mats made of straw, perhaps a wooden stool or even a wooden bed with string pulled across it. They used long grass and animal hair for the string.

A ladder, mud brick staircase or ramp led to the flat roof. People often slept on the roof at night because it was cooler than the enclosed room below. Sometimes these roofs had reed canopies to create shade.

All the windows and doors had reed mat coverings to help keep out the heat, dust and flies. Oftentimes, doors were built four feet or so up off the ground to prevent the dust from creeping in. A ramp was used to get into the house from the outside.

Photo by Amheida Staff (2004). © 2004 NYU Excavations at Amheida Photographed place: Kellis (Esment el-Kharab). Reused in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license - Remains of interior chambers

The single room led to an open courtyard with a wall around it. Here, people might have a vegetable garden, they cooked food on clay braziers (a type of portable grill), they spun flax into linen and the family's stock of goats and chickens roamed the courtyard.

No bathrooms existed inside the poor person's house. When people had to use the bathroom they had a few options. They could dig a hole, toss the waste into the Nile River, walk to the edge of the village, or use a chamber pot inside the house and then empty it outside. In some cases, people had an outhouse built in the corner of their courtyard.

No running water existed in these houses. The kids or slaves were required to go into the village for buckets of water and bring them back to be used for drinking, cooking and bathing.

If the person lived in the city, these houses were built very close together, much like townhouses today, with a shared wall. The downstairs room was used for the family business, such as a bakery or workshop. The upstairs room was reserved for the family. In towns where pyramids were being constructed, homes were provided for the pyramid workers.

Where poor people had one layer of brick to build their homes, wealthy people often used two or three layers of mud-brick. Still, the richest people had their homes made of stone that often boasted a granite gateway that could be locked from the inside. Keys have been found dating back to 1550 BC.

Houses for the Rich

The wealthy enjoyed building their homes along the Nile River. The outside of the homes was painted white to keep it cooler during the day. Sometimes, the very wealthy lined the outside walls with limestone, which caused their house to sparkle and twinkle in the sunlight. Artists were paid to decorate the inside walls with bright pastel colors to create a fresh and clean feel.

Some of the richest had houses as big as 30 rooms. Most of these rooms were used for storing sealed jars of food. Other rooms were used for the children, guest rooms and even bathrooms (though with no running water). These large homes had front and back doors with bars on the windows to keep out intruders and wild animals.

Raised up, at the center of the house, lay the living or family room. This room was raised up to keep sand out. As it was the center of the home, it was cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

A nobleman might have a master suite behind the living room complete with its own toilet. Pipes led from the bathroom to the garden, though there was no true running water as we know it today.

The rich had more items than the poor, including mirrors, shelves, pots and pans, beds, lighting, heat and fountains. Inside their bedrooms, they had cosmetic and perfume pots and even extra clean clothes.

Outside of the homes of the rich were gardens and pools. Some houses even had pools inside. Many stocked pools with brightly colored fish while the gardens were abloom with cornflowers and daisies.

Photo by Amheida Staff (2006). © 2006 NYU Excavations at Amheida. Reused in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license - Mud Brick Town Remains at El-Qasr

Ancient Egyptian Houses Facts

Sometimes, people lived with other families in a house with many rooms and one shared courtyard.

Sometimes, people shared one room with many families.

Poor people sometimes had gateways made of limestone.

Even though some people put bars on their windows, crime was very low in ancient Egypt.

The braziers people cooked on were made of iron, bronze or clay and held charcoal wood fires.

The first houses built in ancient Egypt date back to the Predynastic period in the Stone Age around 6,000 B.C.

Very first ancient homes were built in wattle and daub style, meaning that sticks and twigs were interwoven and then covered with clay or mud.

The word "adobe" comes from the Ancient Egyptian word "dbe" and means "mud brick."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What were the ancient Egyptian houses made of? Egypt's intense sun and heat shaped how ancient Egyptians built their houses. The oldest houses were built of mud and papyrus. After a while, however, people realized that this combination wouldn't work. The Nile River flooded for three months every year and literally washed these houses away.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ancient Egyptian Houses - Facts for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Almost all of Egypt is a desert, and in ancient Egypt they needed to use any fertile land for growing crops. This means that there weren't that many trees for building houses. The Egyptians had to use whatever they had around and that included mud and reeds.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ancient Egypt for Kids - Homes - Ancient Egypt for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A typical home in ancient Egypt had mirrors, pots and pans, ovens, shelves, beds, comfortable sitting areas, lighting for evenings, heat, and fountains to naturally cool their homes. In the bedrooms, you would find cosmetic pots and perfume pots, and clean clothes. They kept beautifully designed chests to hold linens and clothes and other goods.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There are no forests in Egypt so wood is scarce and is not used for house building. The earliest inhabitants of Egypt lived in huts made from papyrus reeds. However, it was soon discovered that the mud left behind after the annual flooding of the Nile (inundation) could be made into bricks which could be used for building. Bricks were made by mixing mud and straw and leaving them to dry in the sun.

The houses of the poorest people used one row of bricks while those that were not so poor used two or three rows. Although mud brick houses were relatively cheap to make, they were not very strong and began to crumble after a few years.

The houses of the richest people were stronger because they could afford to build their home from stone.

Most houses had at least three rooms and all houses had flat roofs which formed part of the living area.

The farmhouse (above) has two floors. The upper floor is used for living space while the lower floor is used to store crops. A reed canopy has been made on the roof to provide shade.

Small windows can be seen at the top of the upper rooms. Windows and doors were covered with reed mats to keep out dust, flies and heat.

The houses of the rich were often built around a central courtyard where flowers, fruit and vegetables were grown.

Some rich people's houses had bathrooms and indoor toilets. Sewerage from rich and poor was disposed of by digging cess pits, throwing it in the river or in the streets.

From the time of the New Kingdom onwards, the rich generally had their own private well for fresh drinking water. Poorer people could use public wells that were constructed in various areas, however, many used water from the Nile or canals.

Furniture

The Ancient Egyptians did not have much furniture. The most common item of furniture was a low stool, although many people, especially the poor sat on the floor. Rich people had beds and mattresses, while poorer people slept on a straw mattress or rug on the floor. The Ancient Egyptians did not have cupboards but stored things in reed baskets.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are no forests in Egypt so wood is scarce and is not used for house building. The earliest inhabitants of Egypt lived in huts made from papyrus reeds. However, it was soon discovered that the mud left behind after the annual flooding of the Nile (inundation) could be made into bricks which could be ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Egyptian civilization - Daily life - Shelter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The homes of the wealthy were larger and more luxurious. Spacious reception and living rooms opened onto a central garden courtyard with a fish pond and flowering plants. Each bedroom had a private bathroom, and the walls, columns and ceilings were painted with beautiful designs inspired by nature.