Editing Ancient Egypt (section)

===Architecture===
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{{Main|Ancient Egyptian architecture}}
The architecture of ancient Egypt includes some of the most famous structures in the world: the [[Giza pyramid complex|Great Pyramids of Giza]] and the temples at Thebes. Building projects were organized and funded by the state for religious and commemorative purposes, but also to reinforce the wide-ranging power of the pharaoh. The ancient Egyptians were skilled builders; using only simple but effective tools and sighting instruments, architects could build large [[stone structures]] with great accuracy and precision that is still envied today.{{sfnp|Clarke|Engelbach|1990|pp=94–97}}

The domestic dwellings of elite and ordinary Egyptians alike were constructed from perishable materials such as mudbricks and wood, and have not survived. Peasants lived in simple homes, while the palaces of the elite and the pharaoh were more elaborate structures. A few surviving New Kingdom palaces, such as those in [[Malkata]] and [[Amarna]], show richly decorated walls and floors with scenes of people, birds, water pools, deities and geometric designs.{{sfnp|Badawy|1968|p=50}} Important structures such as temples and tombs that were intended to last forever were constructed of stone instead of mudbricks. The architectural elements used in the world's first large-scale stone building, [[Djoser]]'s mortuary complex, include [[post and lintel]] supports in the papyrus and lotus motif.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The earliest preserved ancient Egyptian temples, such as those at Giza, consist of single, enclosed halls with roof slabs supported by columns. In the New Kingdom, architects added the [[pylon (architecture)|pylon]], the open [[courtyard]], and the enclosed [[hypostyle]] hall to the front of the temple's sanctuary, a style that was standard until the Greco-Roman period.{{sfnp|Types of temples in ancient Egypt|2003}} The earliest and most popular tomb architecture in the Old Kingdom was the [[mastaba]], a flat-roofed rectangular structure of mudbrick or stone built over an underground [[Chamber tomb|burial chamber]]. The [[Pyramid of Djoser|step pyramid of Djoser]] is a series of stone mastabas stacked on top of each other. Pyramids were built during the Old and Middle Kingdoms, but most later rulers abandoned them in favor of less conspicuous rock-cut tombs.{{sfnp|Dodson|1991|p=23}} The use of the pyramid form continued in private tomb chapels of the New Kingdom and in the royal [[Nubian pyramids|pyramids of Nubia]].{{sfnp|Dodson|Ikram|2008|pages=218, 275–276}}

<gallery mode="packed" class="center" heights="170">
File:Model of a Porch and Garden MET DP350593.jpg|Model of a household porch and garden, {{circa|1981–1975 BC}}
File:The Temple of Dendur MET DT563.jpg|The [[Temple of Dendur]], completed by 10 BC, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York City)
File:Philae temple at night.jpg|The well preserved Temple of Isis from [[Philae]] is an example of [[Ancient Egyptian architecture|Egyptian architecture]] and [[architectural sculpture]].
File:Lepsius-Projekt tw 1-2-108.jpg|Illustration of various types of capitals, by [[Karl Richard Lepsius]]
</gallery>