Egypt. Th e city also sat at the meeting points between the
Nile Delta and the Nile River valley, making it a good mar-
ketplace that could be taxed and controlled. Unfortunately,
little is known about the actual city itself, as much of the re-
mains of early Memphis are situated beneath thick alluvial
deposits from the Nile and below the water table. However,
recent archaeological excavations and new technologies are
beginning to shed light on this ancient city. For example, ar-
chaeologists have found that the city shift ed eastward over
its history because of the shift ing course of the Nile and en-
croaching sand dunes.
While Egyptian towns and cities seemed to have little
planning underpinning their initial development, archaeolo-
gists have discerned some attempts at a rational approach to
building urban areas. For example, the ancient city Kahun,
which was founded by Sesostres II (r. 1897–1878 b.c.e.) and
unearthed by Sir Flinders Petrie in the 1880s, is a workers’
town for the builders of the pyramid of Seostres II and was
conceived as an administrative area inhabited by those who
served the local pyramid cult, a funerary cult that acted to
sustain the king in the aft erlife. Inhabitants included priests,
offi cials, and craft sman as well as t he farmers who worked t he
agricultural land surrounding the city.
Following digs by Petrie and others, archaeologists found
that the strict internal planning was undertaken for Kahun,
whose population has been estimated at between 3,000 and
10,000. Kahun and other similar towns were developed pri-
marily to support the royal cult by providing a living for those
responsible for the cult’s operation. In addition to celebration
of religious ceremonies, inhabitants of Kahun were also pri-
marily concerned with agriculture and construction.
A walled town built near the modern town of El-Lahun,
Kahun’s interior was divided into two sections by another
wall. While the residents of diff erent classes generally were
not separated in ancient Egyptian towns and cities, Kahun
included a wealthy residential area that contained houses
with 60 to 70 rooms, ma k ing them as much as 50 times bigger
than the houses of those living in the other part of the city.
Careful planning went into Kahun’s streets, with a system of
parallel and cross streets. Alleys, where the workers lived, of-
ten ended in a cul-de-sac. Th e town’s main street, which led
to the palace, was approximately 30 feet wide, whereas streets
and alleys were much smaller, oft en only 3 to 5 feet wide.
Stone channels ran down the middle of the streets for drain-
age, and archaeologists believe that Kahun contained several
large granaries. Overall, the city was densely built with mud
huts and streets covering the landscape, leaving little room
for large gardens, which Egyptians loved.
An example of a diff erent kind of city planning can be
found in the capital city of Akhenaton, which is now known
as Amarna. Built by Akhenaton (also known as Ikhnaton
and, early in his reign, as Amenhotep IV) during the Eigh-
teenth Dynasty (1550–1307 b.c.e.), the city is situated about
365 miles south of Cairo along the Nile River in a natural
amphitheater between two imposing cliff s. In designing the
city, planners created many public open spaces that includ-
ed planted trees and gardens for some of the inhabitants.
Built without an enclosure wall, Akhenaton included a large
open area in the center of the city where temple complexes
for the cult of the creator god Aton were situated. Th e city’s
main road ran north to south, with the Great Palace and
king’s residential palace located on the western side of the
road and facing the Nile and the temple complexes located
on the eastern side of the road. Th e central part of the city
also included administrative and industrial buildings, such
as those used for baking. Residential areas of various sizes
were situated to the north and south of the central area.
Clusters of houses indicated the existence of distinct neigh-
borhoods. Unlike Kahun and other Middle Kingdom cities,
Akhenaton’s streets were irregularly laid out.SPECIALIZED SETTLEMENTS SURROUNDING CITIES
In addition to the major towns and ancient cities, Egyptians
also built numerous specialized villages and towns in close
proximity to them. Integral to ancient Egypt’s larger towns
and cities was the workers’ village. Worker’s’ villages can be
traced back to the Fourth Dynasty (ca. 2575–2465 b.c.e.) and
are oft en associated with the building of the pyramids. One
such site northwest of present-day Cairo, called Abu Ghalib,
was twice the size of Kahun. Th e discovery of a rectangular
grid uncovered during archaeological excavations indicates
that the city was carefully planned.
In fact, workers’ villages appeared to be well-organized
settlements, each with its own economic administration sep-
arated from the nearby larger city or town. For the most part,
workers’ villages contained larger residential sites for admin-
istrative offi cials and many small, nearly identical residences
for the workers. Th e smaller units were inhabited by both
skilled and unskilled laborers and their families.
A prime example of the workers’ village is one that was
located at the edge of the desert about three-quarters of a
mi le east of A k henaton. It conta ined 73 ident ica l houses a nd
one slightly larger for a total population of approximately
300 to 400 people. Th e workmen generally lived in small,
barracks-like dwellings of approximately 650 square feet.
In dwellings with a second fl oor, the living space expanded
to approximately 1,100 square feet. Th e residents of such
homes oft en included animals. Many of the houses included
hearths shaped like keyholes and jars sunk into the fl oor.
Th e long, narrow streets of the village were laid out parallel
to each other and were approximately 6½ feet wide. Within
this walled workers’ village, houses took up almost the en-
tire area. In addition to residences, the village included an
area for the delivery of goods from the city (including water,
since the village had no wells), a guardhouse, and quarry
sites later turned into rubbish pits. In addition, the village
had animal pens for livestock that were not housed with the
workers. Th ere is also some evidence that vegetable garden-
ing took place within the town.cities: Egypt 207