Glossary · M
Mastaba
An Egyptian tomb of the early dynasties: a low, flat-topped rectangular mass with battered sides (Arabic mastaba, bench) over a shaft leading to the burial chamber, with a chapel or false door for offerings.
See also: Pyramid
Rules that use the word
From mastaba to true pyramid. The royal tomb grew in about a century from a low battered mastaba, through a stack of diminishing mastabas (the step pyramid), to a smooth-faced true pyramid; a failure of stability in between forced the change of slope of the Bent Pyramid.
Batter the walls. Make the outer faces of pylons, enclosure walls and mastabas lean inward as they rise, so that the wall is thickest at its foot; mark the corners with a torus roll.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters The Ancient World.
Nearby in the glossary
Maqsura · Marche · Martyrium · Maru · Medhi · Megalith · Megaron · Metope