Mansions
Inside the east gateway entrance of Kahun, there is a road that runs 0.24km east-west across the eastern quarter of the town. The seven houses that occupy the north side of this road are all of a comparable size (about 58.5 x 29 m.), and there are three similar sized houses on the opposite side. Petrie, described these large houses as being Mansions. The house at the top of this east-west road sits upon a high outcrop of bedrock and a staircase leads up to the entrance. Because of its high position, Petrie called this mansion, the Acropolis.
These Mansions were home to the elite families of Kahun, and their accompanying staff; they were vehicles for the Office of the Official who lived here. Ancient Egypt was a redistribution economy, and the large granaries at the northeast corner of the Mansions, contain at least eight grain silos, and would have been one of the primary storage points for the town's grain. The Mansions of Kahun are essentially the urban equivalent of the more typical Egyptian country estates. The smaller houses of Kahun would look towards the Mansions for rations of grain, and on a less regular basis for cloth, meat and other commodities. The Mansions acted as a home and as a tool of administration and a machine for production.
In one room within a house (behind the 'Southern Mansions') Petrie discovered this curious wall painting. The lower half represents vaulted rooms within a house, with latticed windows. Above this, within the interior of the house, the master is shown seated, with a servant standing in service before him. The table on the right hand side has various vessels placed upon it, and perhaps a row of food, shown one above the other, in typical Egyptian artistic convention.
A common feature of all the mansions was an open central court which served as a place for entertaining, and with its painted walls, pool and sycamore trees it was the most pleasant part of the house. The cloisters area was sheltered by the shade of a star painted ceiling supported by slender columns, providing a cool secluded space for relaxation. The court faced north, benefiting from the oncoming cool north winds and guarded from the dusty hot southern winds. This is one of the most widespread house forms in the Islamic world and has many parallels in ancient Greece. The court provided a comfortable environment in a hot climate, and helped fulfill the social requirements of privacy.
The exterior of the houses would have been quite plain. Windows were positioned high up on the wall, near the ceiling. This clerestory lighting allowed warm air to rise and leave the house, and captured cooler air. Domed windows on the ceiling (Arabic: Mulqaf), are also a ventilation feature that allowed rising hot air to escape, and prevailing cool north wind to be drawn in.
The ROM excavations have clearly identified the acropolis building as being one of these mansions, albeit considerably larger and more prominent than the others. It is more likely to be the home and office for the 'Mayor'. The capital city at this time was not more than 2 days away, so it is unlikely permanent accommodation for the Pharaoh would have been built within the town. More probably a temporary 'pavilion' structure would have been built, possibly to the North of the town. However, the site of this is yet to be discovered.
During the later occupation of the town in the Roman Period, the acropolis mansion was reused for burials. This is one reason Petrie halted his own excavation of this part of the site, feeling that the later Roman intrusions had destroyed all evidence of the original building.