Rossi, C. 2004. Architecture and mathematics in ancient Egypt. – Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Abstract

Ever since I came across Schwaller de Lubics's (in)famous depiction of the plan of the Luxor temple compared with a human skeleton (Schwaller de Lubics, 1957), I have a strong aversion against any attempt to deduce a mathematical or symbolic pattern in the Egyptian temple plans. I still wonder what would have happened to the skeleton–drawing if another pylon of an earlier building phase, or a late one in front of the first pylon, had been excavated. Among other aspects of Egyptian architectural mathematics and its interpretation, this type of theories is described and put into the right perspective, by showing its weak points, in ‘Architecture and mathematics’.

In the first chapter, preceded by a short historical overview of proportion and harmony in architecture in general, several of the mass of theories concerning the proportions in Egyptian architecture formulated since the early 19^th century are described. Strangely, the architectural historian Quatremere de Quincy believed in 1803 that Egyptian architecture lacked any system of proportions. In sharp contrast, soon after publication of the ‘Description de l'Egypte’ provoked an immense popularity of the ancient Egyptian architecture, a stream of theories concerning all kinds of supposed proportion systems emerged. The writer describes some of the many attempts to formulate a geometrical system based on either polygons or series of numbers. These attempts concentrate predominantly on plans of Egyptian buildings, although sometimes column heights and facades were also subject of these Grand Theories. Rossi signals some fundamental errors in the approach of the analysis of the architectural plans used. Scaling errors in the drawings, line width and dubious reconstructions, all make the application of networks of polygons and series of numbers a precarious operation. Read more...