Egyptian Tomb Architecture: The archaeological facts of pharaonic circular symbolism

ISBN-13: 9781407303390 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 106 str.

David I. Lightbody

Opis

This thesis, sure to prove controversial, examines the geometry of Old Kingdom Royal tomb architecture, arguing for far greater levels of mathematical sophistication than hitherto admitted. Adding his own contribution to the Black Athena debate, Lightbody also claims that the debts in measurement, geometry and mathematics which the Greeks owe to the Egyptians has also not been fully recognised, not least due to an overfocusing on philological evidence.

The objective of this monograph is to describe and explain the meanings underlying some otherwise anomalous archaeological data drawn from the study of Ancient Egypt. An explanation for the phenomena observed has hitherto proved elusive. The data is principally concerned with royal funerary architecture from the Old Kingdom, and the underlying systems of measurement and geometry that were employed therein. As well as providing a description and explanation for the data, this work also has the objective of providing the first synthesis of related cultural information drawn from several different textual and archaeological resources. The general subject matter is pharaonic funerary architecture from Old Kingdom Egypt, and the work focuses specifically on the circular proportions deliberately incorporated into the tomb designs by the architects.