Ronald Wrote:
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> By the way, explain to me, IF the Gizamids were
> designed as a complex, why are they not equal in
> size and why do they absolutely not have the same
> internal design ? And why are the mortuary temples
> so different ? In other words, IF they form a
> pre-planned complex, why is there no uniformity ?
>

I understand what you are implying but the lack of uniformity you see may not necessarily have been randomness to the Egyptian.

If we take a line from their well recorded arithmetical mindset where two-thirds of a number was first extracted before halving it beckons us to look at numbers differently. Theirs was a process more visual than calculative. It was like shifting dominoes around in the sand and there are rules to how the dominoes must be moved. The best way to describe such a process is to think multiples of three. There are texts which clearly show how this works ... first you double a number and then when multiples of three become available you are free to proceed.

The reason I mention "rules" is that the same applied to art and architecture and it was thrashed out well before the 4th dynasty. We see it in the way they portrayed the human figure, where specific postures and proportions, the placement of details etc,, were only possible by being bound to a set of rules. Egyptian art was based on tradition and there was really no incentive for change. We see it as somewhat static or stiff in its execution and so we often overlook the fact that at its core was a well defined set of rules.

Again, at Giza and Saqqara, streets, houses and towns were laid out to a well conceived plan No doubt the architects followed "rules".

So usually underlying all that which we might consider "lacking in uniformity" lies an unique set of rules. These rules predate Khufu and they predate Netjerykhet and on the Giza plateau where it has been suggested that structures predating the 4th dynasty might have existed they probably applied there as well.

Graham

The great amount of labour involved in quarrying and transporting such a mass of masonry as even the casing, has always been a cause of astonishment - Sir Flinders Petrie.