Don Barone Wrote:
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> Does anyone have an opinion on what The Saqqara
> Ostracon is representing ?
>
From here: [
www.egyptartsite.com]
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OSTRACON. . From the Greek word meaning; "potsherd". A chip or shard of limestone or pottery used as a writing tablet. Ostraca are known from all periods. but 19th and 20th-Dynasty examples are the most common. The texts can be anything from a simple shopping list to drafts of hieroglyphic inscriptions.
It is thought to represent the archway being constructed and the approximate heights at various intervals under it so the overall structure would be completed as the architects planned.
In other words, it's a worker's instruction for how high to build the supports under the arch until it could be finished, and therefore, self supporting.
According to Batiscombe Gunn, published in Annales du Service des Antiquites de L'Egypte, Volume 26, 1926, pages 197 - 202, Le Caire, France:
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It seems clear that each measurement refers to the height of the vertical line to the left of it, and that these lines must be taken as all rising from the same level; the horizontal datum line which according to our ideas would be necessary at the bottom of the diagram is however absent, being doubtless taken for granted. The vertical lines will thus be offsets (in effect a series of coordinates) which by their lengths determine the positions of a series of points on the curved line. Obviously, for this diagram to be of use, the distances of the vertical lines from one another must be known; these data are however not given. It is natural to suppose that the vertical lines are intended to be equidistant, in spite of the inequalities of the diagram in this respect; and the very fact the distance is not specified makes it most probable that it is to be understood as one cubit, an implied unit found elsewhere.
These kinds of writings are common from across nearly all of Egyptian history.
Have you ever studied how Egyptians created their artwork? No, that's not a rhetorical question.
Anthony
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.
