Abstract
Within the framework of the Conservation and Restoration of the Architectural Heritage, the purpose of the present study is the applied metrology in the composition of the religious architecture realized throughout the 18th Dynasty in the ancient Thebes (Egypt). The objective will be the determination of the geometrical and metrological relationships supposedly used in the Theban architectural models and the module used in the initial project of the buildings. The study and data collection of significant religious buildings, tombs, and temples in the ancient Theban necropolis is completed with the analysis and drawing of their plans. The systematization of the measurements and the modulation of the buildings allow establishing common compositional parameters, the module marked by the measuring unit used. The measurement system corresponding to that time and period (18th Dynasty) was the Egyptian royal cubit. The analysis and study of the measurements in this unit, used in its architectural design, provide exact numbers in the building spaces dimensions. It allows establishing proportional relationships between them, and finding a module of geometric composition, on which the original project was based. This responds to a philosophical and functional concept of the projected spaces. The study of architectonic typologies, and the drawing of plans in the correct unit of measurement (the Egyptian cubit), help to understand the process by which the geometric composition of the project is generated. Being a result of this design process, we can see an evolution in the distributions of the spaces, dimensions, measurements, as well as ritual and functional justification. In the field of heritage rehabilitation and restoration, the knowledge of these patterns and modules help in excavation work, reconstruction, and restoration of construction elements. The correct use of metrology contributes to the identification of possible work areas, by hel** locate where the damaged or disappeared areas are. Furthermore in restoration projects, metrology is useful to rearrange and locate the scattered pieces or parts of the buildings decontextualized. The translation of the measurements taken in the current International System of Units, into the measurements in which the original project was conceived, allows understanding of its conceptual purpose and functionality, which makes any interventions easy to undertake.
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Notes
- 1.
In 30 a. C., after the death of Cleopatra VII, the Roman Empire declared to Egypt a province (Aegyptus) that was to be governed by a prefect chosen by the roman Emperor.
- 2.
Manetho was an Egyptian priest and historian born in the third century. He wrote the Aegyptíaka (‘History of Egypt’), where he organized the chronology of his history in the form of dynasties from the beginning until the conquest of Alexander the Great. This division has been generally accepted by modern Egyptology.
- 3.
Papyrus of hieratic writing, from the time of Ramses II, includes the kings of Egypt list. It was discovered by Bernardino Drovetti in 1822.
- 4.
Pharaoh Thutmose III began a reign in which the Egyptian Empire reached its greatest extent by reinforcing the Egyptian presence in the East. With decisive battles, such as Meggido, and later Mitanni on the Euphrates, he brought Egypt to the limits of the empire.
- 5.
Reading from right to left in the upper register, the digit XIV on a cubit stick was marked in 16 equal parts. The next digit was divided into 15 parts and so on, to the figure of 28, which was divided into two equal parts. Thus, measurements could be made to fractions of digits with any denominator from 2 to 16. The smallest division, 1/16 of a digit, was equal to 1/448 part of a real cubit. The precision of the cubit lever is attested by the dimensions of the great pyramid of Giza; although thousands were employed in construction, its sides vary no more than 0.05 percent of the average length of 230,364 m.
- 6.
Eugène, Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879), French architect, archeologist and writer. The Neb (or gold) triangle, better known as the isosceles triangle, is the most widely used in the construction and harmonic diagram of Egyptian art and architecture. Viollet-le-Duc called it the “Egyptian Triangle”.
- 7.
François Auguste Choisy (1841–1909), French engineer, historian, and theorist of architecture. Good student of Egyptian architecture, he defended that if the different parts of a building are compared, between its dimensions there are simple relationships; 3/5, 1/2, …
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Marcos González, M.M. (2022). Metrology in Egyptian Architecture of the XVIII Dynasty, in Thebes. In: Versaci, A., Bougdah, H., Akagawa, N., Cavalagli, N. (eds) Conservation of Architectural Heritage. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74482-3_8
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