Construction at Karnak

Construction Methods and Building Materials
Introduction

Building design
Plans and models

1

Arnold 1991: 7-10

Construction Methods and Building Materials

A scene from the Hypostyle Hall showing the “stretching of the cord” ceremony for Karnak.

Proportions

The Akhmenu festival hall.

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Sullivan 2008, Construction methods. Digital Karnak.

2

Arnold 1991: 7-10, 251 Robins 1997: 107-109, 141-142 Arnold 1991: 252-253; Clarke and Engelbach 1990: 64-65 Golvin and Goyon 1987: 37-38 Golvin and Goyon 1987: 38 Carlotti 1995

Construction Methods and Building Materials
Architects

The “forest of columns” in the hypostyle hall.

8

Quarrying and building with stone
Materials

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Sullivan 2008, Construction methods. Digital Karnak.

3

Dorman 2005: 107 and fig. 37; Habachi and Van Siclen 1977: 6068 Dorman 2005: 108, 109 (note 13), 124-125 Habachi and Van Siclen 1977: 9598 Golvin and Goyon 1987: 96 Dorman 2005: 107-108 Dorman 2005: 107 For a description of different types of commonly used stones, their source and their petrological descriptions, see: Shaw, Aston and Harrell 2000: 20-63

Construction Methods and Building Materials

The calcite (“Egyptian alabaster”) used in the Amenhotep II Shrine came from Hatnub.

Quarrying and dressing blocks

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Sullivan 2008, Construction methods. Digital Karnak. 4

Golvin and Goyon 1987: 96-98 Arnold 1991: 31 Brand 2000: 359 Golvin and Goyon 1987: 96 Arnold 1991: 27 Arnold 1991: 30-33; Shaw et al. 2000: 6 Arnold 1991: 37; Clarke and Engelbach 1990: 27

Construction Methods and Building Materials

Red quartzite was used to construct the “red chapel” of Hatshepsut. Black granite was used for the doorways and the base.

22

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Sullivan 2008, Construction methods. Digital Karnak.

5

Arnold 1991: 39; Clarke and Engelbach 1990: 27-28; Shaw et al. 2000: 6-7 see: Shaw et al. 2000: 7 for a brief discussion and relevant

Cited: Arnold, Dieter 1991 Building in Egypt: Pharaonic Stone Masonry. New York: Oxford University Press. --1999 Temples of the last pharaohs. New York: Oxford University Press. --2003 The encyclopedia of ancient Egyptian architecture. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Barguet, Paul 1962 Le temple d’Amon-Rê à Karnak; essai d’exégèse. Le Caire: Impr. de l’Institut français d”archéologie orientale. Brand, Peter 2000 The monuments of Seti I: epigraphic, historical, and art historical analysis. Probleme der Ägyptologie 16. Bd. Leiden: Brill. --2001 Repairs ancient and modern in the great hypostyle hall at Karnak. Bulletin of the American Research Center in Egypt 180: 1-6. --2004 The Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall Project. Jan. 2008, from http://history.memphis.edu/hypostyle/. Carlotti, Jean-François 1995 Contribution à l’ étude métrologique de quelques monuments du temple d’AmonRê à Karnak. Cahiers de Karnak X, pp. 65-127. --2001 L’Akh-menou de Thoutmosis III à Karnak: etude architecturale. Paris: Recherche sur les civilisations. Carlotti, Jean-François, and Luc Gabolde 2003 Nouvelles données sur la Ouadjyt. Cahiers de Karnak XI, pp. 255-338. Clarke, Somers, and Reginald Engelbach 1990 Ancient Egyptian construction and architecture. New York: Dover Publications. Dorman, Peter 2005 The career of Senenmut. In: Hatshepsut, from queen to Pharaoh, ed. Catharine Roehrig, pp. 107-109. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Engelbach, Reginald 1923 The problem of the obelisks, from a study of the unfinished obelisk at Aswan. New York: George H. Doran company. Golvin, Jean-Claude 1995 Enceintes et Portes Monumentales des Temples de Thèbes à l”époque Ptolémaïque et Romaine. In: Hundred-Gated Thebes: Acts of a Colloquium on Thebes and the Theban area in the Graeco-Roman Period, ed. Sven Vleeming. Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava 27, pp. 31-41. Leiden: E.J. Brill. Golvin, Jean-Claude, and Jean Claude Goyon 1987 Les bâtisseurs de Karnak. Paris: Presses du CNRS. Sullivan 2008, Construction methods. Digital Karnak. 17 Construction Methods and Building Materials Habachi, Labib, and Charles Van Siclen, (Eds.) 1977 The Obelisks of Egypt: skyscrapers of the past. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. Josephson, Jack 2005 The use of “sand box” foundations in ancient Egypt. In Structure and significance: thoughts on ancient Egyptian architecture, ed. Peter Jánosi, pp. 401-406. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Kemp, Barry 2000 Soil (including mud-brick architecture). In: Ancient Egyptian materials and technology, ed. Ian Shaw, and Paul Nicholson, pp. 78-103. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Larché, François 2007 Nouvelles observations sur les monuments du Moyen et du Nouvel Empire dans la zone centrale du temple d’Amon. Cahiers de Karnak XII, pp. 407-592. Lauffray, Jean 1979 Karnak d’Egypte, domaine du divin: dix ans der recherches archéologiques et de travaux de maintenance en coopération avec l’Egypte. Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique. Murnane, William, and Peter Brand 2004 The Karnak hypostyle hall project: (1992-2002). Annales du service des antiquités de l’Égypte 78, pp. 79-127. Naville, Edouard 1894 The temple of Deir el Bahari: The upper court and sanctuary. V. London: Egypt Exploration Fund. Redford, Donald 1984 Akhenaten, the heretic king. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Robins, Gay 1997 The art of ancient Egypt. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Rondot, Vincent, and Jean-Claude Golvin 1989 Restaurations antiques a l’entrée de la salle hypostyle ramesside du temple d’Amon-Rê à Karnak. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 45, pp. 249-259. Shaw, Ian, Barbara Aston, and James Harrell 2000 Stone. In: Ancient Egyptian materials and technology, ed. Ian Shaw, and Paul Nicholson, pp. 5-77. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Short Citation: Sullivan 2008, Construction Methods. Digital Karnak. Full Citation: Sullivan, Elaine, 2008, Construction Methods. On Digital Karnak, Los Angeles. http://dlib. etc.ucla.edu/projects/Karnak. 18