Dimensions and Proportions of the Ptolemaic Temple at Gebel el-Nour

Abstract

The paper focuses on the analysis of plan proportions of the Ptolemaic temple near the settlement of Gebel el-Nour (Egypt), the construction of which is dated to the period of reign of Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus (king from 284 to 246 B.C.). In an attempt to understand the possible logic of the dimensional and geometrical construction of the temple, the development of arithmetical, graphic and modular methods of proportionality is considered in the examples of structures from the Early Dynastic to Ptolemaic periods. Thus, during the construction of the largest Early Dynastic structures the simplest modular system based on sequentially constructed squares in combination with a system of diagonal constructions was used. During the Old Kingdom architecture begins to reflect the proportions of the Egyptian rectangular triangle 3:4:5. To replace the simple ratio of integers and rectangular triangles, laid in the proportions of buildings, in the New Kingdom era comes a system of building on the diagonals of the square. The growing influence of the Mediterranean region in the Ptolemaic period led to the introduction of the Greek system of construction modulo. Meanwhile, during this period there was a conscious archaization — a return to the methods of the Old Kingdom. The analysis of the temple in Gebel el-Nour shows that its geometry is based on a square, the side of which, giving the width of the ground area (16.68 m), and the diagonal of which gives its length (23.60 m). The centre of the square is the centre of the circle (diameter 34.88 m) into which the whole temple is inscribed (pronaos together with the naos). Premises and internal walls of the temple can be built according to the module, the role of which is probably played by the diameter of the base of the column (1.19 m) or on the basis of a rectangular triangle 3:4:5. Thus a complex of methods could be applied to the construction of the temple. Each of these methods solved its task: to obtain general geometry of the building, aesthetics (facades), construction (wall thickness), and functioning (size and configuration of the hall). The use of geometric principles from a much earlier period (the archaic construction of the diagonal square and the use of a rectangular triangle 3:4:5 to divide the interior spaces) is probably a deliberate archaization typical of the period.