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Proportionality in Mind and Space in Ancient Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Barry Kemp
Affiliation:
Faculty of Oriental Studies, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA
Pamela Rose
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 62 Sidney Street, Cambridge CB2 3JW

Abstract

Over the last twenty years experimental psychology has revived interest in the Golden Section, showing it to have some influence not only in visual perception but also in a certain kind of value judgement. The findings are here tested on ancient Egyptian sources, both archaeological and textual. They lead to a discussion of how Egyptian architects designed their buildings, and also to a consideration of the cognitive processes involved in modern analyses of the plans of ancient buildings by means of diagrammatic proportional schemes.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1991

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