Architecture and Mathematics in Ancient Egypt

(with analytical bookmarks for text-illustrations-tables)
In this fascinating study, architect and Egyptologist Corinna Rossi analyses the relationship between mathematics and architecture in ancient Egypt by exploring the use of numbers and geometrical figures in ancient architectural projects and buildings. While previous architectural studies have searched for abstract 'universal rules' to explain the history of Egyptian architecture, Rossi attempts to reconcile the different approaches of archaeologists, architects and historians of mathematics into a single coherent picture. Using a study of a specific group of monuments, the pyramids, and placing them in the context of their cultural and historical background, Rossi argues that theory and practice of construction must be considered as a continuum, not as two separated fields, in order to allow the original planning process of a building to re-emerge. Highly illustrated with plans, diagrams and figures, this book is essential reading for all scholars of Ancient Egypt and the architecture of ancient cultures.

"Rossi has provided a fine introduction and overview of ancient Egyptian architecture. Throughout, the book is well written, clearly structured and richly illustrated. Its success is built likewise on her double expertise in architecture and Egyptology, and on her attempt to cast her net for evidence wide enough to include textual as well as archaelogical evidence. She succeeds in reconciling the two types of sources to a detailed picture of the ancient architects, and it can only be hoped that this book will be followed by further research of the same kind." - Annette Imhausen, Cambridge University

"Rossi's book is a fascinating and worthwhile study of ancient Egyptian mathematics and architectural planning."
Vanessa Smith, Expedition

"This beautifully written book explores ancient Egyptian building design in the light of surviving evidence of how the Egyptians planned and laid out their monuments and