The Eternal Present, Volume II: The Beginnings of Architecture (The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 6)

An original account of ancient Egyptian and Sumerian architecture from the acclaimed architectural historian In The Beginnings of Architecture , Sigfried Giedion examines the architecture of ancient Egypt and Sumer. These early builders expressed an attitude of immense force when they confronted their structures with open sky. Giedion argues that it was during these periods that the problem of constancy and change flared up with an intensity unknown in any other period of history, and resolved eventually into the first architectural space conception, the automatic, psychic recording of the visual environment. Cover Title Copyright Foreword Acknowledgments Contents Part I: The Differing Destinies of Egypt and Sumer Constancy and change in the archaic civilizations Likenesses and differences between Egypt and Sumer Attitude toward death Influences upon the beginnings of architecture Periods of Egypt and Sumer: dates and disparities The "short" and "Zong" chronologies The periods of Mesopotamia The periods of Egypt Part II: The Eggshells of Prehistory The Animal and The Archaic High Civilizations Transition from sacred animal to deity Veneration of the individual animal The animal as deity Apis: a re-reflecting process The ram cult Animals and marks of distinction The fading of the animal cult Hybrid Forms: Prehistory and The High Civilizations Hybrids in Sumer lmdugud, the lioness-headed eagle The bull-man The bull-man in the Late Assyrian period Subjugation of the animal Hybrids in Egypt The Sphinx Constancy and Change In Fertility Symbols From fertility idol to goddess Hathor Prehistoric links Hathor and kingship Inanna Min as idol and as god Min as idol Min as god The Ka and Primeval Concepts Part III: Creating An Anthropomorphic Cosmos Temples Without Images From Masks To The Human Countenance The masked face from Hassuna The female face from Uruk The mouth The eyes The Discovery of The Human Body Female beauty manifested Fragment of a Mycerinns triad Torso of a woman The human body in Sumerian sculpture Appearance of Anthropomorphic Deities Sumer The alabaster vase of Uruk The astral gods of Sumer Kudurru: symbols and astral deities Humanization of the course of the sun in Egypt On the structure of Egyptian and Greek mythologies Interdependence Between Man and Astral Bodies The astronomical ceiling of Senmut's tomb Part IV: Constancy and Change In The Mode of Expression Sculptural Tendencies In Egypt Plane surfaces as a constituent element in art Outlines Hollowed-out reliefs of the early dynasties The sunken relief as a light-catcher Sculptural Tendencies In Sumer Sculpture in the round The Use of Color Prehistoric and Egyptian Methods of Representation A prehistoric relief: the man of Laussel An Egyptian relief: Hesy-ra, Third Dynasty Part V: The Origins of Monumental Architecture: Mesopotamia The Formation of The House Prehistoric structures La Mouthe Font-de-Gaume Neolithic Egypt Khirokitia Orchomenus Earliest Jericho Catal Huyuk Hassuna Earliest Tepe Gawra The patio house around 2000 B.C The Formation of Earliest Temples Interior space up to the third millennium The acropolis of Tepe Gawra Architecture, Pottery, and Abstraction Growing Distance Between Deity and People The separation of the cella Polychrome Architecture Around 3000 B.C On The Significance of The Earliest Monumental Architecture Part VI: Ziggurats: Stairways of The Gods Differences Between Ziggurat and Pyramid The Classic Form of The Ziggurat The ziggurat of Ur The monumental stairway The ziggurat of Eridu Late Forms of The Ziggurat The ziggurat of Aqar Quf Etemenanki: the "Tower of Babel" Building As A Royal Activity The Significance of The Ziggurat Ziggurat and sacrifice Part VII: Beginnings of Stone Architecture and The Ka: Egypt The Egyptian Relation To Stone Preludes in clay: the mastabas of north Saqqara Imhotep the builder In The Shadow of The Ka The Heb-Sed festival for the Ka Architecture For The Ka of King Zoser Interior spaces: the processional hall Exterior spaces: the galaxy of courts The great court of the ceremonial race The Heb-Sed court Courts of the northern and southern buildings The Zoser Statue In The Serdab On The Significance of Zoser's Mortuary Complex Tectonic elements Life on earth and life beyond Part VIII: Pyramids: Rites and Space The Plane As A Constituent Element of Architecture The Experimental Phase of The Pyramid The step pyramid of Zoser, Third Dynasty The mastaba, first to third stage The step pyramid, fourth to sixth stage The subterranean tombs An unfinished step pyramid of the Third Dynasty The three pyramids of Sneferu Medum Dahshur: the bent pyramid Dahshur: the first "true pyramid" On the experimental phase Growing experience in the handling of stone Construction For Eternity The great pyramid of Cheops, Fourth Dynasty The Later Pyramids The Pyramid Complex Rites and architectural form Initial phases Final phase The valley temple of Chephren The T-shaped hypostyle hall The causeway The mortuary temple of Mycerinus The day side The night side The Sun Sanctuaries of The Fifth Dynasty Humanization of the deity The sun sanctuary of Ne-user-ra On the meaning of the sun sanctuaries On The Meaning Of The Pyramids Ernesto Schiaparelli's symbolic approach in 1884 Alexandre Moret: benben, pyramid, and obelisk The symbolism of the isosceles triangle The symbolism of the square Part IX: The Great Temples and The Eternal Wandering The Conception of The Temple Rites, not dogma The sacred ways The Great Temple of Amon At Karnak The temples of the Tuthmosids The hypostyle of Tuthmosis I Hatshepsut's obelisks The tectonic festival hall of Tuthmosis III Tectonic features The north-south axis of Karnak Pylons As Monumental Barriers Hatshepsut's Pylon VIII The pylons of the southern axis The Hypostyle As Passageway The great hypostyle of Ramesses II The hypostyle at Luxor The Dimming of Light Ritual and Wandering Ritual processions in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece Part X: Hatshepsut and The Cosmic Inner Court Rock-Tombs Since The Old Kingdom Early stage: nomarch tombs of Aswan, Sixth Dynasty Later stage: Mentuhotep's mortuary temple and the nomarch tombs of the Middle Kingdom Mentuhotep's terraced mortuary temple The rock-tombs of the nomarchs of Qaw The Terraced Temple of Queen Hatshepsut Hatshepsut and Senmut The structure of the temple Inseparability of sculpture and architecture Buildings and nature Part XI: Supremacy of The Vertical The Vertical As Directive The Vertical and Mythopoeic Thinking The Vertical As Organizing Principle The axis and symmetry Axis and symmetry in architecture The median plane Sequence and The Vertical Pottery and sequence Cylinder seals and sequence Sequences of human figures Sequence in Egypt Architecture and sequence Mesopotamia Egypt Penetration of The Vertical Into Art Relief: Ti hunting among the papyrus reeds Sculpture: Mycerinus with two goddesses The Vertical and Its Relations The right-angled triangle The Pythagorean theorem: relations between lines and planes The golden section and the pyramid The pyramid and its planes Sculpture and The Vertical Plane The Meaning of The Squared Grid The squared grid based on the human handbreadth The dimensioning of the human figure Proportions In Architecture The cubit as a basis of architectural proportions Part XII: The First Architectural Space Conception The Intangibility of Space Architectural Space Conception Static and dynamic space Dynamic space Research into architectural space Space Conception In Prehistory and The Archaic Civilizations Pyramids, planes, and volumes Interior space and lighting Columns Lighting Vaulting in the archaic civilizations The cosmic orientation of the inner court The Three Architectural Space Conceptions The first architectural space conception The second architectural space conception The third architectural space conception Volumes in space Interior space The maps List of Illustrations List of Works Cited General Index Index of Concepts