ANCIENT EGYPT

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 May 1937, Page 15

ANCIENT EGYPT

SKILL OF PHAROAHS’ ENGINEERS Modern structures, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the tall buildings of our cities, may excite our wonder and admiration, but, relatively, it is doubtful if they surpass the magnitude and permanence of. some of the works of the earliest civilisations (writes N. M. Goddard in the “Sydney Morning Herald”). The tombs and temples, and within its limitations, the art of ancient Egypt, stand high in the scale of the works of man. It was early in this civilisation, as it is at present known, that man first became conscious of his ability to deal with materials on a grand scale, and the Nile Valley abounds with examples of what this realisation made possible, but in all of them mass rather than refinement is the main feature.

To the layman, the great landmarks in this civilisation are the Pyramids and the great Sphinx at Ghizeh. These were accomplished by 3800 8.C., but the skill displayed in their layout and construction is such that there must have been a Iqpgthy and advanced period of preparation. When this period started is a matter for future determination, but it and the succeeding years have given the Egyptians a secure place in the scheme of science as practical builders and measurers.

Due, no doubt, to the fact that the annual flooding of the Nile destroyed the marks defining land boundaries, they had, of v necessity, to develop practical methods of surveying and measurement. They did not bother much about the theoretical aspects of pure mathematics —that -was left to the Greeks —but they built up a useful scheme of practical geometry. Its utility, and the accuracy with -which it could be applied is illustrated in the Great Pyramid of Ghizeh. The building of this structure -was an architectural and engineering feat of the first magnitude, its planning, the transport, cutting, .finishing, and fitting of the vast quantity of stones forming the core, and the now vanished casing showing that, although Egyptian architects had, perhaps, nqjcnowledge of abstract principles, they , had technical skill in the highest degree.