Art and Science. Eliane Strosberg

squares, with the greatest deviation from a right angle being only half a percent. The orientation of the sides is exactly north-south and east-west. They were completed within a few decades by methods that are still not entirely known to us. The core probably rose together with the ramp, yet wheeled vehicles were not used to transport materials. Was granite quarried first, or later on the spot? How were the stones cut to fit with jeweler’s precision?

      Cosmic rays revealing the interior of the Great Pyramid

      Cosmic rays from space were used by physicists and archaeologists to understand the design and content of the Pharaoh’s presumed burial chamber—and the false passages perhaps intended to discourage grave robbers.

      Computer model of the Sphinx, Mark Lehner

      Originally brightly colored, the Sphinx had cheeks that bore traces of ancient red paint until recently. This computer-generated model is one of many attempts to reconstruct the monument as it looked when it was first built. It is based on close study of a life-size statue of Pharaoh Chephren, who possibly ordered the construction of the Sphinx.

      The pyramids had an outer casing of stone, and their tops were covered with a layer of reflective material. At sunrise they were illuminated before anything else around. To the Ancient Egyptians, they may have looked like solar energy stations, similar in concept to contemporary cybernetic sculptures.

      To the Ancient Greeks, the pyramids were symbols of geometrical beauty. Later, the Arab traveler Muhammad Ibn Batuta (1304–1377) said: “[God Thoth], having ascertained from the appearance of the stars that the deluge would take place, built the pyramids to contain books of science and other matters worth preserving from oblivion and ruin.”

      The interpretation of works of art in scientific terms is not peculiar to our time. Links between astronomy and the construction of temples were found through the ages in distant civilizations. Watching the sky and relating cosmic observations to buildings, and in some cultures to the human body, was the expression of a broad conceptual system.

      Chrysippe, drawing of an antique sculpture Édouard Manet, c. 1862

      Egyptian monuments contain traces of the grid that guided the sculptor at work. The Egyptian canon consisted of precise formal prescriptions that remained unchanged for some 2,200 years. Medieval art had its own canons (this word comes from the craftsman’s cane). The technique of plotting drawings on a grid is still in use.

      Musée du Louvre, Paris

      Egyptians, whom we tend to admire mainly for the magnificence of their tombs, also made valuable contributions to medicine and astronomy. Like the Babylonians, they used a calendar year of 360 days (and later added 51⁄4 days) and divided it into 12 months, corresponding to the signs of the zodiac.

      The eye of Horus

      The first sequences of the mathematical progression 1⁄2, 1⁄4, 1⁄8, 1⁄16, 1⁄32, 1⁄64 are each represented by a hieroglyph—the combination of which represents the eye of Horus, the god with a falcon face.

      Modern medical prescription symbol

      This symbol, still used by physicians to signify a recipe, strangely resembles the eye of Horus. Ancient Egyptians knew a great deal about pigments, cosmetics and embalming. They were knowledgeable about diet, massage, hypnosis and contraceptives, and had a pharmacopoeia of hundreds of drugs. In the West, mummy powder would long be considered as a cure for many ills.

      Egyptians systematically incorporated that science into their architecture. For example, 160 feet (63 m) inside the Abu Simbel temple, the statue of Ramses II (c. 1304–1237 B.C.) was bathed by sunlight twice yearly on precise calendar days.

      Extended knowledge of astronomy prevailed throughout the region. The Talmud relates that, in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, the rays of the sun during the equinox lit the altar by passing through a metal disk in the door. Egyptian monumental relief sculpture, whose design was strictly codified, enhanced the architectural beauty, while assuming its part in the ritual.

      Besides their aesthetic appeal, obelisks served as sundials. The most famous of them, Cleopatra’s Needle, was used to calculate the time, seasons and solstices.

      Observation and reasoning

      Across the Mediterranean Basin, an amalgam of ideas from Mesopotamia and Egypt were transcribed using the Semitic alphabet. Commerce with regions as remote as the Baltic resulted in an unprecedented cross-cultural fertilization. Brightly painted Egyptian buildings must have influenced the surrounding architecture in many ways.

      The Cretans (c. 2500–1100 B.C.) were energized by the arrival of metal working, pottery and the textile industry. They inherited their neighbors’ traditions, but interpreted them in their own way.

      Egyptian tomb decorations were thought by the Greeks to be painted inventories of objects for daily use. Homer even described the Egyptians as “a race of druggists.” Whereas the latter had concentrated on death, the Greeks used science to serve health, developing the art of living to a high degree. They had houses with several rooms and tiled roofs, running water and luxurious bathrooms.

      Despite their condescension towards the Egyptians, the Greeks are believed to have adopted Imhotep as their god of medicine. They gave him the name Asklepius, and his daughter-wife Hygeia was the goddess of health. The practice of medicine extended by Hippocrates (c. 460–377 B.C.) became an art based on technical recipes.

      Before the Ancient Greeks, science was a loose collection of observations used for practical applications. The Greeks, who developed a keen awareness of space—probably through their navigational skills—were responsible for the birth of science, and even of science for the sake of science.

      Plan of the antique city of Miletus

      The Greeks learned mathematics from the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, and used it in their urban and architectural plans. A map of Manhattan would not look very different.

      Thales of Miletus, regarded as the founder of natural philosophy (c. 625–547 B.C.), studied astronomy in Mesopotamia and stunned all who knew about it by correctly predicting a solar eclipse. In Egypt, he learned land surveying from which he deduced geometry.

      According to Thales, the universe was made of a physical substance, water. From his time on, philosophers sought to understand the basic mechanisms of nature by the use of analogy and reasoning. They introduced a systematic approach in all avenues of creation.

      The great philosophical awakening was accompanied by a formidable architectural movement. The Egyptians used the grid as an aid in architectural design, but the Greeks extended orthogonal planning to the layout of entire cities. Tapered columns, angle contraction and other design tricks used for visual effect were current in the Middle East; the Greeks adapted them to a system of “ideal” proportions based on the Golden Section. This became fundamental to architecture in a unique way.

      The Golden Section

      The Greeks were fascinated by the Golden Section—a line or a rectangle divided into segments in such a way that the smaller one has the same ratio to the largest, as the largest has to the whole. They were not the first and would not be the last to exploit its beauty. The Golden Section is found in the Great Pyramid and Chartres Cathedral, as well as in plant growth patterns.