Talatat

Limestone Building Blocks for Ancient Egyptians

1353 BCE to 1336 BCE, New Kingdom, Armana, Egypt

Introduction

This is the talatat. In the 18th dynasty of Ancient Egypt for seventeen years, temples were built using this block. These blocks also can represent art and culture.

Description

A talatat is a limestone brick used by Ancient Egyptians. The specific measurements are 55x25x25 or three palms long. The word talatat is derived from the Arabic word for three.

Purpose & Use

This artifact was used to build the temple of Aten and other cult centres. These blocks were built for the unskilled and unlaboured people to make building these temples easier. Other than using these blocks for building, these blocks also were used as an art surface.

Relevance in Ancient Egypt

These temples that were built were for worshipping the god of the sun, Aten. Worshiping gods and gifting presents were a practice that Egyptians did many times.

Discovery

The majority of talatats were found in Amarna, Egypt, but some were also found in Karnak, Egypt.

Other

The talatat was three palms long so it was a very handy size. (Pun intended) They were reusable and very easy to mass-produce. The bricks were also like comic panels. Each brick had a different picture or meaning.