Talatat arelimestone blocks[1] of standardized size (c. 27 by 27 by 54 cm, corresponding to1⁄2 by1⁄2 by 1 ancientEgyptian cubits) used during the18th Dynasty reign of the PharaohAkhenaten in the building of the Aten temples atKarnak and Akhetaten (modernAmarna). The standardized size and their small weight made construction more efficient.[2] Their use may have begun in the second year of Akhenaten's reign.[3] After theAmarna Period talatat construction was abandoned, apparently not having withstood the test of time.[4]
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The minority of blocks intended for a visible surface are often decorated in a variety of techniques to make up large scenes covering several blocks.Sunk relief, engraving paint, and sometimes added plaster are used, often in combination.
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The blocks used in theTemple of Amenhotep IV in Karnak, and the other abandoned temples devoted to the deityAten, were reused byHoremheb andRamesses II as filler material forpylons and as foundations for large buildings. TheGreat Hypostyle Hall at Karnak is built on thousands of these blocks, as is the Second Pylon.[5]
Tens of thousands of the talatat have been recovered. The decorated stones are being photographed and the scenes they depict are reconstructed as part of the Akhenaten Temple Project.[6]
The termtalatat was apparently used by the contemporary Egyptian workmen and introduced into the language of archaeology by the Egyptologist H. Chevrier. There are two hypotheses as to the word's generally unknown ultimate origin in reference to the stones, perhaps not contradictory:[7]The word may be derived from Italiantagliata, meaning cut masonry,[8]or may be derived from theEgyptian Arabic word تلاتة (talāta, 'three'), indicating that each block is three hand-spans long.[9]
