Talatat

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Talatat block in pylon at Karnak
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Talatat block in pylon at Karnak

Talatat is an Arabic word which is the plural of three.

It is thought to describe the rough size of the blocks used to construct many of the buildings on the Karnak (and elsewhere) site by Akhenaten. The small construction blocks made it easily to quickly complete large buildings, but it made it equally as easy to demolish them as well.

Much of the blocks used in the Temple of Amenhotep IV in Karnak were reused by later builders as filler for pylons and as foundations for large buildings. The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak has thousands of these blocks underneath it, as does the Second Pylon.

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