Ancient Egyptian Religion
Ancient Egyptian Religious ArchitectureOne of the greatest cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt was undoubtedly in their architecture associated with religion. "Temples, tombs and pyramids - all have witnessed this earth for thousands of years. What better than to say that these architectural achievements show us that Egypt's greatest virtue lay in its architecture" When one travels to Egypt, what does he/she see - pyramid after temple after tomb, each standing the test of time. One stands out - they are all associated with religious beliefs, they all have stood unmoving for thousands of years, and they all involve mechanical genius- the moving of colossal stones without the use of the wheel. The finest example such mechanics is shown in the construction of the revered pyramid. These three factors, all belonging to the religious architecture of ancient Egypt, do nothing else but prove its greatness. Egypt's grand architectural design was a result of the religious values and beliefs that were in place at the time. Thousands of years ago, 'Ancient Egypt accepted the challenge of reeds and swamps, hot sands and floods, and build the 'first' nation' (Romer:75, 1982). There were few things to impress th
Herodotus says that '100,000 men worked for twenty years fed on a diet of onions' (Romer:82, 1982). The dimensions of such a construction as the pyramid are enough for it to be considered a great achievement, but the greatness extends to the actual mechanics of construction. If one were to look at a solid bench, one would think it was solid, durable, and impregnable. The fact that a construction on such a large scale had never been built in former civilizations, but was successfully done by the ancient Egyptians, even more than once, is underlying evidence supporting the notion of religious architecture being one of Egypt's greatest achievements. the Egyptians made their complex heirachy of Gods, and their strange religion. "Functionally, therefore, the mastaba was designed to achieve permanence. These mastaba tombs were quite small with stepped sides and a flat top. It was, in all its apparent simplicity - architecture" (Stierlin: 61, 1983) Evidence of this durability is seen a little to the north of Memphis, on the plateau of Giza, where 'mastaba tombs are still seen standing today', even after thousands of years (Fumeaux:9, 1964). They were almost solid but somewhere in the core was a series of rooms, including a burial chamber containing the sarcophagus of the dead, with all his/her items for the afterlife (Romer:76, 1982). It was out of fear and mystery of these things that ". emselves upon the Egyptian mind; their psychological impact however was immense. "Wedges, rockers, levers and cradles were all used. This belief would influence the architectural design of the tomb, where the corpse was ultimately sealed (Silverman:142, 1997). The name mastaba came from the Arabic for a bench of the type found outside the doors of Arab houses (Fumeaux:9, 1964).
Common topics in this essay:
Ancient Egypt,
Cheops Fumeaux,
Period Fumeaux9,
Pyramids Fumeaux12,
Sun Moon,
ancient egypt,
religious architecture,
Religious Architecture,
architecture ancient egypt,
achievements ancient egypt,
fumeaux9 1964,
architecture ancient,
achievements ancient,
temples tombs pyramids,
architectural design,
temples tombs,
construction scale,
tombs pyramids,
fumeaux12 1964,
religious architecture ancient,
|
Acceptance Essays
