The Pyramids of Egypt Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name (06, December 2010) Outline Introduction Social depiction of the pyramids Beliefs about the pyramids Who built the pyramids? References The pyramids of Egypt The Egyptian pyramids are prehistoric pyramid-shaped stonework structures found in Egypt. Currently, there are 138 known pyramids available in Egypt. The purpose of construction of most of the pyramids was that they were to be used as tombs. Only an individual whose lineage was from a royal family could use these tombs for burial.
The Archaic or Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt c. 3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. [1] With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period.
By the time of the early dynastic period of Egyptian history, those with sufficient means were buried in bench-like structures known as mastabas. [10][11] The second historically documented Egyptian pyramid is attributed to the architect Imhotep, who planned what Egyptologists believe to be a tomb for the pharaoh Djoser. Imhotep is credited with being the first to conceive the notion of stacking mastabas on top of each other – creating an edifice composed of a number of "steps" that decreased in size towards its apex. The result was the Step Pyramid of Djoser – which was designed to serve as a gigantic stairway by which the soul of the deceased pharaoh could ascend to the heavens. Such was the importance of Imhotep's achievement that he was deified by later Egyptians.
Ancient Egyptian Religion The Force Behind Everything As the ancient Egyptian religion was an important part of everyday life for all Egyptians (rich and poor), they built a great many temples and had shrines in their homes. The term used to describe ancient Egyptian theology is Polytheism. This just means that they believed in many Gods. Gods were not only formless entities with certain roles - but the Gods were also the forces of nature, the elements, and the characteristics of certain powers. Some Egyptian Gods merged with foreign Gods too.
Art of the Egyptian Afterlife It was very important to the ancient Egyptians to enter the afterlife. There were many ways they worked to ensure this. The layout and orientation of the pyramids and their access to the Nile, the mummification process to preserve the perishable soul, the items left in the tomb to be of use later, they were all to ensure this transition. Egyptians had to keep their hearts light (be a decent person) because they would we weighed against a feather (the symbol of Maat or morality.) Supposedly, their heart contained all the deeds of their lifetime.
Art Paper: The Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone isn’t your ordinary piece of artwork. It’s not a painting, a sculpture, or even an ancient building. It’s a slab of stone. The Rosetta Stone is a slab of stone that contains a deciphered version of Egyptian hieroglyphics. This is an important piece of work because up until the nineteenth century Egyptian hieroglyphics remained un-translated (Sayre 75).
Archeological evidence shows that the bottom chamber was abandoned, while the second was named the queens chamber. The third and final chamber is called the kings chamber and it is located at the center of the pyramid. The Egyptians were known as the masters of megalithic construction. It is still a mystery today, including a lot of the other megalithic constructions such as Stonehenge, how a pyramid of this size and weight could have been created. The research will also cover the advance technology that was used to create this massive structure without machines of mass power.
The pyramids of Egypt are the best known example of Egyptian architecture. According to the ancient Egyptian belief, pyramids were built to protect the bodies of Egypt kings and royalty for their life after death. Pyramids can be defined as large structures with four triangular sides that meet in a point at the top, directly over the centre of the pyramid’s square base. There are approximately 110 pyramids currently known in Egypt, most of them in bad condition and almost destroyed and others that have remained unfinished. The first pyramid built that was similar to a true pyramid, was built during the 3rd Dynasty – 2630 B.C.
The rulers devoted their time to the design and decoration of extensive funerary complexes, as well as the pyramids and subterranean tombs. The Egyptian funerary practices were from Osiris, and his belief in the continuity of life after death. The dead would a “last judgment” that consisted of two tests done by Osiris and supervised by the god, Anubis. The artists of Mesopotamia and Egypt helped create the symbolic visual language. They depended on the natural color of their materials from the earth to get the colors they wanted.
And while some of them said that it was over 700, the other said that around 1,500 gods and goddesses known by name from that period of time. But many of them were not worshipped at one time or in one place, depending on the time period of Egyptian history which is being studied.