Scribes, Warriors, and Kings: The City of Copan and the Ancient Maya William L. Fash Harvard University Jared Kopiczko History 134.122936.Online The Maya, one of the most important civilizations in the New World, flourished in the western part of Honduras for over two thousand years. They left an important legacy of art, mathematics and astronomy that still permeate our culture to this day. In modern day Honduras, we can still visit and study the ruins of their great cities and monuments and gaze in wonder at their massive technological achievements long before the aid of modern construction equipment. These ruins have long been the subject of intense study and many great books have been written about their life and times. The Maya
Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were two of the greatest and earliest civilizations. They contributed many things to the modern world through their mathematical discoveries, writing, architecture and other technologies. Mesopotamia was located in the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris and Euphrates River; it is in current day Turkey and Iraq. Ancient Egypt was located in current day Egypt in North Africa, also bordered by the Mediterranean Sea. The two civilizations had many things in common but were also very unique.
The complex burials by the Etruscans and Egyptians still remains culturally, ethnically and historically significant to this very day. Even though these two civilizations existed for over thousands of years ago, the tombs have still remained incredibly valuable in today’s society. Etruscan and ancient Egyptian tombs are so alike yet so different. The Etruscans were the first major rulers of Rome, and their customs were incorporated into the early Roman customs. Etruscan society was not centralized nor dominated by a single leader or imperial city.
The Warka Vase: An Old Novelty The Warka Vase, or also known as The Lady of Uruk, has been one of the most valuable works of art in the history. Its name comes from the place where it was found, Warka in Iraq, known in the Ancient Mesopotamia as Uruk, city of Sumer. The Warka Vase was created in 3000 B.C., carved in Alabaster and was discovered in 1933 (Enkidu). It has been associated with the Egyptian Narmer Pallette, since both of them are part of the first pieces of narrative relief art (Guimaraes). Nevertheless, its contribution to the history goes beyond the visual.
Beginning in 2100-2050 BCE with the Nanna Ziggurat the flat head pyramid was seen in usage in Iraq. Keeping similar architecture style with the Khafre’s Pyramids built in 2520-2494 BCE located in Egypt present the structure of a three dimensional triangle. Both structures found in the Middle East can be compared similarly in the sense of shape, base, and structure while being built in different time periods with different resources and with distinct specific purposes. The Nanna Ziggurat is one of the most remarkable surviving archaeological remains. Ziggurats built above flat plains publically made known the wealth, and stability of city ruler’s and glorified its gods (Cothern and Stokstad 2011, 28).
Nonetheless, the combination of these two elements made these pieces potent enough to shape the beliefs of millions. The oldest piece in this exhibition is the Bull Lyre, which possibly dates from 2500 to 2400 BCE.As it was recovered from a royal tomb in Ur (present day Iraq), the Penn Museum in Philadelphia restored parts of this musical instrument. This piece derived from the artisans of Ur, who skillfully used gold, silver, lapis
They both wrote one of the first works of literature in history. Gilgamesh came from Mesopotamia and The Book of the Dead came from Egypt. Mesopotamia and Egypt differ in regards to politics concerning structure, government, and leadership. Pharaohs ruled ancient Egyptians and kings ruled Mesopotamia. Egypt was a highly centralized bureaucracy and Mesopotamia of self-governing city-states.
The Dome of the Rock was built from 685-691 AD by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who was a caliph. He built it in Jerusalem. It is a shrine for Muslims, and he wanted it to be a symbol for Jews and Christians to accept Islam. For the Jews, it was from its location, and for the Christians, it was the interior design. It is one of the oldest Islamic monument that has survived throughout many time periods.
5 February 2013 Quiz #1 essay question 3. Describe the (a) Epic of Gilgamesh and (b) Hammurabi’s Code of Laws, especially with regard to property, gender, and class. (a) The Epic of Gilgamesh was a tale based on an actual historical figure who was a king that reigned over Uruk a city-state in Sumeria in or around the year 2700 B.C.E., unlike the heroes of stories in Greek or Celtic mythology. Uruk, also called Erech in the Hebrew Bible was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which is in today’s modern Iraq. The tale was written in Akkadian, the Babylonians’’ language on twelve tablets that were discovered, and were excavated along with 25,000 other stone tablets in 1839 from the ruins of Nineveh, and translated into English by Henry Rawlinson sometime in 1872.
The principal forms of religious architecture were open-air altars, temples, and treasuries. The altar, the earliest religious structure, always served as the focus of prayer and sacrifices. The temple, which developed in the 8th century BC, housed the statue of a god or goddess to whom the sanctuary was dedicated. The treasury, a small temple-like building, held offerings to gods and goddesses made by city-states and their citizens at sanctuaries such as Olympia and Delphi. Other important public structures were not religious in function.