The Aztec and Mayan Civilizations in the Americas Ashley M. Carpenter Western Civilization II National University June 2, 2012 Abstract From 250 A.D. to the late 1500’s A.D. the Mayans and the Aztecs controlled Central and South America. Each was unique, but still shared a few of the same traits. Both had their own calendar system, counting system, and Polytheistic religious beliefs along with similar temples built to worship their deities. While the Aztecs were the most prominent users of human sacrifice, the Mayans also participated in such rituals. A few differences between these civilizations were the social structure, natural resources, and differing cultural strengths.
Some of these differences are their religion, agriculture, writing skills, and inventions as well as their ways of life. The major cause of the differences they had was the location of the area where they lived in. The area affected their lifestyles in different ways. Mesopotamians were polygamists (worshiped multiple gods). Sumerians based their gods according to the forces in nature they also had a close relationship with their gods even though their gods were known to be cruel; their worship was also based around divinity.
In the Ibo culture, the chi can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. It can be an advantage because anything bad that one does, it gets blamed on the chi, but a disadvantage is that it is your personal god, therefore anything blaming the chi also is blaming you. The Ibo culture has many gods because they “assign” each god for a different purpose. For example chi is the personal god. They may be assigned some other purpose also such as ruling the sky, destroying
[YOUR LAST NAME] 1 [YOUR NAME] [PROFESSOR’S NAME] [COURSE NAME] [DATE] Classical Sculpture Classical sculpture did not appear from nothing; its genesis was not that of Athena’s birth from the head of Zeus, but a rather more sedate process. The roots of classical sculpture are, surprisingly, to be found in Egypt. The Egyptians had highly developed sculpture, most of which had religious implications, as can be seen by the hieroglyphic inscriptions on many of the pieces (Wilkinson, 34-37). Subjects of sculptures included the numerous gods and goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon, pharoahs (who were considered divine) and slaves and other figures created for inclusion in burials; these sculptures, along with real items (e.g., chariots) would become part of the deceased’s “estate” in the afterlife (ibid., 64). The majority of Egyptian sculptures were all in the same style, regardless of whether they represented an animal-headed god, a king, or a scribe.
Whilst the later Egyptian rulers, such as Hatshepsut in her temple Speos Artemidos, named the Hyksos as “barbarians... who ruled in ignorance of Re” the names of each Hyksos king contradict this. An example is Sheshi, whose throne name – which was Egyptian - means “Seeing is the heart of Re” . The names of the kings suggest that the Hyksos adopted the Egyptian life style and provide evidence that the Hyksos period was later used as propaganda by the New Kingdom Pharaohs. Whilst many historians assume that there were no Egyptian rulers in Egypt at the time of the Hyksos reign, it has been proven by Egyptologists that the Egyptian rulers still held quite a lot of control over Egypt. The Egyptian
Human beings were curious about how the world is like and why the whole world is created and operated. With the observations, experiences from human`s life combined with creative imaginations, the mythologies were created and developed with the religions. For examples both Greek and Biblical mythologies describes the almighty God create the human and the creatures in the world while in the Greek mythology there are more gods or goddesses than the Biblical one which has only one god. Thirdly, from the hero stories in the different mythologies there is one similarity can be reflected which is the
There would not be colorful decorations that adorn these structures that have attracted travelers to Egypt over the past three thousand years. Egyptian religion was important also because it shaped and directed ancient Egyptian life, art, political structure and culture. It played an important part in Egyptian culture generally. Different sources show different results of the number of gods and goddesses from ancient Egypt. 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.
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.
The art were mostly preserved very well due to the materials used were meant to last. The design and measurement of the artworks were also very precise and carefully considered, as lots of the artworks were used as containers of souls. Most of the art were related to the wealthy powerful people, and art at that time was used as propaganda for the pharaoh to maintain their authority. During that time period, religion are closely related to politics as a tool and belief to help pharaohs ruling the lands. Egyptians at that time embrace the idea of afterlife, probably to ease their pain as slaves, to convince people to accept the fate to gain a better living after death.
There are many different characteristics of Egyptian art. They used symmetry, mathematical calculation, a relation to nature and to the Gods they worshipped. The art that was created from this period was very different than what we know of today. It was not done necessarily as something pretty to look at but as a course of necessity to please the gods. It was done so under strict rule and guidelines.