The ancient Egyptians were unique in many ways. The art was different from most of the other civilizations and so were many of their philosophies and ways of going about their daily lives. Death, burial and the after-life certainly were not an exception to this rule. The Egyptians had a very strong consciousness of the soul and where it might go after the person attached to it passes away. They had an understanding of gods or other spirits beyond this world and felt that the human spirit had a way to transcend this world and live among them.
Egyptian art and architecture developed independently and revolved around the concept of immortality. Pharaohs recognized that their nobility and eternal spirit depended greatly on the masons, painters and sculptors they chose to reflect their lives and carry on their legacy. Therefore artisans were treated with great respect and were considered middle class. Respect and a sense of value are very important to me, and had I lived in Egypt during this age they would have been imperative also. Egyptian artisans were instructed in the proper techniques to carry out their work in a very specific genre and style.
Though there are some artistic variations among the layouts of the door, they all serve the same purpose: to help the spirit’s travel in and out of the tomb. Though there is no true evidence or documentation of the spirit’s travel, the door was symbolic to the people of Egypt. The living took pride in the false door, for they knew that the spirit could travel freely and eventually return to his or her resting place. Egyptians often mummified pets alongside the dead and included some of their most prized possesions from their mortal life in case they were needed in the afterlife. False doors allowed the deceased a chance to travel back to their site of burial and accept these offerings.
Gods were connected to natural phenomenon, or animals. This is part of the immanence of the gods in nature. Not often were the representations of a god's qualities thought of as symbolic. As a result, any appearance of the animal is in itself carrying a religious importance, and often the worship of animals could be very direct. This belief survived through all stages of Ancient Egyptian religion.
Both artifacts are tributes to the gods of their respective cultures, and they have certain commonalities yet they also have their own differences. The very first noticeable attribute of the Stela of Horus with magical inscriptions is that the entire space is occupied by either hieroglyphs or figures. There seems to be absolutely no blank space. Shaped in the form a tablet, the god Horus is seen standing on top of a creature such as that of an alligator while holding in each hand various other animals like a tiger, scorpions, snakes, and a stag. As this is a
Mitchell Bortz 9-22-11 History 101 Hollenback Document Analysis #1 Question #1 In the time of the Aztec civilization, great strides were taken to keep everything in what I would call, “working order.” The Aztecs were very religious people who did whatever was needed to be done to please their main gods Quetzaquatal and Tezcatlipoca. Human sacrifice was the main form of pleasing the Gods and keeping the cosmos from being destruction. In my opinion, some of the things that were done to the people being sacrificed were very extreme. Some examples would be the rituals they performed. They included decapitation, burning of the body, strangulation, arrow sacrifices, etc.
I like the way they worship their god and the way of thinking. Also, I like the sport that they played, death for them wasn't a big deal because they had their god that would help them. To start with, The Aztecs had many beliefs. They believed the sun fought darkness every night. They believed the earth was flat.
Egyptian rules of speech also strongly emphasize adherence to social behaviors that support a conservative status quo. For the Egyptians, much more than for the Greeks, skilled speech should support, not question, society. The few studies of Egyptian rhetoric which have previously been done discuss some of the moral components of that rhetoric and the importance of silence. The current study looks at Egyptian attitudes toward language as both a magical and a practical element of life, and in addition this study places the rules of Egyptian rhetoric solidly within the Egyptian social system. ncient Egypt is everywhere, with images of pyramids, hieroglyphics or Egyptian art encountered on a regular basis.
The scrupulous care with which they performed their p. viii innumerable religious ceremonies, and carried out the rules which they had formulated concerning the worship of the divine Power or powers, and their devotion to religious magic, gained for them among the nations with whom they came in contact the reputation of being at once the most religious and the most superstitious of men. That this reputation was, on the whole, well deserved, is the object of this little book to shew. Egyptian magic dates from the time when the predynastic and prehistoric dwellers in Egypt believed that the earth, and the underworld, and the air, and the sky
The Egyptians believed when they died, their soul, or Ba, must follow the path of sun from west to east through the duat, the Egyptian underworld. There they are met by Osiris. Osiris then places their heart on a scale against a feather representing truth. If their heart weighs less then the feather they are allowed to continue passage through the duat. If their heart is heavier than the feather, it is fed to the devourer, Ammit.