Egyptian Architecture
Egyptian Architecture is the building blocks of our civilisation. It is widely known by historians and Egyptologists that the Egyptians were one of the first builders ever known to man. They taught humanity how to design and erect buildings; thus laying grounds for human civilization. The Egyptians were the ones that figured all of the math and dimensions. The Egyptians were the ones that made the technology that pulled the huge stones up to the right places. They made all of the graphs and all of the charts; it is truly amazing.
The two main building materials used in ancient Egypt were unbaked mud-brick and stone. Stone was generally used for tombs—the eternal dwellings of the dead—and for temples—the eternal houses of the gods. Egyptian architecture is characterized by it’s huge scale, heavy walls and supports. Those characteristics, as well as its simple cubic masses, sense of weight, solidity, and permanence were the building blocks of our modern architecture. The pyramid of Khufu, for example, it contains over 2,300,000 stones and has a base of 7 city blocks, or 568,500 sq. ft. One of the sides of the base is equal to more than two football fields and weights 6.5 million tons. Each stone weighs approximately 2.5 tons and is 481 feet tall. It is the largest pyramid in existence and is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Along with The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, Lighthouse of Alexandria. There are many theories on how the Egyptians built the pyramids. One of the most outrageous one is that aliens built them. The reason why people think aliens built the pyramids is the four corners of them are...
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...head cloth and has the body of a lion. Like the columns, many of the statues and monuments have been destroyed or vandalized. Some of them may be missing a nose, or the head, or even an empty stand where the figure once stood.
Of all the different structures built by the Egyptians, one common theme is apparent. They built amazing and innovative buildings like statues, temples and tombs to worship the different pharaohs and gods. And it was done with the simplest tools and an incredible amount of back breaking hard work. One tool that was used to build the pyramids was a stone cut out of a right angle. It was used to make the blocks perfectly square. Another tool was the Dolerite, it was used to pound granite into the shape they wanted. Despite not having the technology we have today, the Egyptians still built the biggest architectural breakthrough in history.
After just glancing at the artwork in the chapter about the Ancient Near East and the chapter about Egypt, the one thing that strikes me the most is the great size of some of these structures and the great detail that is shown in them. It is amazing to see that people who lived thousands of years before us, created such things in a society much less advanced then our society of today. For instance how did they build the Palace of Shapur, or the Great Pyramids? It is mind boggling to think that such great things were built without the help of a modern day crane or machine, but rather by manpower.
Constructed during Egypt's 4th Dynasty, The Pyramids of Giza are truly an astonishing work of architecture. These pyramids display several of the characteristics, that are now known, to be attributed to the Ancient Egyptian era. Years of research show that much of the ancient Egyptian's focus in their artistry, was that of a religious nature, regardless of medium. Artists of the time, focused their efforts on depicting the various Gods and Goddesses, immortality and the afterlife, and the glorification of the pharaohs. (MindEdge) One of the best examples of this are the pyramids. Each pyramid was built to be the final resting place of a pharaoh (Khufu, Khafre, or Menkaure) upon his death, and subsequent mummification. They were built on the
Egypt was one of the first River Valley Civilizations. In Egypt there were big advances in art, math and science and also pottery. We still use the same number system and they even had fractions back in that time. During the Old Kingdom times the pyramids were built. The pyramids were tombs for the pharaohs of Egypt. These pyramids are one of the most popular historical sites in the world.
In fact this required a lot of education, especially in math for the engineering. It could be practice, palace, and temple. How the ancient Egyptians achieved to place the heavy stones high on top of the Pyramids is still a mystery. Huge blocks of rock were cut from places many miles away and taken by boat to Giza and delivered to certain locations where well-constructed pyramids were being built. The slaves used a series of log rolling on the ground to move the giant stones. The first pyramids were called "Step Pyramids" because they looked like giant
In the third dynasty the egyptians gained more power and wealth. They wanted a way to show off their great power and wealth, so they built pyramids, pyramids were huge pointed stone structures. Pyramids contained rooms full of treasure and secret passageways. The first pyramid was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, built for King Zoser around 2750 B.C. “The step pyramid was the only one of its kind, it was an amazing improvement from the mastaba.” ( pg 49)
Aliens built the Egyptian pyramids. Recent research supports the theory that the Pyramids were built long before humans inhabited the area now known as Egypt. It is also nearly impossible for the Egyptians to lift and move the limestone brick used to build these massive structures. Only a more advanced form of life could have constructed such an enormous undertaking, while using advanced mathematics and geography that were not yet known to ancient peoples. Archaeologists suggest that the large stones used in building the pyramids were transported by rolling them over logs or a wet, slippery, clay surface.
A few pyramids still stand today, and are great attractions for tourists. The pyramids were built by taking blocks of granite to the workshop, measuring the blocks down to size, shaping the blocks, and placing the blocks into the body of the pyramid. The core of the structure is now completed. Then, you place the limestone blocks on the top of the structure (they started putting the blocks on top and then worked their way down). They left two empty rooms to place the pharaoh and his belongings in. They sealed the pyramids so well, it took four hundred years for two robbers to figure out how to get in. Free citizens, drafted for public work, not by slaves of any sort, built the pyramids. Four thousand expert stone sculptors built the pyramids all year round. An extra work group of about ninety-five thousand men worked on the pyramids during the four-month period of the inundation (the time of enforced idleness for farmers, since the field were covered with the Nile water flood). The pyramids were built between the year 1600 B.C. and the year 2700.
Many people are familiar with the pyramids and tombs of Ancient Egypt, yet not as many know about the different types of art created by the lower classes. Documentaries, movies, and television shows rarely mention the more standard art that was created, that didn’t take years of hard labor to create. This art can be compared to the drawings that many people make today, as a hobby to do in their freetime. The only difference is that the Egyptians made art for more practical purposes, and rarely for fun. You would likely find a lot of these pieces in plebian burial sites, or packed away in museum storage. Though they lack the renown of the pyramids and tombs, the different styles and types of art created by the Ancient Egyptians have just as much value as the larger accomplishments, but for different reasons.
Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians also believed in god and goddesses and was one of the first to develop their unique writing system called hieroglyphics. Egyptian’s also were the first to construct triangular pyramids with magnificent tombs to bury their dead pharaohs and queens. These pyramids were very comparable to the ziggurats built by the Mesopotamians. The Egyptians unlocked more access when they started using papyrus to make paper in order to communicate. They also inven...
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 themselves upon the Egyptian mind; their psychological impact however was immense. There was the Nile itself, source of all life, there was the mysterious regularity of the Sun, Moon and stars; there was fertility and death. It was out of fear and mystery of these things that
The ancient Egyptians were people of many firsts. They were the first people of ancient times to believe in life after death. They were the first to build in stone and to fashion the arch in stone and brick. Even before the unification of the Two Lands, the Egyptians had developed a plow and a system of writing. They were accomplished sailors and shipbuilders. They learned to chart the cosmos in order to predict the Nile flood. Their physicians prescribed healing remedies and performed surgical operations. They sculpted in stone and decorated the walls of their tombs with naturalistic murals in vibrant colors. The legacy of ancient Egypt is written in stone across the face of the country from the pyramids of Upper Egypt to the rock tombs in the Valley of the Kings to the Old Kingdom temples of Luxor and Karnak to the Ptolemaic temples of Edfu and Dendera and to the Roma...
The Great pyramids of Egypt are undoubtedly one of the most recognized and admired landmarks in the world. Built to pay tribute to gods and pharaohs, the pyramids were of great importance to the Egyptians, and the mystery of their construction continues to amaze us today. Many theories pertaining to how the pyramids were built have been suggested, however, none are as well supported or intelligible as the heave-ho method of quarrying and cutting limestone. Joseph Davidovits’ theory disproving this, in which states the pyramids were moulded, is not plausible. Substantial physical evidence which is consistent with the Egyptologists’ portrayal of the heave-ho method has been found. The entire process of building a pyramid with this method is possible, as demonstrated by thorough experiments and analysis of the Egyptian culture. Indisputably, the Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed by quarrying limestone, and the use of ramps, sleds, and cutting tools, owing to the ingenuity and strength of highly organized Egyptian workers.
The architecture of ancient Egypt is one of the most important civilizations in history, which developed of different structures and great architectural monuments along the River Nile.
Seemingly static in appearance, to the untrained eye, Egyptian Art is somewhat formal and blocky, with very little to no naturalism; in opposition to ancient western art such as Greek and Roman artistic traditions. (Neer, 2012) However, Egyptian Art serves a purpose that celebrates the afterlife as well as appreciating life. Egyptian visual imagery expressed animals not in the typically assumed static and rigid form, but in naturalistic dynamism that is largely ignored in general Egyptian Art scholarship. Ancient Egyptian art endures a steady artistic tradition and despite various changes and modification in style occurred during the 3,000 years pharaohs ruled; they are recognizably Egyptian in origin. What was wholly unique was the artistic
Egyptian Art and Architecture, the buildings, paintings, sculpture, and allied arts of ancient Egypt, from prehistoric times to its conquest by the Romans in 30 bc. Egypt had the longest unified history of any civilization in the ancient Mediterranean, extending with few interruptions from about 3000 bc to the 4th century ad. The nature of the country, fertilized and united by the Nile, and its semi-isolation from outside cultural influences, produced an artistic style that changed little during this long period. Art in all its forms was devoted principally to the service of the pharaoh, who was considered a god on Earth, to the state, and to religion. From early times a belief in a life after death dictated that the dead be buried with material goods to their ensure well-being for eternity. The regular patterns of nature—the annual flooding of the Nile, the cycle of the seasons, and the progress of the Sun that brought day and night—were considered gifts from the gods to the people of Egypt. Egyptian thought, morality, and culture were rooted in a deep respect for order and balance. Change and novelty were not considered important in themselves; thus the style and representational conventions in Egyptian art that were established early in the development of that civilization continued virtually unchanged for more than 3,000 years. To the modern eye the Egyptian artistic idiom may seem stiff and static; its underlying intention, however, was not to create an image of things as they appear in reality, but rather to capture the essence of a person, animal, or object for eternity.