Comparing A Sense Of Magic And Mystery In Ancient Egypt

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1. In the films viewed in this class, there are many similarities between them. The films tend to show the discoveries about Ancient Egypt as things that happened quickly while infusing the films with mystery. For example, in the film “Building the Pharaoh’s Ship”, the film made it seem like building the ship took only a short period of time, and in “Ancient Egypt Unearthed Series: Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen”, they again made it seem like it did not take long to find the bodies in the different tombs. Except, these were no easy feats and it took many months and years to gather the data, supplies, and money to do this. Additionally, all the films used a sense of mystery. Often times, they would bounce between two different discoveries

It distorts it as it tries to present a sense of magic and mystery that was not actually present in Ancient Egypt. This is only done to make the films more interesting to viewers. Additionally, with the glamorized feel in the films, it does not show an accurate representation of Egyptology. For example in “Ancient Egypt Unearthed Series: Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen”, Zahi, who was in charge, does not practice proper lab skills. In the lab, he does not wear a mask correctly. Also, in an attempt to create a sense of mystery, the film says they are waiting on a test of mitochondrial DNA. However, it is very unlikely this would ever be used because mitochondrial DNA is very hard to test and unreliable. In “Building the Pharaoh's Ship”, the discovery rope in a cave and just assume it is from the right time period. Yet, they never actually show any testing on the rope to properly date it. These inconsistencies do not show the true nature of Egyptology. Egyptology involves very precise skills with detailed notes and careful skill to avoid contamination. Also, it is unlikely that Egyptologists would make such drastic assumptions as shown in the films.

The films are slightly beneficial though. People are more likely to watch these films then something of an academic sense like William Deever. If people become interested in Ancient Egypt through these films, they may do their own research

In terms of religion, Akhenaten based his new religion off a hieroglyphic, thus incorporating current Egyptian culture into his new religion. When the sun rose at his city, the sun between the mountains looked like the symbol for eternity. This is important because for Egyptians, eternity represents djiet time in Ancient Egypt. Djiet time is time of permanence and is the realm of gods and the dead. Additionally, Akhenaten spent much of his time worshipping his God which was expected of a pharaoh. It is to be noted though that he may have spent an excessive amount of time doing this since there are letters that were never answered to foreign leaders asking for aid which is not typical of a