...The civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt (between 2700 B.C.E. and 1000 B.C.E.) were religiously different, but similar in political and social factors. The Mesopotamians believed that the afterlife was a bad place, while the Egyptians believed that it was heavenly. Both civilizations used writing and storytelling for political gain. Mesopotamia and Egypt were prosperous societies. A list of Egyptian laws or a document about the destruction of an Egyptian city would have helped me with this assignment. A difference between Mesopotamian and Egyptian culture is their religious beliefs for after death. The people of Mesopotamia thought that the afterlife was a cold, dark, hungry place. It is depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh, saying, “...people...
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...Ancient Art The pieces of art that will be compared comes from the Egyptian art collection; one from the Old Kingdom of the 4th Dynasty, the other from the New Kingdom of the 19th Dynasty. The works from the 4th Dynasty is called Princess Nefertiabet and her food, dating between 2590-2565 b.c. and the works for the 19th Dynasty is called The Goddess Hathor Welcomes Sethos I, dated between 1290-1179 b.c.. Both paintings reflect the lifestyle of the Egyptian beliefs through the use of hieroglyphics. The Egyptians were strong believers in the sun god Ka, and that there was life after death and “that part of human being that defines personality and that survives life on earth after death”(A World of Art,6th ed., 2009). A lot of the paintings created are about the afterlife. Priness Neferiabet was the daughter of Snefru and the best artists of their times were commissioned to create a painting depicting all the riches the princess would have in the afterlife. The stele is 37.5 cm in height and 52.5 cm in width and painted on limestone, with vibrant colors of red, yellow, black and green. The various inscriptions tell the onlooker about the various items such as food and clothing that were taken with the princess. They are also deliberately placed on the limestone in various ways. For instance, the pictorial for libation is placed in front of her face possibly meaning the importance of food. The painting of Hathor and Sethos I carries a different story of the...
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...The Ancient Egyptians view of the underworld was very unique and different, especially when compared to the beliefs of modern day religions. The myth “The Death of Osiris” played a major role in their faith in a continued existence after death, their complex funeral rites, and their desire for immortality. This influenced their everyday life and was a prominent role in their myth, religion and culture. The Osiris myth is arguably one of the most well known Egyptian myths to this day. This myth revolves primarily on the death and rebirth Osiris. It shows his transcendence from the primeval king of Egypt to the king of the dead, Osiris. The myth of Osiris is the most influential myth in Ancient Egyptian times due to the significance of Osiris’...
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...Ancient Egyptian history encompasses the beliefs and rituals followed in Egypt for over three thousand years until the establishment of Coptic Christianity and Islam. The ancient Egyptians had a highly developed view of the afterlife. They considered death to be a stage to the next life. They followed elaborate set of burial rituals for preparing the body and soul for an eternal life after death. These beliefs about the afterlife were heavily focused on the preservation of the body, and this is why embalming and mummification was practiced, to preserve one’s identity in afterlife. The Egyptians celebrated a very sound relationship with the faith, and gods. All kings (pharaohs) were considered to be divine, a belief that had its roots in the myths that gods had ruled Egypt in prehistoric times and that the earliest human rulers were the actual offspring of these divine beings. The king (pharaoh) was an incarnation of Horus, son of Osiris (Mojsov, 2002 ). Therefore, when a pharaoh died, he could be prepared for death and become an "Osiris," the god of resurrection. The gods Osiris and Isis were exalted as the ideal father and mother, and Set (god of chaos) became the personification of evil. Thus they believed that one inherit many other elements from their divine progenitors than physical bodies. In their cosmology, each person was consisting of many elements. They had very complex concept of a soul: The precise meaning of ka, ba, ach (akh), `shm (sekhem), and so on is no...
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...great works of ancient Egypt depicts regular and detailed depictions of human beings and the nature. Moreover, due to the highly religious nature of ancient Egyptian civilization, Egyptian artists have depicted gods, goddesses, and Pharaohs. The function was to describe their divine nature. Ancient Egyptian art is characterized by the idea of order. Symbolism and the use of simple geometry played an important role in establishing sense of order. Nonetheless, many Egyptian arts were not meant to be seen and were hidden from the commoners. For instance, the magnificent treasures of Tutankhamun were not to be seen by people. The first dwellers of the Nile Valley started making engraved drawings on the steep high faces of rocks, in the early eighth millennium BC .They were believed to be a manner of recording data. The depiction of the essential day today activities of their lives, like wild games, hunting scenes, river boating and domesticating animals were among the drawings. The art of the Predynastic period has endured in the form of carved stone , ivory grave goods, pottery vessels, which were placed near the dead body in burial cavities. Figures of living beings dedicated in fulfillment of a vow, were often female statuettes made of pottery and ivory. They may have related to early fertility followers of religious beliefs, as they amplified sexual features. Some of the painted scenes on pottery vessels show the prehistoric rock-carvings and styles and preoccupations of the...
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...History 140 07 Nov 2004 Egypt and Mesopotamia; the comparison and contrast of the ancient societies As we take a look at the Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies, there are several similarities. Although, each of the societies had some differences within them, they both borrowed technologies from other societies and were successful during their period in history. Evolving from the Paleolithic times where the people were in small tribes, they lived in whatever shelter that was found. There became a transition to a more stable style of living, known as the Neolithic time or New Stone age. It was a period of history where agriculture started to take hold. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia began to farm the land and settle into an area. Neolithic people began to settle around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; as well as, the Nile River roughly 8,000 B.C. River water provided the necessary irrigation needed to grow crops and a fertile land for farming. These people started to develop science of agriculture. By using agriculture, the Neolithic people move away from the traditional life as a nomad. These people were not always on the move to hunt or gather the food needed to survive. This was the first time for people to enjoy the benefits of not moving around all the time and to develop a large society in one area. Around 4000 B.C., the Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures began to develop and flourish. With large groups of people within one area, they were forced to develop...
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...The reason for this is the direction in which the Nile ran, towards the North. The roots of Egyptian civilization date back to over 6000 years ago back to the earliest human settlements along...
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...Ancient Egyptians/Religious Aspect Your Name Class Name Professor’s Name Date Assignment is Due Ancient Egyptians/Religious Aspect Ancient Egypt was a primeval civilization of eastern North Africa, concerted down the lower reaches of the Nile River presently referred to as the modern country of Egypt. The civilization banded together around 3150 BC with the political amalgamation of both Upper and Lower Egypt under the 1st pharaoh, and it greatly developed over the subsequent three millennia. Its history transpired in a succession of stable kingdoms separated by phases of relative volatility identified as Intermediate Periods. Ancient Egypt reached its pinnacle at some point in the New Kingdom, subsequent to which it entered an epoch of dawdling decline. Egypt was later conquered by a sequence of foreign authorities in this late period, and the pharaohs’ rule officially fizzled out around 31 BC at the period when the early Roman Empire subjugated Egypt and made it a province Consequently, Ancient Egyptian religion covers the assorted religious beliefs and rituals that were been practiced in ancient Egypt for a period of over 3,000 years, commencing from the pre-dynastic age until the espousal of Christianity during the early centuries AD. Originally, these beliefs concentrated on the adulation of multiple divinities who symbolized diverse forces of nature, power, and thought patterns articulated by the means of intricate and assorted prototypes....
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...The concept of afterlife among Romans and Egyptians The concept of afterlife existed among many ancient civilizations; perhaps, depending on their needs, it was met as a way of understanding the present or as a way to predict the future. As such, in order to explain unknown phenomenon that impacted their daily life, early tribes, saw natural events as simple as the rain and the wind or birth and death, as supernatural powers related to the gods, demons, the moon , the sun or to other external driving forces. To protect their tribe and to maintain the order within it, they invoked the spirit of deceased ancestors. However, civilizations evolved with time and their beliefs became more complex and profound. For instance, Ancient Romans and Egyptians believed in the afterlife and both civilizations shared this same underlying idea; nevertheless, the preparation of the dead for the next world and their funeral services differed in many ways. These two civilizations’ strong conviction in the afterlife was expressed through their multifaceted and interesting funeral services and burial rituals. But, unlike the Egyptians that preserved their deceased’s body and placed them in a sarcophagus or coffin, the Romans buried the dead after cremating those bodies. To illustrate their practices, I have chosen two artifacts displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met): a sarcophagus from Ancient Egypt and a cinerary urn from Ancient Roman’s times. Both pieces portray a different...
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...Beliefs of Ancient Egyptians with Medieval Christians This paper compares and contrasts the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians with those of the medieval Christians, particularly as those beliefs found expression in the art of each time. The ritual mysticism of Egypt's worship of the sun gave way to a more egalitarian view of the present world and a less literal conception of the next. Christianity offered a broad vision of life after death, promising the possibility of salvation to commoners as well as to the kings, who could expect it as their right in Egypt. The art of this newer religion also allowed for individual expression and interpretation, giving a glimpse of the sweeping historic changes that would eventually transform the world of antiquity into a more complex dialogue between humanity and its gods. The religion of the ancient Egyptians grew out of their connection with the earth and their surroundings. Early beliefs followed those of other peoples whose lives were dictated by the elements and the seasons; Joseph Lindon Smith (1956) describes Egypt's early religion as a "simple agricultural pantheon of earth, rain, and sky" (p. 316). More than any other developing culture of antiquity, however, the Egyptians began to concentrate their attentions on the single most prominent feature of their landscape, the sun. The religion of the builders of the pyramids became the most striking example ever seen of sun worship. Ra, the personification of the sun, was identified...
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...Egyptian art Egyptian art remained unchanged while Greek art changed rapidly because of there beliefs in the afterlife. Egyptians believed that there life on earth was all about trying to get to the after life. They would have extravagant tombs with gold and gems to help get them to the afterlife. The Egyptians would put gold in the pyramids because it was unchanging it would help protect the body so the spirts would be able to come back to a mummified body and cross over to the afterlife. Egyptians believed that the spirt wouldn’t come back to a body that was altered or not intact. So the art in the pyramids had to all remain the same because there was no telling when the spirt would come back to reenter the body. The Egyptians were rooted in there old ways and were not willing to change they did have some outside influence in there style inevitably but most of there styles were unchanged because of the one single ruler the pharaoh he was rooted in the old way and with him being the ruler what he said went. The priest who were responsible for the fallow through of the pharaoh. They believed that there was Devine kingship and that was directly shown in there stagnate style of art. The pharaohs court laid down the standards applied throughout Egypt. Individual artist had very little opportunity to exercise there own inuegity by deviating from the accepted standard. The Egyptians would put face masks on the dead mummified bodies jewels rapped in the bandages and perfume on them...
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...Essay Question One The beliefs about death had evolved greatly over the periods of time. Whether it may have been the First humans, the Sumerians, the Ancient Americans, Jewish, Christian, or any religion in between, each era was a bit different. The comparison and contrast to one another have different aspects to how they perceive the afterlife or what happens before and after death. As time passed, many different religious faiths existed. How each transpired was solely based on the era. In ancient times, there were a variety of religious faiths in existence. However, there were three that stood out from the rest. The first was the Mesopotamian faith (early ancient times), which was of great importance within Mesopotamian culture. For Mesopotamians, the gods were living realities who affected all aspects of life. The center of each Mesopotamian community was the temple complex, which consisted of ziggurat with a temple at the top. It was here that the main god or goddess, in the form of a statue, resided. It would be here that all religious ceremonies took place. This temple complex would dominate both individual and commercial life, thus demonstrating the close relationship between religion and culture within Mesopotamia and the belief that there was an afterlife of immortality. The second was the Egyptian faith. Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians held their faith in high regard. They had a vast number of gods, all of which were associated with heavenly...
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...artwork showed a lot of dancing, spiritual beliefs, and socializing. A lot of the Egyptians artwork had people celebrating something or the Sphinx, which shows they believe in afterlife. They believed death was a temporary interruption, rather than complete cessation of life, and that eternal life could be ensured by means like piety to the gods, preservation of the physical form through Mummification, and the provision of statuary and other funerary equipment. Also their artwork is colorful and bright. Egyptians also believed that being mummified was the only way to have an afterlife. Only if the corpse had been properly embalmed and entombed in a mastaba, could the dead live again in the Fields of Yalu a nd accompany the Sun on its daily ride. Egyptians believed in so much more than the life they were living, they felt as though they had something to look forward to after death so they did not fear it. I think the Egyptians had a very optimistic view of life, because when you looked at all the art worked of the Egyptians all it seemed to be describing is war, but just that they did had showed dancing and also religious activity. One thing about the Egyptians is that they always have a positive mind toward all their messages that they had deliver. But to my view of point is that it had a lot to do with how they looked at their life, because they surly had believed in an afterlife that seem to be much better. Also with the Egyptians their lives are much better than the Mesopotamia...
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...2011 Egyptian Religion Religion is defined by many people as a belief in a “greater power” as well as personal morals. Most religions usually include a system of values as well as various practices. Egyptian religion included their ancient gods, the mythology of the gods, and other parts of their religion. For example their religion explained and included creation, death and the afterlife, and the cults that worshiped the gods. In Egypt, the king or pharaoh played a very important part in their religion and what the gods expected of the people also. Egyptian religion consisted of many myths and rituals too. Religion was a very influential part of Ancient Egyptian culture and shaped their ancient civilization of the Nile greatly. Like most other cultures, the ancient Egyptians wanted to find the meaning for their existence, but there were also other influences on their religion, such as the need to justify kingship, along with many others. Egyptians have numerous Gods in there culture and they feel that the Gods walk among them, invisibly on Earth. Ra is the most central God of the Egyptian gods. Known as the sun god, Ra was the most important element of life in ancient Egypt and represented light, warmth, and growth. Ra embodies the Egyptian beliefs of order and truth, and he signifies the cycle of birth, life and death. Of all the ancient Egyptian Gods Anubis is frequently the one referred to as the gatekeeper of the underworld and god of death. The Egyptian goddess...
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...The belief of one God or many gods depends on how one defines and perceives god. Creation is the act of bringing the world into order and existence. Whether it is through creation or evolution all of these religions have a starting point of how they believe the world came to exists. When your life is over, where do you go? That answer depends on faith, religion, and the path one chooses to follow. Even though these religions have different views, they all still share a common ground and believe in something. In religion you have two main beliefs polytheism and monotheism. Polytheism believes in multiple deities called god and goddesses. Monotheism is the belief that only one god exists. Some believers of polytheism include Hinduism, Buddhism, ancient Egyptians, and ancient Mesopotamia. Hinduism believes that all deities are separate entities. Most people believe in different deities expanding from a single God. That one single entity is never defined and for the most part Hindus continue to hold one God above all others. They believe in Brahman he is the universal soul, and it is said that all men are considered Brahmans. Buddhism believes in “the Buddha” Siddhartha Gautama. The Buddha looks with a kind heart equally on all living beings, and they call him father. Buddha can be anything you worship because in Buddhism there is no absolute god. In the ancient Egyptian religion they saw the actions of the gods behind all the elements and forces of nature. However, they...
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