What is Sacred to Prehistoric and ancient Egyptian humankind

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Arts

Document 1

The culture was dominated by the worshiping of many gods including Horus, Isis, Re, and Seth among others. the land was ruled by a powerful king who was referred to as the pharaoh. The pharaohs ruled the land from the Old Kingdom up to the new kingdom. The ancient Egypt had a unique belief system that was dominated by sacred rituals as evidenced by cave paintings, Stonehenge, the great pyramids, art work. The Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms of Egypt The ancient Egypt can be categorized into the old, middle, and New Kingdoms. As a result, Egypt entered the Bronze Age and a New Kingdom emerged. This New Kingdom lasted for more than 300 years and Egypt existed as an independent kingdom and was greatly influenced by Assyrians.

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However, Persia invaded the kingdom in 525 BCE. This invasion led to the loss of its independence. The Stonehenge and the development of polytheism The ancient Egyptians were astronomers as evidenced by the Stonehenge that is located in southern Egypt, 100 kilometers to the west of Abu Simbel. This means that the worship of Hathor led to the emergence of polytheism in ancient Egypt. The most important gods were those who were believed to be in charge of the cosmic forces such as the sky, water, earth, and air. The natural forces were depicted as humans, animals, or a combination of the two by the ancient Egyptians. For instance, the sun was believed to be a falcon or a falcon-headed man whose crown was the sun disk.

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The most important gods were Osiris, who was worshipped throughout the country. A likeness of the dead would be made in store to act as a backup in case anything could happen to the mummy. The dead were then housed in tombs so that they could last forever. This practice gave rise to the ancient Egyptian conception of architecture, particularly the pyramids (Pearson Highered 12). There are procedures that had to be used on the dead before they could enter the eternal realm and live with Osiris the god. It is believed that in the eternal realm, the soul of the deceased would be weighed based on how well she or he lived respected god and treated others while still alive. No cemement was used in the building of the pyramids.

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Instead, huge stones were used. The mathematical precision of the ancient Egyptians is evident in the corners of the Great Pyramids being oriented to the east, west, north, and south. The ratio of the width to the height of each pyramid is 11 to 7. Each pyramid has corridors that lead to the burial chamber (Pearson Highered 14). It was built between 14th and 13th centuries BCE. This temple was built to a diety family. Amen was the husband of Mut, the goddess of heaven. The two were the parents of Khonsu. The temple had a pylon which is a broad gateway that leads in to the forecourt. This temple was established in honor of the sun, which is represented by a statue located at the center of the façade.

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The top of the façade is carved with a row of dog headed apes, which were sacred to the ancient Egyptian worship of the rising sun. The hieroglyphs and reliefs of the temple show how Rameses II respected the sun god. The temple is dominated by four huge statues of Ramese II. In each statue, there are smaller figures between and around his legs, which are believed to be the members of his family. Ancient Egypt began as a monotheistic culture as evidenced by Stonehenge. Later, a belief emerged that goddess Hathor gave birth to other gods, which resulted in a polytheistic culture. There was a common belief in afterlife and this resulted in building of permanent tombs for the dead especially the pharaohs.

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