Ancient Egyptian Mythology

1. Homo sapien, our direct ancestors, emerged approximately 300,000 – 100,000 B.C.E. They were larger and more advanced than their previous ancestors, hence why they were known as the “wise human”. Homo sapiens were cave dwellers and hunters, much like homo habilis and homo erectus. Homo sapien was not known as the “tool-making” human like homo habilis was, but homo sapiens hatchets and needles made the stone and bone tools of homo habilis look quite juvenile. Homo sapien walked upright, a characteristic which they most likely inherited from their previous ancestor homo erectus, who was the first human to walk or stand upright. Although the developments of each species varied greatly, each of them made significant strides towards …show more content…
The majority of Egyptian art came from the tombs and temples of the dead. They drew and painted on the walls to replicate the living world so that the dead would be honored. Egyptians followed a strict set of rules when it came to art. Size was a very important part of these rules, people were usually sized according to their positions in society. Upper class people were drawn larger than lower class, and men were usually depicted larger than the women. Egyptian art usually depicted rituals or ceremonies. You can see this by looking at the frescoes in The Book of the Dead, the rituals are drawn out very precisely and no part of it is left …show more content…
Some might think that the Mesopotamian ziggurat and the Ancient Egyptian pyramid have a lot in common, but in actuality they are quite different.
The Mesopotamian ‘ziggurat’ was meant to be the spiritual center of a city-state. It was a large tower made out of brick and rubble. The ziggurat served as not only a shrine but also as a temple, and it was believed that these towers might bring the people closer to heaven. The Egyptian pyramids on the other hand were made out of giant stone blocks, and were meant to be a home for a pharaoh or local deity to live in the afterlife. To start with, pyramids were meant to be the final resting place for pharaohs, where their souls would be lifted to the heavens. It was a home that was built to make sure that the ruler was comfortable in the afterlife. Ziggurats were meant to be sanctuaries for the gods, meaning that the god’s spirits lived in the temples. Only priests were allowed inside the ziggurats. Secondly, ziggurats provided a place for the priests to worship and glorify certain gods. These structures often rose high above any others in the city and a symbol of the bridge between heaven and earth. Small devotional figurines have been found inside the temples of ziggurats, they are thought to have been representations of townspeople worshipping to their local deities. They were carved out of soft stone and had enlarged eyes as if they were in a trance. In pyramids you would not find figurines like this, you would find small