Tombs And Temples Essay -- essays research papers

What are some major architectural structuresof Ancient Egypt? There are many amazing sites of architecture in Egypt fromancient times. Many have been discovered, but there are still ones being discoveredand excavated today. Pyramids, tombs, and temples are the main structuresstill standing that can be seen today.The first tombs of the pharaohs werelarge, unimpressive, bunker affairs called mastabas. A mastaba (Arabic for"bench") is a low rectangular structure which was built over a shaft whichdescended to the interment location. They were made from sun dried mud bricksand most have long since crumbled to dust. This all changed around 2630 BCwith the creation of the step pyramid.The Step Pyramid was intentional for KingDjoser ,of the 3rd dynasty, by his vizier, Imhotep. The pyramid is locatedin Saqqara, the main necropolis of Memphis. The Saqqara pyramid has a seriesof six levels of stone decreasing in size as they ascend to about 200 feet/60meters in height. The Step Pyram id originally began as a mastaba, and it hasbeen visualized as a series of mastaba shapes, decreasing in size, stackedone on top of another. The surface was originally encased in smooth white limestonewhich must(prenominal) have caught the sun light and reflected its rays. It has the distinctionof being the site of the first large stone structure built in the world. The nates where humans began to sift for the impossible, where the imaginationgained the power to transform reality.Some of the loveliest works of artever seen can be found at Saqqara, in the tombs of the nobles. The limestonewalls are delicately incise with myriads of animals, fish, birds, insects,vegetation and people - hunting, herding and farming. Some of the forms stillretain their original paint, after 4,500 years The tonus of these compositionsdemonstrates that the Egyptians had attained, at an early stage, an artisticculture of a precise high order. Cattle Crossing is an etching made from sketchesdone at Saq qara. The medium of etching, itself a process of erosion, seemswell suited to capturing the time worn quality of the relief carving.Theperson responsible for the step pyramid, Imhotep, is credited as being theinventor of building in stone and was a man of many talents - Architect, physician, archetype sculpture, scribe, and astronomer. He must be the first true geniusin recorded history and t... ...ed these. Dendara was also used as a healing perfumeand in the grounds stands an ancient hospital along with a sacred lake. Aftervisiting Dendara one gets a feel for the layout of other temples along theNile and in the minds eye it is possible to reconstruct the really huge designof buildings like Karnak. What really grabbed my artistic attention among allthis magnificence was a small detail. The place sings with the music of birds.Hundreds of them roost in small cracks and hollows in the walls seeming tocontemplate their carved likeness in the hieroglyphic reliefs. There is oneother s ocial function that stirs the imagination, the building bares the name of thefamous Cleopatra and her son, whose father was Julius Caesar. It is possiblethat these celebrate personalities climbed the same stairs and contemplated,on high, the same landscape which stretches for miles below. In Summation,some of the most unprecedented examples of architecture from the ancient world areof the ancient Egyptians. Although the ancient Egyptians lived in a primitiveworld, they proved to have great knowledge for building endure structuresthat would forever have a unique and majestic influence on the world.