- Pharaoh was all powerful
- worshiped as a god
- connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses
- ****Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe, which they called "maat"****
- Pharaohs had multiple wives and all routes to financial and social success were through the palace
- Women could inherit money and land and divorce their husbands, through only a tiny few ever wielded real political power
Gods, Humans, and Everlasting Life
- Gods were often portrayed with animal heads or bodies
- Egyptians believed in an afterlife and mummified bodies to preserve them for this post-death journey
- All souls would need to justify themselves at the point of death and be either sent to an after-world paradise, or the jaws of a monster
The Writing of the Words of God
- Earliest Egyprian writing formed about 3100BC and were small pictures known as hieroglyphs
- Hieratic script was a shorthand developed by scribes and priests
- was usually written in ink on papyrus, which was made from mashed Nile reeds
- Papyrus, the precursor to paper, was stored in scrolls and these scrolls were the books of ancient Egypt
Calenders and Sailboats
- Egyptian astronomers created a calender with 12 months and 365 days to make bettersense of the seasonal cycles
- Due to their excellent knowledge of human anatomy, Egyptian doctors wrote extensively on health issues and created potions and cures for a number of common ailments
- Wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transport ability on the Nile
Pyramids and Temples
- the pyramids were massive stone tombs, originally covered in marble but the marble was later stripped off during the Muslim conquest
- Stone sculptures and interior painting depicted humans and gods in a series of regulated poses, often in profile and wthout persective, but were highly effective
No comments:
Post a Comment