Comparing Ancient Cultures Essay

Submitted By Shadowdragonbrd
Words: 3064
Pages: 13
Open Document
Bradly D’Souza
English Composition 1002
Professor Cummins

Ancient Cultures: Greece and Egypt
The ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations are two of the oldest known civilizations in our history. The Egyptians lived in the eastern part of North Africa, around 3000 BC and continued till the end of the Pharaoh rule in 31 BC (Grimal 27). On the other hand, the ancient Greek civilization is believed to have been in effect from 1100 BC till about 146 BC (Thomas 27). Due to differences in geography, both these civilizations had exposure to different kinds of exposure, which included contact with other civilization and cultural inheritance. In the political sphere, the Egyptian civilization had stronger emphasis on central authority, while the Greeks had a more decentralized structure, where power was distributed over the cities and the states as well. In art, we find that the Egyptians were more involved in creating great monumental and gaudy structures, while the Greeks were more focused in creating smaller, more literary pieces of art (Greenberg). Despite the differences in geography, there are many more commonalities between the Greek and Egyptian culture, politics, and religion.
At the base of both the Greek and Egypt religion are creation myths which explain the start of many events such as the origin of the world and the creation of human beings. The Greek creation myth begins with chaos which separates into Gaea (earth), Eros (love), and Tartarus (Underworld). Gaea spawns the early elementals and the first “gods,” titans. Cronus “the youngest and most terrible” titan, imprisons his father Uranus and with Rhea births the second generation of gods, including Zeus. Cronus is killed at the hands of Zeus, who claims the throne as king of gods (Grant). Similarly, the Egyptian creation myth also began in the waters of chaos, where darkness and silence reigned until the spirit of the Creator, Ra, brought up a mound of earth. “This mound was the first land and at last there was a place in which the spirit of the Creator could take on a body.” Ra fathers Osiris who with Isis fathers Horus. When Osiris is killed by Seth, Horus avenges his father and reclaims the throne (Harris 18, 41). In both Egyptian and Greek mythology the world starts in chaos and then the gods bring order. One reason for the similarities in the myths is their roots in Mesopotamian culture and religion. Both the Egyptians as well as the Greeks place a lot of importance to death and the afterlife. They were constantly being reminded about death and were very afraid of their fate after death.
The Ancient Egyptians believed that there was more to life than just the life on earth. Much of their architecture, including the pyramids and the houses they built were based on strict rules of mathematics and geography. They used mathematics to build the dwellings in very symmetrical designs. It has been noted that the numbers pi and phi have been greatly incorporated in the building and design of Ancient Egyptian architecture (Greenberg). Researchers have noted that dividing the perimeter of the dwellings made by Ancient Egyptians by their height gives a close approximation to 2pi, which is the same result one would get if one were to divide the circumference of a circle by its radius. This suggests that maybe the ancient Egyptians were trying to emulate the spherical nature of the Earth by presenting this relation (Smith et al).
These design techniques show that the Ancient Egyptians built their dwellings very symmetrically. It has also been noted by research that symmetrical dwellings tend to create harmony in its structure. This also allows the residents to remain in harmony amongst each other. One of the things that is also common, are the dwellings structure of all three ancient civilization is the use of landscaping. The use of gardens was considered to be very important. “As early as the 3rd millennium B.C., the Egyptians planted gardens within the walled
Show More

Related Documents: Comparing Ancient Cultures Essay

Comparing Ancient and Classical Art Essay

Comparing Ancient and Classical Art Inea B. West ARTS/230 May 25, 2015 Jamie Welch Comparing Ancient and Classical Art Long before the Latin and English alphabet, humans expressed non-verbal communication through symbols and pictograms. They expressed themselves on tokens, walls, papyrus, wood and clay tablets. Many people believe that the earliest traces of writing came from Ancient Egypt. However, the earliest known writing system is Sumerian cuneiform. The Egyptians may not have been the first…

Words 359 - Pages 2

Personal Journey Of African Americans

that the speaker is comparing his personal journey to that of the journey of Black men since the dawn of time. The speaker mentions several rivers that are well known in the Middle East and Africa and then the Mississippi. The speaker seems to me to be linking the experiences of African Americans to rivers, by location and the nature of these rivers, which have flowed since before history was recorded and will continue to flow. In the second stanza, ” I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older…

Words 354 - Pages 2

Incarnational Analogy In The Bible

The incarnational analogy is a concept that does not agree nor disagree with the idea that the Bible is just like any other ancient book and the idea that the Bible shows uniqueness against the ancient world (Enns, 8). The concept of the incarnational analogy that Peter Enns recommends is that the Bible is aligned with the concept of Jesus being 100% God and 100% man because the Bible is a "divine and human book" ( Enns, 5). This concept is not to see if the Bible is the words of God, but to see…

Words 318 - Pages 2

Essay about Assignment 2: Comparing Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece

Assignment 2: Comparing Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece Assignment 2: Comparing Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece Andelle Gregoire World Cultures I Abstract Overall, Greek and Indian art had many similarities and differences. Even though they lived far away and had different beliefs, their depicted the same topics: Gods and goddesses, animals, royalty, myths, everyday life, and sports. Jewelry wise, they both used a lot of gold, although Indians used more beads and gems. In sculpture…

Words 1487 - Pages 6

Khufu's Great Pyramid At Giza

technologies. The Great Pyramid is the largest pyramid the Egyptian build, as tall as 146.5m, serving as the tomb of Pharao Khufu. These gigantic architectures build around 4000 years ago attract scientists' interest to solve the mystery of how the ancient civilization build these pyramids and to learn their construction techniques. The first thing scientists did is to learn about the exact structure within the pyramid. Muography technologies are ways to detect the cumulative density of the materials…

Words 187 - Pages 1

Treatment Of Women In Gilgamesh Essay

The Portrayal of Women in Ancient Literature The role of women in ancient world literature reflects the values of women in a specific society in the era the piece was written. Authors in Mesopotamian, Hebrew, and Greek culture portray women in a negative light compared to male characters, with the exception of most divine figures. In the Mesopotamian epic “Gilgamesh”, the Hebrew Bible’s Genesis, and the Greek “Work and Days”, women are distinctly different than their male counterparts, with few…

Words 1089 - Pages 5

Women of Ancient Rome and China Essay

Women of Ancient Rome and China Women in ancient Rome and China were very different but quite similar as for as their treatment and roles were concerned. In both cultures they were under the protection of their fathers until they married. When they married they were to stay home and be wives, they were not formally educated and learned to manage their households. They were not allowed to disgrace their families in any way and were inferior to men from the moment of birth. Chinese women whether…

Words 2032 - Pages 9

Essay on Gilgamesh: Sumer and Sumerian Culture

Gilgamesh is a great tale that portrays multiple tiers of ancient Sumerian culture. This paper demonstrates how those tiers influenced modern civilization while offering comparisons between the similarities and differences of the ancient characters to modern day archetypes. Some of ancient Sumerian’s greatest contributions to civilization are exhibited throughout this legendary tale. Sumerian’s are responsible for the creation of the wheel, government, art, mathematics, astronomy, and the first…

Words 895 - Pages 4

Scientific Revolution: The Only Direct Impact Of The Protestant Reformation

concise. Comparing the impact of the Protestant Reformation to that of the Scientific Revolution doesn't necessarily provide a clear answer either, probably because one movement lead to the division of a seemingly untouchable institution while, conversely, the other unified an entire intellectual community. What then can be said about the actual effects that the printing press had? What seems certain is that the only direct impact of the press was the accompanying shift from scribal culture to print…

Words 328 - Pages 2

Animism: Midterm By John Reid

Midterm Essay #1 John Reid discusses in his video comparing the differences of believing and knowing. He uses a couple of examples to support his claim of Animism and how it really works. One example is he uses a powerful metaphor claiming; if you read a book about how to ride a bike would you be able to just get on the bike and start riding? The answer is no because reading the book gives you a belief that you can ride the bike, but you actually don’t know how to ride the bike because you haven't…

Words 1687 - Pages 7