Ryan Waymire Lori Michelon History of Western Art I 28 March 2012 Two Great civilizations: Egyptian and Etruscan The incredibly intricate, sophisticated and complex art work created by the Etruscans and Egyptians remains culturally, linguistically, ethnically and historically significant to this very day. Even though these civilizations existed thousands of years ago they're art still remains incredibly valued in today’s society. Etruscan and ancient Egyptian art are so alike yet so different. Both the Etruscan and the Egyptian culture are very religious, and both believed in polytheism. The Etruscan believed that every physical phenomenon was a clear act of divine power and this power could be dissuaded or persuaded to favor human acts.
Taylor Elander Ms. Hinojosa ARH 302 2 November 2014 Short Write Up #1 My chosen motif was grandeur and power and how the Egyptian way of showing it has carried on into modern day civilization. Beginning around 2533 BCE, the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, along with the Great Sphyinx, were large shows of grandeur. They pyramids were built for Pharaohs and their most precious belongings. They were used as tombs for whomever they were being built for and they were great displays of the Pharaohs wealth and power as well as influence. Looking into modern times, you can go all the way to Las Vegas, Nevada, where the Luxor Resort and Casino lies.
Their religion and views were so complex and impressive, that they even spread to the cultures around them. The Aztec religion was not only a way of life, but even after-life. The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican people located in Mexico in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexica. The Aztecs were very amazed by the world they lived in and had high respect for it.
Mesopotamia was an ancient region in the eastern Mediterranean between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers; bordered by the Zagros Mountains in the north and the Arabian Plateau in the south, where modern day Iraq is today. Civilization emerged from this region approximately 6000 year ago with the creation of centralized cities and the first written word, known as cuneiform. The creation of a written word increased communications among groups of people and lead to expanded trade and commerce. With expanded commerce and the growth of cities came the need to regulate interactions among people with a set of standard laws. One of the first known attempts to establish written rules, and the best preserved Mesopotamian collection of laws, is the Code of Hammurabi.
Running head: ROMAN TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING ! PAGE 1 ROMAN TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING HIS 103 World Civilizations I Running head: ROMAN TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING ! PAGE 2 ROMAN TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING ! In this assignment we had to describe the importance of Roman technology and engineering and how it made the giant cities livable. For nearly four hundred years, the Roman Empire dominated the western world.
Akhenaten was a king who left an ever lasting impression in history; his revolutionary ideas in religion and art broke conventions of many years of Egyptian tradition. His devotion to the single god Aten is considered by many critics as the first evidence of monotheism in the ancient world. Akhenaten was a revolutionary and made many changes. One of the most visible changes was in Amarna in the manner in which the human form is depicted, particularly in the proportions and the extreme physical features of the king himself. In sculptures, paintings and reliefs, Akhenaten is shown as having a slender neck, a long face with a sharp chin, narrow, almond-shaped eyes, full lips, high cheek bones, projecting lower jaw, long arms and fingers, swollen stomach, feminine buttocks, wide hips, heavy thighs, enlarged breasts and spindly calves.
The Aztec and Maya were Mesoamerican civilizations (living in Mexico and Central America) while the Incas lived in South America. The religious beliefs and practices of the Mayans and Aztecs were similar, but the Incas worshiped the sun. The Mayans are credited for the Mayan calendar and the Aztecs also have a calendar, while the Incas are famed for their masonry and engineering skills. All three were great civilizations. The Mayans made several breakthroughs in these fields.
Tenochtitlan Cindy Thach Read 104 In 1945, prominent Mexican artist Diego Rivera produced a huge fresco mural entitles “Tenochtitlan.” Tenochtitlan is the capital city of the Aztecs that held about 200,000 people, the majority of them were poor. Rivera was always very fond of working class heroes. Rivera expresses his opinions on what work is through his illustration in his mural Tenochtitlan. Before the pre-Columbian era, the city of Tenochtitlan was known for great wealth, having beautifully structures pyramids, markets and arrays of food. The Aztecs prospered Tenochtitlan into this beautiful place with their hard labor and dedication.
Also, some of their people were talented mathematicians that made extremely accurate astronomical observations. Due to many of these factors, the Aztecs created a complex, large-scale, centralized nation-state. The capital of Tenochtitlan rivaled any city in contemporary Europe, and was surrounded by beautiful gardens. A more morbid component of the Aztec society was the way they offered sacrifices to their gods. They sought the regard of their gods by offering up human sacrifices.
Religion gave meaning and explained human existence, agriculture, natural biological occurrences, and even the light of day. Religion and the gods surrounded the Aztecs lives in every direction. In order to further understand the reasoning behind why the Aztecs felt they needed to practice sacrifice, one needs to understand the importance religion held within the Aztec race. Sacrifice of any form was considered to be a payment to their gods. According to Michael Graulich (2000), the director of religious studies at a school in Paris, the primary reason for sacrifice was atonement (p. 2).