Amenhotep IV- Photo from flickr.com
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Major Developments |
Ancient Egyptian pyramids- From Quark to Quasers
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What were the major developments of the ancient Egyptian world?
Theories on how Ancient Egyptians built Pyramids
There were many theories on how pyramids were built, because no one knows exactly how they were made. Here are some of the many theories that we learned on our trip.
One theory about how pyramids were built is that Ancient Egyptians poured geopolymeric cement into a wooden mold, and cast it directly into its place. They waited for it to harden, and then repeated the process, then finally finishing the pyramid. Picture from http://www.catchpenny.org/theories.html
The "Caduceus Coil" was used to levitate the stone blocks that were used to build the pyramids. Pathways were built, flanked by rows of sphinxes, along which a solitron field spiraled, powered by coil generators. Priests used tuned coils, one passive (on the left, above) and one active (on the right, above). The active coil was grounded to a "Sacred Spot" and tapped into the planetary energy grid. The reason present-day scientists cannot duplicate this simple feat is because "they have not studied the power source called the world grid." Some further explain: (Back at top) |
The ancient people used the grid to achieve levitation and worldwide communication. This is why pyramids are found all over the world. The Cheops pyramid in Egypt is a coil generator and was built to tap into the grid. The main control panel for this grid was the Ark of the Covenant. The last pyramid-building method that we learned is that the Ancient Egyptians first made the base of the pyramid, and then used levers made of short timbers to lift the heavy stone blocks from the ground to the next layer of stone. They then transferred the levers to the topmost layer of blocks, and repeated the process. Photo © copyright Ron Wyatt, Wyatt Archaeological Research |
As you can see, there were many different theories on building pyramids, because there are many, many more. However, it is still a wonder that the Ancient Egyptians were able to create these marvels.
The Golden Age
The Middle Kingdom period was a “golden age” for Egypt because they made many advancements and developments. For example, during the Middle Kingdom, Egypt conquered new territories. Armies gained control of Nubia to the south and expanded northeast into present-day Syria. The Egyptian pharaohs added to their kingdom's wealth by requiring tribute from people their armies had conquered. They also added thousands of acres to the land already being farmed to increase crop production and had more irrigation dams and channels built to supply more water to the population of the civilization. The pharaohs ordered the construction of a canal between the Nile River and the Red Sea. Consequently, Egyptian traders were able to send goods south by ship through the Red Sea. Egyptian arts and architecture thrived during the Middle Kingdom.
In addition, the arts and architecture thrived during the golden age of ancient Egypt. Painters decorated the walls of tombs and temples with colorful scenes. The tomb paintings illustrated stories about the gods, as well as scenes from everyday life. Sculptors carved hunting, fishing, and battle scenes on large stone walls. They created statues of the pharaohs, showing them as ordinary humans as opposed to gods. During the Middle Kingdom, the Egyptians developed a new kind of architecture. Pharaohs no longer had pyramids built. Instead, they had their tombs cut into limestone cliffs west of the Nile River. This area became known as the Valley of the Kings.
The Egyptians also made many advancements and developments in mathematics and also astronomy. They studied the skies and developed an understanding. “With this knowledge, they invented a 365-day calendar with 12 months divided into three seasons. This calendar became the basis for our modern calendar.”(McTighe) They also created fractions and the system of written numbers based on ten. To build pyramids, they needed to calculate the amount of blocks they needed, and also the angles of the pyramids. This golden age had many major developments, most of which we still use today.
Furthermore, the exchange of envoys can be considered to be a major development in ancient Egypt, because it represented the first time in history that a group of nations attempted to work together to reach a common goal.
Amenhotep IV
Image of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and his daughters
making an offering to Aten- greatdreams.com
making an offering to Aten- greatdreams.com
Amenhotep IV was the tenth or eleventh pharaoh of Dynasty XVIII. He married Nefertiti and became a fanatic of an ancient Egyptian god named Aten, the god of the sun disc. He renamed himself Aken-Aten, which means "he who is in service to Aten," in honor of the god. (also spelled Akhenaten). During Akhenaten’s reign from 1379 BC, Aten (also spelt Aton) became the supreme god of Egypt. He also changed the capital from Thebes to el-Amarna (halfway between Memphis and Thebes), city of the cult of the Aten.
The social and religious changes he brought about influenced contemporary art and sculpture. The rigid poses of traditional images were completely abandoned. Akhenaten had his artists to portray him in relaxed, natural poses, even showing physical imperfections. This style of Egyptian art was called the Armana style.
However, he destroyed virtually all the temples of the other gods, including Amon, the main god of the dynasty. He had the word "gods" in plural hacked out of inscriptions. He even destroyed his father's cartouche because it bore the name of another god, Amon. He wanted his people to think that Aten was the only god worth worshipping.
Akhenaten believed that Egypt's priests had grown too powerful and wealthy. He felt threatened by their power. To lessen the priests' authority, he started a new religion. He introduced the worship of Aton, the sun god, as Egypt's only god. When Egypt's priests opposed this change, Akhenaten removed many of them from their posts, took their lands, and closed their temples.
These changes unsettled Egypt. Most Egyptians rejected Aten and continued to worship many deities. In addition, the priests of the old religion resisted their loss of power. The discontent with Akhenaton's rule spread to the army leaders. Those under Akhenaten's rule believed Akhenaton, devoted to his new religion, neglected his duties as pharaoh. Under Akhenaton's weak rule, Egypt lost most of its lands in western Asia to outside invaders.
All of this affected ancient Egypt very terribly. His people were discontented with his rule, and he had lost much of their land to outside invaders because he was to busy with his religion to care about anything else. All in all, Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten, brought many changes to ancient Egypt, almost all of which resulted negatively on his people.
The social and religious changes he brought about influenced contemporary art and sculpture. The rigid poses of traditional images were completely abandoned. Akhenaten had his artists to portray him in relaxed, natural poses, even showing physical imperfections. This style of Egyptian art was called the Armana style.
However, he destroyed virtually all the temples of the other gods, including Amon, the main god of the dynasty. He had the word "gods" in plural hacked out of inscriptions. He even destroyed his father's cartouche because it bore the name of another god, Amon. He wanted his people to think that Aten was the only god worth worshipping.
Akhenaten believed that Egypt's priests had grown too powerful and wealthy. He felt threatened by their power. To lessen the priests' authority, he started a new religion. He introduced the worship of Aton, the sun god, as Egypt's only god. When Egypt's priests opposed this change, Akhenaten removed many of them from their posts, took their lands, and closed their temples.
These changes unsettled Egypt. Most Egyptians rejected Aten and continued to worship many deities. In addition, the priests of the old religion resisted their loss of power. The discontent with Akhenaton's rule spread to the army leaders. Those under Akhenaten's rule believed Akhenaton, devoted to his new religion, neglected his duties as pharaoh. Under Akhenaton's weak rule, Egypt lost most of its lands in western Asia to outside invaders.
All of this affected ancient Egypt very terribly. His people were discontented with his rule, and he had lost much of their land to outside invaders because he was to busy with his religion to care about anything else. All in all, Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten, brought many changes to ancient Egypt, almost all of which resulted negatively on his people.